Hi All,
New member so please be kind. I’ve been toying with the idea of a Van for a few years mainly for family camping and day adventures with the kids along with occasional DIY runs. It would replace our 2nd car so I’m looking at the VW rather than other brands due to familiarity with the DSG box and being slightly narrower for parking in a standard space.
In my mind, I’d like something where the 2nd row of seats can move between forward (leaving a vast boot area for tent, cooking kit/slide out kitchen pod, luggage etc.) and backwards to allow for a table between the (swivel) front seats. This would allow me to use the van for camping kit and day adventures to start with. I’d like to be able move to being able to sleep 4 in the van with an appropriate fold out bed and pop top in the future, but I don’t ever see myself cooking in the van. I’d much rather a slide out pod or a standalone unit that could be left in a drive away awning if we move to sleeping in the van rather than the tent. I’d define this as a Day Van but I see different companies have different ideas of what a Day Van is. Hopefully you get the idea.
From reading around, it seems I have two choices for my aim. First would be a Caravelle which has the seat rails etc already in place, but which would prove difficult to fit a pop top to later. Second option would be a panel van/Kombi which would be need work to add seat rails in the first instance. Later roof conversion would be easier. Can anyone comment on which type of Van I should be looking at given my plans? Am I correct that the Kombi doesn’t have seats rails, and if so why pick a Kombi over a panel van if I want seat rails added? Is there anything else I should be thinking about?
I’ve done a fair bit of internet searching over the last few years so I’ve missed something that has already been covered I apologise.
New member so please be kind. I’ve been toying with the idea of a Van for a few years mainly for family camping and day adventures with the kids along with occasional DIY runs. It would replace our 2nd car so I’m looking at the VW rather than other brands due to familiarity with the DSG box and being slightly narrower for parking in a standard space.
In my mind, I’d like something where the 2nd row of seats can move between forward (leaving a vast boot area for tent, cooking kit/slide out kitchen pod, luggage etc.) and backwards to allow for a table between the (swivel) front seats. This would allow me to use the van for camping kit and day adventures to start with. I’d like to be able move to being able to sleep 4 in the van with an appropriate fold out bed and pop top in the future, but I don’t ever see myself cooking in the van. I’d much rather a slide out pod or a standalone unit that could be left in a drive away awning if we move to sleeping in the van rather than the tent. I’d define this as a Day Van but I see different companies have different ideas of what a Day Van is. Hopefully you get the idea.
From reading around, it seems I have two choices for my aim. First would be a Caravelle which has the seat rails etc already in place, but which would prove difficult to fit a pop top to later. Second option would be a panel van/Kombi which would be need work to add seat rails in the first instance. Later roof conversion would be easier. Can anyone comment on which type of Van I should be looking at given my plans? Am I correct that the Kombi doesn’t have seats rails, and if so why pick a Kombi over a panel van if I want seat rails added? Is there anything else I should be thinking about?
I’ve done a fair bit of internet searching over the last few years so I’ve missed something that has already been covered I apologise.
