The safety aspect is swings and roundabouts.

My Iveco has all the active safety features (ESP, EBD, rollover mitigation etc and trailer away control).

It’s also nice and high, so you are above any smaller impacts, and heavy which is a bonus (but not for the other party)

However, there is no getting away from the fact light commercials so not have the same crash testing as private cars. The Iveco has a ladder chassis right up to the front bumper, which means very little (nothing?) in the way of crumple/energy absorbing zones, which means the chassis would just break in a big crash.

There is a clip somewhere of a modern ‘flimsy’ Renault (Modus) crashing into a Discovery. The Discovery is smashed to bits with dead dummies, the Modus, well the doors still open for a start, passenger compartment is intact.

We replaced* our car with a T5-based camper last year.

I was sceptical about campers and poo-poo’d the idea for many years as I didn’t think we’d camp much in one. However, the thing I underestimated is how useful a van has been for family use as a “day van”.

Neither my wife nor I commute by car and mainly drive with the kids for leisure, visiting family etc. I’ve had a heap of performance cars over the last 15 years and, to be honest, you just can’t safely or enjoyably use them with family on board, nor generally on UK roads.

So, switching to a heavy van hasn’t been anywhere near as painful as I’d thought. If you do end up with a VW T5.1 or T6, note that the post-2010 84, 102 and 140hp engines are exactly the same apart from software and can be remapped to the same outputs (the stronger 6-speed gearbox being the attraction of a 140hp). That said, our 84hp model has surpassed all my expectations by being totally fine to drive and so I haven’t bothered with a remap.

There’s a lot of choice out there, even within the VWs. At the top end, a Highline spec’d Transporter with a camper conversion or California will be pretty car-like in terms of equipment, but you need to decide whether you have the £40-60k for one.

Ours is a conversion by a respected name of a 2-3 year-old T5.1 and is in the next price bracket down. The compromise is in having a relatively low spec van as the base vehicle. However, apart from a/c, there isn’t really anything that can’t be added if you need. Again, I’ve not yet felt the need to add things that I thought I might need (e.g. parking sensors).

The “cheapest” option is to do a DIY conversion on a used van, which will cost from £30k down to the minimum you can get away with. We looked at all the options from vintage campers, to 90s models, Bongos etc etc.

We’ve already used ours for lots of memorable trips where a car just doesn’t offer the same fun, practicality or flexibility.

*…but we do also run a Mini alongside, for urban trips and business miles etc.

I’ve just bought a Vito 115 Long Dualiner and am enjoying it so far, it swallows bikes and friends with ease. Quite nippy to drive and fairly relaxing too.

Having had various campers in the past we came to the conclusion that a kombi would be more useful all round – less weight and gubbins to lug round most of the time. We just unclip the seats when going camping, use an Alpkit double dozer to sleep on and a fantastic Decathlon inflatable awning that goes up in a couple of mins for living space.

If you convert it to a full camper then you can apply to have the classification changed so it becomes car speed limits. You need to send in photos of the completed vehicle showing the cooker, sink, bed and table (I think that’s all) and they need to be obviously permanently fitted.

Ah yes, good point. I was looking at the regs for “dual-use” vehicles, where a Kombi might just qualify (depending on weight). But if it is a motor caravan then it would be normal speed limits anyway. Still needs a rear window, so I guess it’s Kombi or a hacksaw !

Much of my commute is on the A96 (dual carriageway) so the lower limit could be a pain.

Depends on your insurer.

I’m going to buck the STW trend here…..I’m done with vans.
Ran a LWB MK7 Transit privately for 4 years, great for throwing some foam in the back and sleeping in on bike roadtrips but the negatives far outweighed it.

Car park barriers are an occasional nuseance
Can’t get into the council tip without a once a month permit,
Never ending battle with rust
Crime-broken into and an attempted theft whereas same address never had bother with any of our cars
Unreliable and expensive fuel/modern diesel systems (no petrol alternatives)
Absolute shite engineering/design (probably more applicable to Ford though rather than just being a van)
Excruciating uncomfortable (I’m 6’6″) and never found a seating position that didn’t give me major shoulder /lower neck pain.
Very limited insurance options unless camper converted.
Rubbish in winter – rear wheel drive, also salted roads=even more rust.

Have ditched the van and pinched our aged Volvo V70 back from the Mrs and I’m far happier.