Newbie post so please be gentle

[Road Rage]

Hi all, new to this site (1st time on any such forum so please be nice and excuse the stupids questions)

I'm looking for my first used van but cant decide which is the best way to go.
I have list of 'needs to have' and a list of 'nice to have'.

'Need to haves' sends me to the swb combi
But most of the 'nice to haves' only come on the Caravelle - floor rails, electric doors, swivel rear seats,

Very back will have dog crates so third row not essential, but whats the general consensus over using a Combi as base and make changes or spend a bit more up front and go for Caravelle?
Can see that there are millions of options to personalise the combi to get what ever you want but budget is always an issue (£30K max)

Is it going to be cheaper in the long run to pay a bit more upfront?
Are there any differences under the skin between the combi and caravelle?

Its going to be a daily driver so a bit of comfort is important

Any advice welcome!!
Thanks All.

 

[VanDamMan]

Hi @Road Rage …..I’d get the best high spec base vehicle …Highline LED 150 + engine….it’s the vehicle that takes you on the journey everything inside can be changed…..having come from a high spec car I wanted similar toys…heated window heated seats and so on…..adding tech items is not always easy….what ever you do enjoy

 

[T6Paul]

Welcome to the forum!

The 'Edition' spec is worth looking out for, it includes LED's and some other minor upgrades over Highline.

Caravelle has better sound proofing but might be had to find within budget.

Comfort dash on a highline Kombi with LED lights should be easy to find and a nice vehicle.

What are your long term plans? Conversion or keep the practicality of a van?

 

[dhardyuk]

A subtle factor could be the speed limit that applies to the vehicle based on its DVLA classification.

In brief, if it’s a car it can go 70MPH on dual carriageways. Vans can only go 60MPH on dual carriageways.

A dual carriageway is when the one road has separate physical roads for the two traffic directions. A motorway is generally a dual carriageway. Some A roads are dual carriageways for some stretches and single carriageways for some stretches so the national speed limit that applies depends on whether you are driving a van or a car and how the road is designated.

A Caravelle is always a car.

Depending on the paperwork some Combis are designated as ‘dual purpose’ or car derived vans and some are vans.

This link has more info

Car-derived vans and dual purpose vehicles

www.gov.uk

 

[Skyliner33]

A subtle factor could be the speed limit that applies to the vehicle based on its DVLA classification.

In brief, if it’s a car it can go 70MPH on dual carriageways. Vans can only go 60MPH on dual carriageways.

A dual carriageway is when the one road has separate physical roads for the two traffic directions. A motorway is generally a dual carriageway. Some A roads are dual carriageways for some stretches and single carriageways for some stretches so the national speed limit that applies depends on whether you are driving a van or a car and how the road is designated.

A Caravelle is always a car.

Depending on the paperwork some Combis are designated as ‘dual purpose’ or car derived vans and some are vans.

This link has more info

Car-derived vans and dual purpose vehicles

www.gov.uk

its not that simple. There is sone misinformation in this post. There is a whole thread on this so lets not go into it here.

 

[Road Rage]

A subtle factor could be the speed limit that applies to the vehicle based on its DVLA classification.

In brief, if it’s a car it can go 70MPH on dual carriageways. Vans can only go 60MPH on dual carriageways.

A dual carriageway is when the one road has separate physical roads for the two traffic directions. A motorway is generally a dual carriageway. Some A roads are dual carriageways for some stretches and single carriageways for some stretches so the national speed limit that applies depends on whether you are driving a van or a car and how the road is designated.

A Caravelle is always a car.

Depending on the paperwork some Combis are designated as ‘dual purpose’ or car derived vans and some are vans.

This link has more info

Car-derived vans and dual purpose vehicles

www.gov.uk

Thanks for that, that was something I was not aware off....

 

[Road Rage]

Welcome to the forum!

The 'Edition' spec is worth looking out for, it includes LED's and some other minor upgrades over Highline.

Caravelle has better sound proofing but might be had to find within budget.

Comfort dash on a highline Kombi with LED lights should be easy to find and a nice vehicle.

What are your long term plans? Conversion or keep the practicality of a van?

Thanks for the info.

