Will be used by a family of four, maybe 3-4 times a year in the UK. looking to spend 2-3K, I am helping them buy, and will be servicing it when they get it. So what would you look for? I was thinking a Transit conversion or maybe a Peugeot as I don’t think you get much VW/Mercedes for £3K..

looking to spend 2-3K

Good luck with that. Have you any idea the cost of these things?

for that hire one when needed. A pal of mine bought one recently and he couldn’t find anything not clapped out rubbish for less than 3 times that.

Hiring them is not hugely expensive for a week or two a year – remembering thats your total cost including insurance and repairs and you get a nice shiny newish one.

There are some around at that price but they are sheds.

Would a Mazda Bongo do? You wont get a camper converted one for that, but they come with a pop-up roof and there are add-on sink/cooker/fridge units that you can get for a few hundred (they replace one of the rear seats). Might do the job.

Bongo would be fine and have seen a few in the price range. I have seen a load of campers for under £3K probably not Gucci enough for you guys though. I am prepared to get it up and running and through an MOT maybe you would discount one that was an MOT failure?

Bongo would be fine

mpg is shocking though. older vws will be available for that money. friend of mine has a v. old LT35 based van and that is nice, if dated.

In oue student days we picked up a Transit for £300. Bought as a minbus, took a couple of weeks to convert. Driven all the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France.

Better off doing a DIY conversion of a decent van than patching up an MOT failure IMHO. Much better return for your effort.

I have just bought a VW T4 for six and a half grand and looking around that would seem to be a bargain .

soma – its not just the van – its also all the interior fittings – they get worn tatty and broken. more than half the value of the van is the interior fittings IIRC

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2001-Y-FORD-TRANSIT-DIESEL-SEMI-HIGH-ROOF-CAMPER-VAN-/220807362389?pt=UK_Campers_Caravans_Motorhomes&hash=item336924f755

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Transit-Camper-van-/180693424753?pt=UK_Campers_Caravans_Motorhomes&hash=item2a122ada71

Are Transit campers of that age any less prone to rust than regular Transits? I had a 1998 Trannie & it was a rust bucket. Just didn’t seem to have been constructed with any kind of longevity in mind.

I’d rather camp than take my family out in the kind of van you’d get for that price tbh. 4 people in a bongo?

Why not get a caravayn? For three grand you can get something half decent, and you aren’t then lumbered with another load of insurance, tax and that.

And look, you won’t even need a car to pull one:

And you’ll have the added bonus of peeing off all the selfish inconsiderate speed merchants on the roads. In fact I am going to learn to drive, and buy a car and caravayn just for that very purpose. 🙂

for a ready converted van, you’re talking silly money (much more than your budget). Buy a SWB van for about £1500-2000 and spend the rest on converting it yourself.

You can buy a van for £3k but at that price your not going to get anything which lasts. Use it for a season hope it doesn’t go wrong and sell it on again to another mug. Anything anywhere near that price which is any good the owner won’t sell.

Your looking at £8-9k starting price for a good reliable motorhome and then it will still be about 15 years old.

I wonder what happened to that bloke on the bike when he had to brake? 🙂

+1 for caravan tho, you’d get a much much better place to be for £3k. And stacks more room too.

I am happy to convert but I still think they can get something for £3K I will see if they can stretch but the 2 Bullheart posted was the kind of thing that I thought they could get.

I am happy to convert but I still think they can get something for £3K I will see if they can stretch but the 2 Bullheart posted was the kind of thing that I thought they could get.

They’re both only 2 berth and don’t have seatbelts in the back, not much use for a family of four.

I am happy to convert but I still think they can get something for £3K I will see if they can stretch but the 2 Bullheart posted was the kind of thing that I thought they could get.

First one doesn’t seem to bad but you’d have to fit a leisure battery system to it and as above not 4 berth but could use a pup tent. The second one you can tell from the pictures is a complete dog.

seatbelts is one of the issues with home conversions – fitting seatbelts and seats that meet construction and use regs in the back is tricky and expensive.

For that money I’d be looking for an unconverted Bongo with an Auto Freetop (electric elevating roof). They sleep 2 adults on the folded down rear seats and 2 kids in the roof and with an awning on the side they give you plenty of room.

We looked at loads of other vans and kept coming back to Bongos and eventually bought one. I use mine during the week to commute as well.

seatbelts is one of the issues with home conversions – fitting seatbelts and seats that meet construction and use regs in the back is tricky and expensive.

Not if you can weld and no the regs.

I love Bongos and the Ford version, if I can find one in OK condition it will be ideal but I am keeping my options open.

do your own conversion then soma.

I think the ones another mate of mine uses are nearly a grand to get a seat with seatbelts that converts into bed that meets regs fitted. A heater is around a grand, cookers and fridges add up.

Yet another pal with one bought a van and then a caravan that had got a rotten chassis cheap and used the bits from the caravan to convert his van. still not cheap by the time you add insulation and all that to the van

Self building is an expensive and time consuming job. There are a lot of hidden costs. Whatever you think it’s going to cost treble it and however long you think it’s going to take treble it.

The quality companies that convert vans into motorhomes start from around £14k without the cost of the van and it takes 3 months plus. Before I started doing my own I couldn’t understand the cost or time scale involved, funnily enough I do now!

i have to agree with alot on here. your not going to get much for that money. i have a vw bay window camper that is just about big enough for 2 and a dog. but i do have a huge drive away awning that has 2 double bedrooms in it and space for sitting eating etc…
4 people in a camper is tight, only thing big enough maybe a t25 viking with the bunks in the roof space.
you will get a bongo for that money and even tho im a vw nut they are excellent value……but tiny!!! you will need an awning to go with it.

ahem, here’s a shed with some nice fittings in it if anyone is thinking of going down the conversion/fixer upper route.

I wish I had the time, space and spare cash to keep it going 🙁

If anyone fancies doing a conversion, you could rob my old caravan for bits if you like. Water heater, air heater, sinks, plumbing, leisure battery, cartridge toilet, cushions, cupboards and so on…

Bongos are ace because you don’t have to convert it to make it something you can camp in – we had big plans for ours but haven’t bothered doing anything other than making some curtains for the front and back windows (the sides have built in blinds!) in the end, and we’ve had loads of weekends and a few week long trips in ours. Sleep downstairs on the folded seats or upstairs, use the folded middle seat as a table, jobs a goodun…

As mentioned above the only real downside is they only do about 30mpg, but loads of 4x4s do less than that anyway so it’s not /that/ bad…

Mines 4×4 and averages 25mpg.
Was great last weekend at the Weekender, drove up the gravel track to Lee Quarry and through the mud onto the campsite with no spinning wheels.

would you really try to sleep a family of 4 in a bongo for a few weeks a year?

Yes. My kids love sleeping in ours.

I know people who do, although only with young kids; adults sleeping downstairs, kids in the roof. Older kids you would be falling over each other, ’tis true! You would definitely need an awning, as you’d need a lot more living space than just the van.

The Bongo is ok for the 4-person sleeping part, but trying to store all your stuff in the van alongside the sleepers is tricky. There’s space, but it’s not the easiest. Child car seats become a particular PITA.

The standard seats aren’t that flat either, so need a thick mattress to make it good.

But on the plus side. Comes insulated and with blinds and a fantastic quality pop-up roof as standard. Curtains come on most from Japan too. 4WD is pretty handy in muddy fields. Great normal car (mpg aside – mine gets 28). Fits whole bikes in. Seats 8. Simple cooker/sink/fridge units are cheap and easy to come by.

I’ll be honest, as a family of 4, we tend to use the tent instead unless it’s just for 1 night.