Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
  • Bongo Friendee – Experiences please
  • teenrat
    Full Member

    I’m thinking about getting a small camper that would also be my daily driver. Are there any owners on here with any experiences / advice of bongos. How are they mechanically and how are they as a camper – room etc.

    cheers

    Rich

    iain1775
    Free Member

    in a similar situation, been keeping an eye out for about a year now but still unconvinced how much use one would get
    will watch this thread keenly

    no_eyed_deer
    Free Member

    Got to be about the most ridiculously named vehicle of all time, surely? 😉

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    NewRetroTom
    Full Member

    Have you been on http://www.bongofury.co.uk/ yet?

    A couple of my mates have them and seem to love them!

    Gary_M
    Free Member

    We’re looking at campers at the moment. They’re a place near us that converts vw transporters and we had a look in last week. He also a a few bongos, toyotas and transits, I think the bongo/toyotas were px vehicles. The bongo and toyota felt very small inside – really narrow compared to the vw and transit.

    If you’re on your own its probably fine but a bit of a tight squeeze for 2.

    teenrat
    Full Member

    Thats a great link – thanks!

    bentiggerwyles
    Free Member

    Hi we just got one! There is 4 of us (2 adults 2 kids) we purchased an awning and that increases living space. We get about 30mpg out of it and its the auto 2.5 diesel. The kids love it!

    bentiggerwyles
    Free Member

    bentiggerwyles
    Free Member

    Before and after only had a couple of months

    bentiggerwyles
    Free Member

    With the awning gives plenty of room for 4 abd the awning is inflatable so quick to go up and down

    They drive really well and i belive the only real problems are the cylinder heads normally as a result of a split hose so fit a coolant alarm for £20 and your all set

    aP
    Free Member

    We’ve got a 2002 2.5v6 petrol Bongo. It’s been ok, although you have to remember that they’re now a minimum of 10 years old. It’s pretty handy although not the biggest thing, we’ve camped out in it at quite a number of events in the last year from high 30C at Bontrager 24/12 to -3C at Battle on the Beach. It also survive 50+mph winds down in Branscombe last September – although I don;t think we’d like to repeat that again.
    We’ve bought one to see how we liked the camping van thing and have decided that it suits us, so are thinking about trading it in and getting a LWB T5 conversion instead.
    We’re getting about 25mpg on a run, so they’re not the most fuel economic….

    MostlyBalanced
    Free Member

    I’ve had three VW Transporters over the last 15 years but before I bought the last one I demoed a Bongo. It seemed very wallowy compared to the VWs and reading about the 22mpg typical fuel consumption on Bongofury was enough to put me off.

    Gary_M
    Free Member

    We’ve bought one to see how we liked the camping van thing and have decided that it suits us, so are thinking about trading it in and getting a LWB T5 conversion instead.

    The guy we spoke to did say that bongos do tend to be a ‘first van’ for people to dip their toe in the campervan water.

    legend
    Free Member

    “The fuel gauge doesn’t work, so just reset the trip and stop at around 450”
    “450 miles? Not too bad I suppose”
    “That’s Kilometers”
    “8O”

    At which point I realised that I would never want a Bongo

    gearfreak
    Free Member

    Slow, noisy, thirsty. Amazingly practical, great for a small family, surprisingly relaxing to drive. Love ours, bought it for a one off trip and decided to keep it as it makes a great second vehicle. If you are using it as a daily driver beware fuel consumption (28-30 on the 2.5 diesel) and rust. Make sure it’s been undersealed before using it on salty winter roads.

    Superficial
    Free Member

    There’s a guy near Manchester that rents them out. We hired one for a weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. They’re small on the inside but the pop-up roof helps a lot with that. Quite practical too, though I don’t know where you’d put bikes if you’ve got a camper conversion one (probably a rack on the back).

    As for daily driving, it depends how much of that you do. I wouldn’t want to. It’s fairly easy to drive and it feels more like a slow old car than a big van, but I still think it’d be a pain to drive to work.

    It might be worth renting one as a try-before-you-buy thing.

    paladin
    Full Member

    Just got mine back from its mot. £700 total, most of the work was due to corrosion underneath.
    Getting a lot of use out of it, its small enough to use as a second car but big enough for camping trips. 2.5d is nippy enough for overtaking and can be reasonably fuel economic depending how you drive it.
    It is a wee bit cramped inside, mostly its manageable tho, (other than not being able to open the fridge when the beds folded out, that bugs me).
    Bed in the freetop is ideal for kids.
    Would prob get something slightly bigger when we upgrade, but not in any rush to do so.

    snownrock
    Full Member

    Our experience involved lots of steam and the hard shoulder of the M6 caused by a failed head gasket, leading to a borked radiator.

    Luckily this was on the way back from 2 weeks in Scotland. As a cheap starter into the world of Campervans it was great but they are very small when compared to a VW/Vivaro/Transit/Vito etc

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    If it wasn’t for the fuel economy, we would have kept ours.
    (we got 26mpg)
    Had it for 6 years and loved it, but didn’t get used as a camper much.
    More a fantastic-to-drive and comfortable van and people-carrier.

    The boot with the side-folding seats is the most practical.

    You do have to watch the cooling system though, else it can get very expensive. If the temperature needle even slightly raises, stop driving immediately!

    Everything else was normalish expense. We probably spent about £400 a year keeping ours in good shape.

    zero-cool
    Free Member

    They’re nice vehicles, although most are pretty old now (but then most of my vehicles have been of similar age), people that have them love them. Pretty sure they’re all Mazda/Ford underneath so parts are cheap and easy to sort out.

    They even do a V6 version. Plus they have one of the best names of any motor vehicle (gotta love that generation of Jap vehicles).

    Tom Kp

    soma_rich
    Free Member

    We bought our 2.5 Diesel AFT (Pop up tent) last year and have used it loads since and loved ever trip. It is very thirsty and you can easily see a 300-400 mile trip costing £70 in fuel.

    Very comfy to drive and sleep in, we have a little side conversion with a fridge and twin hob, plenty of room for 2 adults and a child.

    We put the bikes on a tow bar mounted carrier and it doesnt seem to affect the MPG.

    Great community, always someone who will now how to fix little problems, and you will always get a wave from a fellow bongo owner.

    You can even run them on veg oil!

    bongobiker
    Free Member

    They are great for 2 people, bit of a squeeze for any more.
    We’ve had many 1 & 2 week holidays with ours. Bought a drive away awning for extra storage.
    Word of advice, don’t buy the newer face lift model as everything is electronic, lots of things to go wrong and not many garages have experience or equipment to diagnose faults. One sensor failure puts it into limp mode and the faulty sensor could have nothing whatsoever to do with the engine.
    When buying make sure the cam belt is replaced.
    Don’t beleive the mileage as the japs often alter them before exporting them.
    Hope that helps.

    cyclelife
    Free Member

    You will not get 30mpg nearer to 25 mpg if you’re careful. Had one for the DH races that I took my son to, was fine until it got the dreaded cracked head (loads on Bongo Fury about it).

    Would not touch one if I were you, buy a tranny and kit out yourself for the same price.

    teenrat
    Full Member

    Look like great vans but i just couldn’t live with those mpg figures. Thanks for all the advice, but i’m switching my attention elsewhere!

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    Benttiggerwyles With the awning gives plenty of room for 4

    Loved that. Says it all really. My Fiant Panda also has plenty of room for 4 sleeping if you put an awning on it.

    bentiggerwyles
    Free Member

    We didnt sleep in the awning we fit 2 kids up top and 2 adults on the bottom bed the awning we use as a living/cooking space

Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)

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