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hi all,

last week we collected our new (to us) Toyota Granvia from Wellhouse Leisure, and as promised on a previous post here is how we have found it after a few days! (Thought this might be of interest to anyone thinking of buying a similar van).

Overall we are very pleased with it. We are a family of 4 and this is our third camper, the previous 2 being VW T25s. We were looking for something a little more modern as it has to double up as my husband's daily drive some of the week.

The condition of the van is excellent, hard to believe it is 15 years old, no rust and only a couple of small paintchip marks.Ditto the condition inside. We will be looking to get it waxoyled in an attempt to keep it this way ( as we live in a wet part of the country!)

The conversion itself is very good quality and is well put together. There is a good sized fridge, sink and 2 burner hob. No oven, but we didn't want one anyway (would rather have a cupboard, and with 2 small kids, one less thing to worry about!). We opted for the hi top with beds option which gives good sized sleeping accomodation upstairs, and storage for bedding etc. but does lack an overhead cupboard. However there are two very handy lockers along the side, above the kitchen, which we plan to use for torches, games,radio, ipod, candles etc. and smaller items of clothing (and to stop any rattling of the contents!) The kitchen cupboards are deeper than I thought and easily store crockery, pans etc for a family of 4. There is a well designed utensils drawer for all the small gubbins, and an additional worktop which slides out beneath, which will be handy when plating up meals. We asked for curtains in our van-the same ones as in the new Hyundai i-camper-and these are fantastic, close fitting and almost like wetsuit material-and the privacy glass which is erm...very dark but it is very nice to know your valuables are less visible!

Driving the van is very relaxing, once I had got used to having no clutch (it is automatic which is new to me!). Driving her back from Yorkshire (hubby had forgotten his glasses) was a bit of a baptism of fire but we got back eventually (we had bad rainstorms coming back, I am not used to motorways and driving campervans or automatics and I refused to go above 60mph!) but the engine is smooth and powerful and coped well with the Yorkshire hills and even the Welsh ones on our return! Our previous vans were both pretty underpowered  but this one feels totally different and  am told can do 100mph (not with me driving it!!! )and even has a "sports" mode! We opted for the LPG conversion and started the journey back from Wellhouse on gas, when the gas ran out it switched over to petrol with no noticeable difference in performance, just press a button, no worries.

The boot area houses the spare wheel because the LPG tank is where the wheel would have gone-but there is still plenty of room for the camping table, chairs, awning etc. There are cupboards behind the wardrobe for gas bottles, hookup cables etc.

All in all so far, very pleased with her, and fingers crossed we hope to take her camping soon to try everything out "in the field". In a camper this size space is at a premium but there's enough cupboard space to cope (although our old Autosleeper T25 was far better for storage with huge overhead lockers, but it is unfair to compare with another van) size wise it compares with a VW T4. Realistically when weather and time allows we will be using our Khyam awning for dining and/or sleeping but it is nice to know that when an awning isn't practicable, we will be all able to sleep in the van, nice and warm with the heater on!

Hope this is of use to anyone considering a Granvia!

Good news, hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your replies to some of my earlier posts, we are still looking to buy our first van next year.  We really like the look of the Auto-Sleeper Trident (mainly for the layout) although we had a look inside a Fiat Ducato at the weekend and were amazed at the amount of space.

Thanks again for the information on the Granvia, we haven't counted anything out yet and still like the look of the Toyota.

Thanks guys....we hope to enjoy it.....have just got back from Sainsburys with a bag of "camping shopping" (mostly cider!) just to make sure!

One thing we noticed last night, that unlike our old VWs there are no curtains round the cab-Wellhouse provide thermal screens to cover the area instead. OH was a bit perturbed although I wasn't too bothered (after years in a backpacking tent it takes a lot to shock me!) and immediately started worrying about flashing to other campers.

So can I apologise now to all those of a nervous disposition, should you pitch next to a Toyota Granvia please look away when it gets dark, you never know what you might see..........!

Seriously though the screen blinds are tailor made to the van so can't see it being a problem, given the thought that has gone into the rest of the conversion I am sure they'll be fine!

mikeandangiem, good luck with your search, I don't know much about anything other than VW and Toyota van conversions ( and Toyotas are pretty new to me!) but on the space front you wouldn't go far wrong with an A/S Trident. From my recollection of the T4 Trident, the main difference between that and the Granvia (Wellhouse conversion) is that the T4 has 3 little lockers above the cab area, whereas our hightop is open (which is better for stowing bedding and longer objects I suppose, but probably not so good for clothes which could be more neatly stored in lockers).

