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I'm using a SWB Caddy as my only transport at the moment, always had hatchback cars previously. Thinking was that it'd be ideal for moving the bike without removing wheels and getting a car dirty, and for shooting now in the winter handy for all the kit and dog etc.
Haven't ridden my bike since I've had it (6 weeks or more) and been shooting 3 times.........
It is bloody handy, but to be honest I'm already lusting after a car again a bit. Mine is the C20 104, so the more powerful of the standard options, 2009 1.9 TDI. Things might change when I get around to doing some sound proofing/insulation/tarting up internally.
I do about 20k miles a year on rural A and B roads travelling between building sites mostly, with quite a lot of farm tracks etc. Van is much nicer for those than a car, and ground clearance is good on the Caddy. My journeys are generally 1/2 hour or less, if I was doing longer journeys regularly I'd want something more refined i think.
Thing to watch with a Caddy, and bigger vans (that aren't classed as car-derived or dual-purpose) is that lower speed limits apply, 50mph on single carraigeway, and 60mph on dual.
So costs are more; you might think unmanageably so or immaterial. I think somewhere in the middle.
I came to this point.
So bought the Galaxy.
So far I've found the additional costs of running the van over my SMax to be marginal. It's a camper so not sure if this makes a difference. My insurance transferred over from the SMax for nothing but a minor admin fee, so insurance cost negligible - and that was for the usual full on camper insurance cover including UK and Europewide breakdown and recovery cover via Green Flag.
Fuel is not that much more. A fill up is about the same as the SMax, around 65 litres if I run the tank right down to the reserve, and for the same fill I'm getting maybe 20 - 30 miles less out of a full tank than I was getting with the SMax - so about 470miles per tank instead of 500 miles per tank. On a long uninterrupted motorway run in the SMax I could eek out 600 miles, so not done that in the van yet.
So more on fuel but not that much more.
Not serviced it yet but no reason at all why it should cost more to service than a Golf/Audi/Seat/Skoda with the same engine.
Sure the van is not quite as insulated as a car, it's a bit nosier, rattlier, but that is not bothering me - its more refined than a lot of cars I've had in the past. Maybe earlier versions of the Transporter were more raw than my T5.5 Highline.
Like most things you just need to decide where you're prepared to make your compromises. I was happy to sacrifice a bit of refinement for the practicality and fun factor of the van. Dismantling bikes and squeezing dirty bikes in the back of cars trying not to damage or dirty the interior is far more of a ballache to me.
thanks for the info - I think a problem is that i'm just over 6'5", so the seat is all the way back and down.
We did a 3 week tour of Spain&France the other year and I never found a comfy position despite trying a different seat position every day.
Slamming the seat in our work Expert makes no difference to how uncomfortable it is. It is particularly bad for it - Transporters and Vivaro/Trafics aren't as bad, but aren't great.
Parking and so on isn't a problem, if anything it's easier because of the massive mirrors.
My T5 is no less economical to run, no less comfortable and not really much more hassle to park as I don't often go into a multi-storey. Insurance is cheaper and my daughter likes it that all three of us can ride up front.
I'd not swap it for a car now. I must note mine isn't a fancy leather lined example. 😉