Car + Moto van vs nice truck for commuter/weekend warrior Dad?

Commuter car and moto van. I do the same.

the answer is always "van." trust me.

i have owned a truck, a trailer, a fun mover, etc. Van is the best of all worlds and can be used in ways other than moto.

I drive a mini cooper s to work and have a ford transit for adventures (moto, mountain bike, skiing, camping, etc.)

As somebody who owns a truck and doesn't have the space for 2 vehicles, i'd take the Car+Van combo 10/10 times.

I just sold my pretty nice truck for a van and I won’t be going back any time soon. Especially if you go with a passenger van like I did, everybody wants to take the van everywhere for any reason, they call it the party bus haha. I put some nice tires and painted the hubcaps and I think it looks pretty good. Running the crew cab setup with a bolt it on bike system and I can run three dirtbikes or mountain bikes. Worked out awesome at the track too. You won’t regret a van!

I have a Ford Flex for commuter and tour vehicle for when family and friends come into town and an E150 cargo with a second seat for the Moto, mtb, surf, camp, everything van. Haven’t been without a van for the better part of 15 years or so as a Moto hauler.

Always owned and driven a truck. 1977 to 2020. But I finally bought a new van. Tired of worrying about bikes getting stolen from out of the truck. It’s my daily driver. Love it so far.

If you feel safe leaving your van loaded, it’s the best option. My setup has multiple sets of gear, boots, helmets, 45 gal water, pressure washer, enough tools to frame a bike, air compressor and a sleeper. I sometimes load the bike the night before and ride day prep amounts to waking up, making coffee and walking to the driveway.

I have a Nissan 350Z for my daily driver, and a cheap, older Ford Ranger for transporting my Yz125 and Mountain bike. It's a great combination! A van would be a step up.
To be clear, I love the 2 vehicle combination. Having my 6 speed manual, 350Z as a daily driver is awesome!
Having another vehicle to haul my toys makes it all possible.

I daily my transit, its not that bad. If you ride a lot a moto van is the only way to go.

What van is gonna fit 3 bikes?

Commuter car plus van. Then you have a fuel efficient car for farting around and the van done up for moto. The miles are also spread between two vehicles. It’s nice having something set up for moto and not having to constantly load and unload everything.

Car + Van 👌🏻

soopah noviss wrote:

What van is gonna fit 3 bikes?

Almost all of them will....

Ive tried having a truck and van at the same time. I can afford it no problem, but when the van ends up sitting for a couple weeks it makes me sell it cause I’m paying
Insurance, and it’s taking up space.

When I do only a van, I usually get tired of not being able to tow big boats and stuff, and hate having to back boats in to the ramp cause I can’t see shit. (I boat a lot)

I go threw a cycle where I have a van for 6-12 months, then switch to a truck, then go back to a van. Been doing this cycle for 10 years lol

Just pulled the trigger last night and trading my 2017 ram 2500
Diesel in on a 2018 Chevy express passenger 3500 with 6.0 engine. Hoping this van may be the ticket since I can see out all the windows when backing up trailers, and can also tow almost 10,000 pounds. With my transits, they were only rated for like 4-5k pounds.

Oh ya, and vans are way cheaper than trucks. This van with 40k miles is only $19,000 at a dealer delivered to my door. (Vroom.com)

Kevin852 wrote:

the answer is always "van." trust me.

i have owned a truck, a trailer, a fun mover, etc. Van is the best of all worlds and can be used in ways other than moto.

I drive a mini cooper s to work and have a ford transit for adventures (moto, mountain bike, skiing, camping, etc.)

It’s not always nicer. Doing outdoor work like mulching and firewood you gotta have a truck. I personally cut and haul a lot of wood as I have a wood burner for my house. I couldn’t do without a truck. But if I didn’t need one, you’re right I would absolutely have a commuter and a van. I’m actually thinking about buying a cheap $5-10,000 AWD car to drive back and forth with.

For the absolutest of fuckest of sakes Vital... A truck / van / trailer section has been needed for yonks.

I keep trying to talk myself into getting rid of my truck and getting a sports car and van. Hasn't happened yet but been on my mind more lately. The biggest hang up for me is going from one registration to two, and one to insure vs two.

Is the kid allowed to drive anymore? It may be valuable to have a 2nd vehicle for just such an occasion.

EZZA 95B wrote:

For the absolutest of fuckest of sakes Vital... A truck / van / trailer section has been needed for yonks.

Especially when people quote a thread with 15-20 pictures.

