[Closed] Best 8 seater vehicle? Ex mobility worth a shot or not?

Depends on the van.
My old T4 was an ex mobility vehicle and still had the wheelchair lashing rails and lift mounts (but no lift) when I bought it. There were over a hundred bolts holding the in that needed drilling out (I paid someone with fancy cobalt drills to do that bit) and then needed to paint and put sikaflex in the holes before fitting the ply floor. It lasted another 10 years before I flogged it last summer. You could have fitted 3 rows of seats although mine became a camper.
A friend has smaller wheelchair accessible vans (Peugeot Expert and Partner) as they need the access. These have a lowered floor in the back for a fold out ramp. Makes it easy to wheel bikes (as well as wheelchairs obvs.) in but would probably make fitting a 3rd row of seats impossible.
Hope this explanation helps.

Friends have a Hyundai 8 seater & rate it. I think it’s an i800.

Hired a Citroen Spacetourer thing on holiday a couple of years back and it was ok. Fitted 9 of us plus holiday luggage plus bike. Think it was an XL version. Was a bit basic hire car spec but drove well and bounced us around lanzarote for a week with me driving it like I stole it.

I have a 64 plate tourneo custom ( 2.2l euro 5 ) short wheel base an older one.

I love it. Generally only drive with 5 seats in.
Ideally i would have liked a long wheel base... may be for the next one.

Things to consider...
They are tall. Mine will not fit in a multi sotry car park as its 2.15cm with the roof rails on.
Very easy to drive - mine quite happily plods down the motorway.. will do 70 happily but the fuel guage moves alot... so generally drive at 65.
Removing the seats - the double in the back is heavy... and a shit to carry on your own.
Rear air con is ace
Don't fit 20" wheels... ride was far to hard for the passengers in the back.
If going for a euro 5 - the headlights are crap.. i've replaced mine with leds - but these are an MOT fail so have to swap out each year )
finally - Its a ford - something will go wrong

Anything with a rear ramp conversion is likely to have a custom fuel tank too and these are usually smaller than standard. Our Alhambra conversion has less than 40 litre capacity. Our old Kia was the same.

Often rear suspension is non standard - we have awful tyre wear despite it having been on the tracking machines a couple of times. When I spoke to the company that did the conversion their response was - "yeah they all do that mate". Also ground clearance with the ramp can be compromised too so if you're loaded up you could be grounding out quite often. Rear ride quality is often harsher, ours certainly is.

Most of the metal used in the new floor isn't as resistant to corrosion as the manufacturers so get a good look underneath it. Oh and exhaust system might be non standard causing fun and games when it rots out.

So unless it was really cheap I wouldn't bother

I've got an 8 seat Merc Viano extra long 2.2l diesel, 64 plate (euro 5) so last one before they started making the V-Class instead.

It's well nice and massive but still (just about) fits in normal parking spaces. Lovely inside as it's all leather trim and full aircon. Fully lined and insulated as well. Fits under 2m car park barriers with roof rails, I've got bars that don't sits higher than the rails but only use for lightweight stuff, like a couple of snowboard bags the other week.

Fuel comsumption is ok, should get about 5-600 miles out of the tank on a motorway journey, round town it is a lot more thirsty but we have a small petrol run around for that anyway and might go electric in the near future.

Drives lovely at 70/75, will easily go over that, but I general stick around there. Will be driving to the Alps in April for the first time since I got the Viano, so will see what it's like on a proper long journey but its very comfy and being Automatic its just so relaxing to drive.

Got a few plans for a bed in the back, swivel plates and a pop top roof, maybe some electric hook up shenanigans, but don't want to do too much with it as it's too nice inside.

On the mobility thing though. When I was looking for one last year, I didn't like the idea of one that had massive floor cut outs and things but did see a few that had wheel chair lifts that seemed to just bolt into the boot so left the rest of the vehicle un touched. They looked like they would be pretty easy to remove.

We have a LWB Tourneo Custom 170hp 2.0ltr auto. Bought it on impulse on a half price Black Friday deal, it was pre registered and came with all the extras. No regrets apart from the stealth road tax hike.

Removed the 3rd row double from new and managed to store it in the garage loft, it took three of us to get it up there as its a bit heavy.

Can take four adults and four 29ers without the wheels off. Daughter uses it for when she goes away, with a Decathlon awning on the side.

