what to buy, SWB or LWB?

[Gavin]

just joined, looking for a transit, as an occasional work vehicle, and as occasional transport for my motorbikes. (trackdays, shows and events etc)

i've got about £1500 to spend, and started looking at swb, standard top models, as i saw it as the right space but not too big, as i dont have a lot of room in front of my house (and i dont want it on the drive) but im beginning to think a lwb semi-high top would be better. they seem to be better looked after and cheaper, judging by whats on offer on autotrader, and having compared one to my mondeo its not actually much longer in lwb form than the car!

so....can any of you folks give me some pointers on this, is the lwb the way to go for what i want?

and does anyone know exactly how long a mk4/5 is in swb and lwb form?

thanks

[stevo]

I'd say a Lwb semi top is what your after if your gonna transport bikes, theres a few guys on here already on here who do it. Im sure they'll turn up sooner or later.
For that price, your probly lookin at a 95/96 van, thats about the goin rate depending on condition.

Good luck mate.

[jake strange]

hello.

I use my van for the racebikes too.
Its a swb, low roof 1997 120. I can fit in the 2 bikes (zxr400's), and all the spares / awning, but nothing else!

I was planning on swapping it for a lwb, but decided to keep this one as shes a goodun, and get a caravan to tow.

The thing with the lwb, you can sort out a bit of sleeping quaters aswell.
jake

[MarkM]

2nd hand LWB's will always be cheaper than the SWB for all the reasons you need a SWB rather than a LWB.
Semi High top will stop you using pretty much any multi storey car park as well, not saying you will want to but something to be aware of. Regular height ones are too tight in some as well but most you can still get into. I know at the NEC you can use a regular height one but doubtful as to a semi high getting in. SWB are shorter than a lot of cars on the road so this helps when you come to park in a street. I had a Granada estate before I switched to Transits and it was 6inches longer than the Transit but then the Granada is all bonnet due to the V6 under the skin.
It's your call as to what you get as only you can really decide, for how I use my Transit now I don't even really need the load space of the SWB at all times, saying this as I was a little unhappy to begin with and thought quite seriously about selling it to swap to a LWB but when I worked out all the use senarios for the SWB and it had more plus's than the LWB. Ease of parking a SWB over a LWB being the major deciding factor.

[Nathan_Cardiff]

I've had my GSXR in my old Mk5 SWB no problem, but to be honest the extra head height would have been easier with a semi/high top.

At one point i had 3 250 crossers in there too.