Bongo Fury

It is (mainly) with a heavy heart that we are moving on from our Bongo. We'd always been planning on taking it off the road this winter and getting some work done (arches, therefore respray and cooling system) but we took a step back and realised we would be piling money into a vehicle that we no longer used as originally intended. So it's time for the Bongo to go to a new family, who will care for it and love it. It feels like trying to re-home a family pet!

Bit of a cock-eyed way of doing it but the right vehicle popped up on Autotrader, so we have the replacement already. I'm just hoping the Bongo doesn't feel too betrayed sat on the drive next to it's replacement. I think I heard it crying itself to sleep last night (or was that a coolant leak or just air-con water?!)

For those that are interested in life after Bongo, we have gone for a Vivaro crewcab LWB. This gives us 6 seats (we never did use all 8 in the Bongo) and a load area almost as big as the Bongo's when all the seats removed - without having to remove the seats. We're going to do a basic conversion in the back, not quite 6 foot but enough for a decent size single, that will fold out into a double and a full wall of racking on the other side for storage. It'll just work better for us and what we do now. The extra grunt and extra MPG is a Brucey bonus as well. Averaged 41 mpg on the way home from picking it up (while "testing" it out and giving it some beans!).

We're really going to miss the Bongo and waving to fellow Bongo drivers but most of all I'm going to miss this community. Being a self taught DIY mechanic this forum has been invaluable and saved me thousands of pounds. So thank you each and everyone who has replied to one of my "help" posts.

Don't worry too much.

I'm sure your Bongo will quickly love its new family, and you don't have to miss the clowns here, you're always welcome.

Drop in any time and do come to meets with your new wheels.

Take care Roosmith. Makes good sense what you're doing. Thought about a change myself this year (to a car) but couldn't get excited about any and still loving tbe classic design and car like comfort of a Bongo combined with its usefulness and compactness. So i tipped a bit of money into smartening it up and on we go for a while yet i hope - nothing quite like a Bongo, or this community. Keep in touch

Mike

I like you have moved on .. I now have a Toyota Alphard..

Had my V6 Bongo for over five trouble free years .. gifted it onto a grandson (who loves it) so it's still in the family..

Strange thing is ... I still feel part of the Bongo community .. contribute on BF and FB when I can .. and even went to a local Bongo meet a couple of weeks back ..

As said above ....you do not have to leave the forum......there are many Bongo owners who have moved on but are still part of the wonderful Bongo community and do attend meets with their new vehicles...

Good luck with your new venture and I hope it is as enjoyable as your Bongo...

Best wishes

Alan

Cool
All the best
We have some of them vivaros at work
Fast , reliable, good mpg

Sure I see you in the black bongo a few times on the parkway near fengate
But I'm in works van

Thanks for all the replies. I will keep popping back and contributing if I can be of use (there has to be a first for everything!) but all the other forums I've been on, aren't quite the same. I had a look at one of the Vivaro ones and someone had posted pictures of his new alloys. Most of the replies were slating him, telling him they looked ridiculous and why would you bother on a van. What's that old adage, if you've got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?!

First minor issue in and I can't locate a relay for the intermittent wipers. I know that on here I would have backup and be able to get an answer. Sad times!

mikeonb4c wrote:Take care Roosmith. Makes good sense what you're doing. Thought about a change myself this year (to a car) but couldn't get excited about any and still loving tbe classic design and car like comfort of a Bongo combined with its usefulness and compactness. So i tipped a bit of money into smartening it up and on we go for a while yet i hope - nothing quite like a Bongo, or this community. Keep in touch

Mike

Getting excited about something different was a major issue for us too. We just couldn't bring ourselves to go back to something plain and everyday. This particular Vivaro caught our eye, as it already has side steps and alloys and is in silver, so doesn't look like your everyday builders van. By the time we've finished it certainly won't. The excitement of planning the conversion is also back!

Gasy wrote:Cool
All the best
We have some of them vivaros at work
Fast , reliable, good mpg

Sure I see you in the black bongo a few times on the parkway near fengate
But I'm in works van

We'll here's hoping on the reliability side of things! It's the face lift 2.0l version which has a much better reputation (with the exception of seized injectors). I've got the added bonus on the one I've bought that it had a new engine 85K miles ago from Vauxhall, at a tiny cost of £8600

Highly possible it could have been us on the parkway, we come via Peterborough to get onto the A1 when going north.

Sounds good
Years ago I had a Sherpa van which had a factory fitted replacement engine ( gold painted block )
That engine was still purring like a kitten 100,000 miles later
I put a marina twin carb on that engine as well ( was good for 100mph +
Think they are special engines when they replaced by factory
I also had a transit which we bought a new engine from ford for turned up on a pallet with new water header tank and everything on it
Again a lovely engine we re chipped that one
That would touch 120 mph on speedo
I think factory refitted engines are better than normal production line ones for som reason
Good luck with it

Good luck. Am I really about to say this .... I've heard good things about the Vivaro. Said it!
Hope you have a great time.

And just to clear up a question I've had since joining. You aren't the photographer for Mountain Bike Rider magazine who shares the same name, are you?

cmm303 wrote:Good luck. Am I really about to say this .... I've heard good things about the Vivaro. Said it!
Hope you have a great time.

And just to clear up a question I've had since joining. You aren't the photographer for Mountain Bike Rider magazine who shares the same name, are you?

Nope not me, I'm completely unique