More Research

A little bit of research later and I came across the Sportline Kombi.

Wow. I love the look of this van! So I went around to my local dealer and arranged a test drive. Now this was my first ever time driving a van and it was a bit of a shock. The van looked gorgeous from the outside but on the inside even the Sportline was quite basic. It had leather seats but a plastic steering wheel and plastic trim. The back of the van was exactly as I expected - a rubber floor and very practical, with a 3 seater leather bench which you can easily remove.

At 174 BHP this thing rips along too. It really does. But I found myself a little disappointed at the general feel of the thing. The ride position up high was lovely but something just didn't feel right. It was very different to driving a car! I went back the next day and had another go and it felt a lot better, so I set the salesman to finding me a Sportline Kombi, although in all honesty it was probably beyond my budget. These things are like hens teeth though, especially at my budget so he wasn't able to find one straight off. That meant I had time to do more research. With superb help from my friend Andy I began my delve into the murky world of VW Transporters. He pointed me at the awesome Brick-Yard forum and I read and read and read. And joined up and posted question after question. And I discovered the wonderful Caravelle.

This van has an amazingly simple but clever rail system meaning you can slide the back seats back and forth giving huge flexibility - the ability to have a rear row bench pushed forward for driving and have space in the boot for bikes, or push the rear bench back and, if you get front swivelling seats, you have a nice "lounge" area in the middle of the van, complete with a built in table. You can also fold all the seats flat to end up with a big bed on the inside!

So I went to see one in my local show room. There I discovered that the driving experience of the Caravelle is lovely. Leather steering wheel and plush cabin make you feel like you're in a quality car as opposed to a commercial van like the Sportline Kombi's interior. And the rear was luxury all over compared to the Kombi. However this Caravelle was also very expensive and so I test drove the Shuttle they had. This was a cross between then two and the trouble was it was basically just a big taxi. No matter how I tried to convince myself I should buy it, I kept coming back to the same thought: it looks like a taxi. I think it's to do with the windows all the way around and then the fact it has three rows of seats. Okay, so I would have removed (and possibly sold) the back row of seats but it still just looks like a taxi. Spot any Shuttle on the road and that's what they look like. And the more I looked at them the more I realised that the Caravelle was the same - only to me it looked like a plush taxi. I didn't want that. I had a brief flirt looking at a Caravelle Startline which is a cheaper Caravelle with less flash interior, with the really cool rail system and with the practical kombi floor. Trouble is, from the outside it still looked like a taxi. So I ended up back with the Kombi.

Choosing the Van

I started seriously looking at vans in June 2009 after wanting one since I was a student. I've always loved the idea of a campervan and everytime I go camping I look in envy at the various vans around the place. My favourite has always been the VW and since the T5 model came out that's been the van I've wanted. So when I decided it was time to actually buy a van and I started to do serious research this was the van I looked at. I also knew without doubt that I wanted a short wheel base as I wanted the van to be as small as possible on the outside - as easy to drive and as easy to park as could be. It had to be the standard sized roof too as I needed it to fit into the usual multistorey car parks and under the usual height restriction barriers. I wanted the van to be a place to sleep and sit in when camping, plus something I could just throw my mountain bikes and surfboards in when I wanted without having to stick them on roof bars or bike racks.

I live fairly close to Bilbos, the world renowned campervan conversion people so it was inevitable that I first went there looking for a camper. I immediately knew I loved general traditional layout of the Celex and Komba rather than the split seats of the Nexa. I was actually really tempted to buy a camper from Bilbos but as usual my girlfriend Lou put her sensible head on and pointed out that this was all very well but I'd be driving the kitchen sink to work and back every day, which was not very efficient, and I'd also be unable to just throw the bikes in the back as there was no room, and anyway they'd destroy the upholstery, floor and cupboards if thrown into the camper. Of course I could buy a bike rack for the outside but then why not just get a car? Also, we already own all manner of camping gear like cookers and tables and so on which would be wasted if we bought a full blown campervan.

I went away and tried to come up with a solution to my problems. Maybe I could buy a base van and partially convert it? Looking on the net it was clear this was defintely a possible option. I've always loved the look of the Kombi from the outside - half panel van, half window van, with seats in the back and loads of space inside. So I started looking at them. My friend Andy happened to have recently bought a LWB T5 Kombi and is a HUGE fan of them so I had a look at his. It did look like it would do the job for me, although I was still convinced I wanted to get a short wheel base.