I've gone back and forth on this for so long. Once I finally got a decent paying job, I went out and bought a nice Lariat. But being that I live in TX and drive over an hour each way every saturday/sunday I hate how many miles I put on my expensive truck.

I might have the opportunity to pick up a sprinter and i've wanted a van basically my entire adult life. My biggest questions is what commuter car would be best. I want something less than 10k, AWD (for snow), enough room for 4 people and some storage, and decent MPG, and most of all, not dorky for a 29 year old guy to drive!

Unless it is your company, talk the company into leasing a car for customer relations or something. Then you can buy whatever you want.
Here's something I did when my kids were driving. I bought an $800 Toyota Camry and had my kids rated in that. It made my insurance really cheap compared to rating them in my 3 year old truck or my wife's brand new car. You don't even have to drive it or maybe let your son drive it as a cone of shame.

Kevin852 wrote:

the answer is always "van." trust me.

i have owned a truck, a trailer, a fun mover, etc. Van is the best of all worlds and can be used in ways other than moto.

I drive a mini cooper s to work and have a ford transit for adventures (moto, mountain bike, skiing, camping, etc.)

agn5009 wrote:

It’s not always nicer. Doing outdoor work like mulching and firewood you gotta have a truck. I personally cut and haul a lot of wood as I have a wood burner for my house. I couldn’t do without a truck. But if I didn’t need one, you’re right I would absolutely have a commuter and a van. I’m actually thinking about buying a cheap $5-10,000 AWD car to drive back and forth with.

You can always put a trailer behind the van and load that full of wood.

Falcon wrote:

Is the kid allowed to drive anymore? It may be valuable to have a 2nd vehicle for just such an occasion.

That is definitely part of the plan. She was about to get a car for Christmas. This plan would be a van she can use during the week.

Herb Eaversmells wrote:

Always owned and driven a truck. 1977 to 2020. But I finally bought a new van. Tired of worrying about bikes getting stolen from out of the truck. It’s my daily driver. Love it so far.

I did the same with a Ford Transit...
Sooooo much better than a pick-up.

The idea of a nice easy to commute in "car" & a nice used van makes A LOT of sense to me.

I wish I could find a decent commuter car to drive around in but there are zero halfway decent cars below $6-7k where we are. Seems every pile of scrap around starts at $5 and goes from there. Luckily my commute is only 8 miles to work so it’s no biggie but I’d love a 15 yr old carolla to bomb around in.

I drive a 1999 v10 e350 to the track and have a newer WRX to zip around town in. It definitely is the best of both worlds.

It does suck to have to pay insurance on a vehicle that sits all week, and sucks even more during the winter months when I am not riding. I sleep in the van on long race weekends and feel 100% comfortable leaving the bikes in the back over night. Hell, in the summers I leave it in there pretty much all the time besides doing oil changes and air filters. (Wash it at the track with a 35 gallon drum and pressure washer)

MxProdigy17 wrote:

I drive a 1999 v10 e350 to the track and have a newer WRX to zip around town in. It definitely is the best of both worlds.

It does suck to have to pay insurance on a vehicle that sits all week, and sucks even more during the winter months when I am not riding. I sleep in the van on long race weekends and feel 100% comfortable leaving the bikes in the back over night. Hell, in the summers I leave it in there pretty much all the time besides doing oil changes and air filters. (Wash it at the track with a 35 gallon drum and pressure washer)

Have you told your insurance company that you only use the van for weekend "camping"...etc? They can adjust your policy/payment for that.

My daily and moto van is a lwb VW Transporter crew van. Can easily fit the family plus a bike, gear and all in without removing seats. With the rear row of seats out 3 bikes + gear easily.
I could never go back to a truck after having a van. They really just are that good.

MxProdigy17 wrote:

I drive a 1999 v10 e350 to the track and have a newer WRX to zip around town in. It definitely is the best of both worlds.

It does suck to have to pay insurance on a vehicle that sits all week, and sucks even more during the winter months when I am not riding. I sleep in the van on long race weekends and feel 100% comfortable leaving the bikes in the back over night. Hell, in the summers I leave it in there pretty much all the time besides doing oil changes and air filters. (Wash it at the track with a 35 gallon drum and pressure washer)

TeamGreen wrote:

Have you told your insurance company that you only use the van for weekend "camping"...etc? They can adjust your policy/payment for that.

My van is marked as a pleasure vehicle, between the two it's about 160 a month so I can't complain too much.

When I got my company car to commute with I called them up and had them switch my WRX to a pleasure vehicle as well. It saved me a whopping $1 a month by making that switch. Not sure how much of a difference it makes for other companies but Traveler's Insurance didn't do much for me with it.