Time to change the company car…… I have a generous budget up to £40K. As I do 35Kpa+ it needs to be diesel and we buy our vehicles as leasing them with this mileage is not cost effective.

One route I’m looking at is swapping the car for a Kombi Van. Work are cool with it as long as I don’t moan after three months I don’t like it and want another car.

My concern is that the novelty of £600 a year tax will wear off, but the bonus is £600 tax, bike friendly and it will slow me down.. I drive fairly ‘sporty’ and seem to charge around the motorway network and i’m thinking a van would make me more MPG/license conscious…

I’m off to look at a Mercedes Vito Sport X at lunchtime, looks like a nice vehicle.

will I regret it?

depends – if you talk about riding more than you ride then its just an expensive giant trash can you tow about.

if you carry bikes most of the time your away on business then it makes serious sense.

i had one for a while but went back to a car as I got tired of driving an mostly empty, poor handling, thirsty brick.

great for weekends though.

Not driven any decent vans for a while now, but can’t imagine they are close enough to modern cars to want to drive 35k pa in one. Plus won’t the mpg be rubbish compared with car?

what he said. if you’re carrying stuff regularly and maybe struggle for space or want more convenience when you go riding etc then a van is a good option. if its just to slow you down, buy a slower car? just because you have a 40k limit doesn’t mean you have to spend it does it?

its clear you havnt dickyboy.

most vans these days are built to spend time on the road and are often ergonomically better than cars – they have to be as its an employers duty under HSE to meet this so most of the vans are basic as hell and uncomfy stigma items are gone.

my vans base spec and is much comfier to drive for 600 miles a day than any of my previous cars have been – ford/vauxhall/hyundai.

granted premium cars such as merc and bmw might be comfier but vans are not like they used to be

We’ve had a VW Caddy MaxiLife for six years now and I can’t imagine going back to roof or boot racks or major disassembly to put a bike inside an estate car. We considered Vitos and Transporters but they’re large vehicles to drive and park. The Caddy Maxi is no shorter but significantly narrower yet easily has enough space for 4 bikes and more luggage you could possibly need for 2 people even for a multi week Euro road trip with camping kit.

However, it’s not perfect. Compared to a car the seats are less comfortable (might not be the case in the Merc), fuel economy is (unsurprisingly) worse, it’s definitely noisier. Handling is fine as a driver but vans are designed to handle well with a tonne in the back so the suspension will almost certainly feel unrefined with only a few bikes or people (it really doesn’t like speed bumps).

I don’t see us replacing it any time soon but when we do it will be with something similar. However, we don’t commute by car or drive daily and we rarely go any distance without bikes. If I was doing 35k p.a. and only carrying bikes for 5 of that I might feel different – Volvo or Merc estate has always appealed (seats are fantastic).

Ford Transit Connect looks interesting but I never hear them mentioned on here.

I drive both. My transit is a good specced model and I do like to cane it on the country roads, however even on a 30 min motorway slog its no where near as comfortable as my car.
I know there’s a lot of haters on her but pickup type motor an option?
Going back to your thoughts on the van one of the sales reps at the big plastics firm we build for have the fancy Volkswagen sports td5 thingy. Speaking to him the other day and says he loves it…

one thing that can be lacking on vans is the sound proofing.

that isn’t to say that they have to be noisy, just the the higher levels of sound proofing that you get in cars is normally an optional extra on vans.

If you get a T5, try to get one with the ‘cab comfort pack’, it makes a big difference!

Dave

Was on the verge of getting a caddy but went for an estate instead, regret it really as in a year only had people in the back twice…

I may go for a partner with 3 seats in the front next time.

Bloke at work has a fancy T5, he’s had Merc’s and BM’s in the past…reckons it’s one of the most comfortable cars his driven.

We have an S-Max, I don’t really get too excited about it (Mainly used for carting the kids about), but I will say it is very comfortable.

Thans for the input guys.. Drove the van, must admit I was really impressed and liked it a lot. Th main reason for wanting it is purely the saving in company car tax. Having this over my next choice of car (5 series/E Class) will save me £200 a month, so it makes sense. This thing had everything a top of the range car has, plus auxiliary heating, electric sliding rear doors and a detachable tow bar too, handy for bike rack 8)

I already knew about comfort kit’s on vans but it seems that the official kombi vans by VW/Merc they put extra soundproofing in and on the motorway it was perfectly fine. No engine noise at all from the V6 3.0 Diesel and the auto box was very smooth, even if it only has 5 gears.. It did get over 30mpg but driven fairly spritely, so I need to convince myself I can not rag the backside off it and get it to 20mpg… If I do, I’m in bother as my BMW is averaging 48mpg and there’ll be hell to pay if the fuel bills double..

