Recommend a decent starter van?

[radiodanno]

Hey!

Just after some advice if that's ok?

After years of hankering, and a good few months of cajoling, I think I've just about convinced my wife we'd enjoy a caravan. In the summer we bought a big People Carrier/Day Van (Toyota Granvia) and we use it a lot more than we thought. The next logical step is putting something nice and big/comfy on the tow bar and getting away.

Just to put some skin on the bones. We're a family of 5. 3 children are 10, 6 and 2. We always holiday in the UK and always enjoy it.

If we're going to get a caravan, I'd like to get something quite substantial. The Toyota does provide a double bed so that can be factored in to accommodation, but the joy of caravanning is obviously being able to leave the van on site and day trip in the car. I wouldn't want it to take an age each morning to turn the Toyota back from night time accomodation to a car.

Not really thought too much about budget. I'd not really want to spend a lot more than about £5k in case it doesn't work out the way we hope.

Any ideas?

All help appreciated.

[Truckosaurus]

radiodanno said:

I'd not really want to spend a lot more than about £5k in case it doesn't work out the way we hope..

I think you've hit the nail on the head already. Just buy the first (well, maybe the 2nd...) cheap van you find in good condition with the right number of berths and get out and use it. Then you'll discover which things you want and what you can do without. Otherwise you'll spend your time tracking down a mythical 'perfect' van which might end up not meeting your requirements anyway.

Then, next year, you can trade in the cheap van for something better, once you know how your family likes to camp...