Best builders vans?

[teaboyjim]

Should I stick with the tried and trusted Ford Transit or something else?

 

[sxturbo]

avoid mercedes, expensive to buy,own,operate etc, unreliable pieces of junk and build quality and reliability isnt as good as you'd think.

the best for all round build quality, price, reliability, running costs etc, believe it or not is citroen/peugeot/toyota (they all share van ranges, vauxhall might be included now), this will be the partner and dispatch size van (small and medium) avoid the larger versions (relay size), rubbish engines, and chocolately gearboxes, we bought one at work, covered less than 50 miles from new and the gearbox failed, sent it back under warranty and took them 3 months, yes 3 months to repair it, as they wouldn't just change the box, apparently its a known fault and a fix is being worked on, we are now scared to use it..

if you want a large van VW Crafter/MAN TGE are the best (the man and crafter are the same van)

transits share engines with the PSA group, and the larger engines are absolute tosh, oil pump failures left rigth and centre, timing chains etc

 

[HERTS P&D]

I'd rather shove bees up my ar$e than buy another Transit!!

Andy

 

[Munroast]

I have had two berlings in a row 98-2011, 2011-now. Other than wear and tear stuff I don't think I had any probs with the first one (in fact it is still going with 250k on the clock) The second one (1.6hdi) loose injector £40, ECU £400. other than that it has been fine. Just had to replace discs + brake pipes and track rod arm for MOT, but at 12 year old that is acceptable-ish?

 

[teaboyjim]

avoid mercedes, expensive to buy,own,operate etc, unreliable pieces of junk and build quality and reliability isnt as good as you'd think.

Didn't the early Vitos have rust issues

 

[Burnerman]

I guess it depends if you are considering a new or second hand purchase?
Small vans, Berlingo, Caddy
Medium, Nissan, Toyota Proace
Large, VW Crafter.
Second hand vans are the greatest minefield of all time.....with the Vivaro scoring poorly.
John
P.S look at the prices of new vans - bloody absurd considering their rates of depreciation.

 

[teaboyjim]

I have had two berlings in a row 98-2011, 2011-now. Other than wear and tear stuff I don't think I had any probs with the first one (in fact it is still going with 250k on the clock) The second one (1.6hdi) loose injector £40, ECU £400. other than that it has been fine. Just had to replace discs + brake pipes and track rod arm for MOT, but at 12 year old that is acceptable-ish?

Perhaps Berlings are best value for money

 

[teaboyjim]

I'd rather shove bees up my ar$e than buy another Transit!! Andy

Sounds like a bad experience

 

[teaboyjim]

I guess it depends if you are considering a new or second hand purchase? Small vans, Berlingo, Caddy Medium, Nissan, Toyota Proace Large, VW Crafter.
Second hand vans are the greatest minefield of all time.....with the Vivaro scoring poorly. John P.S look at the prices of new vans - bloody absurd considering their rates of depreciation.

I wouldn't consider a new van - too much depreciation

 

[Burnerman]

Titchy van?
I’ve a Peugeot Bipper (Citroen Nemo, Fiat Whatever).....probably the most uncomfortable vehicle in the world, road manner wise. Noisy too, even with a floor mat and ply liner.
Cheap though at 10k all in.....wasn’t prepared to splash out on a Berlingo then, wish I had now!
John

 

[sxturbo]

Didn't the early Vitos have rust issues and then didn't they make some sort of change and I remember there was a difference depending on which factory it came from because some of them were being made out in Mexico? Does this make sense to anybody? They did something to the body to stop it rusting at some point in the 2000's which meant Vitos before a certain year were rust prone but after that they had been rust inhibited somehow and so were better. The attractive thing about the Vitos are you can drive in a multi story car park if you need to as they're not higher than 4x4's so it seems.


Stories like that are unbelievable but I've heard other ones about new vans doing similar things. I am surprised at citroen/peugeot but not toyota and are you talking about the Hiace?

I'm surprised that transits have bad engines because the brand is part of our heritage almost. VW was the best van back in the 90's and 2000's but didn't know if it's still got it's title but that doesn't mean it's best value because they're so flipping expensive! Who can afford to keep that sort of money tied up in a vehicle though.

Thanks for all the latest tips turbo but what about the famous Renault traffic is that even still being made? I remember a time when they were really considered quite unreliable.

it's only on the larger citroen / pug vans,

if you are looking at a VITO sized van, i would recommend the Citroen Despatch/Toyota HI-ACE can drive them in car parks no problem (i know as i drove one in a multistorey a couple of weeks ago to install an emergency generator), and are pretty much same size as a vito

the crafter/man van and the citroen relay are all sprinter sized vans, which wont fit in car parks.

ford do the transit custom which is similar in size to the vito also and can fit in car parks. Transits have a good following because of their heritage, but i know a lot of trades are moving away from them because of their faults.

regards the renault traffic personally i would avoid, worse than the transit

as you say VW's are grat but is the cost worth it? at the end of the day it's used as a work horse and be treated as such with crap in the back etc,

 

[HERTS P&D]

P.S look at the prices of new vans - bloody absurd considering their rates of depreciation.

Don't forget John, they are a tool for business for earning money and tax deductible.

Andy

 

[sxturbo]

Titchy van?
I’ve a Peugeot Bipper (Citroen Nemo, Fiat Whatever).....probably the most uncomfortable vehicle in the world, road manner wise. Noisy too, even with a floor mat and ply liner.
Cheap though at 10k all in.....wasn’t prepared to splash out on a Berlingo then, wish I had now!
John

agree with the nemo/bipper, very uncomforatble, they over sprung it to get the weight capacity, and so what evolved was something that skips over bumps

 

[teaboyjim]

Titchy van?
I’ve a Peugeot Bipper (Citroen Nemo, Fiat Whatever).....probably the most uncomfortable vehicle in the world, road manner wise. Noisy too, even with a floor mat and ply liner.
Cheap though at 10k all in.....wasn’t prepared to splash out on a Berlingo then, wish I had now!
John

Cheap for a commercial van!

 

[sxturbo]

Stone the crows John that's mighty cheap for a commercial van! What do you mean when you say "Citroen Neo, Fiat etc" do you mean it's made out of similar parts to those ones?

there all the same