After something to replace my Seat Alhambra, which if frustrating as the choice is limited when you require three proper seats in the back.  Equally frustrating is finding something which won’t tax me to death as a company car. The Caddy Maxi Life is a strong favourite at the moment.   The Seat has just about the largest boot out there of a car based people carrier, but the Caddy boot is significantly bigger.

Equally frustrating is finding something which won’t tax me to death as a company car.

Go second hand

HTH

Touran is just too small for a full bike and narrower than the caddy for the three in the back seats… Get more space if the false floor in the boot is removed but this may be older models only…

Looking at our caddy, it has two sets of fittings for a removable bulkhead… Either behind the front seats or the second row or out all together.. If that’s an issue or preference for you…

Definitely take a look at some Jap imports, especially if you’re not planning on doing mega miles, 4 cylinder 2.4 petrol or 3.0 V6 petrol in the Toyota Alphard, Nissan Elgrand et al.  Japanese luxury MPV’s come fully loaded with all the toys that were available 10 years ago (a friends Jap Toyota has a better reversing camera in 2003 than most cars which feature this today).  Some of the toyota’s have the basically a Lexus engine and gearbox (well that’s what mate told me, I dunno) some of the Alphards are hybrids too.  Silly comfortable and absolutely massive if you take the seats out.  Can be had for £5k upwards

Yep, the V6 is as used in the Lexus RX300, the 2.4 was used in the Avensis, Camry, RAV4 and plenty of others.

I’m planning to import a Honda Stepwagon next year

Let us know how it goes. The Stepwagon & Serena are on my list to replace the Civic.

Erring towards the Serena as the seats fold properly flat (for camping) in all the models whereas in the Stepwagon the newer shapes (the 2006ish onwards) don’t.

Definitely report back on the process and ownership experience.  I’ve been looking with interest at these luxurious looking Jap-Vans.  They look like they have the potential to make a great bike and travel wagon

My thinking exactly. Fuel consumption is a bit of an issue for me but it would not see hugely regular usage and the initial outlay for a decent condition, nicely driving car is that much lower I’ll never break even buying one of the better driving vans.

do they really offer much over an i800 or galaxy clone? £5k for a 15 year old van with 100k miles doesn’t appear to be great value

Quick question, which insurance covers your bike if it get knicked out of one of these car vans (ones with windows?

My bike (home) insurance told me it was covered from getting knicked off my roof rack but not from inside the car. Aparently i would also be covered from inside a van too as you can’t see inside.

So would you be covered from your car insurance?

Insurance answer- if locked to a fixing then insured in vehicle. ( M + S )

Weve just bought a nv200 a couple of weeks ago, wanted a low mileage van derived 7seater for use as a shop van and 6passenger private hire vehicle (I put a thread on here some where).

I looked at pretty much every alternative, but settled on the nv200 as it’s got the best fuel economy and scores pretty high on the reliability stakes.  An equivalent Vw caddy life was 3<4k more, only 1 7 ford in the country and everything else was either French or just miles away from me. I also took a test drive in a lwb Mercedes-Benz CITAN, although not the 7 seat version but this looked horrid and wasnt the best for passengers.

The cabin is more plasticy than a ‘car’ as is the passenger area, with much more metal work on show. But the ride is good, turning circle is excellent and it’s a little narrower than others so ideal for country lanes and town centre runs. The two rear seats don’t fold down to the floor, rather to the side so they get in the way of boot space, but provide really good 6th and 7th seats – with more room and in a safer possition than car based 7seaters. Boot space with the extra seats in place is OK, but all vertical so you’d need to stack cases. Put the seats away and boot space is huge. Split 2nd row allows 2 fully built bikes and 3 passengers + room for another bike with wheels off.

Did a motor way run with the computer says I averaged 50mpg, which is better than the quashqai I used to have. General driving about is mid 30’s.

Bad points on the spec is the audio system, this is a 2016 version and It come with basic fm radio, no sat nav or dab. It does have cruise control and speed limiter curtain airbags in the front and a rear view camera for reversing.

Waiting for LWB new berlingo’s next year over here.

do they really offer much over an i800 or galaxy clone? £5k for a 15 year old van with 100k miles doesn’t appear to be great value

You can get much lower mileage examples than that at the age and price (at least with the Stepwagon). Though with the week pound they aren’t as good deals as they used to be.

That said, you get better build, better spec and better driving vehicles. Much more car like. They are also much smaller than the i800 which is just way too big for my needs.

There’s not really anything comparable on the UK market.

Yep, the i800 is pretty big and I think the seats are all fixed. Plus very much van based, even though they don’t sell a commercial one here.

What appeals to me about the jap MPVs is that the seats slide back and forth so you can have lots of legroom or lots of boot space or something in between. Plus the rearmost row usually flips up sideways so you get the height (ideal for bikes) but don’t have to remove the seats and find somewhere to store them. Then they usually go (fairly) flat for occasional camper use.

That and they’re all petrol automatics which is what I want these days. Japan wisely moved away from diesel because of city air pollution controls that started nearly 20 years ago.