Are vans better offroad than cars ?

[dern]

Ita the noise more than anything which does it for me. You don't necessarily realise how tiring/unpleasant wind and road noise is. I've been in brand new (hire) vans so I have presumably seen the latest on offer, they're not a patch on even a mid level saloon for refinement IME.

Way better for carrying MTBs though I'll grant you

Agree with that. Not sure about modern vans but my 2002 T4 makes a real din when empty. Once it's loaded up with stuff it does improve somewhat, but still a lot noisier than a car. All those large steel panels, minimal sound deadening and lack of insulation is a recipe for a noisy environment.

Sharing the cabin with a cat on journeys to the S of F also adds to the noise levels...

I added sound deadening material to the T5 camper and it made it a lot better but not much money. The engine is still audible but you can happily drive it for miles and miles listening to an audiobook without the noise being irritating. The Vivaro I just bought is even quieter without any sound deadening installed yet. Both are far quieter than the Toyota GT86 I just sold. It had a standard exhaust and it got really wearing on a long journey. They were aiming for lightness and forewent some sound deadening I guess.

The vans aren't as quiet as the 3 and 5 series we've had but considering they're essentially massive metal boxes, they're pretty good.

[dern]

Friend of a friend is selling a 2012 CRV with a small knock in the front wing for 6.5k negotiable, 107k miles

The world has gone completely nuts. That's a 4k car tops and without the madness of the last couple of years that would be a 2-3k car. Completely crazy prices across the market. The bottom is going to fall out of it big time.

[mangocrazy]

Not sure about modern vans but my 2002 T4 makes a real din when empty. Once it's loaded up with stuff it does improve somewhat, but still a lot noisier than a car. All those large steel panels, minimal sound deadening and lack of insulation is a recipe for a noisy environment.

Sharing the cabin with a cat on journeys to the S of F also adds to the noise levels...

I added sound deadening material to the T5 camper and it made it a lot better but not much money. The engine is still audible but you can happily drive it for miles and miles listening to an audiobook without the noise being irritating. The Vivaro I just bought is even quieter without any sound deadening installed yet. Both are far quieter than the Toyota GT86 I just sold. It had a standard exhaust and it got really wearing on a long journey. They were aiming for lightness and forewent some sound deadening I guess.

The vans aren't as quiet as the 3 and 5 series we've had but considering they're essentially massive metal boxes, they're pretty good.

What did you do to your T5 and what areas did you concentrate on? I'm interested in maximum return for least effort/expenditure...

[v8-powered]

Friend of a friend is selling a 2012 CRV with a small knock in the front wing for 6.5k negotiable, 107k miles

The world has gone completely nuts. That's a 4k car tops and without the madness of the last couple of years that would be a 2-3k car. Completely crazy prices across the market. The bottom is going to fall out of it big time.

Yep. We chopped in a 30 month old car for pretty much what we paid for it new! Nuts....

[dern]

What did you do to your T5 and what areas did you concentrate on? I'm interested in maximum return for least effort/expenditure...

I ordered the stuff I used from here... https://www.deadening.co.uk/ and went for the Silent Coat 2mm Mat Bulk and the Thermo Van Liner. They do kits for specific vans if that's what you want.

If you just want to deaden noise the silent coat stuff is really good. You don't need to line the van with it, just cover most of the panel you want to deaden. I did all the doors and panels I could reach without removing the kitchen units.

There's probably cheaper ways but after I installed this stuff the doors shut with a thunk rather than a ping and it reduced the road noise by a lot.

[dern]

FFS, looking last night and this morning at both Vito's and Transits, every sodding dealer has a load of 1* reviews.

Some it seems the majority are 1* lol

I can't actually find a dealer that seems to do well, this isn't just locally but miles away too. Could it just be bad luck with vans, or are all dealers on the crooked side of the fence lol.
I have to say, it's darkening my idea of a van that's for sure.

