Looking for a new van and can’t decide which one to go for. Had the old vito for the past 8 yrs. Any advice would be welcome?

Test drive a Transporter,I’ve driven both and wouldn’t touch the Merc, found it an awful drive.Thought the transporter was excellent though.(not to mention the ammount of rust that broke out on both Mercs our company had)

Give the lads at MTB UK a shout, they’ve been road testing a vito all year, they might be a bit biased though. Nice looking van though.

Also try a Hi-Ace? How much load capacity do you need?

we got a Vito for the shop because it worked out better for two rows of seats and enough room for bikes with the extra long wheelbase version. VW feels more van-like in driving position too. However, I wish I’d got the Transporter because lots of folk are now saying it’s a lot more reliable

don’t know what the new vitos are like but previous versions have either been rust buckets or had dodgy engines…

Transporters overpriced… Vito’s prone to rust..

Take a look at a trafic or a vivaro… 6 speed dci engine great on fuel and stacks of room.. plus a heap better value for money.. just my experience.

The new Transporter 2.0 tdi drives quite differently to the old 1.9/2.5 versions, less ‘vanlike’ felt a bit like a high passat, if that’s a good thing.
and what Coatsey said about the Vito (older shape ones I seem to remember)

trafic or a vivaro

but gearbox issues

Hi-Ace.

Cheers for that. Need to have enough room for bikes and sleeping in now and again and ideally something that moves a bit.

Depends what you planning to do with the van, there are more after market bits for the VW, from gen pimping to converting to camper etc.

I drive a T4 lwb, with side windows and rear seat that folds out into a bed with lots of storage under the bed.
Lwb be best, as I can carry the bike with just the front wheel out and the rear wheel still had a little room behind the rear seats.

You’ve had a vito for how long and you’re considering another?
I’d pick the transporter, but it’ll never drift roundabouts like a hiace can 😉 Hi-ace doesn’t have the same cool, but has a volcanic heater, comfy seats and fraction of the price. Never had any mechanical issues in the 1/4 million miles mine did, swapped it for a car for economy in the end, robbing bar stewards on Severn bridge.

I am tempted to get a HiAce after my Subaru…

vw is higher priced but has better residuals,i have driven the 140 brake new T5 and its a great van. 180 must be an absolute rocket!

bought an older shape ’07 130 brake T5 in the end, just couldn’t raise the readies for a new T5 and still prefered that over a vito.

if you’re going to keep it for 8yrs again the vw and the merc are both nicer prospects long term over the toyota

Depends how long you plan to keep it and what sort of mileage you’ll be doing. New vitos have an unlimited mileage 3 year warranty so if you do stellar mileage are probably the best option. Having owned both transporters are much nicer places to be and vans to drive. I only kept the vito 3 months as it was unpleasant to use. I’ve had 1.9 and 2.5 transporters in kombi and van formats and a dualiner vito the t5 transporter is better in everyway.

I can spot more broken things on the work vito from the drivers seat than were ever found on my hiace, the works vito is no high mile slave like my hiace was either, its a crew van for the office types so has a cushy life, it even gets cleaned.

Just put balance on reliability my t5 has just back from a having a new cylinder head, cams and injectors basically a top end engine rebuild, it does sound and run a whole heap better but had it not been on warranty it would have been a massive bill. Also had a few other bits over the last 12 months the erg valve and seal around the turbo, runs better now but not what you’d expect from a vwfsh van with less than 50k on the clock

But having driven a vito and vw would choose vw also with all the work I had driven a range of loan vans, the new t5.1 they are in another league of van comfort as said like a big passat to drive very very nice. Had a loan caddy maxi combi that was ace. If I didn’t do a camper build and wanted a bike van it would be the caddy maxi for taking the bikes around awesome little van.

We had a Vito at work for 8 years, good to drive and very reliable despite dreadful maintenance but a total rustbucket. That was a 2000 model so hopefully it’s been sorted on later models.