Message Forums

Simple question, which is best?

Waffly question, We are currently tent campers and take our trips under canvas, or whatever hydro, breathable, UV fabric tents are now made of.  We have been saving up for a campervan and think the way ahead for us and our two boys (11 & 8) is to buy a small VW size campervan with a driveaway awning/tent, we like the look of a high top - mainly for the extra storage (and standing up), have always thought of getting a VW as they look the part (even the newer ones) and their  reputation for quality and reliabaility.  Have read some of the posts on this site and am now beginning to lean towards the Toyota Granvia (a name I have only just come across), opinion appears divided on the reliability of the VW T5 (not that their are many of them in our price range) and also you appear to get more for your money with a Toyota than a T4. We hope to have enough saved within the next 12-18 months so it is about time to stop looking at pretty pictures and drooling over campervans in car parks (too many strange looks) and to start really thinking about what we want.

To the point, We are looking for a high top van, our budget is about £10k, could stretch to about £12k but would have to pawn the children.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

vw would be the best option only my opinion others would settle for toyota  i think it could be a pretty mixed bag.

DELBOY

Oh, forgot to ask......

Fuel economy will also be an important consideration, especially as the price of petrol is now getting close to matching that of a good single malt !

the garanvia and T4 are quite small vans and it might be a  good idea to hire one for a weekend to see if you can cope with all of you living in it before you buy one...?.....took me 3 vans to get to one I'm happy with, my two previous vans being jap vans...one thing to consider is that the T4 comes in a lwb and in a van this size it can not be under stated the difference an extra foot or so makes.....?

Thanks for the replies, so far the VW appears to be more popular (probably not surprised).

Interesting comments about driving in europe Tentz, certainly something we are thinking about in the future.

I appreciate the comments about size Jimsmimm, it is something we have thought about, I know how much we take camping (hairdryer and all) so have some concerns about how we fit it all in, which is why we are looking at a van with a drive away tent/awning.

How long is the LWB T4 ? May struggle to fit it on the driveway.

Thanks.

Hi we are picking up a Toyota Granvia (Wellhouse Leisure conversion) in the next few weeks so will let you know how we get on if it helps!

From your posts you sound like you are in the same boat (or should I say camper!) to us, we have 2 boys aged 4 and 6 and have had two campervans in the past , both VWs (Type 25s).

You have probably read a similar post on here about a month ago when a similar question was asked. One thing we have discovered while searching for our latest campervan is that very few conversions have beds in the high top that would sleep growing boys. One van we were very interested in was a T4 Autosleeper Trident as we had a T25 Autosleeper Trident previously.However, unlike the T25 version, the upstairs beds were very cramped and were not long enough to sleep anyone other than very small children ( one dealer said the beds would fit our kids fine, but I did have to point out that the kids were likely to grow!!!!)

We have found with both our previous campers that the high top has worked better for us as there is more space obviously but also more soundproofing and weatherproofing. However you would be surprised how many high tops (VW and Toyota) are just 2 berth.

LWB is an option but we wouldn't have fitted it on the drive, and we plan to use the van as a daily driver, as we did with our T25s, and I didn't fancy weaving in and out of rush hour traffic in anything too big!

For 12k you would get a cracking VW T25, which in many people's opinion is the best camper (space, layout, a big top bunk for kids and IMHO cool) but realistically they are getting on a bit now (last ones made in 1990) so ideally you would either need to be good with a spanner or be best friends with your AA man!!!! 

Good luck in your search either way!

 which in many people's opinion is the best camper (space, layout, a big top bunk for kids and IMHO cool)

...people who used to own high top T25s obviously.....the rest of us are still to be convinced...

yes except my long wheel base has more internal space than a T25 and plenty of boot space ....making it a far better camper....the lwb version I would imagine not springing to mind when you mention T4/5s... (even though I mentioned it earlier in this thread)....