5 spd VS Auto, Help!

[glenn]

why not wait for a post 91 van - kids or not. I think shoulder belts in the back are important if you plan to carry passengers often. plus, they apparently have an additional side impact beam in the doors.

And my opinion on the captain seats - I love them, kind of like airplane seats and great for long drives - plus you can turn them around to face the bench.

[konadog]

plus you can turn them around to face the bench.

The middle bench seat does this too. The back-rest section lifts up and moves in an arc over the base to the front so what was the rear becomes the side you lean against. Pretty slick, really

[glenn]

Cool!, I had no idea.

[FalcoColumbarius]

And they come with two sets of seat belts, so when you are facing aft you are still strapped in .

[jessef]

I prefer the bench. Same as adrock.

It has seat belts on both front/back and has a little lever that when engaged gives you the option of flipping the top (back rest) section of the double bench to the rear (people facing forward) or to the front (people facing to the rear).

Also when folded down it's flat in line with the rear bench. Great for a bed.

And no wobbles. Bolted direct to the floor.

[JMK]

Does anyone else share my #1 pet peeve about the middle bench in that it does not slide fore and aft? The reason is for sleeping. In order to fold the middle backrest down between the seats you have to slide the rear bench all the way aft. That means I have to take the items that have been stored at the back and place them on the front seats. If you could slide the middle bench forward then it would work without having to slide the rear bench, and you wouldn't have to stuff the hole between the hump and the bench to stop your feet from dropping down when you're sleeping. I've often wondered how hard it would be to retrofit it on rails of some sort.

BTW, I took out the jump seat for long trips and placed a small bar fridge from Walley World in that spot.

[asorensen]

Five speed and bench seat so says I.


With the bench you can do this:



The rear bench can be replaced fairly easily (although quite heavy) and with it removed you have all kinds of space for other items but still feel separated from them.

Andy

[Hankster]

Nice one Andy

[FalcoColumbarius]

Dito.

[fostlongstrider]

Hi

Falcocolumbarius what sort of manual have you been driving that has 1st top right.
Only one I have ever driven in UK like that was a 1960s J2 BMC van where the gear pattern was reversed as an easy way of getting the linkage to the mid mounted engine.

Ian.

[FalcoColumbarius]

Renault 14. It was in the 1980's when I drove it. Also the car I learned to drive in. I remember when I came to Canada how weird it was doing it the other way around, but I am sure it was mirrored to here. Funny you should mention it as Glen (CC Autos), who is also from the UK seems to think the way you do, too. I remember the confusion I had with the reverse gear when I was learning as I had to push it in as well as move it to it's placing. Maybe I am mixing my memories but I recall it being that way. ....

Falco.

[fostlongstrider]

Ah well,never had a go in a Renault 14,trust the French to try and reinvent the gearbox,remember the Deax Chevaux(think that's how you spell it) the 2CV with the push me -pull you gear lever on the dash and that was taken through to the Renault 4.Interesting drive.
The BMC van I remember as I played in a band or group as they were known then back in the sixties and we had a J2 and almost wrecked the box by keep forgetting which way was up or down.
The 1.8 diesel didn't like you changing down to second instead of up to fourth!!!!!!!

Ian.