Jman, I have the turbo diesel(5 speed auto) and its been awesome...has heaps of power and is very good on petrol. I looked at the VW and the Mercs(secondhand) but decided on a new ILOAD and am very happy about my choice.
To answer some of the other question, the bed is located on the drivers side..you can see the sleeping bag in the side view. It doesn't look like there is a lot of room but i can stretch out and still not touch the equipment racks located at my feet.
As for being neat and tidy, after a weekend it looks like Richies van...Just being new I tidy it up after each sail, I'm sure it will wear off(i have a draw for the empty bottles).
During construction the floor was treated with a rust proof treatment, then rubber mat was laid, the rubber mat can be removed at anytime for a deep clean.
The whole racking system comes out in about 30 Mins if required, I can also remove the bed and this allows for the mountain bike to be loaded.....It's my all-in-one sports van, just have to pick out some mag wheels and tint the windows and drive to WA for the summer and I'm done.
GCMOZ, you must feel lucky to have been able to sail the swamp, no snow this year but last year i did get some snow flake landing on my shoulders as i was blasting along. I've never had brain freeze like that before and could swear my hands had permanently closed around the boom...oh what fun.
Thinking about these wheels, what do you think?