Considering getting a Broadway

We have 2016 Broadway EB.  Loads of storage space, brilliant bathroom, tow bar fitted.  With two up, fuel and water tanks full and all kit for a long trip in the van it weighed in at front 1560kg, back 1860kg and total 3440 kg.  I didn't have bike rack or bikes on but it would be very rare to have both fuel and water tanks full so I estimate about 150kg spare.

No problem with size as had much bigger vans for the previous 15 years.

I have been concerned about traction (being a lifelong 4x4 person) and we did get the Kingham stuck once on the top of the Pennines. Also I have become really tired of the ghastly bumpy crashing ride over potholes and bad roads on the original Contivan C tyres.

Last week I threw these away and fitted a set of General Grabber AT3's, 235/65 R16C with 121 load rating. I was going to give it another week or so before commenting on these but I have done about 500 miles now including a very blustery run down to Falmouth this afternoon, and can only say I am really pleased so far. The ride is transformed, the tracking was rock steady in strong cross winds and we had a very smooth trip indeed with far less noise inside the van. I will be beetling round some Cornish lanes this next week so will have a better idea after that but so far I think that these tyres are likely to be perfect. No soft grass trials yet but I am sure they will give a lot more traction than the original tyres, which although only part worn (13,000 miles) looked more like slicks apart from the three plain grooves in the tread.

More to the point of this post the 121 load rating would go a long way to solving many weight issues. I am reluctantly considering up plating to 3,900kg since we are teetering on the 3.5 limit at the moment, and with these GG tyres there is no problem. Even without up plating they allow a much greater margin of capacity.

The only down side might be fuel consumption, but I don't actually know accurately what the van was doing beforehand so I won't have to worry about that! More seriously, I put GG AT3's on my VW Touareg at the same time (expensive week!) and so far after 800 miles in that car I can't see any significant change in consumption (or tyre noise for that matter.)

Toffee wrote:I never new these tyres existed, we opted for Michelin cross climate in our fairford 118-116 rated and we are plated at 3900, had to supply proof of the load rating as part up the uprating process. I’ve not regretted the change from 3500kgs. The cross climate tyres don’t seem to have effected the fuel consumption, I doubt your General Grabbers will either.

Back to our thoughts on getting a Broadway thanks to all who have contributed the posts have all been useful and from lots of perspectives. 
The Broadway we were considering is exactly the same age as the fairford we own, if we bought it it would be for at least 5 years intended ownership at which point it would be.12 years old.
 I can’t decide which of the two would be the most sustainable option. I use the term sustainable in terms of longevity and cost of maintaining it to a useable standard up to and possibly beyond this period. I suspect the pvc will be corroded and the the coachbuilt will be leaking.

It does sound a bit like "out of the frying pan........

I think IanH raised the point that would concern me the most, namely the extra width. That of course depends an awful lot on how you use your van but if you tour with it as we do then the width could be a big issue in the more scenic areas that one might be visiting. I find the PVC to be effectively as easy to drive in lanes as using my (rather fat) SUV. The only downside is the need to think a little bit more about where and how you park due to the length, but you will know all that already. If anybody were to complain when squeezing past in a small lane I would just remind them that the van is the same as the van that delivers their parcels!

When we chose our van I did not even look at coachbuilts. I did not want the extra width and the greater risk of body damage, even though that does mean that the bed is rather narrow! I wanted a van that would go anywhere that an Amazon van could.

When all said and done your van is not that old, and won't be that old in 5 years time. Presumably it is a zinc coated body.