3.0v6 diesel auto in a van. I bet even the euro artificial test mpg isn’t much over 30. I reckon you’ll get 25mpg.

picton – the merc 3.0v6 is a very refined engine – you might be surprised.

whats the BHP tune on it geordie ? my parents had that engine in an Eclass AMG with 333BHP and it returned 40mpg mixed and near 50 on a run (dundee to manchester on cruise)- 25 spirited backroad driving though.

replaced it for an evouque – it is awful in comparison.

Refinement doesn’t come into it, my Magnum V8 5.7 was as refined as you like… 🙂

A van is very different to a car, lots more wind resistance and a few hundred kilos to get up to speed.

1st hit on google:

And now the sad part. Yes, those of us with a light foot could extract in excess of 30mpg with this deranged commercial, and in fact 34 mpg is distinctly possible when wearing a sensible head. The trouble is, the performance is just so addictive that should the mental effort required to restrain the right foot be somewhat lacking, fuel returns of under 20 mpg are distinctly possible. Emissions are also quite high at 229 g/km, but ignore them and just think of the human emissions – whoops of joy

Auto Trader review

It does sound nice though…

I’ve been using a Caddy as my main vehicle for about 4 months now and love it. It’s nippy, handles better than my Golf and fuel economy is 45-50mpg.

It’s a little bit noisier/draftier/colder than a car, but it’s comfortable enough and I plan to carpet line it in spring which will address a few of those issues.

I can easily get 4 complete bikes in the back and it’s just about big enough to get changed in if it’s lashing down.

The only downside is the lack of rear seats, but seeing as I never had the seats up in my car, I don’t think it’ll bother me. The Caddy Maxlife looks like a great solution to any issues you might have – I find Kombis/T5s far more rattly and “van-like” to drive.

I had one and did plenty of miles for work – a car is much nicer place to be. Pain to park on the street visiting customers, will only go under a 2m barrier not a 1.9m.

Also you’re restricted to 60on dual carriageway(non motorway) (Def) and 50 on ‘A’ roads (Poss) and plod will pull you on it.

On balance, if you can go for a cheaper(per month) car, thats where my money would go.

New V40 volvo D2 with low BIK…..

I’ve always had the smaller vans from work but I managed to convince the powers that be I should have a VW T5…I’ve been the proud user of my van for 6 months now. Lovely 102ps Highline model.

Yes the mpg is slightly worse (I pay for fuel out of my own pocket)
Yes they do drive more van like than a smaller van
Yes they are ever so slightly harder to park.

Will I change back, will I bugger!!!

As Trailrat says, the ergonomics of the cabin are far superior to most other vehicles I have driven.

One thing, make sure you get a ‘Captains Seat’. Its like being in an armchair for the journey!

“Also you’re restricted to 60on dual carriageway(non motorway) (Def) and 50 on ‘A’ roads (Poss) and plod will pull you on it.”

not in a factory Kombi.

Edit – unless your carrying company property/samples for commercial purposes in the back …. then its deemed to be a goods vehicle again and limited to the lower limits – in the same way a motorhome carrying the same goods would be……

real world – who would know 😉

What about outside the box? If you don’t have kids/other people to lug around but want a car/van what about a discovery commercial? It’s classed as a van so you get the benefits on the tax, the company can still class it as a van for their benefit and you get a nice comfortable motor that will swallow bikes easily.

The increased benefit to the business of running your vehicle as a van could also negate the extra cost of the fuel.

not in a factory Kombi.

‘fraid so clicky

Goods vehicle under 7.5tonnes….

Edit – unless your carrying company property/samples for commercial purposes in the back …. then its deemed to be a goods vehicle again and limited to the lower limits – in the same way a motorhome carrying the same goods would be……

real world – who would know

Doesn’t matter if its carrying ‘goods’ or not – RFL is classed as commercial. Unfortunately I have experience in this field :(, doesnt pay to try and weasle…

have you got a factory kombi ? look at what the v5 says .

youll be very unlucky(have an early t4iirc) if its classed as a goods vehicle.

It’ll be classed as goods vehicle as you want the BIK, if it gets classed as PLG you’ll pay the BIK for a 30mpg 2.5tonne car!… Private ownership may vary…

never thought of that – dont have a company car (thankfully as it means i dont have to have a modern car)

it has horrible emmissions as well …. yeah you definantly want it as a goods vehicle…..

Unfortunately you can’t have it both ways.

Go for it I say. I drive an Audi RS4 Avant as a daily drive but frequently hire VW T5’s for the business. Love driving them and they are very comfortable long distance.

I’m a speed freak but due to traffic conditions then opportunities to use the Audi to anywhere near it’s full potential are very limited on UK roads. Sometimes this is super frustrating. A T5 can easily be used to it’s full potential on every trip, (and normally quite legally) so could perhaps be considered a more fun drive.

