Pros and cons of kombi/panel for conversion?

[ReturnoftheMac]

Tomorrow is the long awaited van shopping day, I’ve got a list of garages I want to visit - my husband has annual leave so we are having day out looking at vans!!

The aim is to buy a van to DIY convert. I will need to use it throughout conversion.

Any comments on whether I need to look for a plain panel or kombi?

The garages we are going to have both.

Thanks

 

[Huba]

I converted a Kombi, was an advantage not having to do the windows, and got the tailgate and captains chairs up front.

Downsides would be that you have the seat brackets that you might need to remove (I kept mine in) if you dont want the rear seats, may me dropping the tank. Also you may end up throwing away the rear rubber floor mat, although again I kept mine as its comfy on feet and provides some insulation.

 

[Skyliner33]

Some panel vans come with twin captains seats. Some people prefer the double seat.

On a minus point Kombi windows have the leak problem.

 

[Hilly64]

Some panel vans come with twin captains seats. Some people prefer the double seat.

On a minus point Kombi windows have the leak problem.

only if you have openers. my double door Kombi has factory fitted windows no openers and cant say I have had the need for them although if your going full conversion including cooker then the openers provide a massive ventilation advantage.

my partner much prefers the passenger single captains seat as more comfy than the double however the double does have other pros going for it. ours is on a swivel

I use mine as a day van with fortywinks bed system. Initially wanted a panel van to convert but ended up by chance with a Kombi and glad I did as suites for my purposes daily drive, odd time work van and camper.

 

[Skyliner33]

Also depends if you want LWB or SWB. I think that is more important than Kombi or not.

I would decide that first then look for the preference of Kombi or Panel van. A panel van can be converted to Kombi. A SWB can not be converted to LWB.

 

[Bigsidavies]

Think what your conversion will entail.
You will pay quite a hefty premium for a kombi. If you intend then to rip it all out and start again then you’ve paid a high price for 2 side windows.
Some people convert using a slide pod type arrangement utilising the kombi seats as part of the bed system, in which case getting a factory kombi is preferable to having the seats and belts etc fitted later.
But most normal rib bed and side kitchen layouts start with a stripped-out van.
You’re paying more to have something that you have to remove.
As Skyliner says have a real think about LWB. I love the extra room in our LWB and it's been a daily driver for nearly 4 years with no issues.

 

[fax001]

Consider how many people you need to transport from day 1.
There are 3 of us so we went with a former builders van with a bench seat. We now have a rock and roll bed in the back.
Buying a van and not a kombi gave us complete flexibility when it came to layouts. It is our first conversion. What we have now and what we thought that we would have/need are completely different.
Before committing to "big ticket items" we went camping with a blow up mattress in the back. Helped us to establish what was important and what was nice to have and what we did not really need.
SWB fits in an average car park, even lots of multi storeys. LWB is more difficult to park in a car park.

 

[davecdjt]

We started with a SWB Kombi, it wasn’t a huge amount more than the panel van. It was going to be our daily driver and we thought, there only vehicle we owned as we were selling both our cars to fund it.
My wife could not get on with driving the panel van as the seat had very little adjustment and she couldn’t find a comfortable driving position.
The Kombi we bought was much better spec’d than the panel van having led lights etc which are a significant cost upgrade if done afterwards. We also wanted a tailgate rather than three barn doors that seemed to be more common in the panel vans.
We had extra sliding opening windows fitted in the rear quarter to make the van interior light. As mentioned by others, our Kombi sliding door window leaked so we had the front quarter windows replaced with the same style windows as the rear quarters. I did the sound proofing and insulation of the interior. We had an install done by The Ply Guys who utilise the Kombi floor. We can remove the kitchen unit and refit the ‘2’ Kombi seats, the ‘+1’ can still be used with everything in. The whole interior can be removed in 20 minutes or so and you’ve a Kombi again.
We had a full electrical install done but with a AGM battery. I think now I’d just do the electrics to power from something like an EcoFlow.
PS I didn’t have the skill set or the time and space to do the major works for a conversion so that we had done professionally.

