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After a while of knowing that, much as we love them both, we can't really afford to keep our 2009 caravan & 2007 Shogun (insurance, economy, maintenance), we've finally decided that we're going to change both.  Feels like a weight's been lifted!

OH has spent hours looking at cars - the Passat Estate 170bhp is looking favourite due to it's weight & economy.  Looking at around 07-08 reg if anyone has any comments (good or bad).

I've been trawling through caravans & am actually feeling excited.  It's lovely to look at vans that have some colour in the furnishings instead of the standard beige in the new ones!  I've seen a lovely (in the photos) 2003 Abbey Aventura 330 6 berth & am waiting for the dealer to come back to me with what he'd give for ours.  It'd be 86.5% of the Passat's kerbweight so just about doable.  Anybody any experience of Abbeys or single axle 6 berths in general?

If the dealer offers a really silly price for ours we'll just hang on & try to sell privately - there'll be other vans to buy whenever we're ready & looking for them's half the fun!

Excited, excited.....

may help with prices

http://www.caravanpriceguide.com/

Thanks again.  If needs be we could use the front seats as singles.  DS & OH could sleep on those & I could have the narrower rear bottom bunk.  It wouldn't bother me as I tend not to move around in my sleep.  DS(6) would be in the top bunk & would just have to get used to not banging his head when he sits up! 

The option of using the dinette as extra beds would be great if we have DS friend with us & don't use the awning (overnight stops) & we'd still only have to make one bed up.  Bliss!

Thanks for the link Michael - looks as though the one I'm looking at is a fair price.

Thanks for the link Michael - looks as though the one I'm looking at is a fair price.

Hi Vanessa

Im glad youve been able to come to a decision, your relief shines off the screen!! And I agree with you about the decor in the newer vans.  We have an 06 Swift Charisma, and I think it  must have been one of the last models to have brighter fabrics in, ours are a lovely warm terracotta colour, not to everyones taste but we like it.  We have looked at newer vans every so often, but the fabrics in them are dire. to call some of them 'beige' is being kind, they are more of a sludgy mud colour. Also they all have microwaves in, something we never use, which add to the weight and take up valuable kitchen cupboard space. So we have decided to stay with what we've got, it works for us so  why change it.

Just a thought. We too have a side dinette (although ours is a 4 berth). We knew we would never use the fold out top bunk bit, so we took it out which makes the bottom bunk  now a couple of inches wider single bed which my 14 yr old uses in bad weather (he has a pup tent otherwise).  There was a small gap between the seat cushions and the wall when the bunk  went, so I bought some foam pieces to fill the gap and covered them with a plain fabric.  With a scatter cushion on the wall corner of each seat, its barely noticeable.  Might be useful in your situation.

We've kept all the bunk bits so if/when we come to sell, we can reinstall it. Surprising how heavy they are too.

Thanks Anniemacxx.  That sounds like a good idea & we may well look at doing it - the weight saving must be pretty substantial & we'd never need to use that extra bunk.

Our 1st van (1999 model) didn't have a microwave & I never missed it.  The new one has one & I've used it a few times.  I think if we get a van without one we'll see how we go - we could always do a dash to a supermarket for a cheap one if we just can't survive without

Well I've got an '07 Passat Estate, the 2.0 TDI 140, and its an excellent tow-car IMO. loads of low down grunt. I've had it since new, now done 110K miles, and only fault so far has been a new handbrake control module. Very reliable. 

They do say that the Common Rail diesel engines that were introduced in 2008 are even more reliable and better.