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Advice on buying a van


Andrew Bradley

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Hey,

 

I have been thinking about buying a van and just wondering if anyone can offer advice.

 

My current vehicle is a small hatchback and I struggle to load what little kit I have in to it, plus it is on its last legs anyway.

 

I was thinking about a VW Transporter, but the whole diesel emissions thing put me off, and 2020 onward it may cause me issues driving in London with extra costs, though it is all up in the air and who knows what will happen by then if anything.

 

What have other people gone for? Any tips, considerations, advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Andrew

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Years ago someone wrote an article about how the used ambulance they bought made a perfect Steadicam vehicle. Lots of storage for cables and accessories and the slide out gurney made a great cart that loaded/unloaded easily.

 

Something to think about.

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Years ago someone wrote an article about how the used ambulance they bought made a perfect Steadicam vehicle. Lots of storage for cables and accessories and the slide out gurney made a great cart that loaded/unloaded easily.

 

Something to think about.

 

hehe, I would prefer an ice cream truck, the melody would be more welcome on set over the sirens... Plus if the steadicam business doesn't work out, I would be on my way to being an ice cream salesman - living the dream.

Edited by Andrew Bradley
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I'm in Aus and I own a SWB VW transporter, though ethically it was a poor decision to hide the emissions it actually doesn't effect the transporters at all. (Only the more performance orientated VW's)

 

The van has been one of the best purchases I have ever made, it is fuel efficient, comfortable, incredibly reliable and above all else it has been absolutely indispensable when moving house/building a garden/ buying furniture/ taking holidays/ camping pretty damn handy for work as well.

 

I had a custom made trolley made that easily wheels up a ramp in the side door gets ratcheted to the cage and I'm away, the whole process of unpacking and wheeling to set takes about 4 minutes.

Loving the transporter 200k Km's and runs like a new one.

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Hey Andrew!

 

I'd definitely be looking at petrol for a future van purchase as it seems to be likely that diesel will get some sort of penalty in cities at some point, but this may yet be a few years away. As you know I have the T4 which is great for camping etc but probably a bit OTT for kit transport around london. I would suggest you look at maybe a used VW Caddy? You can still fit a magliner in the back and have space for shelves etc. I think James Davis has one, you could drop him a line?

 

rups

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A standard van would be my last choice.

 

Doing news, I've used vans, SUVs, cars, a Rand Lover (at least, that's how the bank account saw it, no matter how it was spelled on the emblems), trucks or various sizes and configurations, production trucks, motorcycles and ambulance refits. Each has advantages and disadvantages ("The truck gets you respect, the motorcycle gets you THERE").

 

For doing news, I found that a small 4WD SUV was the best all-around vehicle -- fairly economical, rugged, more compact and easy to drive than a van, able to leap tall curbs at a single bound (well, MEDIUM curbs, anyhow), with more than enough room for the gear I hauled plus a helper or two. With a luggage rack on the top, even more gear could be carried, and more than one shot over a wall came from the top of an SUV. You may also be able to find one on the used market for less than you would have paid for a van.

 

If the only reason to get a van is to haul a little more gear (or haul more comfortably), you might want to consider a TRAILER.

 

A small trailer is inexpensive and can be towed by anything that has a hitch on it (including motorcycles!), and is actually easier (and safer) to get equipment into and out of than a van (the exception being an ambulance with outside compartments). If you get a cheap flatbed trailer, then mount a box on it, you can take the box back off for more versatility, or have several boxes with various kits in them and mount the one you need for a particular job (think Thunderbird 2).

 

Kaze

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I'm in Aus and I own a SWB VW transporter, though ethically it was a poor decision to hide the emissions it actually doesn't effect the transporters at all. (Only the more performance orientated VW's)

 

The van has been one of the best purchases I have ever made, it is fuel efficient, comfortable, incredibly reliable and above all else it has been absolutely indispensable when moving house/building a garden/ buying furniture/ taking holidays/ camping pretty damn handy for work as well.

 

I had a custom made trolley made that easily wheels up a ramp in the side door gets ratcheted to the cage and I'm away, the whole process of unpacking and wheeling to set takes about 4 minutes.

Loving the transporter 200k Km's and runs like a new one.

 

Hey Jake thanks for your reply. Regarding the emissions - in London, UK from 2020 there is a lot of talk of extra charges for diesel vehicles, are you experience anything like that in Aus? Paris will be doing the same. This will potentially be a problem for me as all my work is in London.

VW Transporters are great, but they are all diesel.

Also (Rupert) I should of mentioned in my original post, it will not just be for work, but also day running, and would love to use it for short holidays/camping so caddy might be too small, ideally it would transport upto 4 passengers.

A

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Hey Jake thanks for your reply. Regarding the emissions - in London, UK from 2020 there is a lot of talk of extra charges for diesel vehicles, are you experience anything like that in Aus? Paris will be doing the same. This will potentially be a problem for me as all my work is in London.

VW Transporters are great, but they are all diesel.

Also (Rupert) I should of mentioned in my original post, it will not just be for work, but also day running, and would love to use it for short holidays/camping so caddy might be too small, ideally it would transport upto 4 passengers.

A

I'm not up to par with that news here, given the amount of diesel vehicles on the road I'm sure I would have heard something on the grapevine by now.

That's a shame for you guys it really is a great vehicle.

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Yeh it really does. as I had my eye on a van which I was close to buying when the VW scandal broke.

 

But also in the news yesterday, that soon diesel vehicle owners who use it as company van/car will be offered £3k towards cost of replacing it with a petrol vehicle and diesel owner family's with low income will also be offered some cash towards changing to petrol... So it looks like it will be happening in UK over the next 5 years.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Vans.

 

I think you need to make the basic design choices/compromises.

 

Up to 1.98 - you might get in a multi story (transporter/vito)

 

Above 2m you wont (My Boxer)

 

Above maybe 2.5m you will be able to stand up (TrafficMaster/Sprinter)

 

Actually standing up in a van is kind of amazing for doing things like building Steadicams in the rain.

 

Then you got wheelbase which is a compromise of being able to park in a normal space through to kind of having special parking at any location

 

Then you got seats, 2-3 or a second row that you can/not remove.

 

I think once you nail the basic spec the options will have narrowed?

 

--

 

Im a massive fan of a metal bulkhead.. cos when you roll the thing you want your little flesh body and your pile of flight cases not to mix.

 

--

 

My personal experience of vans

Fiesta ex bt van - great runabout 2 seats

Maestro.. bigger as above now all dead!

more serious..

2005 (bought 2008 sold 2012) Vito, nipped into a multistory, rusted apart (apparently later models are better)

2008 (bought 2012-current) boxer - a proper small lorry wont get in a multi but seems to eat 2X the volume of the Vito.

 

Another thought..

Turning Circle.. my Pug Boxer is like a PeeWee it nearly rotates upon itself. I was driving a crew in a hire van and tried to swing a U and it took me about 10 goes.. so check the turning circle.

Edited by Sam Morgan Moore
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Another thought..

 

London van parking culture. I think a 'proper van' bigger than a Transporter seems to have.. I dunno, basically you have to pre book it with security at you location and sort of get taken seriously. Every theatre or whatever has a secret place the lorries and vans get in round the back. Its like in Preproduction you send em the spec and it get booked in which is way better than finding parking on the day for £90 a mile from the location, if parking is not squard in pre you just don't go to the job!

 

-

As well as my Boxer we also have a LWB Renault traffic.. it is the full stand up make tea.. but hard to drive park - basically you wont park it unless your parking is booked.

Edited by Sam Morgan Moore
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