Hi all.

I had a wicked weekend at Glyncorrwg and it struck me how useful it could be to have something like a bongo or similar (rather than cadging a lift and sleeping in a soaking wet tent..)

wondered if anyone runs one. Looking at getting an auto free top jobby for some upstairs bed action. Obviously a nice VW would be the way to go but funds dont allow!

We've got one- only had it 2 months, but we've just spent 3 weeks in France and Italy with it, so think I've a fair idea of the good and bad points.
Bad- it's shorter and narrower than a T4, fuel economy won't get over 30mpg on the motorway at 70mph, 22-24 around town, there's a fair bit of body roll and the free top version is 2.1m high so won't fit into most multistorey and height limited car parks.

Good – they're pretty reliable and well made, come with aircon, will sleep 4 at a pinch, have proper seats and belts in the rear, the size makes them easy to drive round town, and if you get the configuration with the back row of seats which split then bikes will fit in without removing the wheels, so plenty of room. Freetop lets you sleep inside with the bike downstairs as well. Seats are honestly more comfortable than our Mazda 6, though if you're over 6'3 you might run out of fore and aft adjustment. Will cruise at 80 but economy suffers.

We paid 3800 for a nice 'N' reg, 4WD and free top, waxoyled and rust free. Wife and kids think buying it's one of the best things we've ever done- we hardly use the other car at all now, and will probably sell it.

Bongofury is the main place to learn more (and most sensible place to buy one). It's very friendly, has loads of buying and running advice. There's a few mountainbikers post on there, normally some sort of a bike related thread going, and plenty of people will offer buying advice or look at vehicles for/with you etc.

had one 3 years now no probs at all passed all mots 1st time, 2wd is bit faster and better on fuel, air con is great in summer, bit juicy if you cane it, fits in normal parking space and spares are easy to get,

Another option- buy a Toyota HiAce van and partially convert?

We've had our Bongo about 2 1/2 months now, it's blummin' brilliant. It's very nice to drive, the upstairs bed is great for having somewhere to sleep without having to do lots of stuff rearranging or bed construction, it's big enough to use as a camper while being small enough to still fit in small spaces; it's exactly the same width as my old Focus was. I used mine at Mountain Mayhem and it was fantastic as a base to go biking from.

Prompted by Hora's constant "Hiace! Hiace! Hiace!" I had a nose at a converted Hiace at a campsite the other week; I much prefer our Bongo. The inside was very nice but a bit cramped – if the bed was up there was no room to do anything else, no-one makes a lifting roof for it and there was nowhere to attach an awning. A nice thing about the Bongo is that you can use it perfectly well without doing any kind of conversion at all until you decide exactly what kind of conversion you want; it strikes me that if you wanted to go down the convert-a-van-yourself route there would be better vehicles to do it with than a Hiace.

Another option- buy a Toyota HiAce van and partially convert?

and why would you do want to do that- what's the big advantage?

Had one for 4 years now. 4wd, freetop.

2 years ago we had it converted inside too with cupboards, fridge, burner, sink etc – you lose the middle seat position but can still keep the bench seat on rails & actually lose very little width.

Family holidays for the last 4 years, numerous weekends away & races – great.

had a 2wd freetop for a couple of years now and found it brilliant,mine was lowered so has stiffer suspension and therefore doesn't suffer from high winds and fits under 2m barriers.very reliable, will cruise at 90 all day long if you want and will surprise you with its power and acceleration.It will run on straight veg oil with no conversion-so when/if the price drops its a good option, luckily I bought a few thousand litres @56p/litre
If you drive it fast you wont get amazing consumption after all its 2 ton vehicle with a biggish engine not a small car,but I have got about 40 mpg when driving at a steady 65.Another option here is to increase the wheel size so the effective gearing is a bit higher- my next project
lots of genuine low mileage ones around I picked mine up for £3.5k with 60k miles, you could get 3 or 4 for the price of a similar vw with less powererful engine look on bongofury.com for lots of info

Prices have come down significantly in the last 4 years 😕