A lot of the fun comes from it’s larger size, the fun of trying to squeeze it through tight spaces and of maintaining momentum through the corners more than makes up for a van’s lack of speed. It’s a different kind of fun. A higher driving position also means you’ll see more.

Despite frequent applications of a heavy right foot I’ve yet to see average MPG on one of our hired T5’s of less than 30mpg.

A lot of the fun comes from it’s larger size, the fun of trying to squeeze it through tight spaces and of maintaining momentum through the corners more than makes up for a van’s lack of speed. It’s a different kind of fun. A higher driving position also means you’ll see more.

Hence the reason I love driving my transit round the Derbyshire hills. It’s permanently on “parcel van” mode and I do enjoy driving. It’ was sitting bang on 30 mpg on the way home tonight…

Unfortunately you can’t have it both ways.

The only way you can have it both ways – have the seats for passengers in the back and get the BIK is with a ‘Dual Purpose Vehicle’ – one of the crew cab, 4×4 pickups. Has to be all three of those things to do that and those cars/trucks are designed specifically to slip through that gap.

The only way you can have it both ways – have the seats for passengers in the back and get the BIK is with a ‘Dual Purpose Vehicle’ – one of the crew cab, 4×4 pickups

I’d always wondered why those things seemed so popular. They seem to fail on all criteria – poor handling, small inside (especially in the back), wet luggage, bikes on the back exposed to the elements and not secure. Great for doing shuttle runs in the desert, not so great for shuttling up and down motorways.

This seems to suggest the Vito fits the category though –

We receive regular queries with regards to the Mercedes Vito, which if it fits the above is a DPV – does your vehicle fit the criteria for a Dual Purpose Vehicle?
http://www.sussexsaferroads.gov.uk/costs/safer-for-business-drivers-faqs/1047-is-my-van-a-goods-vehicle.html

I’d always wondered why those things seemed so popular. They seem to fail on all criteria – poor handling, small inside (especially in the back), wet luggage, bikes on the back exposed to the elements and not secure. Great for doing shuttle runs in the desert, not so great for shuttling up and down motorways.

The legislation is pretty much drawn on them – that panel gap between the cab and pickup bed – its a visual reference that the load space and the passenger space have to be separate volumes – so and L200 is a DPV but a rangerover isn’t- the other criteria is they need to be able to carry 1 ton – but once you have the second row of seat all the load space is behind the back axel – so if you have a ton of anything that you don’t mind getting wet or nicked then having in balanced out behind the back axel is ace – handles like a dream 🙂

The one bonus with them though is towing – a commercial vehicle can’t have a train-weight (vehicle and trailer combined) over 3.5ton without an operator licence – so something like a transit that can tow a couple of tons easily gets the driver tied up in red tape if you tow because the train weight puts you in HGV territory. For all the funny little loopholes exploited to get Dual Purpose vehicles recognised as commercials by the tax man – VOSA doesn’t class them as commercial so you can tow more weight without an O-Licence

This seems to suggest the Vito fits the category though –

Some might theres a limit on how much load space you can have proportional to the passenger space so the shortest/lightest vitos (they come in 3 lengths) might squeeze into the category – I don’t think any VW vans are short enough though.

The engine in the Vito Sport is the 224bhp engine from the previous generation eclass. Lots of torque though. I had an eclass with this engine and routinely got high 30’s or low 40’s on a run. It is a fairly refined engine so will proably cruise quite nicely. Although with the frontal area of a van you will probably get low thirties.

I run an e class estate and a t5 van(kombi)

The merc rarely goes out now – the van is used for everything – same size footprint as well, so parking ok.

It gets mid 30s in the summer, less in the winter so far….have done some good trips (Glasgow to Devon) with the kids, and they love it – much preferred to the merc by them.

It is noisier….but it’s great

I drive a Citroën Relay, and giving it a serious thrashing fully loaded I average 28 mpg.

Our smaller Transits and Vivaros all average over 30 being driven hard and fully loaded.

Try a used t5 caravelle – they drive like a car, but with the space of a van

and are often ergonomically better than cars

You must have driven some god-awful cars.

Or arguably some good vans. Dont like the lie down position many cars force me into just to not be looking through the roof/sun visor all the time – even in cars with height adjust. Anything sporty forget it . Took a lift in my mates elise once …. Me head sits 2 inches above the t bar 🙂

As i said driving from aberdeen to gap in france i arrived feeling as i left only stopping for fuel…. – where as in my cars just driving to wales had me crippled having to stop all the time to stretch.

Perhaps i should have said better ergonomicqlly for anyone not in the design brackets for most cars – so anyone over 5ft 11 really 😉