Pretty tidy... https://www.anchorvans.co.uk/van/43475- ... -side-door#

[KungFooBob]

FFS, looking last night and this morning at both Vito's and Transits, every sodding dealer has a load of 1* reviews.

Some it seems the majority are 1* lol

I can't actually find a dealer that seems to do well, this isn't just locally but miles away too. Could it just be bad luck with vans, or are all dealers on the crooked side of the fence lol.
I have to say, it's darkening my idea of a van that's for sure.

Pretty tidy... https://www.anchorvans.co.uk/van/43475- ... -side-door#

Its even got a ski carrier on the roof!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Its even got a ski carrier on the roof!

In the singular.

[mangocrazy]

What did you do to your T5 and what areas did you concentrate on? I'm interested in maximum return for least effort/expenditure...

I ordered the stuff I used from here... https://www.deadening.co.uk/ and went for the Silent Coat 2mm Mat Bulk and the Thermo Van Liner. They do kits for specific vans if that's what you want.

If you just want to deaden noise the silent coat stuff is really good. You don't need to line the van with it, just cover most of the panel you want to deaden. I did all the doors and panels I could reach without removing the kitchen units.

There's probably cheaper ways but after I installed this stuff the doors shut with a thunk rather than a ping and it reduced the road noise by a lot.

Did you apply the silent coat stuff to the bulkhead between cabin and engine? It looks a faff but should target one of the main noise sources.

[dern]

Did you apply the silent coat stuff to the bulkhead between cabin and engine? It looks a faff but should target one of the main noise sources.

No, I didn't bother as there was too much stuff to move. I'd already made quite a bit of difference and decided to mask the rest with better speakers

[Pirahna]

Pic of the T6 below. I've done bikes on a roof rack, bikes on a tailgate rack, bikes on a towbar rack, bikes in an estate car, bikes in a small van (Caddy), bikes in the Crafter camper and now this. The Caddy was good, good enough for 7 years of ownership, the Transporter is the best all round bike/camping/people vehicle I've ever owned. Today we drove 510 miles from a campsite in France to the house in Spain, no issues with comfort, performance or the amount of crap we've got packed into it.

[weeksy]

FFS, looking last night and this morning at both Vito's and Transits, every sodding dealer has a load of 1* reviews.

Some it seems the majority are 1* lol

I can't actually find a dealer that seems to do well, this isn't just locally but miles away too. Could it just be bad luck with vans, or are all dealers on the crooked side of the fence lol.
I have to say, it's darkening my idea of a van that's for sure.

Pretty tidy... https://www.anchorvans.co.uk/van/43475- ... -side-door#

Good spot mate. I've just pinged my mate a message. Thanks

[weeksy]

FFS, looking last night and this morning at both Vito's and Transits, every sodding dealer has a load of 1* reviews.

Some it seems the majority are 1* lol

I can't actually find a dealer that seems to do well, this isn't just locally but miles away too. Could it just be bad luck with vans, or are all dealers on the crooked side of the fence lol.
I have to say, it's darkening my idea of a van that's for sure.

Pretty tidy... https://www.anchorvans.co.uk/van/43475- ... -side-door#

Good spot mate. I've just pinged my mate a message. Thanks

Ah. It's actually £9995+vat according to auto trader which puts it into a price more than I'd give for it

[dern]

Ah. It's actually £9995+vat according to auto trader which puts it into a price more than I'd give for it

Oh, sorry. I could have sworn I clicked on the no vat filter. Oh well.

[Felix]

Pic of the T6 below. I've done bikes on a roof rack, bikes on a tailgate rack, bikes on a towbar rack, bikes in an estate car, bikes in a small van (Caddy), bikes in the Crafter camper and now this. The Caddy was good, good enough for 7 years of ownership, the Transporter is the best all round bike/camping/people vehicle I've ever owned. Today we drove 510 miles from a campsite in France to the house in Spain, no issues with comfort, performance or the amount of crap we've got packed into it.

