6m van as second vehicle

[Toffs-G]

Hi, after some advice and guidance please, we have been looking at the Hymer Free540 or similar as a second car mostly would be used for days out, weekends away etc but also for the occasional school run. 540 4 berths seem less easy to come by but 600’s seem to be available a little more (we would like to avoid the 8 month lead time if possible). Opinions would be appreciated as to how practical a 6m van would be in our proposed scenario over a 540 do you think the 60cm makes that much of a difference? Is there anyone that uses a 6m van conversion as a second car and how do you find it - apologies if this seems a daft ask, thanks in advance

 

[Mikeco]

We use ours as a second vehicle and at 6 m you can still get all 4 wheels inside a normal parking spot.

 

[Coolcats]

Hi, after some advice and guidance please, we have been looking at the Hymer Free540 or similar as a second car mostly would be used for days out, weekends away etc but also for the occasional school run. 540 4 berths seem less easy to come by but 600’s seem to be available a little more (we would like to avoid the 8 month lead time if possible). Opinions would be appreciated as to how practical a 6m van would be in our proposed scenario over a 540 do you think the 60cm makes that much of a difference? Is there anyone that uses a 6m van conversion as a second car and how do you find it - apologies if this seems a daft ask, thanks in advance

We have the Hymer Ayres Rock which is the 5.4 metre, one of reasons we purchased this was it's length easy to park on our drive and seems to fit in to parking bays easier than a 6 Meter Van, it is also about the length of a long wheelbase VW Transporter. 60 cm does make a difference.

Get a tape measure and measure out where you are going to keep it that may help you see the difference in length, its what we did and help us to make our minds up, at this time of year 8 months wait is fine to wait for a new build.

What ever you decide hope you will be happy with it

 

[Coolcats]

We use ours as a second vehicle and at 6 m you can still get all 4 wheels inside a normal parking spot.

Not in Sainsbury's you can't it takes up more than one bay in length, (I was wearing the same glass's when considering the Grand Canyon )

This is the AA Guide to parking bay length

Edited to say you may want to look at the Vans parked in the supermarkets so you can see for your self, you can tell the length of the van by looking at the door slider and the additional length behind it to gauge what length of van you are seeing.

 

[g3cwi]

Our 6m van does not fit in standard parking spaces. Fine for width but not for length. I would find that to be a significant problem for a dual use vehicle. Height might be a problem in some car parks too. You won’t be able to use multi-storey carparks.

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[SpeedyDux]

A 5.4m PVC does overhang a standard 4.8m x 2.4m parking bay at both ends although a first impression woud be it almost fits. It all depends whether there is strict enforcement of whatever rules or conditions are in force. One solution is to choose a parking bay next to a grass verge and back into that so the overhang is entirely over the verge. With a 6m PVC even that dodge might not be enough to avoid a parking penalty in some car parks. You might need tickets for 2 bays if that is allowed.

The other relevant consideration is the 5.4m medium wheelbase FIAT chassis gives a tighter turning circle for car park manoevering. The 6m FIAT (and 6.4m) has the long wheelbase chassis and significantly bigger turning circle.