14 plate 2ltr diesel 45k on the clock Full dealer service history

Are French electrics still dire? Any horror stories. Will be bike & camping van

Or should i hold on for a similar NV200?

Some of my French relatives have them (smaller models), simple cars but seem to keep going although interior etc doesn’t seem to age well. Yes electrics can be a bit tempremental. All reflected in the price I think. I would consider the 307 deceptively large interior and as a bike car to take some abuse why not ?

I had a ’54 plate Citroën Dispatch HDI (same as Peugeot Expert) , never had any electrical problems, and nothing other than wear and tear mechanical faults.
Probably not relevant to your question, given the age, but I’d have another.

I got the disabled version with the ramp so I can carry my motorbike in it good little vans but don’t expect to win any races with it ,

I’ve got the 1.9 which could barely pull the skin off custard but for bike duties it’s great. 3 bikes in standing up with both wheels in place and shelves either side for gear, tools, lube, etc.

Plan to upgrade the door speakers if you listen to anything with any bass.

They are hit and miss but generally reasonable value for money and relativity easy to work on. Although I would stop short of recommending them to anyone who is not prepared to get their hands dirty.

The build quality is generally sub par with a cheap crap plastic interior (think worst 1990’s) that falls apart. The 1.9 non-turbos are good for really high mileage and the brake components last forever, the rest of vehicle not so much!

The following are common problems:

-The internal fan relay sticks in one position (very common) some of the taxi boys bodge/bypass it with a switch
-Door barrels spin round (all locks)
-Glove box catches snap off easily, usually come pre-snapped!
-Side doors leak due to wear/misalignment and the rubber boot getting pushed into the B pillar
-The clutch fork has a sleeve (shit design) that fails before the plates do
-Throttle cables are known to snap on high mileage vehicles (often changed as a matter of course)
-Gearchange cable quick release buttons break internally and the cable pops off the top of the mechanism i.e. no gear changes till popped back on
-The crankshaft pulley (1.9) spreads and becomes really noisy on highish mileage vehicles
– The EGR valve can become problematic, with some disabling it as a cheap/bodge solution.

Chester, the van that the op is thinking of (14 plate) will be the Mk2 version of the Expert. You sound like you’re talking about the earlier vans?

@ Gary_C – Yup earlier sorry.

The later ones are better looking (not a 90’s design) and have a better interior but mechanically are even more hit and miss! Some are good some are absolute shite.

14 plate expert my dad had from new was like a bic lighter. Run it out of gas and throw it away.

I’m a big french car fan and have run a few to decent milages but this thing was woeful.

Needed new rear axle , and total front end rebuilt all suspension components…. The front end moved in 3 dimensions when I looked at it.

It had 75k on the clock.

Now has a 16 plate Nissan nv400 instead.

At least the previous transit just wouldn’t start on occasion due to electrical gremlins and had a lumpy idle due to the injection pump and rust….. But after 6 years and 200k miles that was allowed.

I’ve got an ’09 2.0 hdi. It’s ok in as much as you put stuff in it and drive around, a pleasurable experience it isn’t.

I’ve needed both driveshafts replacing, the exhaust brackets fall off every 6months and there’s a knock on the ARB but the bushes aren’t replaceable so it’s a full new unit at £400.

The electrics are very French, some days they work, some they just shrug and go, meh. I have an intermittent problem with the anti pollution system, the passenger window doesn’t work anymore, the aircon has packed up and in heavy rain, it leaks.

Other than that, it’s crap. I won’t buy another. However, it was cheap. Anyone want to buy it?

EDIT – it’s only covered 85k miles.