I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect campervan, whatever the budget, but overall the Granvia so far is looking pretty good!

Well done you getting a Granvia, I hope you have many happy camping trips in it. Mine is just an ordinary unconverted one but so versatile and adaptable for camping - 13 years old when first purchased three years ago but in such immaculate condition it was hard to believe it was so old. And driving it is so easy and comfortable, I love it.

Would love to see some pics of yours if/when you have some.

Mine's a 3L diesel automatic, but as it's the only vehicle I've ever driven I can't give you a comparison re engine sizes.

Fuel consumption - not really a commuter car as it can be a tad thirsty, but saying that I use mine every day to go to work and back twice a day, probably about 9 miles per day, and it costs me about £20 in diesel per week. Fairly economical on a long run if speed is kept to no more than 65mph - cost £85 to fill up at current prices, but driving wisely it does last. The other weekend I drove from here to Anglesey, made three fairly long journeys while there, drove back home and went to work for three days before I needed to put any more juice in. Go any more than 65mph though and you can see the needle dropping!

Insurance-wise it's very expensive for me as I only passed my test last year and it's my first vehicle and an import as well, but when my ex drove it prior to us splitting up it cost in the region of £340 for a driver with full UK licence and 9 years NCB. That was with Lifesure, a specialist insurers for imports - best to go with someone like that as many 'normal' insurance companies don't insure imports, and those that do want stupid prices.

I think with a vehicle like this you have to weigh up the versatility and comfort factor against the expense of running it - for camping it's absolutely brilliant, loads of room for all the camping gear, kids, dogs etc, and easy to sleep in by turning the middle into a double bed if you need to (I put a drove away awning on the side of mine for my living space) And it's a really smooth and comfortable drive, in fact this is the first vehicle I've ever been in where the seats don't give me backache.

Towing-wise I haven't personally towed my caravan with it yet, but when my ex did he said it was great, really easy - in fact that was the reason we got the Granvia in the first place as our previous mpv couldn't tow the caravan, but no problems at all with the Granvia.

Don't know if any of this is any use to you but hope it helps anyway.

Hi, thanks Tigermouse, we have had a few weekends away camping in Campo (as the kids christened the Granvia) already, mostly successful, our first was a bit of a disaster as some fool driving too fast coming the other way on a recently resurfaced road chipped the windscreen and left us £200-odd poorer on our return  but the rest have gone well, even the bed is comfortable! Will look out for your "eagle" Granvia when out and about, please give us a flash!

madhouse1, the condition for age is amazing, it really does look brand new (except for some small marks on the inside but you would have to look out for those) and a couple of paintchip marks which Wellhouse respray anyway (ditto-you wouldn't notice unless you were looking). Ours is a 1996 N reg. It lives a charmed life and hasn't been driven that far but so far appears very reliable. Insurance wise, both me and hubby are insured for just over £200 a year.

One thing we aren't keen on is the auto gearbox, we have both only driven manuals in the past and even after 3 months ownership it still feels "weird" to us. Equally, others seem to find them really easy to drive, so maybe it is just us!!! So I would suggest a test drive if that might be an issue.

Wellhouse do a sturdy looking pop top but we went for the high top because there is a bit more space for storage up top (bedding etc) when the boards are back. Would have liked a cupboard, but at least the roof isn't claustrophobic like some high tops are, there is plenty of height, 2 good opening windows with blinds, and it's very high (I call it the "gun turret")! 

With this size of van I would recommend a drive away awning, wind out canopy or a pop up tent to add to your space. We have a Khyam drive away awning but are looking into getting a wind out canopy for quicker stops/getaways. We recently had a weekend without the awning which was cosy and rather nice but I think you appreciate the extra space for longer stays.

Will try and post a piccy but am a bit rubbish at this sort of thing.......

Not sure if these have worked....!

Quote: Originally posted by Camperman69 on 26/9/2011

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the condition for age is amazing, it really does look brand new (except for some small marks on the inside but you would have to look out for those) Ours is a 1996 N reg.longer stays.

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Ha ha yes there are a lot of N reg Granvias and Bongos around for som reason, my Japanese isn't so good but I am pretty sure ours was made in 1996 though! Maybe they changed the model after, I have seen some more recent facelifted ones for sale on the Wellhouse Leisure website but not as many as the older "vintage" ones!

For some reason Regius tend to be newer, not sure if these are a more recent vehicle, and they also tend to cost more