Where is the best place to look out for such cars? I've stuck mainly to autotrader and car gurus - are there any other sources you can recommend?

Long term plan to keep it as a van with maybe some comfort upgrades until the kids don't want to be seen with Dad, then maybe convert to day van....

 

[Greybeard]

Hi @Road Rage

As @T6Paul said, welcome to the forum.
Like you, I joined the forum before I bought my T6.
I also built up a list of wants and likes.
Mine included long wheelbase, DSG, soft close twin sliding doors, etc, etc. The only thing I couldn’t find, with the others, and in my ever-growing price limlit, were the much sought-after and useful genuine VW full LED headlights. There are other options to improve on the standard H4 ones though.
I would suggest;
Sign up for VIP membership and spend time exploring the site. Use the search function to try to find answers and ask more questions!
For instance, there are posts to explain adjustments/additions required to be able to avoid the ‘van’ speed limits.
Contact some specialist dealers/converters to establish what adjustments/additions can be made and price ranges.

Good luck with your search.
Andy

 

[Broadside]

If it’s a daily driver and you will have kids in the rear then think about ventilation. If you want aircon in the rear then that forces you to Shuttle with digital climate control or a Caravelle which has it as standard. I’ve got a Shuttle without rear aircon and it is a bit of a problem in the hot weather, if I bought again I would only go with full aircon in the rear as ours is a daily driver too.


Kombis can have supplementary heating in the rear but not aircon - I think that is the case but someone will be along to confirm!

 

[Chippie1]

Hi and welcome check out the for sale section on here some nice vans for around your sort of budget and good luck

 

[dubber36]

The Caravelle is the most car like and has all the things that many people like to 'upgrade' to as standard. The shuttle is also often well spec'd. Kombi's are much more van like, so as standard, noise and comfort levels won't be as good.

My plan was to buy a well spec'd Kombi and upgrade it, but saved all the work and bought a Caravelle. Given that they are not longer built, they are holding their money extremely well.

Not that this should be a deal breaker, but Caravelles and Shuttles are taxed as cars. My renewal came yesterday. £520 due to being over £40k new.

 

[williecba]

In March 2019 I bought a brand new Petrol Kombi HighLine. The Idea was to replace 1 van and 1 people carrier and have just one set of tax insurance servicing etc. I thought I needed a vehicle that in an emergency could carry a non driving daughter and 2 children in Isofix child seats whether I was in work or play mode.

It’s a nice van and the seating position is very comfortable. It’s got LEDs which are great and CarPlay which is wonderful and electric side doors which are useful and an electric tailgate which is a pain. As a daily driver carrying me and two bags of tools it goes 10 miles up to central London and 10 miles back everyday at 20 mph and bumps its way over 56 speed humps while it does so.

BUT:

It is noisy. My previous vans (Vitos) all had a bulkhead which kept cab noise reasonable despite being diesels. I am constantly cranking my audio books and talk radio up louder and louder and after a long trip such as Edinburgh to London I really noticed that my hearing was suffering with fatigue. I have spent £100s on Dynamat and have done roof front to back, rear side panels and tailgate. All the doors and the cab area still remain to be done when I have time but it is a tedious job and I have been very busy. If I had known how much I was going to hate the noisiness I would have budgeted to have it done professionally at the start.

Also it is a van. You have to be alert at all times. I have been caught out on M11 becoming the A14 becoming the A1(M) becoming the A1 Not M. Also had a problem attempting to visit a Royal park, warden slapping a ticket on it - it doesn’t matter you have daughter and kids with you - it looks like a van and commercial vehicles aren’t allowed!

This was supposed to be my final new vehicle until I got too old to drive. Wish I had bought a Caravelle, dumped the rear seat and boarded the rear windows inside.

 

[dubber36]

If I keep my Velle long term, I may well Kombi it. Remove the middle captains seats, make some panels for the rear side windows and limo tint the side doors and tailgate.

 

[Alster]

I think noise levels seem to be very subjective- I’ve got a T6.1 Highline Kombi and the only thing I’ve done to it noise wise is to carpet the panels and I don’t find it at all noisey and i do quite a bit of motorway driving. My only comment would be that its a bit ‘crashy’ on poor roads at lower speeds.