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Flitting around how much I want to spend on a camper vehicle (they’re crazy prices!). I find myself thinking perhaps get one of these as a cheap intro. They’re small for 4 of us but also relatively cheap. If I do, what to look for?
Going by a friend of mines, rust. She loves it though.
I knew someone that went to Cornwall for the school hols every year with one and had a driveway awning thing.
Seemed to serve, her well till the engine went. She said it was a bit of a money pit in general but that is probably subjective.
Rust will be the biggest issue, given the age of most them now, closely followed by engine issues.
The cooling system has to be bled as per the official procedure, but if there are any leaks within the engine, you'll get overheating issues due to the stupid radiator pipe routing.
If I had one, I'd extend the engine bleed hose to the header tank, so it becomes a continuous bleed system, which should eliminate most overheating issues.
2.5 petrol will eat fuel like you wouldn't believe.
Current car, tent, maybe roof box.
Serious rust issues and bad electrics for a start. Can’t fathom why anyone would want one from the looks alone. That said, the 2 guys I know who have them absolutely love theirs! Engines seem reliable though, and would imagine any VW, Ford etc equivalent would have similar issues. Personally I’d avoid the over reliance on electric bits and bobs (blinds/roof etc) that some Bongos seem to have. There’s very good owners club forums so I’m told-most problems seem to be fairly common.
I have one for sale!!
2.5td, 4x4, 120k, 12months MOT, pop top, unconverted! Recent new head and all that entails.
genuine reason for sale: leaving the country!
based in Devon (Ivybridge), drop me a message if you’d like some photos etc
They're tiny and many have coolant issues
The diesel is usually from a similar vintage Ford Ranger pick-up
Tiny inside even as a car, let alone as a camper. Cramped seating all round, woeful economy, rust a lot, often clocked on import. Slow and noisy. There's a reason they're cheap
I found 3 in my swb van camper is way too tight to enjoy. Fair bit bigger than a bongo. That was with an awning. We camp next to it now. For 4 I'd spend the cash on a caravan.
As above.
prone to serious rust
engine issues, the engine are fragile in the first place and there are numerous reasons why you get coolant loss. When this happens the standard low coolant alarm is insufficient and the overheating leads to the cylinder heard warping or cracking.
My in-laws bought one at the end of lock down / height of prices. They paid £12.5k and have no idea about mechanical things, but it had fairy lights so that sealed the deal.
First MOT = £1800 of rust repair with serious warnings.
Second MOT = it's just had £6k worth of rust repair and £1k of engine work. They have, in their wisdom, declined the full respray to save money and are shocked 3 weeks later to see rust appearing on old body work still.. It is so loud above 50mph, it's not really capable of doing 60mph. It's tiny inside.
There are some howlers out there. We saw a good few.
IMO, I would buy a caravan over a cheap camper. At least then you have less cash invested when you finally throw it in the skip.
I made a boot kitchen for one. Seemed pretty sub optimal for a camper to me but they loved it.
We had one for about 6 months when we had a toddler.
It was small, slow, very very heavy on fuel, wallowy to drive. I sold it to a mate for what I'd paid (I got it cheap as it had an electrical fault which I fixed and £2200 was a good price 12 years ago. He got it fully converted and ran it for several years before saving up for a T5.
We bought and converted a T4 which was cheaper to run, just as fast (1.9 diesel), much larger inside, easier to get in and out of, but have now sold it as it was getting a bit small for us and now 2 kids and it would soon need more rust surgery. The T4 was way less rusty than Bongo the same age. Would consider another similar sized van once the kids have left home and if they become affordable again.
Something like a Berlingo and a tent would be a much cheaper, more reliable and better for camping.
N.B. this is my experience. YMMV
Anyone mentioned rust?
Make a 20yr transit look solid and corrosion free
To be fair, people seem to either love them or hate them. They're like old VW campers, they tick none of the boxes but some people just fall in love with them and literally spend tens of thousands getting them just right for their needs.
There are some good independent Bongo specialists out there who will happily take your cash to keep your van on the road. The one in Ripponden is supposed to be one of the best, I think they're known as the Bongo Whisperer.
We had one about 8 years ago for the 3 of us (5 year old child and a dog) a few years as intro. Worked for us, lots of fun, and got plenty of use before we made the decision to upgrade.
