Anyone running a proper big van?

A lot of van talk on here this week so I thought I’d share my own thoughts.

I love my current van but it’s not big enough to do a proper camper conversion and keep two or three bikes on the inside. When Mrs. Sharkattack gets a car I want to upgrade to something with a high roof and a much longer wheelbase. We only use it for actual trips away so not too bothered about around town manoeuvrability. Comfy long distance cruising is much more important. But saying that, the LWB Sprinter looks enormous and I’d probably get something a little shorter.

I want enough room to have a bike compartment at the back with a double bed above it and a living space in the mid section. It’s a pretty common layout.

Anyone driving anything like this and want to share experiences? Pics welcomed!

Have a LWB Trafic crew – brilliant for everything I’ve thrown at it.
Enough rear room to comfortably sleep in, 6 bikes once with kit and 6 bodies, only reason I’m changing is to downsize now as it’s too big.

I’d love to see some pics too. OH and I would love to be able to get something converted or buy something so we cna just suddenly disappear.

I have a LWB Boxer 2.8 HDi camper conversion. It’s good to drive, economical and massive (and wider than most vans,making sleeping crossways in comfort possible)

I’ve got a Iveco Daily mwb which is equivalent in length to most other jumbo/xlwb vans. Its 6 metres long but a huge overhang, short wheelbase and very good lock so it can do a tighter U turn than a car (as long as you remember the overhang will sweep up all the pedestrians as it swings over the curb!)

+ points

Cheap
Reliable
Basic 2.3L is fairly nippy
Fantastic seats
Geared for cruising
Last the distance, I know of a guy with over a million miles on his, and there are loads over 250k. Not to say you won’t find a low one, mine had about 50k when I bought it at five years old.

– points

Fairly hard ride and handles like I imagine a tractor would
Many vans get a hard life, look at condition over service history/mileage.

ivecoforums.com

In its current layout it has belts for 4 (5 with a double seat) and a double bed with bikes under, a bog, gas air and water heating, lpg tank, gas oven, and hosepipe on the back.

The Sprinters have been bested by the VW Crafters now in my opinion – lovely vans. That’s not to say the Sprinters are bad though – far from it.

An old Mercedes Vario would make a great candidate for a conversion – tough as old boots, but a very old design with regards to driving position and ergonomics. Regardless of that I like them.

The Iveco Daily is fragile, particularly in the electronics department but has improved year on year, so the newer the better. They do have one major plus point though – they are cheap!

Edit – forgot to say, can’t go too far wrong with a Transit – my favourite van to actually drive – especially the RWD models.

If I was doing it again I would prob sacrifice the gas oven for a smaller 3 ring hob and sink drainer for a small sink and make the kitchen more compact. Its great being able to cook ready meals, pizza and garlic bread but we could easily get by on just the hob.

I want enough room to have a bike compartment at the back with a double bed above it and a living space in the mid section. It’s a pretty common layout.

Get your tape measure out

LWB Spinter / Transit jumbo is 4m long – from the doors to the back of the drivers seat. Unless you’re short then sleeping across the width of the van is out, so allow 1.8 to 2m for your bed, that leaves 2 or 2.2m change for everything else

MWB sprinter / tranny is about 3m

LWB vivaro is only 2.8m and the roof is low

SWB transit or sprinter is 2.4m

At the biggest size you’ll probably have more sprinters to choose from than anything else. They’re less complicated, and better bolted together than trannys. Mines 12 years old / 320,000miles and still happy

The Iveco is anything but fragile, its built on a ladder chassis and is a real porker 🙂 Its commonly referred to as a scaled down truck whilst all other vans are big cars!

Electrics rarely give problems unless there has been a rodent issue, other gremlins with ECU sensors etc are no worse than other vehicles, the only sticking point is the OBD connector is non-standard which means obtaining fault codes is less easy. (so say the majority of the 9000 Daily owners on my forum!)

PS Iveco is 5’10” across with a mid height bed, I’ve eeked it out to 6′ on my half of the bed by tapering in the ply between the wall struts, the struts on the mwb prevent the whole bed being 6′ so I never swap sides with the wife 🙂

Ducato/Ralay is the class leader for sideways beds…really wide vans

For camping duties you might want to look at the boxer / ducato or the renault master (or whatever the vauxhall version is)

For harder work people might choose others but because you’re talking about fairly occasional use and spending more time parked than driving they’re wider, and have have a lower floor (as they’re FWD). If you can find one a luton on a Master chassis is good – giving a bit, straight sided space, but being able to step straight in as the floor is lower than a regular panel van. Rare to find though

The Iveco is anything but fragile

We’ll agree to disagree on that. It wasn’t a throw away comment from me, I ran 15 of them from 2009 to 2012. I’m not saying they are horrendous though – they were good enough for the job, hence I now have another 15.

I have a MWB Iveco conversion, that I’m reluctantly selling due to imminent arrival of child number two. It was built as a ‘keeper’ but life and plans change. Not exactly your requested layout, but does have space to store 3 or 4 bikes with front wheels removed, and a 6ft bed across the van. Let me know if you want pics / details.

Fair enough 🙂 I suppose on a fleet any common problems become more obvious.

