Van mpv search – very specific criteria!

7 seats including 1 single seat

3 across the front

Single seat removable _

___________

Lwb

___________

Up and over rear door

___________

Caz compliant

____________

Does this van exist??

I think you’re mainly going to be looking at Vito/viano, w447 model which is Euro 6.

Up and over rear door is a popular choice on the mercs.

The front seats and the middle seats no problem but you’ll need to be looking for a model with full length seat rails which was an option, so they you can have a single seat on the third row.

Peugeot/Citroen/Toyota. Business comes in 3 up front (and two rows of rears). Higher end models (8  seater) two up front, and two rows of 1 & 2 seats, all individually removeable.  I’m looking for the Business VIP model next year, 2 front, then four independant seats in rear (just 6).

@fossy space cruiser?

Peugeot Traveller

Citroen Space Tourer

Toyota Pro Ace Verso

Vauxhall Vivaro Life.

All the same vans, slightly different configs.

I’m after something for two of us, but will carry two bikes, sUP and the tent, but also be something that’s a day van, somewhere to sit comfortably with say bike/swimming gear in back and space to get changed. That rules out cars as such. Don’t want a camper as have a nice tent, can easily make a boot jump for it if needed.

Transit custom with a cotrim conversion.

VW Transporter kombi with a single seat added in a third row location.

3 upfront 7 seats is going to be the difficulty, as long as you are happy with more then you’re more likely to get either 3 rows of 3 or 2 rows of 3 and a 2.

Removing seats can be a PITA, heavy and bulky.

Hyundai i800 I think covers your requirements

Ford custom toureno seems to do that, tho it’s 8 seats if that matters (all the seats in the back can be removed separately in the titanium and up specs so take one out!)

Oddball Japanese import like Toyota Alphard etc…?

Word of caution

Insurance companies don’t like 7 seats. Fine up to 6, but 7 seems to be an issue

I can do 6 seats that’s not a problem. It’s to accommodate 2 adults, 2 boys of 3 and 5 and sister of 14. Need space between them!  Currently got 3 and 3 seats but with car/booster seats in it makes the middle back seat useless and she’s getting too big for middle front as no leg room.

Day to day need to be able to put customers bikes in the back with minimal hassle and also have some tern gsd’s that I pick up/drop off so need loooooong space. Currently I do a 3/2 config at the back and remove the single seat when need be.

5 seats over 3 rows would be perfect!!

Insurance companies don’t like 7 seats. Fine up to 6, but 7 seems to be an issue

Eh?

If you need space, most will do one, two or three in last two rows – just remove a single or double. Lower spec models have a bench seat for 3 though.

2 boys of 3 and 5 and sister of 14

Maybe an ex-police van – the one’s with the lockable cell cage in the back 😉

“Word of caution

Insurance companies don’t like 7 seats. Fine up to 6, but 7 seems to be an issue”

This has not been my experience at all. I just bought a very nice Custom Tourneo with 8 seats, all the insurers I looked at were happy to quote for it, comparison sites worked fine. You might have a problem if you have a van that has been converted, but a tourneo custom (for example) counts as a car. That being said, I did note several of the insurers said 8 seats was the maximum, so if you got the bench seat version at the front (i.e. 9 seats) you might have fewer options. 7 is definitely not a problem – loads of cars have 7 – galaxy, smax, xc90, etc etc.

3 up front will likely be tight for the 2 passengers unless you go big.

I have 7 proper seats in my swb Caravelle.  Two up front, two middle and three out back.  you could change the front passenger seat to a double seat but they are not that nice.

I move them about all the time but the three is beast to move.  Its not funny.  Lwb might change some options or just give more boot space.  Obvs DVLA need to be informed if the total seats capacity changes.

great van, but ultimately its just a posh van still

LWB Caravelle is probably the way to go. Then fit the utterly awful front twin seat from a builder’s transporter for your mates that you hate.  You could ditch the rear bench and fit two captain’s chairs to have a 3-2-2 arrangement.  Have I mentioned the front passengers will hate you?

yep, lifting the bench is funny  do yo have a crane?

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oh that works well.

back to Flickr

@DickBarton

Read my post that’s three reason

Caravelle was available with 4 captains seats in the back, rare thing to spec but I have seen them. Alternatively you could buy a 7 seat caravelle, sell the bench (which is indeed a beast to remove) buy another single and probably end up in profit.

not clear what you want in the front row – but you really don’t want a 3 up front

Ok, now that I’ve re-read your othr posts i think this might be the solution. My lot are 6, 9 and 10. Keeping them separated makes life easier. This is how I run our velle’s interior for holiday s now. I bought a single additional captain’s seat, took the bench and useless table out and have it in 2-1-2  formation. Nobody knows that the central rails will take a seat, but it works beautifully. Everyone has a separate seat, there’s space between everyone and plenty of leg room. You could easily fit a GSD down the middle.

I’ve had our caravelle for 10 years and I did not know that was possible! Genius!

Hot fiat, that looks perfect

@Ewan

Ford Tourneo Custom, Volkswagen Caravelle, Peugeot Space Tourer, Mercedes V-Class etc…

All of these are cars as far as insurance (and other things) are concerned, and as such are no harder to insure than a Renault Espace or Ford Galaxy.

Ford Transit Custom DCIV, Volkswagen Kombi, Peugeot Partner, Mercedes Vito… Despite often having the same power train, weight, number of seats, etc etc… Are all vans (or even minibuses in some cases, especially when they are configured with 1+2 in the front row) and thus tend to be significantly more costly to insure.

Yeah the velle is officially a car and as such exempt from Newcastle’s ULEZ charges (it’s euro6 anyway so would be otherwise exempt), whereas my mates tranny custom kombi is officially a  van and therefore subject to the charge. Insurance is as a car.

Ford Tourneo* (again classed as a car) all the seats are removable, and can be had with all single removable seats I believe, and your not paying the VW tax (& addition caravelle tax ontop). Caravelle’s are lovely (ignoring the hugey heavy seats), but I’d be looking into more utilitarian VW Shuttles instead, as it’s be a more of a working vehicle.

I think theartistformerlyknownasstr mixed up 7 seats with 9 seaters, which insurance companies worry your going to run as a taxi.

*bugger it was posted above but they only have two front seats.

Budget is max 18k

Recommending what we have had for 6 years. LWB Tourneo Custom. We removed the double 3rd row seats from day one. That gave us 2 singles in front, a double and single in the second row ans a single in the third row. Most of the time the double is folded forward which allows for 4 29ers with wheels on in the back with room for 4 and loads of kit. If we need more seats it’s a pull on 2 levers and we are back to 6.

Youngest daughter has been all over the Alps with all the rear seats removed. A double mattress in the back and 2 bikes behind the front seats with loads of room spare to live in.

You could have 2 kids in the outer seats of the second row and one in the single third row which would keep them apart.

Volkswagen Kombi, Despite often having the same power train, weight, number of seats, etc etc… Are all vans

My T30 Kombi is a car on V5 and for insurance.
VW factory supplied to Bilbo’s in UK, camper conversion from day 1 by them.
Insurance I have to be careful with as they all ‘assume’ it’s a car.