Best Van/Minibus to Buy for approx £1500?

Got Tee shirt - ended up with 2003 Peugeot Expert 2.0HDi.
This is my experience with similar original budget (ended up increasing budget more after seeing what was on offer at £1500 :
£1500 is a bit low for anything decent and 99% will be vans rather than minibuses.
VW LT28 / 35 might be within your budget.
VW T4 - forget it unless you can find more money.
VW T25 - you'd struggle to get kayak in the back plus obligatory VW "scene tax" means probably outside your budget.
Transit will be rusty / rotten unless you are very lucky.
Don't know anything about Ducato, Express & Boxer but experince of my Expert is they are probably OK. Freight Rover / LDV - well I'm going to replace my Expert with a 200 camper idc (I had a Perkins Prima version a whiel again and never again so this time will be anything else but Prima power !). They are old technology, old design but somehow appeal to me. Obviously you will be looking at a 400 and Transit engined best version with Peugeot 2.5 a good runner up. Rust always a problem - from new !
Avoid "modern" LDV Maxus - too many faults and poor reputation.
Merc - can rust badly plus tend to be expensive.
Toyota - rust but could be good choice if you can find one.
Renault & Vauxhall same vehicle - don't know anything about them.

I'm sure others will have different opinions as well as being able to suggest different vehicles.

Paul H

(You'll need to remove the front passenger seat for 3m length, they're 2.5m, but depending on how much you care about your interior if you just want to lock them in there safely overnight, they'll do it)

For a van, I liked the old Renault Master. I had a T35 with a hatchback. But insurance... eesh.