Japanese import seven seaters?

Those V6 Vianos tended to come loaded with a lot of gizmos that don't seem to be that reliable - around 2010ish my local car dealership   put them out on their hire fleet to scub some value off them as they weren't selling at the asking new price. So if I booked a 'zafira' I got given V6 Viano for the same price. Even with delivery milage on them things like electric assisted doors only worked properly about 80% of the time and would spend a bit of time deciding whether or not they were going to work the rest of the time.

So I'd be cautious too many fancy pants features if they are things that are going to be problem if they dont work properly

Not with the Viano but almost identical use case with our Honda Stepwgn for the last few years. It’s not great on fuel but for a few thousand miles a year it doesn’t matter. Make sure you go for one first registered in 2007 or later for ULEZ compliance, that’s when euro4 petrol was compulsory so they assume equivalence.

Insurance is via Admiral, they’re import-friendly to the point I could insure it on the chassis number when it first arrived and I was sorting out MOT, registration etc.

In our case service bits are easy enough to get, I DIY some or have a specialist an hour away but a capable local mechanic should be able to do most things. On merc-specific I’d think a Mercedes specialist would have access to docs/info for anything sold globally by them.

Have a look at the other big MPVs though from Toyota/Honda/Nissan, you may prefer how they do things to the Viano.

Toyota Estima

Colleague has one it’s lovely to be in.

Also consider Toyota Vellfire

Nissan Elgrand e51 gets my vote. Mega thirsty but if you're only doing minimal miles its not so bad.

Toyota Alphard? Mate runs one and is really happy with it.

ULEZ is likely to be an issue with some of the older ones, not because they can't pass but because they've never been tested. My import legacy doesn't have the right certification/paperwork frinstance

Elgrands and Estimas and Alphards are bloody wonderful ridiculous things though.

Elgrands and Estimas and Alphards are bloody wonderful ridiculous things though.

Don't forget Toyota Vellfire which is above them all.

I was recently looking at imnported Mercedes Vianos as the UK based ones are all skyhigh mileage and rotten.

Drove a couple but was massively underwhelmed. The import place had a Nissan Elgrand that I had a poke around. Sat in it and was like "yes!" Very nice, took it for a spin and it drove so well! It's got the 350Z engine!

I drove back home to read up on them, got reading about the Toyota Alphard. Found one local and bought it. It's great! Not got all the toys that the Nissan had, but less to go wrong.

Drove it to North Wales over New Year with the bike in the back. Was so good to be able to get in it after a ride to get changed. No more teetering in the carpark with a towel round me!

Very nice. Was looking at the Elgrand last year but there's some debate about whether you can tow with them. Otherwise I would have one.

Thanks so much, I will investigate.

Maybe a proper look and test drive would help. My problem is everytime I start looking about at models I very quickly end up looking enviously at 2015+ £30k Vw Caravelle’s.

Also consider Toyota Vellfire

go big or go home. I’m sure the Toyota Mega Cruiser is ULEZ compliant. 🙂

There's an issue with the Nissan Elgrands where the middle Cats degrade over time and bits fall out. This debris can then get stuck in the rear cats. There's talk that this can block the exhaust and then bits can be sucked up into the engine, killing it.

Lots of folk remove the rear cats to get around this potential issue.

Before I start having a nosey at these and start going down a journey of want and desire - what kind of MPG is likely to be achieved - plenty of 7-10 mile trips mixed with a several 25+ mile journeys and few 400+ mile trips per year...the current vehicle of choice (Puggy Partner Outdoor) is doing about 48mpg on average...so how much lower would one of these be?

The Elegrannds are 25mpg ish, 3.5 v6 from the 350Z

I've got the 3.0 v6 Alphard, bit better MPG. Ran it to Wales and back over the weekend, cost about £70 to do 240 miles.
Not brilliant but it's not an everyday driver, so acceptable.

The Japanese vans drive so much like a big car, so comfy and relaxing. The Viano was just "vanny", since it's built on a van chassis

a lot of owners seem to report remarkable mileage. Perhaps they all drive around very slowly, but the 350z (which is a relatively small, light thing compared to a van) will get about 25mpg on average. My mates bongo (2l auto) does similar, so I expect if you whack a petrol v6 in a big heavy van with the aerodynamics of a brick you'll be getting around 20mpg. The official mpg rating of a v6 sharan (which is smaller and lighter) is 26 (very few people can match the nedc tests in the real world), I can't see any reason why a bigger, heavier, larger engined van would be better.

