The latest PHEV Transit Custom looks OK - 2.5l petrol with hybrid assist kicking out 230bhp, or 30 miles or so on leccy. OK on long journeys, you aren't going to return much better than the diesel van, but it's cleaner and no wet belt. The interiors are ok too and prices don't seem horrific at circa £35k for the specced up 'Sport' model. Crew cabs are a bit more
£35k? Cheapest I can see on Autotrader is £41k for a 2nd hand boggo spec
We priced up a new Transit Custom Double cab LWB and it was going to be about £38k. So I’m sure with some shopping around and haggling you could easily get a few thousand off that.
New Transits start at £41k OTR. The price of the Sport PHEV is £52k
£35k? Cheapest I can see on Autotrader is £41k for a 2nd hand boggo spec
Apologies, I always ignore the VAT
@sharkattack - I’ve just got an Octavia VRs 245 and I’m equally happy with it. Do you have a picture of your tow bar set up?
sorry to derail op - I was looking at vans too and decided the compromises weren’t worth it for us.
Large estate car with a tow bar rack would be where I'd go for a family vehicle. Different usage case than van life.
We've a 2018 Ford Grand Tourneo Connect, which for us, is a good compromise.
It takes 3 29er bikes, 3 adults, bike gear and camping gear for a weekend, all inside (front wheels off)
It *might take a family of 4 plus bikes inside eg for a day trip, with 1 middle row and 1 rear seat up (not actually tried this), but there would be little room for anything else.
Family of 4 holiday for a few days, including 1 bike inside the car.
Family of 4/5 (eldest daughter usually brings a friend) camping holiday (not packing light), including SUPs/inflatable kayak/wetsuits/guitar etc etc ... Bikes on the roof though.
It would work well enough for a solo overnighter for bike/gear and to sleep inside eg on an airbed.
It drives and feels enough like a car, and has enough of the carrying capacity of a van to be a good option for us.
It's great when bikes can travel inside, out of view - and gives much peace of mind. But if you're a family of 4 regularly travelling together with 4 bikes, it might not be quite big enough to have them all inside plus gear. And it's quite tall (you'll likely need a set of steps) to load bikes onto the roof.
I know the bars on the Octavia are 118cm. Whether that’s long enough to fit 4 carriers (Thule 598) or it would take longer bars I’m not sure?
You can fit 4 carriers on an Octavia roof rack, because mine has 4 - but I've never used more than 2 at once.
Pop me a message if you want a couple more carriers for cheap 🙂
We've had our Transporter for nearly 11 years now - never kept a vehicle for more than 3 before that which I think probably says quite a lot about what we think about it. Biking, fishing, camping, long holidays down to the SW etc - open the doors, don't need to think about packing and lob whatever you want in. Is it like that old line that gets spun out when people are trying to big up their vans "it drives like a car"? No, absolutely not. It drives like a van but that said, with it lined, sound deadened, carpeted etc its not an uncomfortable place to spend 6 or 7 hours on a motorway. I love driving it and for us as a family its mega, mega useful.
On the other hand, we've also got a large(ish) estate on the driveway. Think I've used it for biking (just me with 1 bike!) once in 3 years of having it. Easier to live with day to day of course and is far nicer to drive, has loads of toys etc.
Not sure what the answer is OP. Maybe its to buy a van and a car 🙂
EDIT: that said, I went in a new'ish BMW X5 taxi the other day. Hate big, posh SUVs with a passion but it was absolutely huge and a lovely place to sit. Might get one of them next...
You can fit 4 carriers on an Octavia roof rack, because mine has 4 - but I've never used more than 2 at once.
There's a local MTBer here with roofbars quite a bit wider than normal - they modified them to allow wider bars to fit. Still (just) narrower than the wing mirrors, but I know I'd be forever hitting my head on them entering and exiting the car if it was me.
Another alternative: two sets of roofbars on the same roof rails (assuming an estate car with roof rails), i.e. 4 cross bars rather than 2. Bike carriers then attach in staggered style with carriers 1 and 3 on one set of bars, and 2 and 4 on the other. Quite a convoluted way to avoid bars clashing when carrying 4 bikes when the simple way would be to top n tail them, but an option all the same.
