The inlaws have a VW eurovan. From my observations, it's a pita for them. They've made do with it, but...
repairs are very expensive
gas mileage is poor
(rather than go on with this list, I'll suggest
Why don't you get a nice pop-up camper. They're pretty light and virtually any car with a 6 cylinder would have no problem pulling one. Pop-up camper is just as fun. The "this is fun" factor you seem to be referring to seems to be more of a "look at me, I have a VW bus" factor. Your wife is right: get a camper. You can work your way up from pop-up to a comfortable size. There are lots of used campers on the market (unless you want to buy new.) Remember: if you purchase a camper with a built in toilet, there are tax deductions available to you (if you itemize.) After the initial ding for driving a brand new camper off the lot, campers tend to hold their value for quite a long time.
Ourselves, we have a large pop-up camper from the early 70's. It's in excellent condition. It's got that "hideous" Brady Bunch color scheme (orange, brown, yellow), so for fun, we decided to go with it. All the dishes (plastic), etc. follow that color scheme. We purchased the camper 3 or 4 years ago for $500. It was a great investment. We were recently offered $700 for it. (No.) Note: most campers will have some sort of little stove in them, etc. Who cares - if you're camping out during the summer, like most people, it just makes them too unpleasant inside; you'll end up doing most of your cooking outside instead.
If you want more camping tips, etc., or even pics, just PM me.