Fire up the... Peugeot Partner

A DOUBLE duvet, a mountain bike, and a pile of bags and boxes filled with household clutter. No, not the prizes of some awful Generation Game spinoff but a list of things Peugeot's Partner could swallow with ease.

Trips to the tip are the sort of missions where you'd want the generously-named Peugeot Partner Teepee Outdoor HDi 115 on your side; it really is family man motoring on a truly utilitarian level. Keen students of all things automotive will have already deduced it's the familiar Partner van with an additional helping of windows and seats, but if you're prepared to drop any pretensions of being sporty and go along with its load-lugging groove than you've got the perfect, er, partner. If you strip your family car requirements back to hauling five people and as much luggage as possible, then I challenge you to find a motor more geared up to the task then this one.

Stylish it ain't and it's a big thing, but the tradeoff is the simply enormous amount of room you get inside, and when you aren't using the faintly ridiculous amounts of headroom and legroom in the rear the back seats fold away and the Partner turns back into a van, offering you more luggage space than just about any other people mover for the money. True, the 1.6 version I drove will set you back £17,000 but while I don't think that's too unreasonable, there are plenty of other Partners in the range offering you the same amount of space for even less.

But the best thing about the Partner is that despite its van origins it doesn't alienate drivers who like their vehicles smaller and lower (me, basically). No, it's not going to inspire you with its handling in a bleak corner of Britain's countryside but it disguises its considerable bulk with a welcome dose of handling aplomb, and on the motorway it's a comfortable cruiser which isn't left wanting for turbocharged diesel punch. The only thing I'd ask Peugeot to give the Partner for Christmas is a sixth gear, to help improve the already none-too-bad 44mpg I averaged with it.

The Partner isn't a thriller through the corners or a work of art, but it isn't pretending to be. See it for what it is - a tool which dedicates everything at its disposal to moving people and things as efficiently as possible - and it's a belter.

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It might be a van with windows, but I'm a convert

JUST call me Jean-Jaques and pass me a beret. This week, I've fallen for that most French of motoring institutions.

I know that the small-van-with-windows format is offered by all sorts of manufacturers these days - Ford with its Tourneo, Fiat with the Doblo and so on - but really it's the Gallic trio of Citroen, Renault and Peugeot who've made it a hit with motorists on this side of the Channel. Now, thanks to a week with a Partner as my partner, I can see why.

I've entrusted it with a several missions, including a trip to the tip to get rid of a few bits of household clutter simply too big for the Rover 214 to deal with, but the assignment on which it's impressed me most was conveying a carload of petrolheads to the NEC in Birmingham for last weekend's Footman James Classic Motor Show. Normally, this would be a job given to either my Rover or my mate's turbodiesel Saab 93, but it seemed almost rude not to use the big Pug instead.

Each and every one of us - a group of car enthusiasts who'd usually value the small, the sporty and the quick - left impressed by the Partner's almost ruthless approach to practical, family-friendly motoring. Up front, I loved the way it disguised its considerable bulk with its sweet handling, my turbo nutter, Saab-owning pal liked its mid range punch, and everyone else seemed slightly lost with the vast amounts of head and legroom.
In fact, the only real gripes were the popout windows in the sliding rear doors, which left them with a slightly stuffy feel on the long trip.

Admittedly, the boxy shape - especially in the delightfully Seventies shade of brown the car I've just tested came in - isn't going to keep you awake at night, and nor is it going to thrill you on the Buttertubs Pass, but I'm a small-vans-with-windows convert, because these things do the job they're designed to do brilliantly and unpretentiously.

Now, what's the going rate for a secondhand one?

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The Southport brothers who built a camper van for less than a grand

TWO brothers from Southport have used their technical know-how to write a book on their bid to build a camper van on a budget.

Matthew and Stuart Ball, of Fylde Road said this week that they have used their technical skills to convert an LDV van into a camper van for less than £1,000, and detailed how they did it in a book which has just been launched by publishing firm Veloce.

Co-author Matthew Ball said: “We've always dreamed of having our own camper. We love being able to go anywhere at the drop of a hat, and being able to afford it. The Lakes, The Cotswolds, Scotland, Cornwall - heck, the whole world is there waiting for you!

"We used to think that one day, once we'd got enough money together, we'd get our dream machine, but we never seemed to have the money and that's the problem - dream machines seem to cost so much. Isn't the idea of a camper van to get away, anytime you want, cheaply. That was certainly our plan anyway."

The pair, having been put off by both the prices of brand new campervans and the quality of secondhand machines available, decided to use Matt's experience as a resistant materials tutor to convert a secondhand van into a campervan to keep costs down, and have chronicled the project in a book to help spur others on to follow suit.

The project, which took place over ten weeks last summer, saw the brothers convert the van into a fully-functioned camper van for a total of £996, including the cost of buying the van itself. It also marks their debut into the publishing world, with the finished title being their first book.

Stuart Ball said: "Inspiration came from Ron Champion's book, Build a Sports Car for Less Than £250. I knew through converting another van into a camper that costs can easily run out of control, so a great deal of thought and preparation was required to achieve such a low cost.

“We have also developed a basic website showing pictures which didn't make it into the book, and a gallery page for fellow camper van enthusiasts to upload their camper van builds.”

The book, entitled Build Your Own Dream Camper Van For Less Than £1,000 is available to buy now both in bookstores and online, costing £19.99. For more information visit the brothers' website.

Pictures courtesy of Matthew and Stuart Ball

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