Had the misfortune of having to drive one of them for a few days. May have been due to having a bulkhead but i felt penned in when driving. Elbows and legs knocking into things. Hatted it and the dash, Seen better looking washing machine dials. Its one (No two, Mk7 Transit) i can honestly say i was glad to be back in my Convoy when handing them back.

[weeksy]

Ah. It's actually £9995+vat according to auto trader which puts it into a price more than I'd give for it

Oh, sorry. I could have sworn I clicked on the no vat filter. Oh well.

Not your fault. On their site it's not showing Vat, but on Trader it is.

[KungFooBob]

Might be teaching granny to suck eggs, but...

It's an asset.

The cost to you is what you lose if you sell it.

Ignore the 'purchase' price, buy a nice 20k Vito or a VW.

Sell it in 3 years time and lose a grand, it's then cost you a grand and whatever servicing, etc, you've done.

Of course this relies on you having the funds for the initial purchase, maybe Potter could become a loan shark

[Greenman]

Pic of the T6 below. I've done bikes on a roof rack, bikes on a tailgate rack, bikes on a towbar rack, bikes in an estate car, bikes in a small van (Caddy), bikes in the Crafter camper and now this. The Caddy was good, good enough for 7 years of ownership, the Transporter is the best all round bike/camping/people vehicle I've ever owned. Today we drove 510 miles from a campsite in France to the house in Spain, no issues with comfort, performance or the amount of crap we've got packed into it.

Wicked Van mate.

[weeksy]

Might be teaching granny to suck eggs, but...

It's an asset.

The cost to you is what you lose if you sell it.

Ignore the 'purchase' price, buy a nice 20k Vito or a VW.

Sell it in 3 years time and lose a grand, it's then cost you a grand and whatever servicing, etc, you've done.

Of course this relies on you having the funds for the initial purchase, maybe Potter could become a loan shark

There is no 'lose a grand' though is there, not in the real world these days, there's lose 3-4 of them. Minimum, not forgetting how much you've had to put into it too. I do understand and I do need a vehicle, but there's 'how much' I'm ok to lose that i need to factor into this one too.

BIcycles i rarely lose on, motorbikes i've had many good turnarounds and a few not so good, but both of these things are a passion, a hobby and i don't mind throwing some money in... But cars/vans, they're just a functional form of transport, but this one at the moment needs to perform certain tasks, hence the consideration for change. But i can't go into it knowing i'll be buying something that'll lose loads... Freeing up the budget would techincally be possible... but it's simply not happening, i'm not lobbing £20k into this... I was being brave to myself considering £10,000.... doubling that, i simply can't do it my head/maths.

https://www.autopointcarsales.co.uk/use ... nal-10295/

Last night after @dern posted an Expert i found this one.



Which looks great and is low miles.. It's the sort of van after a few years you'd be unlikely to lose much on as it's such low miles... So i think that'd do well... motorbikes are a VERY tight squeeze..but it's only 3-4 times a year and only an hour up the road to Silverstone. So we could make it work.
But i am still sitting here thinking "what does it give me over a car".... With a decent sized van i can jump in and get changed into/out my riding kit when it's muddy... With the Expert... maybe, just... but not sure it really works for that.
In terms of security the van ticks the boxes, but we do Premier Inns for our nights away, which are fine with putting bikes in the rooms, so it's 5 mins each morning loading them up onto the rack....

Errrrrrm Not sure any of that is much use really is it lol..

[Pirahna]

Had the misfortune of having to drive one of them for a few days. May have been due to having a bulkhead but i felt penned in when driving. Elbows and legs knocking into things. Hatted it and the dash, Seen better looking washing machine dials. Its one (No two, Mk7 Transit) i can honestly say i was glad to be back in my Convoy when handing them back.

No bulkhead in mine, it's the Kombi, so rear seats and load space behind them. I'll take a couple of pics later when I've unloaded it. The drivers seat has arm rests both sides and is a comfy place to be. It's the 204bhp engine and DSG box, it's just a nice thing to drive.