small vans,. campers insurance fuel etc etc

[Beeezer]

This, windows in, fully insulated inside, vapour barrier, lined and carpeted, AT3 tyres all round plus on spare wheel.11months

 

[Kayos]

This, windows in, fully insulated inside, vapour barrier, lined and carpeted, AT3 tyres all round plus on spare wheel.11months

Sorry for the derail but why do people put all terrains on campers?

I need them for site access but wouldn't run them if I didn't need to

 

[Dee J]

Kath and I have had three great years scooting around in our Doblo microcamper. See Alpine Adventure last year
View attachment 540839

Time for an upgrade.
So what to go for? not too big it has to be a daily drive and be parked on the street. Rules out VW Transporters etc
Needs a lowish roof so we can get kayaks on the roof. Up and over door preferred.
Roof bars essential

diesel or petrol? hard to do the maths on this one with the price and usage differential; and will the diesel 'tax' drop?

I want something predone by professionals. I have most of the skills but spend all my working days fannying about problem solving and fixing things and I want it Now. Well soon.
We hired a Vivaro swb recently it was nice to drive and economical. we also used a Peugeot Expert. a tiny bit bigger inside and similar to drive
We dont want a house on wheels, dont need toilets and showers; but . Pop top? not sure but that can be retrofitted if needed
We needa bed big enough for two. Dobby has 1.1m wide bed and thats fine , small cooker no more than two rings, and maybe a tiny sink. Also belted seat for one or two passengers in the back.
We wont be cooking big meals but maybe the odd bacon butty while hiding from the weather with an awning for stays longer tha overnight
Tax and insurance?
I have heard of problems insuring conversions.No idea how much of this is true but it sounds complex.
Some come registered as campers does this bump up the insurance or make it easier?
Id like to buy one predone with some sort of warranty. or maybe buy one and hand it over to be done but then I imagine no warranty on the base vehicle.
The Nissan NV200 has caught our eye as a possibility

Any thoughts much appreciated
Price pfft? hmmm? looks to be around the £24k bracket

We run a 2014 Nissan nv200. Professional conversion with seat belted rock and roll bed alongside fridge/hob/sink. Fixed top, but with skylight window. Front passenger seat on a swivel too. It's a snug but usable space for the two of us, but we have a drive away awning for official campsites. It seems incredibly economical with it's 1. 5l diesel. It's a bit busy at motorway speeds (car derived van, so 70mph), could do with a sixth gear really, but doesn't bother us.
Real advantage is external size. Fits any standard parking space, an at less than 2m high, has no problem with height bars and stacking carparks.
For your budget you could get a newer, lower emission spec, so avoiding issues with low emission zones.
Highly recommend.

 

[Beeezer]

Sorry for the derail but why do people put all terrains on campers?

I need them for site access but wouldn't run them if I didn't need to

Because they look ……. Cool…

 

[indy4x]

Sorry for the derail but why do people put all terrains on campers?

I need them for site access but wouldn't run them if I didn't need to

What @Beeezer said

I have been to some 'interesting' wild camp sites where ATs would have helped so the plan with the next 1 is to fit AT tyres and get a little more adventurous with where I take it, not that I need any encouragement

Have ATs on my Transporter, wife always looks worried when I take it down an unsurfaced ROW

She should be used to it by now, pretty much all my vehicles in the last 15yrs have been 4wd and when we go away, out come the maps to look for some unsurfaced ROWs to drive

 

[sako243]

Not sure I'd like to own one with the wet belts etc., but I hired a modern (72 plate) transit custom to hoike a load of tools up to my place in the Highlands about a month ago and it wasn't actually that bad. Considering I was pretty heavily loaded (added another 300kg of scaffolding fittings on the way back) it was sitting at circa 40mpg average over nearly 2000 miles

They fit an 8x4 sheet flat on the floor between the wheel arches easily as I dumped one in there to protect the floor so plenty of space inside. Handled quite nicely for a van but generally speaking transits do. Great turning circle too so it got into spaces that I didn't expect it to as well.

I'd driven an older transit custom years ago to help a friend of my sister's move house and it drove nicely as well. That'd have been shortly after they were launched I'd have thought but no idea if they had wet belts back then.

 

[Turbo]

Pick a nice day & both come over, I will have an erection on the lawn & demonstrate how it goes.

You might want to edit that post!

 

[pedrobedro]

You want kayaks on the roof so a pop top will not be practical without dismounting a roof rack.

 

[chunkolini]

I did ask about that.
At the moment we have crosswise roof bars that work fine.
I think you can get roof bars that mount with pop tops. More research needed here

 

[chunkolini]

Pictures attached, looks baggy as it’s not pegged down. There is a awning rail, sometimes known as a J rail fitted to the side of the van & the awning has a sort of bellows with a roped edge & you slide a fixing strip between the two. It sounds complicated, but if you see it you would understand. When we used it on our VW, I just clamped it to the gutter with clips. Not sure how the pictures will come out, I may have to pm you with themView attachment 540887View attachment 540888View attachment 540889

Looks good but we'll leave that for now thank. Management says the one we have will do for now.

 

[Cobbler]

Looks good but we'll leave that for now thank. Management says the one we have will do for now.

Ok thanks for letting me know

 

[Cobbler]

This, windows in, fully insulated inside, vapour barrier, lined and carpeted, AT3 tyres all round plus on spare wheel.11months

@Beeezer the awning any good for you, I can’t seem to give it away

 

[Beeezer]

@Beeezer the awning any good for you, I can’t seem to give it away

Many thanks, but you already asked me

 

[Cobbler]

Many thanks, but you already asked me

Head like a sieve, that’s me.

 

[minimutly]

Not sure I'd like to own one with the wet belts etc., but I hired a modern (72 plate) transit custom to hoike a load of tools up to my place in the Highlands about a month ago and it wasn't actually that bad. Considering I was pretty heavily loaded (added another 300kg of scaffolding fittings on the way back) it was sitting at circa 40mpg average over nearly 2000 miles

They fit an 8x4 sheet flat on the floor between the wheel arches easily as I dumped one in there to protect the floor so plenty of space inside. Handled quite nicely for a van but generally speaking transits do. Great turning circle too so it got into spaces that I didn't expect it to as well.

I'd driven an older transit custom years ago to help a friend of my sister's move house and it drove nicely as well. That'd have been shortly after they were launched I'd have thought but no idea if they had wet belts back then.

Agree here, Transits do drive nicely, even the Euro 4 and 5 ones. Cheap on fuel too, even cheaper when they come home on the back of a flatbed. I do not recommend a Transit, a huge sigh of relief left my lungs 3 weeks ago when it left us for a Peugeot - I never thought I'd ever say that...
Thing is though, there will be little choice of van without a diesel engine, Jap imports notwithstanding.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Sorry for the derail but why do people put all terrains on campers?

I need them for site access but wouldn't run them if I didn't need to

Pah, my campers got 39” ex military IFV tyres on it