Anyone able to give any advice on campervans - I’m not a car head so my knowledge is poor and I don’t know if this is possible but the ideal is: petrol, space for 2 young kids, good as an everyday run around as well as for a few nights camping.
Figure there must be plenty on here with experience, any info much appreciated.
Don’t get a VW transporter just because they’re cool, and if you do then don’t get a diesel one and especially not one with a DPF, it will become the bane of your life
(Although I believe @doowyrag has more VW knowledge than me, I just have experience of one that was a royal pain the arse)
If you want one that’s good as an everyday runaround but also has space for two kids you may struggle
Unless, of course, you have many many moneys
Although those Bongo Frendees look sick
Paging @cleamclackers
Don’t get a commercial panel van unless you’re gonna convert it fully . Rules have tightened up and must have windows in the back to pass as a camper these days .
DVLA putting their foot down on changing the class of a vehicle to camper .
Also if you want it to be an everyday runaround then watch out for Clean Air Zones, such as my local in Sheffield, which will apply a charge to campervans that go on the ring road or into the city centre, the fucking fascists
Suzuki carry. Petrol, surprisingly capable ( I took 800kg of metal in the back of mine to the scrapyard and it was a bit slower than usual up hills but was ok.
Ours is a 2 seat but I’ve seen them with a fold down back bench.
Also they’re cute as a button.
Hardly anyone bothers changing it with DVLA these days, since it doesn’t really make any difference to anything.
Cheers folks, those Bongo Friendees look a good shout. Would defs be getting petrol as i live near Manny and got family in London. Wouldn’t be looking to do a van conversion, too much bother but thanks for the heads up.
Guessing the insurance on campervans is around 1k a year?
£380 for my T6 but I’m fairly ancient, have a driveway, full no claims etc.
Depends how old/mad you are
It will for insurance
Reasonably old, not that mad
Turns out not really. Most firms who insure campervans couldn’t really care less what it’s registered as, just what it is.
That’s good to know , had a couple of mates who’ve had to pay commercial insurance because their van wasn’t down as a camper with the dvla . And commercial insurance for the first time isn’t cheap .
Yeah I spent a bit of time looking into all this. Mine is still just a van with DVLA but I’m with a specialist insurer and they’re fine with that. It seems that DVLA won’t even change the classification to campervan any more even if you meet every single one of their criteria. Except for new vans converted by a very small group of converters.
The only other difference it can make is that you might get a ticket if you’re exceeding van speed limits e.g. doing 70 on a dual carriageway. But if you contest that and show pictures of the conversion then it should get dropped. Some people have applied and they’ve got it changed to “van with windows” but then others have had that knocked back or got no response. It’s all a bit weird and inconsistent by the DLVA really.
It needs to be sorted out , it’s quite a mess . What my mates were telling me was that insurance was clamping down because tradesmen were insuring their vans as campers for cheaper insurance. Sort of fucked it for everyone
On a non-camper car tip my DC5 Integra passed its MOT yesterday, clean sheet, not bad for nearly 23 years old. Only done 111 miles in 2 years and still sorn.
Mrs gave me odd looks washing it at 7am lol
I’ve got a 2014 swb T5.1, it was converted by the previous owner and never used because he sold it to us so he could get married.
Pretty much the only change we’ve made is having a Hi-Lo pop top fitted. It’s been my daily driver for the last 5 years and has been very reliable.
The strangest fault it’s had was when a fox ate through the wire for the oil temperature sensor.
The most expensive part has been a new clutch & dual mass flywheel last month (£1200), but up to that point it had still been on the original and had done 110000 miles.
When we got it the V5 already showed it as a ‘motor caravan’, which is good because when the DVLA changed the criteria for classification it wouldn’t have been accepted, largely due to one of the things you now need is a fixed high roof.
That Patrol at the end is just ludicrous.
Mentile! Heveningham Hall is a stones throw away from me (if I could throw 2 miles).
Didn’t make it to the country fair this year but I get a good view of the planes coming and going from my house.
I have been a few times before but sod paying another £15 to go look at the concourse bit (they invited me to enter my Van but I didn’t want one of those bloody Ferrari drivers dinging my paint with their doors. 
)
More of that Patrol here…
