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So due to mid life changes I'm about to be a single dad to 4 girls (2yo-6yo) 50% of my time, and having outdoor adventures for the other 50% of the time. What van do I want as my only vehicle (commute by bike).
I'd use it alongside a big tent with all of them, as a day van, or camper with upto 1 or 2 of them.
£10k or thereabouts
Seat 6
Sleep 1 adult and 1-2 child
Cooking & eating space
Bike inside for 1x LLS 29er, rest of bikes on a rack.
Fit on my drive and back out into a busy road
Not horrible to drive, ideally 70 on motorway, with AC and cruise.
I'm thinking a tourneo set up as a minibus and adding a pop top but no day van capability? Crafter too big I think.
Elgrand
Elgrand
Can I chuck a bike in the back? Do they all look like that?
Elgrand could work. Remember a van has lower speed limits than a people carrier/ camper/ minibus.
Reverse into your drive. Reserving a van onto any road is at best a horrible experience.
Bike in easy mate. A Stepwagon similar but I think slightly less practical.
Elgrand thirsty though as it's 3.0 v6, you'll get mid 20s
Stepwagon you'll be closer to 40 as it's the generic homda VTEC 2.0 engine.
Elgrands are ace, comfortable as heck too. Obviously mostly a bit cream in interior on many.
Bike in upright, wheels on. Easy. 2 straps on saddle or a stand on the front wheel, jobs a goodun.
Don't get me wrong, a Tourneo or Vito Traveliner work too, but seats are harder to remove/sort on them.
Amends your outdoor adventures as they won't just be with yourself...those wee ones will be loving the adventures as well!
Crew van with two single front seats and a triple rear bench. Fit swivels to the front seats and you can sit around a makeshift table.
Reversing out of any drive is a bit silly, especially in a van. That's how kids and dogs get run over. Even quiet roads, I had a farmer reverse out into our path on a single track farm lane as he couldn't see us.
£10k doesn’t get a lot of van these days but gets a decent import. Petrol 2007 on is fine for ULEZ and the other clean air zones too. I’d probably go for a late e51 Elgrand, maybe Alphard. If you’re not doing big miles then the mpg isn’t worth worrying about.
I have a rg1 Stepwagon and you can forget 40mpg, 30 is doing well. I’m planning a little solo camping setup, with the single middle-row seat folded you have about 1.6m for bike, and with the other half-folded you have 1.9m to the front seat, more if you slide it forward. It’s a class smaller than Elgrand/Alphard though. Generous bed for one plus bike, or for two without bike. Cooking kit etc slide out at the back under the tailgate.
Vito dualiner?
You'll maybe score a high mileage, decade old(++) one for your budget. Otherwise I'd look for a Nissan/Renault/vauxhall, common chassis innit...
Dualiner only 5 seats.
You can have them with various seating options.
Bit of googling found these:
Extra , reconfigurable seats, still quite high mileage
Suspiciously low mileage, 2k over budget...
The bottom one is cheap. Never seen a 3*3 seater.
They seem to vary a lot, a 9 seater with full length rails means you can set up the seating however you like and leave a couple of seats at home.
There's a reason they're popular as taxis and airport shuttles.
Thanks, useful things to think about. I guess the question I should have asked first is what configuration do I want in the van to do all 3 tasks (unlikely simultaneously) - dad taxi, day van for kids adventures and bike lugging 2 berth camper?
Crew cab layout looks pretty good for 2 of those options but maybe not ideal for day van?
What do any of the van options get me over a Galaxy or S-max (which we currently have and is great)
The vans will get you a flat floor and walkthrough between two single front seats, and you tend to be able in and out the front easier as the footwells are level with the sills. Whereas the smax/galaxy you'll be dragging your muddy as shoes over the interior trying to do the same thing.
What do any of the van options get me over a Galaxy or S-max (which we currently have and is great)
More luggage space, a bit more sleeping space(?). But you're still going to need awnings/drive-away tents if you want to sleep 5-6 of you, especially as kids have a habit of growing...
If you can pick up a Vito Traveliner/Tourer in XLWB you can have 6 seats (remove 3rd row) and have a bit over 6’ behind the 2nd row.
These have the floor rail system so the seats slide which you can’t do with a dualiner/crew.
MOT history of the low mileage Vito;
https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/results?registration=ls11jvc
There's an anomaly where the mileage drops 2K between MOTs in 2013 so unless it gets clocked on an annual basis it could be legit.