Matty’s latest video tackles a question he says he gets asked constantly: what’s the best minibus for airport transfer work? He’s clear this is aimed at airport transfer businesses rather than Uber XL-style work, which he doesn’t think pays well enough to justify running a minibus. He’s also upfront that licensing rules vary by council — tinted windows, forward-facing seats and vehicle age can all affect whether a particular minibus gets plated locally, so it’s worth checking before buying.
He focuses on genuine 9-seaters (eight passengers plus driver), which he says are rarer than other configurations — most chauffeur-style Mercedes V-Classes are capped at seven passengers, leaving a gap in the market for slightly bigger vehicles on airport runs.
The cheapest option, and one of his favourites, is the Renault Trafic. It’s manual-only on the older models, but Matty highlights the size of the boot as a real strength — boxy styling gives it more usable space than some pricier rivals. He recommends going for the long wheelbase version regardless of which minibus you choose. Its close cousin, the Vauxhall Vivaro, is essentially the same vehicle under the skin — same 9-seat layout, same manual-only diesel options, different badge and grille.
For drivers who want a cheap automatic, Matty points to the Hyundai i800. It’s not the most attractive vehicle in his view, but he says the drivers he knows who’ve run one have found the 2.5 diesel engine reliable. The trade-offs are no extra-long wheelbase option, forward-facing seats only, and poor fuel economy compared with the others.
The two he rates as the best in the class both come with pros and cons. The Ford Tourneo Custom wins on space and comfort — Matty describes a recent airport job where passengers complained about legroom in a Vito on the way out, then praised the Tourneo Custom on the return leg. It’s available in manual or automatic and does reasonably well on fuel. The catch, he says, is a known wet belt issue on some model years after 2016, which can be expensive to fix or, in the worst cases, damage the engine.
His joint favourite is the Mercedes Vito — not to be confused with the V-Class, which is a ground-up chauffeur vehicle rather than a van. Matty says the Vito is cheaper to fix and more reliable than a V-Class, though front-seat space is tighter and it’s not as roomy as the Tourneo Custom on longer nine-seater jobs. A well-specced Vito, he notes, can straddle the gap between standard airport transfer work and lighter executive jobs when a group is too big for a V-Class.
His overall take: for value, go Hyundai i800; for space and comfort, go Ford Tourneo Custom, wet belt risk aside; for reliability and a touch of badge appeal, go Mercedes Vito. The Renault Trafic and Vauxhall Vivaro remain the cheap-and-cheerful manual options, best suited to drivers doing mostly motorway work where the gearbox matters less.
Matty plans to cover the Mercedes V-Class separately in a future chauffeur-focused video, along with EV and diesel minibus comparisons. He also gives a mention in the video to his own DM Taxi Assistant — an AI tool for airport transfer businesses running multiple vehicles, handling customer bookings and quote enquiries automatically alongside a full dispatch system.
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