VW Transporter Camper. Thoughts ?

[weeksy]

https://www.colefordleisure.co.uk/used/ ... eed-11693/



Tell me more then you experts on stuff.

I viewed this on Sat, not because i wanted a VW Camper actually, but it was in the place i looked in and i thought it ticked many/all the boxes for me.

On certain weekends it would take a bit of jigging of stuff and kit, but mostly it has merit to work.

It's the LWB so i can fit the bike in the back with RNR seats upright and full length bike installed. For overnighters, i think i could get the bike by the front seats/rear gap and if needed, a 2nd bike on the front seats. It's only for bed-time.

With all our racing i'd just like a bit more comforts, somewhere to sit in an evening once it gets too cold to sit outside, and somewhere i can get my head down without having to feel like i'm sleeping in the back of a van.
The pop-top was HUGE, way bigger than i thought it was going to be.

I don't believe it'll be this particular van i end up with as i can't really buy until Oct/Nov due to house and job stuff.... but a basis on a theme for sure.

[Taipan]

Fantastic things which can be used as a daily, but for me they are useless as no bathroom.

[weeksy]

Fantastic things which can be used as a daily, but for me they are useless as no bathroom.

Not a massive issue for us on that side of things. Toilets are on site at all events.. Although a shower, well, heck yes, that would indeed by a game changer. There are of course showers that can be used and installed for external use, but that's slightly less optimal.

We'd arguably keep my Custom anyway, so it would only be a 'trip' vehicle, but trips are pretty common

[Taipan]

My colleague swapped his and his wife's cars in for one and they love it. They have a portaloo they put in a toilet tent which he also rigs a external shower up to. He says its not ideal but it does make it more usable and they can use it as their daily transport and park it where they live which they wouldn't be able to do with a Transit, Ducato etc. He also has a drive away awning and it looks a nice, cosy set up when its all put together. So you can get creative with them and make a decent set u, if you CBA with the faff of putting up tents and awnings.

[Rockburner]

Transporters are nice and small for getting into places, but they suffer from being massively over-valued and if you look around you may well be able to find a full size van-camper (eg LWB Fiat Ducato like I had) for actually LESS than a similar spec/age Transporter, but the van will have more room, better facilities, more headroom (you're a big bloke, it DOES make a difference) etc etc.

You'd need to weigh up how much the smaller size of the VW is worth compared to a Ducato (or similar) based van which may have more room.


There's a few vans around that are specifically built for your use case, (Race weekends) I've posted links before.

[Ditchfinder]

My Mates got one and as he has a seat at the back he has to load the bike in through the side. Fine for a normal MTB, heavy e-bike on the other hand and he gets crap all over the interior.

[weeksy]

My Mates got one and as he has a seat at the back he has to load the bike in through the side. Fine for a normal MTB, heavy e-bike on the other hand and he gets crap all over the interior.

The crap/mud aspect is certainly something that needs thinking about if we went down this route. It has the potential to be problematic.

[Druid]

As RB said, Transporters are expensive compared to similarly sized alternatives like Vitos and Traffic/Vivaro, but that means they're worth more when you come to sell...
Compact and economical enough to use as daily transport, comfortable and roomy enough to sit out of the cold and rain. We had a drive away awning which adds more room - ideal for you to do bike maintainance out of the wind and rain (or the hot sun!)
You might consider a bike rack at the back so you don't need to store them inside the van.

[weeksy]

As RB said, Transporters are expensive compared to similarly sized alternatives like Vitos and Traffic/Vivaro, but that means they're worth more when you come to sell...
Compact and economical enough to use as daily transport, comfortable and roomy enough to sit out of the cold and rain. We had a drive away awning which adds more room - ideal for you to do bike maintainance out of the wind and rain (or the hot sun!)
You might consider a bike rack at the back so you don't need to store them inside the van.

1. Yes they're more expensive, but they're also more available in the right design/context
2. Seems like you can't have a pop-top and a side awning ?
3. Nah, not a bike rack, they destroy bikes with driving in bad conditions etc.

[Count Steer]

This lot are always worth keeping an eye on for their used stock. They've been around for donkeys years, specialise in VW conversions and are spendy for their own conversions but, because people lust after them they tend to get some pretty good stuff in part ex.

https://www.bilbos.com/new-used-stock/?search=[{%22group%22:%22sort%22,%22value%22:%22rec%22}]

[weeksy]

This lot are always worth keeping an eye on for their used stock. They've been around for donkeys years, specialise in VW conversions and are spendy for their own conversions but, because people lust after them they tend to get some pretty good stuff in part ex.

https://www.bilbos.com/new-used-stock/?search=[{%22group%22:%22sort%22,%22value%22:%22rec%22}]

They are pretty hefty on their prices.. like £7k on a £40000 van more.. if not maybe even £10k more.... and i'm struggling with why.

[Pirahna]

I prefer a tailgate to barn doors, it's somewhere dry to stand when it's raining.

[Yorick]

That's a lot of money for what is basically a small box.

Lots of proper campers at that price wirh kitchen, toilet and proper beds.
And lots more space.