£70 to do 240

is about 24 mpg

edit : nissan report the elgrand gives 288g/km co2 which works out at around 22mpg. if you achieved that, a 200 mile each-way run is going to cost around £140

I think you could look at a Honda Stepwagon... They're the 2.0 VTEC engine so better on fuel. I nearly bought one but was worried it was a bit too low in ride-height for some places we end up

Right, so slightly better mpg than my Legnum VR4 - which was 21mpg if I was driving it 150+ miles like I was driving Miss Daisy...seemed to be about 15mpg for general driving. That did cripple me as it was my daily driver so I'll give these a miss as although they would be very nice places to be sat, the regular fuel stops would have be wanting shot of it. I think I might need to see if I can dig a bit deeper and got for a people carrying van solution lightly bigger than the Puggy Partner -this works very well but it sometimes feels like it is just a bit too tight fitting.

Those Japanese imports do look rather nice though...

The Japanese vans drive so much like a big car, so comfy and relaxing. The Viano was just “vanny”, since it’s built on a van chassis

Just to throw something different in the mix - the Hyundai iload / i800 seems to fit the bill for the kind of people and stuff vehicle folk are always discussing on here but rarely gets a mention. It was designed as a passenger vehicle first and available as a van rather than the other way round so has a ride preferable to the Vito/viano and transporter its similar to without any scene tax. And its ugly. But its not nearly as ugly as the Elgrandes and Alphards of the world. I'd be looking to the Hyundai if I didnt want to pay viano money rather than to imports.

Petrol BMW X5 or Volvo XC90?

Something like this: Link to eBay

I had the same dilemma, wanted a big vehicle to fit 3 adults + 2 child seats, be able to throw a 29er in with no jenga, and be able to get changed in the rain.

After balking at the price, ride quality and MPG of UK van based vehicles, and recoiling from the MPG and parts availability of japanese import I....

... ended up with a Ford Galaxy.

Deeply unfashionable (nobody makes a UK car based MPV anymore) but it ticks every box. Good handling, good engine, good 45 MPG+, cheap parts (used and and new on ebay) and all the space. Unbolt a seat or two - just 4 bolts to each.

Heres my AM9 rolled in:

I made a front wheel holder from one of these bolted down to the middle seat mountings : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175203305147

I think I might need to see if I can dig a bit deeper and got for a people carrying van solution lightly bigger than the Puggy Partner

I have a Puggy Partner that I've just complemented with a D5 XC90 7seater. I've posted about it here but it's a leggy 2010year that i paid £500 for. I'm giving it mid life refresh then going touring Scandinavia in it. The boot is massive - even bigger than the V70 we also own.
Man maths is that £500 for the car + £3k of parts = rebuilt/reliable car for far less than a current Instagram worthy vanlife van.

… ended up with a Ford Galaxy.

Got to say, I read the OP and thought either a big MPV or a ULEZ compliant van.

Van prices are starting to soften a little now, and you can easily get a decent Euro 6-engined one for £16k.

Would that work for your ULEZ OP?

Its a few years ago but I have had both elgrands and hyundai 800 as hire vehicles.  Both had awful sloppy handling and both had weird gearboxes with low overall gearing ( 3 spd auto with overdrive?)

Assuming you have the bike the other way round when the kids are in the child seats...otherwise, do they need get a bit too close to the handlebars?

I've no real complaints about the Puggy...it works very well indeed for the 2 adults and a teenager. Most of the time it is me and the bike or me + 1 + 2 bikes and it all fits. I think I'm just thinking (as always happens) something a bit bigger could be useful. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Puggy, but it is 8 years old and I suspect it'll be needing some decent servicing in the next couple of years so end up thinking is it worth the expense or chop it in and get something younger...if younger then I'm thinking slightly bigger could be handy...but I suspect in a few years time I'll then be thinking something a bit bigger would be useful once again.

Diesel is expensive and manky, however, I do enjoy the 650+ miles out a tank, so petrol seems like a poor choice in that respect. I don't go near any ULEZ places (for now) so that isn't an issue yet, but I don't really like diesel for the absolute mank it is (but love the mileage out the tank, so it isn't a clear cut thing - the petrol car we have has a 50 litre tank and it gets 380 miles out a tank, the Puggy is 55 litres and returns 650+ and about 700 if I do a decent drive i.e. Central Scotland to Nottingham and back, that is about 700 miles and then it needs refilled).

Sorry, I'm now waffling on...

but it is 8 years old

mines 18years old! They are galvanized so don't rust, are super easy to work on and decent OEM parts are dirt cheap for them. Stick with the Bling-no / Partner.