So why the 120?

In The Begining..

When we first started our epic search for a new van we knew exactly what we were looking for, or so we thought, a Renault Trafic sized van with pop up roof, rock 'n roll bed, side kitchen, something that would go in our garage, it would be just like the old days.


After going to the NEC to finalise our decision we both decided that it was not for us, there wasn't enough space and we really needed a toilet / washroom.
Back to the drawing board.
We started again, listing what we needed, what we would like, what we did not want, we needed a van that we could use for weekends as well as longer holidays or even months away but not a coach-built motorhome as size matters, in that, we wanted to get to small destinations, as one salesman said "if white van man can get there so can you" 

Our new ideas came in with a Ducato sized van with front dinette and rear lounge / bed, we found a few that were in our price range, however, we found that there was, in most, a 'pinch point' mid way down the van where we had to walk side ways, crab like, to get through, definitely not good, also when standing at the cooker the microwave was inches from your head, others had really dark wood and soft furnishings making them feel even smaller,

On the off chance we stopped at a dealership in Tewksbury and found the Benimar Benivan 120


The van didn't have the front dinette we were looking for but had a good open layout, a rear lounge, a decent kitchen with cooker, sink a large fridge and microwave.
The bathroom was a decent size, the cab turned into a lounge area when parked up as the two front seats swiveled around but the appealing point was the exceptional list of standard fittings that are normally options at extra cost adding anything from £5k - £10k more to the asking price; the benivan 120 came with the larger 150bhp engine, alloy wheels, cab blinds, air conditioning, auto wipers and auto headlamps, dab radio with builtin sat-nav, reversing camera, leather steering wheel and gear knob, also solar panel fitted as standard, the list was endless.


Another visit to the NEC show, we checked out all the other competition but found that they were either out of our price bracket or had niggles that we did not like, so back to the Marquis stand to strike up a deal, we found out that they had a 120 that was a 'pre-registered' vehicle with significant savings we also negotiated a roll out awning, it came with 12 months free insurance and if we bought at the show would get a free TV.
So to cut a longer story short we signed subject to a test drive, on 22nd March 2019 we collected our new van.

Let the adventures begin......

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