we’ve just gone through the whole process with your sort of budget.
I was leaning to the Transit Custom and getting it converted with seats, but with a half decent mileage and then adding on VAT and seats, it was looking more like £20k.
We ended up buying a T5, an ex mobility one, so it didn’t have VAT added. It’s SWB, three seat in front and a 2 and 1 in the back. We got ours with not that high mileage for a bit more than your budget.
Driving wise, the T5 seemed better to me than the Transit Custom – the T5 was just less van like seated. Depreciation protection made it an easier decision in case we don’t like having a van. Depreciation on the Transit Custom is a bit of an unknown/risk.
We’re getting used to it and working out what to do with the space – likely just leave 2 seats in the back most of the time, so room for bikes and kids and camping stuff.
The only real issue for me so far is multi storey car parks!