Most of the bad points are covered above. Brakes were shocking too, it almost took as long to stop as it it did to get up to 30mph! Especially when it was loaded up for a weekend away.
We had a good one but i think if I'd have kept in longer it would have started deteriorating and costing to a fair bit to keep on the road. It was starting to rust around the wheel arches, had quirky electrics (everything was was electric) Suspension bushes, ball joints, steering etc.
You might be better hiring a camper for a few weekends to see how you get on, or widen your scope and include something like a T3 (T25) or a T4, they'll still be old and suffer from their own problems though.
Lotta rose tinted specs on here.
No one's mentioned a vehicle any less prone to rust than the bongo. And Mazda's on the whole even without lacking of factory stonechip protection on the underside have always been terrible for rust.
Most of what's been mentioned your going to be buying at end of useful life unless your self importing from drier climbs.
Anything sold as half decent seems to cost as much as a more modern vehicle.
Anything cheap inline with the age and condition of the vehicle appears to be a rot box even at a glance. (old mots usually highlight this quickly)
15 years ago we were considering a bongo seriously (and the ford Freda at the time) and the big tell for me after looking at a few was anything that had been here for 3-5 years was looking tatty - I just saw pain in my life buying one of them. They have not aged like fine wine.
I'd be looking at a. Granvia/Elgrand of recent vintage if I wanted that size of vehicle.
I haven't been in one yet but I keep looking at the Hyundai i800.
Similar size but without the fashion tax.
Wellhouse Leisure near Huddersfield used to convert the i800 into nice campers.
The newest of them are 20 years old and none had any rust-proofing when new. Cooling is the other big issue. I know a couple of people with them - always appear to be going wrong.
Nissan Elgrand and Toyota Alphard are slightly newer Japanese Import camper conversions.
So I sold my quite new Mits L200 pickup with a hard top, after the last service with less than 40k miles hit £2k!! I fact every service since new was never under £1k. So after 30+ years of not working on my cars and having almost new vehicles as #1 and #2 cars in the house we went Merc leased EV for #1 and and knackered old t5.1 Caravelle as occational #2.
I walked into this understanding the engine issues of the bitdi I have bought. Its a one business owner full VWSH, swb Exec Caravelle with a few little parking nudges, but underneath its amazing.
I have spend a few £k coxing the nackered engine along for the time being, with specialist Retro Resus. I have also rebuild all the suspension and brakes, cleaned the death out of it, and added some cool led lights and bigger AT tyres on std steel wheels. We have been camping lots last year (sleeping in it for us has been a much nicer experience), we have been on a big two week holiday in North Wales and Anglesea with lots of kids, bikes and dog. We did two brilliant birthdays for my boys where we swung the seats about and had a full on party for five in the back. We have just got back from The French Alps where we drove there and back 1500 miles. Yep it guzzled oil but if you keep below 65 its okay, and it still starts on the button, it does 35 mpg and goes like hell for a DSG 4motion 2400kg van.
My god is it nice to drive, its smooth and quiet, my son once said its quieter than the new ev!
This year I am doing the engine, and next year it will be more camping tarting up. Its bloody brilliant and I am to keep it for a maybe four years. Its allowed me to get on the VW van ladder cheap, and pay as I go 🙂
This year I am off to Ventoux with mates on a cycling trip, and later in the summer we are driving to and from Corfu
@dovebiker "Nissan Elgrand and Toyota Alphard" dam they are ugly though!
Nissan Elgrand and Toyota Alphard” dam they are ugly though!
It's a van. WGAS it's not like the t5.1 in any guise is a looker.
Get a nice ulez complient 3.5v6 in your Nissan though.
For four of you?
Maybe get a LWB medium sized van like a Trafic/Vivaro and spend a bit on insulation and fitting beds (and an extra seat).
You should get something newer, much more economical, less rust-prone and more reliable.
Our friends had one - don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but rust was an annual thing to get sorted for the MOT. They only paid about £3k for it though about 15 years ago and got a similar figure back when it was written off. Wouldn't touch one with a barge pole... As others have said, car + tent. A camper van of that size is nothing more than a metal tent anyway.
I've got an Alphard. I think it looks great, in a weird "what is that weird thing?" way
3.0 V6 petrol likes to drink fuel, but to be able to chuck the bikes in the back and still have 6 seats is great! Also having a mobile changing room for after bike rides - amazing!