Cheap van - dreadful idea? Warning: Bipper content.
Discussion
Every few years I find myself considering a small van for carefree humping and dumping and it's not that time again.
I'm putting a little more miles on my GR86 than I'd like and Mrs Fungle has recently changed to a wholly unsuitable saloon as her company car, as well as this we have recently adopted two dogs who clearly require their own transport!
I'm comfortable paying up to £2k and whilst I will no doubt revamp the interior as a little project, I don't want a mechanical project.
I do like the Bipper but I'm not beholden to it, is this a money idea pit idea in waiting?
I'm putting a little more miles on my GR86 than I'd like and Mrs Fungle has recently changed to a wholly unsuitable saloon as her company car, as well as this we have recently adopted two dogs who clearly require their own transport!
I'm comfortable paying up to £2k and whilst I will no doubt revamp the interior as a little project, I don't want a mechanical project.
I do like the Bipper but I'm not beholden to it, is this a money idea pit idea in waiting?
Looks like fun, but remember it’s a commercial vehicle so you’ll have lower speed limits and probably need to get specialist van insurance, no carry over of car NCB etc.
A better option might be a van derived MPV to avoid that nonsense. I have a tatty Berlingo Multispace, bought as a stop gap car 3.5 years ago and kept on as the tip run & dog carrier, now it spends most of its miles taking my daughter to the stables on a muddy farm.
Edit: it seems there was a Tepee MPV version of the Bipper so that may be worth looking at.
A better option might be a van derived MPV to avoid that nonsense. I have a tatty Berlingo Multispace, bought as a stop gap car 3.5 years ago and kept on as the tip run & dog carrier, now it spends most of its miles taking my daughter to the stables on a muddy farm.
Edit: it seems there was a Tepee MPV version of the Bipper so that may be worth looking at.
Edited by chrisch77 on Monday 20th January 07:49
Unless you actually need a van, why not go for the "car" version instead - Bipper Teepee, or the Citroen Nemo / Fiat Qubo?
All the same basic vehicle, but Fiat used their own engines. The Fiat Qubo with the 1.3 Multijet diesel is probably the best choice for performance and economy.
I owned one for nearly 3 years from new. Great little car, no problems with it. 60mpg average, and went well after a mild remap. The later models were "mapped" from the factory.
All the same basic vehicle, but Fiat used their own engines. The Fiat Qubo with the 1.3 Multijet diesel is probably the best choice for performance and economy.
I owned one for nearly 3 years from new. Great little car, no problems with it. 60mpg average, and went well after a mild remap. The later models were "mapped" from the factory.
If your tip is anything like mine then they’ll get really excited if you turn up in a van, as they’ll class you as a commercial vehicle and turn you away.
A friend of mine uses a SsangYong Turismo. He’s removed the rear seats for tip/dog work. You could hold a ballroom dance in the back of it and more importantly, the tip class it as a car/MPV because it’s got windows - albeit heavily tinted. .
A friend of mine uses a SsangYong Turismo. He’s removed the rear seats for tip/dog work. You could hold a ballroom dance in the back of it and more importantly, the tip class it as a car/MPV because it’s got windows - albeit heavily tinted. .
Edited by ADJimbo on Monday 20th January 08:56
I'd echo that last couple of comments. Fried of mine had an Astravan for similar reasons, bit of a DIY tool / tip runs / chuck the bike in and the like but having run it for a few weeks, he quickly decided that an Astra estate would do everything the van did but gave him the flexibility of it being a car, ie had five seats as and when required and no commercial speed limits / insurance implications.
clockworks said:
Unless you actually need a van, why not go for the "car" version instead - Bipper Teepee, or the Citroen Nemo / Fiat Qubo?
All the same basic vehicle, but Fiat used their own engines. The Fiat Qubo with the 1.3 Multijet diesel is probably the best choice for performance and economy.
I owned one for nearly 3 years from new. Great little car, no problems with it. 60mpg average, and went well after a mild remap. The later models were "mapped" from the factory.
Great shout, a quick AT search for Qubo reveals some pretty decent value. All the same basic vehicle, but Fiat used their own engines. The Fiat Qubo with the 1.3 Multijet diesel is probably the best choice for performance and economy.
I owned one for nearly 3 years from new. Great little car, no problems with it. 60mpg average, and went well after a mild remap. The later models were "mapped" from the factory.
TheFungle said:
Great shout, a quick AT search for Qubo reveals some pretty decent value.
One thing to watch for with the Qubo is folding down the rear seats.The rear seats, when folded down, limited how far back you could slide the front seats.
Make sure you can still drive the car with the rear seats down!
The one that I had was a 2009, and the issue may have been fixed on the facelift model.
Davie said:
I'd echo that last couple of comments. Fried of mine had an Astravan for similar reasons, bit of a DIY tool / tip runs / chuck the bike in and the like but having run it for a few weeks, he quickly decided that an Astra estate would do everything the van did but gave him the flexibility of it being a car, ie had five seats as and when required and no commercial speed limits / insurance implications.
Exactly what I just did , scrapped the Doblo after it shat itself and picked up a medium sized estate that still has zero VED , does everything a van does but without the stupid £300 plus a year to tax it , still miss it though something about vans are very satisfying.My mate has a 2009 Bipper in his rather random fleet of vehicles, I borrowed it last week to move a two seat sofa, which turned out to be a foot too long for the load space, so back doors stayed open.
The van was very noisy & combined with a gearbox related groaning easily overwhelmed the maximum radio volume ( 130k miles on clock)
Fortunately I only needed it for a 12 mile journey, which frankly was enough. Whilst grateful for the favour, it did remind me why I had estate cars for many years.
The van was very noisy & combined with a gearbox related groaning easily overwhelmed the maximum radio volume ( 130k miles on clock)
Fortunately I only needed it for a 12 mile journey, which frankly was enough. Whilst grateful for the favour, it did remind me why I had estate cars for many years.
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