I think I can although biased or maybe even slightly delusional
I have an absolutely mint Aero now with about 49K miles, which cost roughly one tenth of the price of a new VW Californina. On the A303 on Friday (when it was thankfully a clear run) going West I marvelled at the procession of T5 campers's etc in the outside lane barrelling past us at 80-90mph+; the odd beautiful T2 crawling along which even we were are able to sail past!
On the used market a possible three to four fold increase over what I paid for the Bongo for a 'comparable' dub doesn't compute for me, yep the Bongo is totally compromised on so many levels (the California does look fantastic) but for what I need it to to do for me it's great for the small outlay. Dubs....gb failure, turbo failure, EGR failures, DM flywheel failure, oil leaks, steering column clunks, astronomical mileages et al; found this owner comparison
OK! I own a Mazda Bongo and a California. Many posts have stated how great the Cali is and I echo this.
The Bongo is a marvellous vehicle, the seats I find are more confortable than the Cali's. The automatic gears and great power steering of the Bongo is second to none. BUT the Bongo is no longer being made (last 2003), any you buy today will burden you with considerable and very expensive maintenance. In addition the size is just enough smaller to make live a lot less confortable. Bongo conversion vary a lot ans some are just poor.
If you want a superb, confortable and beautiful van - buy the Cali .
If you are a hobby mechanic who likes to play around with cars than buy the Bongo.
VW or Mazda; whichever flavour you choose main thing is eyes wide open and buy a decent one from the outset
