Medium sized van required for a bit of light load lugging and smart enough for turning up at meetings, etc. Mix of local 1 hour long drives in traffic through to 4, 5, 6 hrs plus a day if working the other end of the country. Any experiences ?

Neither vauxhall Vivaro or Renault Trafic.

If you must buy either then get the VW, it won’t rust and will hold its value massively.

STW have a T5, so that’s the ‘approved’ answer, someone will say an R6 in a mo too probably 😉

If you must buy either then get the VW, it won’t rust

And the Vito won’t either, unless you buy a pre 2006 when they weren’t galvanised.

New Kia? Look pretty good and i think that they have the same big warranty as the cars. The new Transit Customs look good too.

Love my Vito, it’s black with alloys so smart enough for the office, visiting sites etc with loads of room in the back for kit.

Excellent as a daily driver but not great fuel economy from a 2006 model. Low 30’s at best. Newer ones are better but my annual mileage not massive so not worth the change.

Have looked at others but the Traffic is wider and T5 longer so can’t get either down our narrow drive or in to the shortish garage, so size was a big consideration for me!

Excellent as a daily driver but not great fuel economy from a 2006 model. Low 30’s at best. Newer ones are better but my annual mileage not massive so not worth the change.

Yes the newer ones are much better, I’ve had mid 40’s over the last 35k miles of mixed driving in my 2012.

And that’s loaded with kit and a 400kg water tank.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCjv1IT2ITI[/video]

Having driven both over distance and over some time I can safely say the T5 hands down wins.
The merc had terrible reliability issues with cutting out that even Mercs own best couldn’t sort out and I am informed that the wiring loom is biodegradable wrapped and that wrapping doesn’t like UK conditions and has a habit of degrading a bit faster than they thought would happen… The Merc seemed less fuel efficient, and that foot brake…..admittedly it was a 55 plate it too was rusty as hell on a lot of the panels.
The VW felt like a saloon cab and was just all round better and more importantly totally reliable.

Both those are 7 year old models. Not sure if the current result would be the same.

(Not that track times are particularly crucial when buying a van 😉 )

cheers guys. T5 then

Just be aware if you buy the van then you are limited to max of 60mph, I have a couple of friends who have now been pulled over for speeding when doing 70 on dual carriageways..

Seems like the Police may be clamping down as so many people have “leisure vans” but drive them like cars.

I have a 9 seater T5 shuttle and I love it and i can do 70 legaly, however if I did not need it for work, I would get a long wheelbase caddy with full seats, trim and windows….fast, spacious twice the economy of the T5

Only limited to 60mph on dual carriageways, motorways are 70 like everyone else. 50 on normal a roads as well.

Vitos are better since 2006 but still rust a lot worse than transporters and other vans. 10 plates at auctions have way more rust than they should. Coloured vans are better than white and metallics better again but it’s still a problem that shouldn’t happen.
t5 residuals are much better than vitos despite what the books say and in my experience (having owned at least a couple of each) are much more comfortable/nice to be in or drive and are more reliable too.