Bongo Fury

Hi all, sorry if this has been done to death, if so could someone kindly show me where on the forum I should look?
Otherwise as title says.
Need a van to be able to....accommodate 2 adults, at times 3 (adult daughter). Easy to care for (have some disability difficulties) be comfortable and automatic, for mostly short breaks possibly up to 10 days on the odd occasion. Would want to have scope to use year round
Can a Bongo deliver this? Budget of 12k .
max.
Don't mean to offend anyone but have read a lot about Bongos being thirsty, wwys to that?
Thank you very much in advance

Hi, welcome aboard.

There's info on buying a Bongo which is worth a read, might be in the Members' area.

Re fuel, we have the diesel and get about 30mpg. The V6 is less economic, and the 2 ltr about the same.

The 2 ltr is the simplest engine and you need to understand the requirement to bleed the cooling system on the 2.5 litre engines.

May be worth renting one for a few days, and it will be 'cosy' for 2 adults, I'd say very cramped for 3. You may want an awning or seperate tent.

Hope that helps a bit.

Guide to buying a Bongo at https://igmaynard.co.uk/buying/

Thank you!

Show me a camper van that has 'good' mpg.....a brand new VW California diesel is given at circa 32mpg for £60K. Yesterday I drove to Frome and back 300mile round trip, circa 30mpg doing a nice 55-60mph; I have no complaints.

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

Hello
I am of the same mind as Flanners, the VW whilst is a nice looking vehicle its grossly over priced. I too have a beautiful white areocity and in my opinion whilst it's not as pretty as the new transporter it certainly gets plenty of admiration, from a number of VW owners too.

NIce that!

hi Flanners
Thank you. Many an hour spent cleaning and polishing. Vw have a place but at £40k more than "winston" I really don't see the justification.

That's a beauty.

The Aero City Runner complete with skirts is my favourite model.

Thank you Bob.
Hello Doone, I am obviously bias, but totally agree, being all white really make it stand out, the interior matches the outside in that it is completely unmarked. It is unconverted although I have a side overhead storage cupboard and a tail box that stores all our camping needs

Sweet.

Certainly does look cool.

plonkatronix Nice Bongo! Its gleaming! We have similar nudge bar and skirts on ours. We had a newer one in for breaking and fitted its headlights and trim to our 1997 model. I'll have to get a decent photo of it.