Trident vs Trooper

Hi Guys

I joined the forum a couple of weeks back. I said I was looking at getting a trident (having tried the in-laws' trooper). I was originally after a trident as we have a 1 year old and now another one on the way and thought the extra room would be useful.

I am now in the lucky position that the in-laws are looking to "upgrade" and have offered us their 1998 trooper (99K miles) for £8k. This seems like a very good price and one we can't really turn down. I just had a couple of questions if you don't mind!

1) Do you think we could fit a family of 4 (two little ones) in the trooper? Any one with experience?
2) Could I fit up in the top bed with the 1 year old?! (so the baby and mum could sleep downstairs?) This would be short term until the two nippers could both go up top...
3) There is some very small rust patches on the wheel arches and on the sill in the very corner just below the front wheel arch. Should I be worried about this? Don't really have any experience of dealing with rust!

Many thanks for your help in advance!

I don't have direct experience of a Trooper, but have owned an A-S with a "roof bed" and I think it's fair to say that an adult is very unlikely to find it comfortable, let alone an adult and child.

Having said that, I believe that A-S fitted two different types of roof at around that time, and the roof bed in a fabric-roofed (Reimo-style) top may be a little bigger.

Rust? Get it done now! It has a tendency to spread under the paintwork and things can get bad quickly (though VWs seem to be more resistant to this than any other make).

Even with a few non-structural rust patches, £8k for a Trooper of that age and mileage is IMO a good deal.

Hi Campio
Agree with Mojo... £8K for a 1998 Trooper is a very good price IMO as well

An adult sleeping in the roof of an elevator, (especially the push up solid sided trooper roof), is not much fun. The Trooper roof of this vintage does not have a lot of headroom. There is more space in the Remio roof type but they weren't fitted by A/S until much later.

The Trident for a family of 4 is IMO a better bet, (also storage is very useful in the hightop). Expect to pay £14K min for a 1998 Trident, you certainly wont find one for £8K

Regards
John

Thanks mojo and John. I think you've both confirmed what I knew really. That the trident would be better for a family - but it will cost quite a bit more than the opportunity we now have! Was thinking i could maybe make another bed board to make the bed a bit bigger!? It's the hard sided roof so head room will still be tight. Hopefully we'll manage until the two of them are ok to share up top!

Mojo. You said best to get the rust sorted ASAP. Do you mean take it to a body work shop or is it something I can do myself?

Thanks

Hi Campio

We own a Trident, though there's only the two of us using it. I'm pretty sure the roof bed would be a bit too small for an adult, plus I have a feeling that the user manual states its for use by children only, could be wrong there though.

The extra storage space in the high top is very useful.

Agree with all opinions about it seeming a good deal, £8k doesn't buy you very much these days. Good luck on your decision.

John - thanks for the correction on the Reimo. I did a quick search and found a 1998 Trooper with a Reimo (style) roof for sale, but that must have been retro-fitted, I guess.

campio wrote:
Mojo. You said best to get the rust sorted ASAP. Do you mean take it to a body work shop or is it something I can do myself?

Depends how far it's gone, and how neat you want the results to look. If it really is only surface rust and it's not in the seams, I generally use a small grinding wheel to take out any rust pits, then an active rust-stopping primer such as Comma Stop Rust and then spray thin colour coats over the top (you need lots of thin coats on a light-coloured van, as Stop Rust is oxide red).

If it's gone through or is in any seams I would take it to several body shops and compare quotes.

Having recently bought a trident, a trooper at that price seems too good to let pass! Just a suggestion - there's another bespoke temporary bed option for young children for Vw vans that fits across the front cab and rests on the door tops. I've no personal experience of these but might be worth a look to see if they can be adapted safely for a one year old, leaving just you upstairs. Good luck with your decision

If you have a pair of decent hands on you BUY IT, rub it down and fix the paint work and give the camper a very good once over. Try it for 2013 and if its not right for you and the family give it loads of TLC over the winter and sell it next year in which you should very easily make a profit which will enable you to have a bigger kitty to buy another in 2014 and also with a years experience under your belt you and the family will have a much better understanding of what will meet your requirements.

I have a T5 Trident now, and, in the past owned T3 Trooper. I have slept in the Trident roof when our grandson was with us - it isn't easy, the biggest problem is lack of depth, shoulder pressed against the ceiling. Turning over is hard work. OK for the very occasional night, but nothing more. The Trooper bed had a little more room, but not much. Either vehicle are ideal for 3 people (2 adults and a child) but 4 people it is tricky - since the driver's seat doesn't swivel it means 2 people on the settee, one on the passenger seat and one on the floor. Prolonged periods of bed weather and it is hard work

The big plus for us is the massive increase in storage space the Trident offers, the "over the cab" cupboard and the actual bed itself stores loads, gear that would have to be stored on the van floor in transit.

anthp123 wrote:
The big plus for us is the massive increase in storage space the Trident offers, the "over the cab" cupboard and the actual bed itself stores loads, gear that would have to be stored on the van floor in transit.

I can second that! Having just gone the other way, from high-top to pop-top, and realising that the difference in storage space is going to need much more careful packing than previously... The huge over-cap locker used to take all of the bedding, a rucksack and all of my climbing gear - where's that going to go now?... Fortunately there's a large "boot", but you have to get out of the van to access that...

Hello

The most important issue here is the seatbelts. The Trident has four forward facing seatbelts, I believe the Trooper has only three and one sideway one. This is NOT safe for an adult let alone a child. I recently bought another Trident and had to bear in mind that I might take my grandchildren in it. The hightop roof is useful for storage but very little head room even for a child and yes the instructions do mention a maximum weight. The bed is very small in a Trident 3'6". Personally I find the Trident excellent for me plus my two dogs but when I go away with her husband absolutely impossible when the bed is down as there is only a very small space to move around in. In fact we had to buy a caravan as well! Love my Camper so much!!! The advantages of the Trident are that it is easy to park but the high top prevents one from going in carparks with barriers below rooftop height. We always seem to want what we have not got! If we have a campervan - one yearns for the space of a caravan! and viceversa. The solution to the sleeping problem is a tent - but you need good weather for this. Suggest Dad sleeps in tent with older child.

Hi. Thanks everyone for all the comments. I think we're going to go for the trooper and see how we get on... with an aspiration maybe some day for the trident or a slightly bigger high top!

I'll try out the roof and see if I can bare it but I think a tent may be the best solution for longer stays! The weight limit on the manual is 80 kg - which we should just be under for now!

The trooper does have 4 forward facing three point belts - which was a major factor in choosing either the trident or trooper but right to highlight India.

We just need the in-laws to get their topaz now! Can't wait. I'll let you know when we're on the road!!!

Thanks again!

Good choice

I got my vw models muddled up! Forgot that the Trooper is a Trident with a popup roof - sort of. I believe these are hard to get hold of as they are so good to park anywhere. Othewrise same as the Trident and the double bed although a good length is quite narrow. I looked at models with a small shower, loo etc and although convenient because of the two single beds or optional double that model did not have four forward facing seat belts. Good Luck have fun. Excellent price by the way!!!