 

[bobbybasic]

A Kombi is great if you plan on fitting the California rails and bed system as half of the holes and brackets are already in place.

Also, nothing needs to be thrown out, rear seats, seat brackets, seatbelts, floor mat, even side windows etc are all in demand on the second hand market.

For me (as above) narrowing down my search to a Kombi was the quickest and easiest route to find tailgates, AC, Highline, and single seat vans.

 

[Leighjcj]

Mine was a Kombi. I sold the rear seats, seat brackets and floor mat etc for around £700 which went straight back in to conversion costs

Only downside for me as others mention, is the side windows can leak if you don't look after the rubber seals and drain holes.

 

[CAB]

As @Leighjcj says, plenty of professionals and DIY-ers do kombi conversions of panel vans, so a mint or good-condition set of seats / brackets / floor etc will fetch decent money and offset (some) of the extra.

And of course tailgate is usually favoured for a camper conversion.

 

[drinfinity]

Definitely think about your list of must have items.
For me it was
LWB
Aircon
4motion
Tailgate

Then find vans that have the needed features. I agree with some of the other posters, a Kombi might be just what you need, or maybe it is an expensive way to buy a pile of stuff you need to eBay.

 

[ReturnoftheMac]

Thanks all very much. Really interesting reads.
We had a great day - went to 5 different places; garages and conversion companies. Some awful, some amazing.

We now know what we need/want.

We’ve had an offer of a van. Great spec but it’s mid height, our friend selling it says you can take the mid top off and put normal roof on to have a pop top fitted. Does anyone have any experience off this?

Thanks

 

[Rioja John]

We bought a new van in 2021 converted by Salop vans into a Kombi all genuine VW parts used beautiful leather interior, I since fitted a Van King bed with sliding under tray, a Chippys workshop table made to our own design which fits to the B pillar and stored in the rear on table brackets, our double passenger seat and drivers seat I’ve installed seat swivels, I’ve also fitted a diesel heater, installed two 100ah lithium batteries, Sterling dc to dc charger, Victron 30 amp charger, Victron MPPT solar charger and finally had a Storm pop top fitted by Cosmick Campers in Derby.
We bought a Berghaus 300 air awning to do all our cooking and dining in and we store our porta potty in the awning tunnel out of site.
The set up we have gives us loads of storage and I could take the bed and sliding tray out in approx half an hour and we’re back to a Kombi again if I needed to get a large item in our van. We also use a 35 litre Alpicool TWW 35 portable fridge freezer.
This set up suits Pat and I down to the ground.


John.

 

[bobbybasic]

Thanks all very much. Really interesting reads.
We had a great day - went to 5 different places; garages and conversion companies. Some awful, some amazing.

We now know what we need/want.

We’ve had an offer of a van. Great spec but it’s mid height, our friend selling it says you can take the mid top off and put normal roof on to have a pop top fitted. Does anyone have any experience off this?

Thanks

I would speak with your preferred pop top fitter about this. I have never heard of a roof being swapped in the way you described. Sounds dodgy.

 

[drinfinity]

Thanks all very much. Really interesting reads.
We had a great day - went to 5 different places; garages and conversion companies. Some awful, some amazing.

We now know what we need/want.

We’ve had an offer of a van. Great spec but it’s mid height, our friend selling it says you can take the mid top off and put normal roof on to have a pop top fitted. Does anyone have any experience off this?

Thanks

There was a similar question, but no definitive answer. You can put a poptop on the high roof, but don’t use poptoproofs aka Streamline to fit it. Looking at the photo on this thread, the side beams are about the same width as where a poptop cutout might be, but that’s not a definite answer.

I don’t like the idea of putting a low roof panel back - you would have to source one, then weld it in, then pretty much respray half the van.

High / Mid-top to pop-top conversion

Has anyone ever removed one of these low factory high tops and put in a pop top? I have fitted poptops and looking at this it seem like the van frame is in place, would just need to cut out over the drivers, then it might drop straight in ..... maybe.... possibly....

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