Hi,

Been thinking of making the jump from our Galaxy to a van – 3 kids and regular camping trips!

Popped into a Vauxhall garage yesterday and looked around the Vivaro Sportive – seemed to be good value for money over Transit and Transporter. Anyone had any experience of them? Reliable? Build quality etc? We would buy a new 2017 model.

Thanks,

Richard

It’s a Renault.

Make of that what you will (We’ve run Renaults – Laguna, Megane Sport, Clio –
for the last 8 years or so with no huge issues).

I’ve had a 2012 Vivaro since December and actually quite like it. It’s obviously a bit industrial to drive, but no worse than many diesel cars, and I personally find it better as a daily driver than the little Clio. New ones have the 1.6 biturbo engine? – ours has the older 1.9 turbo – not sure what the verdict is on the newer power unit yet.

We’ve got a 2013 LWB double cab Vivaro. I love it and use it as my main “car”. I’ve just taken 4 colleagues to a meeting in it and they’ve all said about how comfortable it is (there’s stacks of room in the rear seating area) and one is taking her husband to look at them.

Had a low mileage 56 SWB ex-Sky van for about 5 years with the intention of turning it into a camper. Had the following go wrong:

> Water pump failure – immediate loss of all fluid.
> Slave clutch failed – big labour job to fix, never got all the air out.
> Switchgear failure (light and indicator stick) – lights would turn off!
> Engine would not rev and needed to be turned off, wait, then turn on again – never traced the fault.
> Rollers on side doors failed.
> Interior plastics fixings are poor e.g. the vents go limp,fuse cover falls off etc
> Interior light broke itself when I changed the bulb.

I’m probably a tad ham-fisted but I’m a far cry from a 20 stone builder. I would say these vans are built down to a price and need replacing every few years if used for work.

Is that a lot in 5 years? Maybe I’m unlucky but personally I wouldn’t buy another.

59 LWB Trafic with the 1.9 DT engine.

Now on 67k miles.

Great to drive (much less wallowing than the Transit for instance). Nippy enough. Nice driving position. Easily 40 mpg.

I’ve just had mine converted to a camper with pop-top roof etc.

Is a ’56 and old model lostnfound?

I’ve got a 2.5 year old Trafic -so a new model. It’s fine, it’s a van.

You can get really good deals on pre-registered Trafic and Vivrao at Evans Halshaw. Mine had 10 miles on clock and was more than third of list ptice, and I got £1k trade in on a shed.

scotroutes – Member
Easily 40 mpg.

What’s your secret? Mine averages around 33 even without a lead right boot…

No secret. It’s been like that since I got it and I don’t hang around much.

Smooth rather than fast I think 😉

I have a 59 plate Vivaro 2.0 Cdti and get about 40 mpg out of it.

I drive a 69 bhp Fiesta so the van feels like a rocket as it has about 115 bhp and I just have it for the bikes and dog so there is no weight in it.

Sure yours isn’t a 2.0 Colin ? I may be wrong but I thought they stopped the 1.9 when they updated the front end and lights about 56 plate ?

Ah – you’re right. It’s the 1,995 cc engine

Got a 53 plate 1.9 dci 80 which now has the equivalent of 285k miles on it. Kept up with timing belt changes along with water pump at same time. Swapped turbo about 7,000 miles ago. Been a cracking workhorse.

Also have a 53 plate 1.9 dci 80, got it at 83 thousand miles, two previous owners, one of them was a builder. Think it had a hard life with the first owner, a few wear and tear issues, the two biggest being a gearbox leak and the high pressure diesel pump packing up.

But nothing major in the last five years, and its done 150,000 miles without me thrashing it. The only repair recently was a tensioner bearing replacement for the power steering/alternator belt.

I had an 04 for three years, just upgraded to a 12. Love them. Roughly 45mpg for my driving. The Old one did have a few bits fail over the three years but only what you’d expect for an old abused van and nothing too expensive

Just about to buy my 3rd Trafic…

Ran the first one (06) to about 240000km. Eventually died from a severe snow-plough interface (I kid you not…)

Clutch cylinders went at around 120000km. This is a lot of labour to fix. Otherwise, nothing other than wear and tyre. It had a terrifying complete electrical failure one dark and snowy night while driving down a steep alpine road, but it was only a loose connection to the battery.

Second one now (2010) now on 230000km. Clutch cylinders failed at around 120000km. See a pattern there? Has had a few annoying and less than cheap issues (wiper motor, engine fan…). A year ago, it was struggling to start and at low speed. This was down to faulty/worn-out injectors. Replacing injectors is a known issue on these vans – there is a water trap which means they corrode and seize. Makes what should be a simple job very expensive. Still driving great though.

And on Que, an injector seal pops, leaving the dreaded task of removing the injector from the block…fortunately sorted with low’ish expense.

Great vans, we’ve run 12 through our fleet and they’ve been the most reliable we’ve ever had, with the lowest maintenance costs.

My 08 Vivaro is as easy to drive as my car. Runs great after its £1500 injector repair but we wont mention that 😯
Good on fuel and easy enough to self service. I’ve had mine about 6 years and its only needed a front shocker top bearing for an MOT fail about 3 years ago.

Ran a 09 plate trafic, started to get niggles around 110,000, out of curiousity I went and had a look at the new 15 plate Vivaro sportif, came out the garage with a new sportif, use it as my main vehicle and workhorse, drives smooth and has all the bells and whistles I require, will be buying another next year I think.

60plate swb 2ltr here. I prefer it to drive to transits. Returns around 37mpg, I’ve had up to 42. Comfortable to drive, we’ve had it down to the alps. I’d struggle to go back to a car now

My friend has new one (1.6 turbo iirc). He’s a tree surgeon and uses it for work so it generally has a moderate load in the back (maybe 200kg – 300kg) and tows a medium sized trailer most days, laden with 200 to maybe 700kg.

It’s far too new to comment on any reliability issues but he likes driving it and it returns an average of high 30s in mpg. It does struggle with steep inclines with the trailer though so a bit lacking in torque/gearing for really heavy work.

We run a Koleos with the 180hp version of this engine.

I wish they put this hp into the Sportive! Far revvier, the 115hp feels strangled!

Thanks all- Decided on second hand in the end as by chance one came up for sale at the end of my road- 2012 Vivaro Sportive LWB Double Cab 42,000 miles on the clock, Ply lines, FSH, MOT till June 2018 for less than half the price of a new one. Looking forward to an easier pack up for the yearly trip to the Ardeche now!

Very happy with my 2007 Vivaro crew cab, running costs have been reasonable and it’s never let me down. Drives lovely too.

The new version will definitely be on the list when it’s time to replace.