Caravelle front bench seat

[edry21]

Hi

I've found a nice T6 Caravelle that ticks all my boxes apart from the fact that we need 8 seats.
The 8th seat won't be used all the time so changing the front passenger captains seat to a double bench seat seems the best way of achieving it.
Can anyone confirm whether that is possible please?
I appreciate leg space may be compromised by the dash but is there any other reason why it won't work? Airbags?

Many thanks for any help

 

[Crazymind]

Why not getting a second 3 seater bench?

 

[dubber36]

Why not getting a second 3 seater bench?

Access to the rear bench would be a right pain.

 

[dubber36]

Single passenger seat to a bench swap can be done. You won't be able to get one in matching trim and you'll need a compatible air bag tho'.

 

[dubber36]

Or you could get a LWB SE. The middle row single seats can be centrally mounted too, so you could buy and extra one of those if it's for occasional use. You could have a 2-2-1-3 formation.

 

[edry21]

Why not getting a second 3 seater bench?

I understood that it can't be done...something to do with the rails at the front being different?
But that would indeed be the easiest solution if we can work out the access to the rear seats. Maybe just fold forward and slide forward?
Ideally a 2+1 bench but that wouldn't fit the rails either apparently....

 

[edry21]

Single passenger seat to a bench swap can be done. You won't be able to get one in matching trim and you'll need a compatible air bag tho'.

Thanks - sounds like I need to investigate the air bag situation first...or find a LWB as you say

 

[Crazymind]

I have used a second bench in the rear of my Velle. It will fit. One week trip with 8 on board.
However it’s a massive pain install it and remove it. Very heavy (90-100kg). You need 2 people to move it at least.
Once in, move it forwards and leave little space to squeeze in/out to the passenger of the last row. If you have large size passenger, slide forwards the second row and let them in.

 

[dubber36]

Thanks - sounds like I need to investigate the air bag situation first...or find a LWB as you say

The LWB only came in SE trim. Whilst not exactly spartan, doesn't have the extra niceties of the embarrassingly named 'Executive'. There are often some high spec Shuttles on the market. Granted, they don't have the flexibility of the Caravelle rail system, but perhaps question how often you'll need to move the seats around.

 

[Crazymind]

Executive have leather seats or alcantara/leather and electric doors. The rest is the same as the SE.

 

[dubber36]

See the attached brochure for the spec differences. Page 15 gives the differences between the SE and Exec

https://autocatalogarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VW-T6-Caravelle-2019-UK.pdf

 

[dubber36]

And the Shuttle brochure for comparison

https://cogcms-images.azureedge.net/media/36323/transporter_shuttle-brochure.pdf

 

[edry21]

Thanks guys for all your advice.
It’s a tough call between the caravelle and shuttle…leaning towards the shuttle at the moment…