Family bike Van

[Coedwig]

Hi I’m looking for an affordable and reliable vehicle to transport 2 adults and three children all with their bikes inside.

I’d like to be able to take it to Europe for holidays so reliability and passenger safety are key.

Any recommendations appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Healy]

Any long wheel base crew cab. You will have to get creative with the storage tho to fit all that in. Hope this helps. Renault traffic or similar

 

[Coedwig]

Thanks Healy. I’ll take a look at the Traffics. Is there any difference between the Vauxhall and Nissan versions?

 

[GDAS]

I think it would be worth your while joining the FB group 'UK MTB Vans', lots of info & inspiration there.

 

[Healy]

Thanks Healy. I’ll take a look at the Traffics. Is there any difference between the Vauxhall and Nissan versions?

The traffic, Nissan and Vauxhall are all the same I think, may be wrong tho

 

[GDAS]

Vivaro was Trafic-based up until around 2020, but since then is the same as Peugeot/Citroen. Nissan NV300 has a longer warranty than the Renault.
Similar concepts are offered by VW (Transporter Kombi), Mercedes (Vito Crew Van) and Ford (Transit Custom crew cab), plus there are MPV versions (generally rarer than the commercial crew cabs, especially when it comes to LWB) such as VW Caravelle

 

[Weeksy]

IMO the Transit drives better than the Vivaro/Trafic versions and has more space in the front for people too. We demo'd a fair few before buying the Transit.
If you get a crew cab it'll be wheel out i'm afraid, you'll JUST get a small maybe a medium in the back with wheels in.... but you won't get multiples of them in. So front wheel out and clever packing you'll just about make it.

I bought my Transit 18 months ago and have put 30,000+ miles on it for MTBing already and we're very very good friends. Next up is Fort William in 10 days time.

 

[Plummet]

Here's my set up.

6 bike vertical rack, Crew cab ute with a canopy and a roof box. I can fit the family 5 and all their gear and a big arse canvas tent and camping gear and take a spare bike aswell. Good times.

Oh yeah, Its real 4wd with low range and you can self shuttle into the mountains aswell.

Good times indeed. Here's some picks from our south island trip last year.

 

[Weeksy]

He wants the bikes inside

 

[Plummet]

He wants the bikes inside

Practically that wont happen unless he buys a full sized bus or takes no extra luggage, or tows a trailer with the luggage or bikes in it. Families of 5 have a lot of suitcases and crap.....

 

[D3xt3rMTB]

Just bought a Renault Trafic Crew Van (23 plate). Swapped in my LWB T6 Camper and got to say, interior finish, driving position and ride quality are better in the Renault - see how it fares over time but its a toy wagon for me so not a daily driver but will be used for Alps trips etc. The newer Renaults tend to be LWB (5.38m) so fits bikes in without having to take the front wheels off. Test drove the Ford Crew van too which probably drove slightly nicer but lots of expensive stories about wetbelts failing on newer versions so decided against it, plus the rear seats were comfier in the Renault. Really pleased with it so far.

NB- Nissan Primastar is same vehicle pretty much but they tend to be SWB versions which I didn't want. Also, Renault seemed to provide a bit more standard kit for same price. I was only looking at 21 plates and newer though. Different previous to that.

 

[patdam]

Trafic minibus L2 H1 120cv whithout adblue. You remove (easly) the last back seat, install modulable fixing points on both sides, you instal something to back up handelbar and protect lateral glass. That allow easly 4 ebike charging sin any removing something. You put solar film on backs glasses to hide internal loading, instal alarm, use the internal strong fixing rings to attach bikes with anti theft.

You replace the front two seat by those with on folding central sea. that provide 5 seats place with clear view for those on back seat.

That for me the better bike van, very pleasure to drive with the 2 turbos (1 for lower rpm, other for the high). Purchased used with 40000 km, in 7 years and 90000 km of use, only one sensor on exhaust has fails. Not blocking, but necessary to replace (expensive operation) to validate the technical control. I'm very confused to find what will replaced it.

 

[G-Sport]

You might want to look at the Peugeot Traveler LWB too. Similar to the above recommendations but classed as a car rather than van so no 60mph speed limit on dual carriageways and lots of extra safety features and creature comforts for the rear passengers (side air bags etc) though no opening windows in the back which is annoying. You may still need to take front wheels off depending on the bikes but you would probably squeeze everything in. Not terribly cheap though unfortunately.

 

[Coedwig]

You might want to look at the Peugeot Traveler LWB too. Similar to the above recommendations but classed as a car rather than van so no 60mph speed limit on dual carriageways and lots of extra safety features and creature comforts for the rear passengers (side air bags etc) though no opening windows in the back which is annoying. You may still need to take front wheels off depending on the bikes but you would probably squeeze everything in. Not terribly cheap though unfortunately.

Thanks for this. Is it true that the Peugeot engine is more reliable than the VW (e.g. DPF issues)? Also are there different wheelbase options?

 

[G-Sport]

Thanks for this. Is it true that the Peugeot engine is more reliable than the VW (e.g. DPF issues)? Also are there different wheelbase options?

No idea. Ours is a 69 plate. Not had any issues but don't do a huge mileage. They definitely do a long wheelbase. Ours is the standard medium which isn't really big enough for what you describe but does seat 5 comfortably (or 6,7 or 8 with the third row seats sections in) with a good amount of space left.
There are some real bargains for the electric ones now but the range is terrible, essentially the same power train that is used in the electric Corsa and every other stelamtis electric offering but they have at least increased the charging speed slightly since then. I wouldn't expect to get more than 100 miles on a charge.