Datapoint 1: You can get 4 Thule 591 on a Ford Focus Estate or Renault Kadjar. Spacing both fore and aft takes a bit of puzzling. Take photos so you remember. I think when the bikes got too big one of the middle bikes ended up having to have its handlebars turned 90deg.
Datapoint 2: I now have a Transporter 6.1 LWB but it's a nice camper conversion so I don't tend to put bikes inside. Plus if I'm sleeping/cooking/relaxing in it, it's just easier to have them on a rack on the outside. However it's soooooooo nice just to be able to sling a load of kit in without much though to packing.
Datapoint 3: Thule Velospace XT is a very nice piece of kit if you have a towball and associated electrics. Just be careful of bikes with wide bars (750mm+) in the inside position. The bar end caps will be very close to the rear of the van (this is likely not an issue for cars). I have rubber ends on my grips but still rotate the bars for long journeys or where I know there will be rough potholey roads/speed bumps and I have bike in the closest position.
I dearly hope to never have to go back to towbar rack jenga again.
My ex has the latest version of the thule 3 bike rack and everything just slots in now, it's apparently spaced for bigger tyres and e-bike/enduro sized bikes. Only (slight) issue is her partner is riding the biggest, longest bike i've seen in years, so it doesn't *quite* fit perfectly, needs to be nudged to get it in the middle. It's also too long to go on a standard roofrack (so he has a longer carrier for his car.) The previous rack (that was stolen) was very much bike jenga.
FWIW i had two set ups in the back of my van, one with the bikes on some ancient, carved up bike racks bolted to a frame on the floor. Could slide the whole thing in and out with a bit of effort, but the bikes went in whole, and then i strapped the rack to the floor.
Then for camping i built a false floor and space to slide storage boxes in underneath. That required removing the front wheels and i bought 4 of the roof rack fork mounts and bolted them to the false floor. The wheels went down the side in bags.
I was going to make a two bike version of the floor rack so we could use more seats, or free up space in the middle of the van (take out the middle row seats, not the back row), but we sold the van and then got divorced.
Oh, i can also get 4 bikes on the roof of a v60. Think they were 120cm aero bars and Thule 598 racks run in alternate directions.
@sharkattack - I’ve just got an Octavia VRs 245 and I’m equally happy with it. Do you have a picture of your tow bar set up?
This is ours. I cried a little when I started researching them and found out how much they cost. But, it's the perfect for our needs so I went for a decent one that's wired in properly and doesn't make the reversing sensors go mad.
It takes literally less than 5 seconds to fit or remove the tow ball and the plug swings up behind the bumper. The whole lot is totally invisible when it's not fitted and goes in a pouch in the wheel well.
I cried a little when I started researching them and found out how much they cost.
I've been through the crying/putting it off cycle for several years. Now at the point I really don't want to invest the money on a relatively old car (2014 VRS 220), but also reached the stage where the kids bikes are beyond the 'one can fit in the boot' stage, and not convinced I can get 4 on the roof (need to check). How much did it cost you out of interest? I've just done a couple of online quotes and got ~£900 from PF Jones and ~£800 from a local place (detachable, 'proper' electronics). I once asked a dealer for a laugh - not sure they gave me a number, but they wanted to fit upgraded oil cooler etc 🤣
Yeah that's true actually because if you spec a factory towbar on a new car it comes with a larger intercooler in case you're towing a caravan up the Alps in a heatwave.
Lord knows why they need to include it as a package if you go back for just a towbar.
I can't remember the exact price of ours but it was over £800 and took 2 blokes a few hours to install. One at the back cutting chunks out of the undertray and one in the passenger footwell doing the wiring.
I just had a look to see what decent combi vans are for sale locally between 20 and 30k and it's all the same ones that were for sale when I last looked about 3 months ago.
Thanks at @sharkattack. Think we even got the same colour (but there are 2 reds so maybe not)!
Might be a bit pricey for me right now at that, good to know though, thank you.