I have an older shape expert 02reg and no rust other than the odd stone chip
Find the size perfect and a bit easier day to day than the Renault master I had before

Only slight issue is mines the 1.9d that’s a non turbo one
So a little slow but a very simple van

We’ve got a 1994 Toyota Lucida which cost £800 a couple of years ago and has only cost us regular oil changes since. We can get a few MTBs in easily or two motorcycles with kit at a push. It’s great for days away 🙂 but there’s no space to store the bikes if you want to sleep in the back overnight 😕

Earlier Vivaro/Trafic/Primastars suffered from rainwater pooling around the injectors. Removing them then becomes problematic and can involve some very expensive machinery and a risk of warping the cylinder head. Later versions (08 onwards perhaps?) have a revised arrangement of trays beneath the windscreen to prevent this.

I think that you are also, perhaps, suffering from the usual issue whereby it’s mostly the disgruntled that can be bothered to post about their experiences (this is true of almost anything). Look around at the number of Vivaros, Trafics, Transits on the road and it statistically inevitable that there will have been a few problems.

I’ve got a 02 Dispatch (old shape) 2.0L HDI with no issues or rust. The dash is a bit squeaky and it’s a bit filing cabinety but those are my only complaints. I’m getting 43->47mpg, it’s got plenty of poke and drives pretty much like a car.

I read somewhere that you can sleep in the back of them. I thought that was b*****x until just recently I laid down in the back just to see for myself. Anyone under 6′ can sleep no problem.