Newbie needs advice please.
Newbie needs advice please.
I am attracted to Bongos and would like some info please.
Will I get a good deal for below £5,000?
Are they suitable for towing caravans etc?
How many miles to the gallon (diesel automatic) could I expect.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of importing myself?
Are spares easily available?
I have a Toyota Estima 2.2 atm and I love it and feel that a bongo is the natural progression from this, I found the Estima lacking in power for towing tho, also have had difficulty in finding spares.
Any help and information welcome
Lyndon
Will I get a good deal for below £5,000?
Are they suitable for towing caravans etc?
How many miles to the gallon (diesel automatic) could I expect.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of importing myself?
Are spares easily available?
I have a Toyota Estima 2.2 atm and I love it and feel that a bongo is the natural progression from this, I found the Estima lacking in power for towing tho, also have had difficulty in finding spares.
Any help and information welcome
Lyndon
Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Croeso/welcome Lyndon.
I am not sure that the Wales/Cymru section is the best place for your post.
Do have a look through the FAQ list of topics at the very top of the forum.
You will also find the answers to all your questions if you use the search facility, also at the top of the forum.
I am not sure that the Wales/Cymru section is the best place for your post.
Do have a look through the FAQ list of topics at the very top of the forum.
You will also find the answers to all your questions if you use the search facility, also at the top of the forum.
- mikeonb4c
- Supreme Being
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Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Welcome Lyndon. This is discussed a lot (even recently) so have a search. You should get something nice buying privately for £3500-£4000 I reckon if you study the form carefully and read u on your Bongos so you know what to look out for. Then keep the rest of the budget as your own 'warranty' money until confident you'e judged right and got a good 'un. Good luck
Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Hello Lyndon and welcome along to BF.
Do a search as the guys suggest but here's my quick pointers;-
I am attracted to Bongos and would like some info please. - Careful 'cos it'll move on from just attraction quickly
Will I get a good deal for below £5,000? Yep - have a look at the private's here and some of the dealers. Try Churcham.
Are they suitable for towing caravans etc? Yep up to around 1600KG I thinkHow many miles to the gallon (diesel automatic) could I expect. 25-30 not towing, bit less towing I guess.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of importing myself? Don't know about this but you'll have to wait a while I'd think.
Are spares easily available? Ye[ - look at the shop on here - plenty. One of the reasons I was happy to get a Bongo...this site and all the people and things that go with it.
Good luck.
Put your location in your profile too and you'll be able to check who's nearest to you (geographically )
Do a search as the guys suggest but here's my quick pointers;-
I am attracted to Bongos and would like some info please. - Careful 'cos it'll move on from just attraction quickly
Will I get a good deal for below £5,000? Yep - have a look at the private's here and some of the dealers. Try Churcham.
Are they suitable for towing caravans etc? Yep up to around 1600KG I thinkHow many miles to the gallon (diesel automatic) could I expect. 25-30 not towing, bit less towing I guess.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of importing myself? Don't know about this but you'll have to wait a while I'd think.
Are spares easily available? Ye[ - look at the shop on here - plenty. One of the reasons I was happy to get a Bongo...this site and all the people and things that go with it.
Good luck.
Put your location in your profile too and you'll be able to check who's nearest to you (geographically )
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- Tribal Elder
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- Location: South Wales
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Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Hi Lyndon - and welcome
Can't really answer your questions but just wanted to say.....
Go on buy one - you know you want one!
Can't really answer your questions but just wanted to say.....
Go on buy one - you know you want one!
Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Go to agree with Dizzy-dots here. Buy one and wait for the grin factor to kick in - wont take long.Dizzy-Dots wrote:Hi Lyndon - and welcome
Can't really answer your questions but just wanted to say.....
Go on buy one - you know you want one!
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- Supreme Being
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- Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 6:37 pm
- Location: Aberdare south wales
Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Find someone near you who has one..if you say where you are..like me in Aberdare.. there may be someone nearby who can show you their bongo and give you all the info you need, I am sure there was a garage at Haverfordwest that was selling em at one stage, bags of torque and power to pull a caravan no probs. Loads of bongos in the swansea area you could even pop down to see one there. Good luck and hope you find one.incidentally mine is a 96 P reg flat top.
Re: Newbie needs advice please.
