Used van under £6k for a day van?

[Alan99UK]

Hi

We are looking for a used SWB van to use as a day van. Ideally we want one with sliding doors. Probably only about 5k miles a year.

We dont intend to sleep in it just use it for day trips with our 3 dogs with some seats at the front, some seats right at the back and the space in the middle for our dogs ( securely fastened of course ) and maybe a mini fridge and portable gas stove so we can make a coffee and some lunch while admiring the view !!

After a bit of research it seems the only ones within our budget are a Vivaro, Traffic, Vito/Viano and i800

We did look at Transits but at our price range they will definitely be rot boxes, and as for the VW Transporters they seemed way out of our range

Help / suggestions would be great

cheers

A
Cheshire

[Ed Boon II]

Elgrand or Alphard would be my preference, Jap reliability and plenty of spares on Ebay.

[Alan99UK]

Are there no issues with spares on these ?

And can the middle seats be easily removed ?

cheers

[Ed Boon II]

My father inlaw has an Alphard, I know he can take out the seats, or slide them back and forth etc.

His needed a radiator, his new missus kept driving it and it overheated and goosed the engine, he was able to find another engine on Ebay no problem at all and I know he's brought a headlamp and some other odds and ends,

They are juicy, I think his is a 4 pot, but it has all wheel drive and it's an auto.

[ADJimbo]

Bit of a left fielder but I’ll put it out there…

SsangYong Rodius / SsangYong Turismo work well as day-vans, or so I am told. It gets you around the VAT issue(s) if you were to buy a panel-van and convert it yourself.

[Alan99UK]

ADJimbo said:

Bit of a left fielder but I ll put it out there

SsangYong Rodius / SsangYong Turismo work well as day-vans, or so I am told. It gets you around the VAT issue(s) if you were to buy a panel-van and convert it yourself.

Ok.. I'll take a look. I'm guessing though they dont have sliding doors ?

[ZX10R NIN]

The i800 would be my pick, the Elgrand/Alphard are good options bit they can be pricey to maintain & obviously they're a bit juicy.

[Skodillac]

I'd get a sliding door era VW Sharan and take the middle seats out.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202601089...

Much nicer way to pootle about than a van.

[Alan99UK]

ZX10R NIN said:

The i800 would be my pick, the Elgrand/Alphard are good options bit they can be pricey to maintain & obviously they're a bit juicy.

Thanks.. I'll take another look

[Alan99UK]

Skodillac said:

I'd get a sliding door era VW Sharan and take the middle seats out.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202601089...

Much nicer way to pootle about than a van.

Interesting idea that.. I do like VW's generally ( cheap to fix lol )

I presume though it would be quite a lot lower than an alphard or i800

[ZX10R NIN]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202508155...

[magpie215]

Honda Stepwagon.?

Not as thirsty as an Elgrand seats fold in all sorts of combinations.

K20 engine so parts and servicing engine wise = Civic.

Great specialist in Kent.

Automatrix for most servicing and parts.

[Alan99UK]

ZX10R NIN said:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202508155...

Cheap that

Interesting that the autrader review on the i800 is pretty poor..

[ADJimbo]

Alan99UK said:

ADJimbo said:

Bit of a left fielder but I ll put it out there

SsangYong Rodius / SsangYong Turismo work well as day-vans, or so I am told. It gets you around the VAT issue(s) if you were to buy a panel-van and convert it yourself.

Ok.. I'll take a look. I'm guessing though they dont have sliding doors ?

Your correct guessing serves you well - no sliding doors. Stick Ssangyong Turismo into a search engine and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

[Alan99UK]

The more I ask the more the list gets longer lol

It seems a lot of people say just go for a van like a Vivaro/Traffic or a smaller one like the Peugeot partner. Obviously the downside is they are a van so will most likely need to be converted ( windows, seats etc ) and insurance , condition can be a issue

Then others say go for an 7/8 seater like a Galaxy, Alhambra, Berlingo, S-Max..which is obviously more car like but then maybe not the room

Unless someone has a crystal ball I guess the only way is to find all the vans and cars and just sit inside them and see what is going to work

I see a long few weeks ahead ...

[Rusty Old-Banger]

As has been mentioned upthread... Find a people carrier with a flat floor, remove the middle seats. Not saying you should get one of these, specifically, but we've got a Kia Sedona, and the middle row seats are removable, and you are left with 2 full-size sliding rear seats, 12v sockets, glass all round, many zone climate, sliding doors etc - and 14 (!) cup holders. And it's a lot more comfy than a van - we did 1600 miles around Europe in ours last summer, 6 up, without any issues. We removed the middle/middle seat before we left and put in a powered coolbox, that also got used as a table for games etc.

(Ours is ugly as sin, but reliable, huge inside, and more than powerful enough (190bhp 2.2d), and would be the last car I got rid of out of our entire "fleet")

[Alan99UK]

Thanks a lot.. someone said an s-max for size but when I contacted owners they said it was not big enough ?

Do you think we could get 3 adults and 3 dogs (1 medium, 1 small/medium and 1 small ) in a Kia easily if we removed the middle seats ?

Thanks

[Rusty Old-Banger]

Alan99UK said:

Thanks a lot.. someone said an s-max for size but when I contacted owners they said it was not big enough ?

Do you think we could get 3 adults and 3 dogs (1 medium, 1 small/medium and 1 small ) in a Kia easily if we removed the middle seats ?

Thanks

No - the rearmost seats are only two, and the front seats aren't captain chairs so don't swivel. You could leave one of the middle row in but you'd all be facing forwards. Like I say, not specifically recommending a sedona. But I'm sure other MPVs with flat floors and spinning seats exist!

[Alan99UK]

Is that enough seats ?.. 2 in the front and one in the very back ? We wouldn't need three adults all to be sitting in the back..

Edited by Alan99UK on Tuesday 3rd February 20:47

[Rusty Old-Banger]

Alan99UK said:

Is that enough seats ?.. 2 in the front and one in the very back ? We wouldn't need three adults all to be sitting in the back..

Edited by Alan99UK on Tuesday 3rd February 20:47

Forgive me, I thought you meant sitting in the car having a cuppa, using it like a lounge - yes there is ample space for three and three dogs, it would be mega spacious!