[dern]

We've had our 2015 VW camper for 8 years, and we're currently selling it as we just don't want to sleep in the back.

van.jpg (2.01 MiB) Viewed 116 times

Wouldn't even consider another one. I liked it a lot at first, but it has had a lot of irritating little problems. They're unbelievably picky about genuine parts, which are in some cases substantially more expensive than pattern parts. For example, our secondary water pump failed along with the loom that supplied it for some reason. Easy fix, I thought, but in the end I just gave up and gave it to a local garage that I trusted, and that is not like me at all. They only managed to get it working by rewiring the loom with a genuine VW pigtail and a genuine VW water pump. Loads of other silly niggles.

However, we did do two European trips to the south of France through Switzerland and Italy, and it behaved itself.

I then bought a vivaro to take the bikes and I was immediately struck as to how much nicer and quieter the Vauxhall was to drive. I don't know if other van are any more reliable, I suspect not, but the VW annoyed me enough over the years that I won't miss it much.

They do hold their value though.

[weeksy]

That's a lot of money for what is basically a small box.

Lots of proper campers at that price wirh kitchen, toilet and proper beds.
And lots more space.

Well, yes and no.

If you want a big van like you're saying that comes at a cost in terms of miles, condition, age, price. Whilst £35k is a lot, that's a 2019 van with 20,000 miles. Any 'big' version will be an ex-something 80,000 miles shitter.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/366528005831 ... R9C_wrTrZw

So that for example gets you a 2014 with 115,000 on the clocks and is very much more an old work van with a cheapish conversion.

This at the same money as the VW is decent miles, but still nearly 70,000 and 7 years older

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/327254325808 ... R9K_wrTrZw

But is admittedly quite nice.

But there's many other factors like the abilty to get to certain places we need to, even things like the VW getting 45mpg and the others getting 22mpg, it plays a big factor when doing 25,000 a year in it. There's things like parking size/space, comfort... all these things to factor in.

[dern]

2. Seems like you can't have a pop-top and a side awning ?

You definitely can...

Screenshot 2026-07-13 at 12.48.08.png (3.71 MiB) Viewed 112 times

[Rockburner]

There's things like parking size/space, comfort... all these things to factor in.

If I can get a LWB Ducato into a minor town french supermarket car-park single car space (and I have*), then so can you. .



* Ok I needed to use the sliding door to get out!


Take your point about the mileage though.

One thing to consider is that the specific "Race-Vans" WILL be pricier, because they're a very niche build. The VW you're looking at is NOT a race-spec build, so if you're comparing apples to apples... a standard camper-van Ducato (or similar) eg an ex rental one, without the garage (but still with space for storing bikes) will be significantly less than something built out specifically as a race van.


eg this, for roughly a grand more than the VW. It's nigh on the exact van I had. I can assure you that with the bed in the rear folded up, you'll get 2 bicycles in the "garage" (I never tried it, but pretty damn sure you'd get a motorbike in there), and then there's the bed up top so you can get 2 of you in there, and the bikes all at once. The main benefit is that you will never, ever have to crouch in there. :
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/motorhome- ... 6flrfc%3D1

[weeksy]

There's things like parking size/space, comfort... all these things to factor in.

If I can get a LWB Ducato into a minor town french supermarket car-park single car space (and I have*), then so can you. .



* Ok I needed to use the sliding door to get out!


Take your point about the mileage though.

One thing to consider is that the specific "Race-Vans" WILL be pricier, because they're a very niche build. The VW you're looking at is NOT a race-spec build, so if you're comparing apples to apples... a standard camper-van Ducato (or similar) eg an ex rental one, without the garage (but still with space for storing bikes) will be significantly less than something built out specifically as a race van.


eg this, for roughly a grand more than the VW. It's nigh on the exact van I had. I can assure you that with the bed in the rear folded up, you'll get 2 bicycles in the "garage" (I never tried it, but pretty damn sure you'd get a motorbike in there), and then there's the bed up top so you can get 2 of you in there, and the bikes all at once. The main benefit is that you will never, ever have to crouch in there. :
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/motorhome- ... 6flrfc%3D1

By golly that's an ugly fucking thing isn't it

[weeksy]

If i were going down that route, it'd be a Roller Team

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/137506230875 ... R7jwvrbrZw

[Rockburner]

There's things like parking size/space, comfort... all these things to factor in.

If I can get a LWB Ducato into a minor town french supermarket car-park single car space (and I have*), then so can you. .



* Ok I needed to use the sliding door to get out!


Take your point about the mileage though.

One thing to consider is that the specific "Race-Vans" WILL be pricier, because they're a very niche build. The VW you're looking at is NOT a race-spec build, so if you're comparing apples to apples... a standard camper-van Ducato (or similar) eg an ex rental one, without the garage (but still with space for storing bikes) will be significantly less than something built out specifically as a race van.


eg this, for roughly a grand more than the VW. It's nigh on the exact van I had. I can assure you that with the bed in the rear folded up, you'll get 2 bicycles in the "garage" (I never tried it, but pretty damn sure you'd get a motorbike in there), and then there's the bed up top so you can get 2 of you in there, and the bikes all at once. The main benefit is that you will never, ever have to crouch in there. :
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/motorhome- ... 6flrfc%3D1

By golly that's an ugly fucking thing isn't it

My one was very nearly christened "Merrick, the elephant van", but it wasn't allowed.