Thank you very much for your advice everyone
I think I've found one in a garage near me, but I've noticed that the seats at the back are not split so I can't fold them up out of the way to make a big boot area. I'm sure I've seen this on one before, can anyone tell me if this feature is specific to different makes of Bongos? And do all the Mazda Bongos and Friendly have the elevating roof? I'm still not sure about this. Thanks again
I think I've found one in a garage near me, but I've noticed that the seats at the back are not split so I can't fold them up out of the way to make a big boot area. I'm sure I've seen this on one before, can anyone tell me if this feature is specific to different makes of Bongos? And do all the Mazda Bongos and Friendly have the elevating roof? I'm still not sure about this. Thanks again
- mister munkey
- Supreme Being
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Re: Newbie needs advice please.
They stopped doing the split rear seats around mid '97 so up to a very early R reg SHOULD have splits.
Not always the case of course . . . .
Not always the case of course . . . .
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MisterMunkey
Re: Newbie needs advice please.
There are tin tops (no roof) and free tops (electric roof). More free tops than tin tops around generally speaking.
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- Tribal Elder
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Re: Newbie needs advice please.
There are so many different specs - you'd be surprised just how many different bits and bobs people on here have - and of course, we all covert those bits we haven't got!
The AFT - is the electric rising roof - the 'Bongolow' or tintop is a standard van - and there are some sellers making their own roof conversions (see main website)
Do some research on here and the main website, and think about what you'd like to do with your van.
For us, we wanted an all-rounder - to be used as a everyday car (inc. the daily school run - 2 minutes down road! ), 'mums' taxi, camping,day trips and general dogsbody
We weren't sure what type of conversion we wanted, so choose to go unconverted until we'd lived with it for a while and then decide what conversion is best - turns out that unconverted IS best for us!
We choose the split rear seats - great when you need to load big bulky items or just for when a bigger boot is needed
We made a sort of list of wants and needs (with the needs a must, and the wants just added bonus') - our needs were far fewer than our wants! - for us, our 'needs' were diesel, spilt rears and the AFT - luckily for us, our Jonnie is perfect for us - with everything we'd wrote on our list - save for the armrest and chrome mirror covers that hubby wanted - I bought the armrest off ebay and have convinced hubby that the chrome covers don't match anyway!
But really, the best advice I can give is to just read up on here - there are some cracking people on here, always ready to give advice - and don't be afraid to ask 'silly' questions - god knows, I've certainly asked my fair share! Venture into the Bongo chat section - it's busier on there - more people to ask (and far more technical than I am!)
Be it Mazda Bongo or Ford Freda (both the same car, just badged differently) - the result will be the same - a HUGE grin that doesn't seem to go away! (ours hasn't anyway and we've had Jonnie for over two years )
The AFT - is the electric rising roof - the 'Bongolow' or tintop is a standard van - and there are some sellers making their own roof conversions (see main website)
Do some research on here and the main website, and think about what you'd like to do with your van.
For us, we wanted an all-rounder - to be used as a everyday car (inc. the daily school run - 2 minutes down road! ), 'mums' taxi, camping,day trips and general dogsbody
We weren't sure what type of conversion we wanted, so choose to go unconverted until we'd lived with it for a while and then decide what conversion is best - turns out that unconverted IS best for us!
We choose the split rear seats - great when you need to load big bulky items or just for when a bigger boot is needed
We made a sort of list of wants and needs (with the needs a must, and the wants just added bonus') - our needs were far fewer than our wants! - for us, our 'needs' were diesel, spilt rears and the AFT - luckily for us, our Jonnie is perfect for us - with everything we'd wrote on our list - save for the armrest and chrome mirror covers that hubby wanted - I bought the armrest off ebay and have convinced hubby that the chrome covers don't match anyway!
But really, the best advice I can give is to just read up on here - there are some cracking people on here, always ready to give advice - and don't be afraid to ask 'silly' questions - god knows, I've certainly asked my fair share! Venture into the Bongo chat section - it's busier on there - more people to ask (and far more technical than I am!)
Be it Mazda Bongo or Ford Freda (both the same car, just badged differently) - the result will be the same - a HUGE grin that doesn't seem to go away! (ours hasn't anyway and we've had Jonnie for over two years )
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- Supreme Being
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Re: Newbie needs advice please.
As I said mine is a flat top 96 on a P manual 2.5td and has two sets of bench seats, unfortunately, lol, I would love the split rears but it is a different configuration so cannot retro fit, having said that there is still a fair bit of space with the top of the seat folded down.