IH or Hillside

You need to look at both really, Q. Some years ago we looked at both and weren’t overly impressed by the build quality of either but things might have changed.

See my post earlier in the other thread as it doesn’t appear that the new Crafter is related to the Sprinter. 

Thanks Tinwheeler.  Which vehicle do you choose or ar you still considering?

Apologies Tinwheeler.   Just found your comments re Sprinter on the other thread.  I am very dubious about the Fiat or Peugeot.  We are both far too fussy about cars and like good engineering.  

The Lunar offering looks quite good if you can accept the length.  The downside is that it comes with an oven and microwave and they won't build to customer spec so it means a dealer modification.  Both Hillside and IH are happy to omit ovens and microwaves which are a waste of space to us.

I'm fussy as well, Q, but there comes a time when we need to accept that perfection probably doesn’t exist. Then we open our minds to all possibilities and consider which of the available compromises suits us best. To get out there and test drive a few is the way to decide what we can and can’t live with. Don’t dismiss anything until it’s been tried.

Thousands and thousands of people are reasonably happy to drive the PSA variants and, while the vans will never match the Sprinter in my opinion, they do what it says on the tin.

Having read about the new Crafter, I’m not sure I would necessarily tip my hat in that direction. 

On the other hand I have just read two separate reeves of the Crafter both of which say that it is better than the Sprinter.  However, a review is only the opinion of he or she who wrote it.

Hillside Leisure are doing a sub 6 metre on the Crafter called the Hopton.  It is much less money than the offerings from IH.

Ultimately we have to look carefully and test drive various models.

we don't 'do' rear lounge vans (for a number of reasons) but we did look (and priced up) an IH FL front lounge van a couple of years ago...

the lead in price was OK-ish....but after I'd specced up a few things it was totally off the scale....around £80k I seem to remember for a panel van for goodness sake.....it really was silly...

when i suggested I could get a proper van for that sort of money......

well, you can guess the rest....

Q, just be aware that the sidewalls on PVCs curve inwards as they reach the roof, whereas a similar sized coachbuilt won't be 'squeezed' as much in the headroom dept....

Thanks for that.  Yes I had thought about side walls and storage loss.  The more we think the more we move away from a PVC. 1. Loss of storage. 2. Too narrow. 3 Possibly small fridge. 4. Almost impossible to sleep sideways across the van making it difficult for my wife to get in and out of bed with her (brilliant) ceramic hip.  The list goes on and, I agree with you, the IH prices are crazy once you start adding in the extras.  

i realise that this wouldn't suit you but if I had to go for a panel van I'd be looking at three...

LaStrada with drop down bed and rear kitchen washroom (for space, build quality, storage and innovation)

Malibu (Carthago) rear transverse bed (for large bed, innovative washroom, huge underbed storage, build quality)

Adria Twin SPX, extended version of the SP (transverse rear bed) to give 'coachbuilt' type washroom (loo one side, shower the other) across the full width of the van ahead of the bed....

front lounged PVC vans don't tend to have the parallel seating you desire as the sliding door makes this tricky....IH 'may' produce an FL (front lounge) van in the new Crafter, with the Hartal door which 'might' be pretty close as will have washroom and kitchen aft.....

having said that, their N-630FL makes a pretty good fist of the layout you seek, with the quality of conversion too...

i realise it's on a Ducato (this may have been the one we looked at...) but if this were made on the Crafter (surely a possibility) you'd be nearly there.....

Interesting and many thanks. TheN-630FL is not going to work for us as it does not have the parallel lounge/bed arrangement we want.  We are just back form the show at Broadlands and now know, for sure, that a PVC is never going to work for us.  Too narrow, too awkward, tiny fridge, cramped overhead lockers; the list goes on and on.  We are back to an Auto-Sleeper Stanton.  The Marquis salesman took the words out of my mouth with his description of the Stanton, "A traditional 2 berth caravan with parallel seating/double bed, rear end kitchen and bathroom but with a cab and a steering wheel on the front."  That is exactly what we want.  We are going to be patient as Auto-Sleeper will not be using the 2018 Sprinter until 2019.  There are revisions in the Sprinter we are keen to have so plan to order in the autumn for delivery early next year.

We nearly bought a Stanton in 2013. What stopped us was the wife's bad back. She didn't think she could get a good night's sleep. It's a lovely van though.