Anyone Own a Mazda Bongo Camper Conversion?

[pugheaven]

Me and the missus are fancying one... just wondered if anyone on here has experience or owns one?

Kinda looking at this style with all the interior done...

 

[pugheaven]

@pugheaven These do look pretty cool and from a driving perspective I like its compactness, but looking into the beck of the thing I can envisage having to spend most of my waking hours, when touring, scuttling about on my knees trying to cook a meal or get dressed. For that reason I'd go for a proper motorhome (if that's the correct name) because at least you could stand up in it. It would just be a pain driving it in the countryside.

Yeah, as said about it's why they have the roof, so with the seats in seated position instead of down for the bed, there's loads of room. Yes, a true camper will be better but only from a space perspective. The reason UI want one of these is, they're like driving a normal car, not slow, massive and clumsy and you can just use them... easy to park on the drive without storing them or being offensive to neighbours (not that I have any lol)... but yeah, I just want something for me and the missus to just ona friday say right pack a bag we're off... and I can also do the work on it myself as well. Nopthing worse than the massive peugeot camper vans, they just look so tragic!

 

[pugheaven]

Does the whole roof pop up or is that pic showing the roof fully raised? I get the concept but if that pic is showing the roof at full height, there's literally a few square feet of standing room near the front, then you'd be stooping towards the rear.

On some the whole thing raises, on others it allows a sleeping area etc, all depends how it's been converted, I've got to start looking at a few when I've got the coin but the missus is becoming obsessed, she keeps shouting Bongo at me... hahaha I might get in one and think no chance, BUT at the end of the day you attached a tent etc to it as well... it's about a cheap anc cheerrful way of just turning up somewhere and having a kitchen and a bed to sleep...

So, you can see from this how some of the roofs work:

 

[pugheaven]

If the whole roof went up it would be fine in there, if it didn't then my back would give me grief stooping over lol. The compact size would be great to reach areas that other tourers cannot reach! It might also fit in a multi storey car park which would be handy for the odd hotel stay in a long tour.

Exactly. I like the VW Campers T5's etc, BUT they're mega money and everyone has them, just fancied being different and was hoping we had a Bongo owner on here... not sure we do lol... too rich on here with their AMG's and Ferraris to be "bongoing" lol

 

[pugheaven]

Mate do it... lifestyle choice alone, it'll be epic if you can make use of it. A pal has a T5 without the roof popper and it is a nightmare (more so because the rules changed and he can't reclassify it as a leisure vehicle because it doesn't have the popper therefore commercial tax and speed limits imposed) but he is having a whale of a time.

100% mate... we're gonna start looking around now I think... hard to know how much to spend... its like a house you start at 7k then the next thing I'm looking 15k hahaha

 

[pugheaven]

Yes - we got one a few weeks ago. 2004 2L Petrol with pop-top and full camper conversion. It's ace. Do it

Anymore piccies fella? So, why did you go for one?

 

[pugheaven]

I'm afraid that other pics have got family in, so I won't share those, but ours is a complete side conversion similar to some of your earlier interior pics with fridge, 2 gas hobs, sink, plugs etc.

We had been looking at all sorts of campers for ages - it is very much a 3rd vehicle for us, to be used for days out, short camping trips etc. Ours came with the connected drive away awning, which adds loads of space if you are camping. I looked at all the usual VWs etc, but the cost was crazy, and we quite liked the idea of the Bongo size as it's as easy to drive and park as a car and it fits on the drive!

The main thing to look out for on these is rust and cooling issues. They all come over from Japan without underseal, and if not done quickly and correctly, they will rot on UK roads. I wanted the latest we could find (they stopped making them at the end of 2004 when the paint factory burned down in Japan) and without crazy mileage (ours is on 60K) and with the 2L Petrol engine as this seems to be the most robust option when it comes to cooling and head gasket issues found in some of the other engines. Manuals are very rare also, so most will be automatics.

At the end of the day, they are all old vans - ours is one of the 'newest' but is still 17 years old, so you need to be realistic! There is a very active 'Bongo' community, so plenty of help and advice is available when needed.

We've been out every weekend so far in ours since getting it and took it on a weeks holiday, and it has not missed a beat - it's just ace fun, and every trip feels a bit of an adventure!

Nahh thats cool. Yep ALL your reasons are EXACTLY the same as us... neat small easily drivable and storable on our drive... something you can jump in... relatively cheap comepared to VW etc, simple mechanicals which i can do... yep reading your wants are same as me and the missus. Cheers for the info and yea heard about the engine things but that's no problem can do that stuff myself and I'll be undersealing etc with Langoguard whatever happens as I do now with my own cars.

Great to hear you're using it though... just so easy... decide friday afternoon pop away for a coupel of days... boom gone. Thats' what i want!

 

[pugheaven]

Get yourself a nice keyring and bowl if you join that community @pugheaven

hahaha... be part of "the club" lol