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The wife thinks we should bin the car and my 53 plate combo van and just get a better quality van. She's not going to go for a Vito (my choice) so we are looking at a Caddy or a Combo. Thinking of spending a fair wedge +£10k ish and it will mainly be used for biking duites definitely not a day to day van or commuter. Pretty much a given it has to be a van, kind of used to having one now and we're not buying a people carrier and stashing rear seats in the house. Any thoughts on Transit connect v Caddy or is there anything else which is comfortable, relatively peaceful (my combo van is a bit rattly, noisy - I think it is the cheap British Gas bulkhead and the passenger seat is a bit of an afterthought)and ok.
The seats in some mpvs fold flat.
Apologise for not helping at all
I've had both and much prefer the Caddy. It's just better in general.
People will no doubt be along to say you are just paying for the badge, but they more than likely won't have much experience of either of the vans 😆
We've had a couple of Caddy vans at work. The Maxi was noticeably bigger and would be more practical for 5 riders/bikes. The current one is the short car version. Still very van. There nice enough, but wouldn't have one myself, not quite sure why.
Wifes work has older Connects, much abused and always at least one in the garage. All are terrible on fuel. More likely to get one than a Caddy, not quite sure why.
Hired a caddy for a week, just long enough to sleep in with 2 bikes, but as a van it's still small, loading requires lots of bending over and bad lifting and not that easy to hop into and get changed in. As your not using it day to day why compromise?
For a 10k investment find somewhere that hires them (some smaller places do specific models) do a weekend in the smaller one and a weekend in the Vito type Van and see how it goes.
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They both seemed a bit small when I was looking. I bought a Nissan nv200 instead which is just that bit bigger.
Cheers will check the Nissan out and look at weekend hire, will try and push the big van aspect as well, I really fancy a Vito crew cab
Tranny connect LWB high roof here, my mates T5 only has a bawhair more room up in the 'eaves' as the roof doesn't angle in like the tranny does. But then his was 30k, mine was 2k......
6'2" and has a slide out 3/4 size bed that a couple, or [i]very[/i] good mates can sleep in, and still take 2 bikes (wheels off admittedly) or with bed in normal mode, can take 2 full bikes and a wad of kit. Only has two seats, so never any need for more than 2 bikes.
Only bought it to test whether I'd like van life, wouldn't go back now, and only reason for me to change it is for a 3 seater. Probably a vito, but that'll be next year.
Ace wee van.
Have a look at the Hyundai ILoad, they are very comfortable, plenty of power and plenty of space.
Better than a Transit in my experience.
Easily get 4 -5 bikes in a crew cab with the front wheels off.
I work in commercials for a rival brand. I have sold both VW (8yrs) and Ford (5yrs).
Just come back from a test drive day where we drove Citan, Caddy & Connect at Millbrook testing ground on their city area. Have done loads of comparison driving days where you compare every single aspect from soundproofing, brake pad sizes, fuel economy, servicing, driving experience, breakdown cover, etc etc etc etc.
Always end up with the same conclusion. Once the rose tinted glasses get taken off for your own brand and the fashionable persona of the Caddy.
THE CONNECT IS BY FAR THE BETTER VAN IN EVERY ASPECT
Its better specced, price for price. Its better size (If comparing apples with apples). Its a quieter drive (VW penny pinched in later years and removed a lot of the sound rpoofing on their vans). It is available at much cheaper prices.
The fuel economy on the VW is a myth. The engine rattles and grunts due to lack of sound proofing. The dashboard is dull and its not even a good size. Its top features are that its as close to a car type shape as you can get in a van and its residual values.
I sell Mercs and the citan is now at reasonable prices (I can do a commercial customer one for under £10k + VAT brand new if they take finance). But even then for a mountain biker wanting a car type vehicle, the connect is pretty hard to beat.
Drive Transit Connect daily for work. Haven't killed it and no real faults from new in 2 years and I thrash it. Seats not very comfy but hey ho.
"Have a look at the Hyundai ILoad, they are very comfortable, plenty of power and plenty of space."
The Iloads as noisy as hell at motorway speeds . i thought it was broken.