No problems with the length or height as its still a lot smaller than the camper

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The guys with 8 seaters - what do they have on the V5? Are they M1 diesel car or do they become a minibus?

Our caravelle being absolutely unequivocally a car has been handy a few times (toll roads, the dump etc) and its easy to insure with regular insurers. I don’t know at what point they become minibuses but I wonder if it introduces headaches when they do

ford tourneo custom is M1
As its comes built from the factory - so car speed limits apply.

I've seen that changing a van to a camper is becoming more troublesome ( according to FB )

LWB T5/6 Shuttle: like a Transporter but with sound deadening and rear AC. Drives ok, for a van. It's definitly a van though. Lots are ex-wavs with a bolt on or bolt under lift, so no bodywork cutting like in a Doblo or Transit Connect. Only thing that will remain are possibly the floor tie down points.

Avoid like the plague the 2L 180biTdi engine. I'd go for a 140, either manual 6sp or 7sp DSG. 204 is quick, but thirsty. 4 motion means your passengers have to weigh 50kg each tops or you exceed the GVW very quickly.

Build quality is truly MG Rover-in-1990 random. You could get a complete lemon (I've scored peak lemon twice with our Caravelles) or you might get the most reliable thing ever, so warranty is vital. That said, nothing this side of a merc V-class comes close to it being the most complete package at present (I've looked, very, very hard). I love to hate ours, but when it works it's game changing.

Consider binning the puritanical front double seat for a single, unless you really don't like your passengers.

You could also look at a caravelle & replace the front passenger sigle with a double. But please don't.

V5 says my Viano is a car.

@Tracey - Apologies, I know you get asked this everytime you post a pic of them, but can you tell us where you got the bike shrouds again please? Some boat place wasn't it?

No such thing as a standard conversion.

General advise would be to avoid conversions.

Too many custom bits.... Exhausts/suspension/no spare/random holes in the bodywork/random bits of metal bolted onto underside /custom.fuel tanks...... All of that gives expensive spares and higher insurance /pain in the arse to get quotes on even

Plenty vehicles out there not converted.

The conversions ain't even cheap no more.

Came from here

https://www.rbsails.com/

Cheers Tracey.

Great advice folks. I’ll steer clear of a conversion for sure.

I’d love a Merc but seem to be top dollar. VW or Ford Tourneo I’m thinking…

I have a Peugeot Expert ex-mobility. Low mileage for age. No additional insurance cost. So far it has worked out a good buy. Depends on which ramp conversion system the vehicle has. Some systems are less intrusive on the rear load space, exhaust and chassis. On mine ramp and conversion is confined to the rear quarter of the space. No change to the seating layout, fuel tank etc. When folded up has no impact. Ramp and straps are handy for loading and securing bikes.

If you are buying new the new Hyundai Staria is head of the pack atm.

Hi Matt,

Any photos of your van?

I’ve just had a look at the Staria, it looks superb but with a budget of £30k I think it’s way beyond that budget!

What do I need to watch out for on a 2nd hand Caravelle or Tourneo, owners of those…?

I’m on my second Vito, had the first for 12 years from new.
New one is an 18 plate 119 Tourer Select XLWB 8 seater. It’s a lovely place to be on a long drive. With the 3rd row of seats out it easily takes 5 bikes (wheels on), 5 people and luggage.
Mines remapped up to 235bhp so pretty nippy.
The other week from Liverpool to Hull on Shell V-power diesel and a dose of Archoil D6400 I averaged just over 53mpg.

I picked it up in 2019 with 16k on the clock for £23400, don’t know what they are selling for now but highly recommended.

I have a 2011 Caravelle, I can get 2-4 road bikes set across inside with fork mounts in the floor rails (wheels off). I ride a 57/58com frame. Need to remove the middle row of seats to get 4 bikes inside. Can have 4 passengers, 2 bikes inside and 2 on rear rack.
MTBs go on the rear rack for transport.

Don't worry about mileage, mine is on 260k miles, has had the cambelt changed as per service schedule. Had a new clutch and DMF at about 230k miles. Parts are fairly easy to get at decent prices. Comfortable to drive, passengers don't complain. Fuel consumption is mid to high 30's mpg.

I do like Colp's Vito though

At that budget, I think new electric spacetourer is a compelling offer..