Wanted a vehicle for day trips/overnight sleeps with the dog, and the Mrs, and a neighbour was doing a Transporter camper conversion himself. It seemed a nice idyllic idea, but I wasn't sold on a camper. Found out about the Elgrand after seeing another neighbour bought something called an 'Alphard' which I thought looked cool. I liked how you could lay the seats down (in the Elgrand) to make it bed-like.
Mrs was a bit more for the idea than me, at least initially.
3 months on from never hearing of an Elgrand, I got one
Will evaluate ownership after a year. If I/we like driving off for overnight stays (in the van) and look forward to doing that, all will be fine. If we go 'uh, it's alright, but is it really what you thought it'd be like?', then who knows.
It was bought for a slight lifestyle change from Spring/Summer. We don't go abroad anymore since we got the dog, so thought it'd be a way to make some memories another way, and with the dog, whom will love it.