They are not for most people though, high floors, hard ride reduce appeal but the towing capability is unrivalled.

Vw t5 lwb mid top. 5.4 metres long and 2.2 metres high I think.

Big enough to live in and still able to drive anywhere (within reason)

My wife drives a polo and its amazing how similar they feel to drive.

My bikes stay on the tow bar.

Best bike van i saw was in a vw crafter, had a permanent fixed raised bed at the back with a solid box. This was accessed from outside where he stored all the bikes, kit and clothes.

It had a shower, toilet and kitchen but they were all average height and able to sleep sideways.

Hold the phone!

I WANT THIS!

Found some pics I had on photobucket if you’re interested…

Iveco Camper

Had T4s & T5s now have a MWB LT35 and absolutely love it.

It is big, but not that big and the extra space over a new transporter is really noticable, especially when away for weeks at a time.

Set up similar to Spookys so have 3 seats in front, two mini bus seats in the rear with a kitchen down the side, then a single bed across the back with a boot under where my daughter sleeps.

Seats fold down to a kingsize bed, have a fridge, two burner hob and sink. Also have a bunk in that goes in the cab if we have a sleep over!

Don’t drive it every day which is key i think

How old a vehicle are you looking at, ie what’s the budget?

I’d say avoid any older TDCI Transits, they are a total pain in the arse!

The TDDI earlier vans upto 2004 are much much better.

Older Sprinters are lovely vans, very wallowy but great vans.

Iveco Dailys are good one driver vans, all these are rear wheel drive and as such are going to be at least 10% worse on fuel than the front wheel drive vans like..

Master/Movano/Interstar

Or

Relay/Ducato/Boxer.

I’ve driven over a million miles between Sprinter, Transit, Master and now a Relay. If I were running a van privately I’d go front wheel drive, my new Relay averages over 30 MPG, My last transit did 350 miles to 72Lt, this new Relay does 520 on 76Lt!

The Width of the Relay is massive 6″ wider than my old Transit. The Engine is the same as the Freelander/Jaguar XF.

Got a T5 that i converted myself so i can take my bike camping as well.
Photo taken in the Pyrenees last year.

If i had the money i wouldn’t mind one of these 🙂

I had a lwb high top Ducato (1999) it worked ok for 2, but was never quite big enough when we had the 2 kids.
I used it off occasional trips to the airport etc. I wasn’t sad to see the back of it in the end. It was a compromise for everything and not really good at anything.
Prefer my double cab pickup and caravan now.

Finish the interior like this:

Cheers gents, loads of good suggestions. Love that plush interior!

I do really like the look of Sprinters so I’m definitely going to test drive a few but I like the idea of front wheel drive. Lower floors and more interior space without being higher. I remember I drove a Movano years ago and really liked it at the time, I’ll have to refresh my memory.

As for budget, I’m thinking ten grand max. Hopefully I can sell my T5 for that then get a lass fashionable van for about 6-7000 and kit it out with the change. DIY of course.

Our only vehicle is a medium wheelbase high top Sprinter van. It sleeps a family of 4 with 2 bunks accross the back and a rock n roll bed in the middle facing forwards. Bulkhead removed and 2 captain seats up front.

If you haven’t got to accomodate 2 kids then you could easily fit bike storage at very rear and just have them upright to save space.

Its 311cdi and gets 33mpg if I am nice to it.

The modern Boxer vans and variants are quite a bit wider – which is handy for the interior but if you go down lots of tiny lanes and mountain passess is not so handy.

My LWB traffic, nine seater. Im sure you could get a campervan conversion. Really nimble on mountain roads for the size, 125hp good for big hills and the open road. I can fit 9 plus six bikes inside, so big interior. The last 3 bikes go on the towbar rack.

I’ve had a number of converted vans over the last few years, often referred to as race vans (search for race in the camper section on ebay for some ideas) and you need to have a think about what you want in the living area to really dettermine how big a van you need.
If you get a lwb sprinter or crafter (same van built in the same factory with minor trim changes and different engine) or an iveco you have enough room for a living area. At your budget you’ll not be getting a shower in the van and without a bathroom there is much more room. Movano/master van are worth looking at and are fwd.
I agree with the comments about Iveco reliability my tame mechanic does fleet work for the supermarkets and the iveco vans have lots more problems than the sprinters.

@spooky_b329 where did the windows in your van come from? Would love to build something almost identical to what you have. (Hints and tips welcome)

My motorhome is on a LWB Transit chassis and I’ve been impressed but it. Much nicer to drive than the Fiat based one we had before, and surprising quick with the 2.4TDi and a 6-speed box.

First purchase after my Euromillions jackpot win

http://www.volkner-mobil.com/Reisemo/Bus/PictBus/Pictbus.html

Gearfreak, they are Seitz windows, double glazed with integrated flyscreens and blackout blinds. But three of them with two Mini Heki rooflights adds up to a scary amount of money.

Next time I would go for a very neat solution I’ve seen, you get a double glazing firm to build you windows using the slimmer frames (I can’t remember if they are sash profile or similar) and even with toughened glass they work out much cheaper. You can make an opener using two sliding glazing units. There is quite a bit about it on sbmcc.co.uk but I’ve let my membership lapse.