Trident drivers captain seat

Does anyone else find it surprising that the Trident only had a swivel seat on the passenger side? It seems like this vehicle is designed for 2 adults and 2 children when driving or sleeping, but for sitting only for 3. What's the thinking here? Is the driver expected to be an outcast during meals?! Or do people manage to squeeze 3 onto the bench seat? Maybe there are other alternatives I haven't thought of...

In practical terms a swivel seat for the driver on that type of van is quite awkward. Mine has one and it's a real pain trying to shift it about to clear the unit behind and the steering wheel in front, and you have the handbrake lever to contend with - though that's less of an issue on an auto. On some VW variants you also lose the height adjustment if you specify a factory swivel, so overall it's not so great. I tried to get mine (not an AS, I should add) with just the passenger side swivel, but in my case it was only both or none!

I have seen these vans described as 2+2 (in the manner of sports cars with very small back seats). In some ways this is more accurate - Tridents aren't true four-berth vans like those with twin captain seats and a big pop-top roof.

I use one of those small, three-legged fold-up stools to perch at whichever of the two tables is most convenient at the time. I'm fairly tall but it works very well.

Our '08 Trident does have 2 swivel seats. But, as has been mentioned in a previous post, the drivers one is a bit of a waste. You could turn it sideways I guess, but the hand brake would be in the way. We never use ours.

To be honest, I can't see how you could possibly get 4 adults and their luggage into a trident - without having loads of stuff on the main floor while travelling. Even 2 adults and 2 kids would be a real squeeze. I would imagine that an awning would make it workable - but that's yet more stuff to carry.

We find the van just about big enough for the 2 of us plus Betsy the Black Lab. For meals inside the van, we use the table on the swivel, the passenger chair and one of these:



Works very well! The stool folds up behind the drives seat along with the small table (I think the T4 has the large table here).

Steve

We are yet to try it with 2 adults and 2 children, so we'll see how we get on. However we are used to camping in a Fiat Panda, so compared to that the van feels cavernous!

Or should I say caVANous!

All this depends on what you want from camping. We are 2 adults and 2 children (ages 9 and 5) and all our gear easily fits in the Trident. We usually use an awning but not always on short trips in good weather.