I’m thinking of getting a small/medium van. Have max £6k (inc vat). Probably need three seats across the front, otherwise just stock panel van or possibly crew bus. Will be used for biking/trips, light building work, day-to-day transport.

Recongnise it will be a high miler at this price point and I’d favour durability over bling/performance. What would you go for? Cheers

I’ve owned a few vauxhall ford renualt vans and had a couple Peugeot vans from companies I’ve worked for and I always go back to a transit cause they’ve never cost me as much to run and I prefer driving them. They may not look the best but I do a lot of miles a week and I’d rather have something reliable than something that looks good

Yeah seems a really popular van – can’t work out if there are so many around because they are good or because Ford is good at selling/leasing new ones. Transit is as big as I’d go – something like Citroen dispatch/Fiat Scudo is a perfect size but I’m concerned that I’d buy a heap of trouble. Anyone had a Nissan? Or a Transit Connect?

I have a transit that I bought for 5000 with 76,000 on the clock. Now has 130,000 and had no issues. Made sure it had full service history and never miss a service. It’s my main vehicle and has been really good. They drive very well and are really comfortable. I

Chose a tranny as you can put bikes in across the width without dismantling which left a lot of room to put seats, sink, cooker in.

So all in I now have a bike carrying camper van for 7,000.

My experiance of newer (08) transits is they will provide you with alot of trouble.

Pops has been through 2 alternators – full set of abs – rear axel stub bearings colapsed with no warning ( no noise , no play ) has a randomfault that even auto spark cant find where the van just wont start off the key at times even if it was trned off 2 minutes before. but bumps with minimal effort ( we tried a new starter and it didnt help) even with 100% concentrate in the washer bottle it freezes due to bad location.

Its got an injection pump that is cavitating ( but only on tesco fuel ….) as well which means the engine hunts all the time at idle

120k on the clock serviced on the dot as it was ex lease(he was the lease owner)tht my dad stupidly bought ( fir peanuts admittedly)thinking the problems had been ironed out.

Another vote for a Transit here, bought mine two years ago, late 57 plate. Had two new tyres in 40k miles. That’s it. Runs like a dream.

Parts are dirt cheap, and mechanics at any garage know how to work on them as they’re so commonly used.

Its lovely to drive, quick, refine, great space in the back.

I couldn’t go back to a Scudo, or Dispatch sized van now, they’re tiny.

I spent quite a bit of time researching before buying, you’ll find loads of negatives about all vans, but that’s true of all cars too. The problem is, youll rarely find a review from someone that hasn’t had any problems as you don’t feel like posting that on the internet.

Go to a van dealership that has lots of vans, and go look in the back of them all. That very quickly made my mind up, for me its either a small van – partner, bippa etc, or a big van.

Transit connect or combo vauxhall

Weird – every review site/forum has a mix of “I want to have its babies” at one end and “I wouldn’t touch it with yours” at the other.

Seems that quality is more variable than cars, where there’s less range of opinion. Or perhaps the work life that most vans face means that any snags get magnified quickly. Happy to do all the routine servicing etc but just can’t afford a heap of trouble as it will be the only set of wheels, as well as not wanting to unload £££

Thought about a Caddy.. ?

as a service engineer for a national company we run transits or vw in our fleet both are pretty good and the old transits are 58 plates (like mine)mind you we are phasing the vw’s out because they a bit gutless and not as large out back for racking for new transits, not had any major faults with mine apart from a new starter at 63,000miles loads of room in back and as of got a top spec one loads of toys in the cab me I go for a transit but make sure its a good spec

Cheers FS – really good to hear from people who have experience working with/on them.

Toyota Hiace.
Usually owned by the driver.
Basic but thats why I love mine,
1st van had 180k when I sold it because of LEZ.
2007 onwards have independent front suspension and common rail diesel engine.
Haven’t had single problem on new van.

T4 Transporter ? If you can find a decent one.
At least you should get most or all of your money back if you sell it later.

I’ve got a Peugeot expert with 93000 miles on it,and apart from tyres and a rear wheel bearing I’ve never had any trouble. 40 mpg if you’re careful,plenty of room for what I use it for,not as big as the bigger vans so you can park in most car parks,easy to drive. I like mine.
Ive heard those hiaces last forever though.

Had a Toyota Hiace LWB. Probably required less work than anything else I’ve owned and felt pretty solid. Nuclear level cab heater with bulkhead fitted in mine. It was half the price of the equivalent T4 at the time.

Only other thing I would look at would be a Transit, be very picky, get the right combination. Advantage is that parts are widely available and cheap. Used a lot of these for work.

i would recommend the last of the old shape transit (on an 06 i think) the first of the fwd ones. the 100ps one with 5 speed trans does not have a DMF or commonrail, so it the last of the old school bulletproof engineering van. there is a minor issue with the gearchange linkage getting stuck (google it) but it is very cheap to fix and the part to fix it is available, even though the dealer will say it isnt. better to drive than a t4 ime, better mpg.

other than that, toyota hiaces seem to be utterly bulletproof, and because they are un fashionable, very cheap. my local garage told me they look after two or three builders hiaces which all have about 350k on them

So – after much hunting ended up with Scudo 05 plate panel. Low mileage (VOSA certified) clean and drives well. Chee-eap too. Downside so far is it is the 105hp not the 120, so progress is steady rather than fun. I hope we’ll be very happy together 🙂

Could always get an ecu remap. Think angel tuning come out the favourites for Fiat engines. Had a 120bhp Stilo diesel years ago and they remapped it to around 160bhp.

That’s a thought, and quite an increase for yr Stilo – will google them

Service history, good test drive and going over with someone who understands vans, full hpi. Other than that, read the forums to get a sense of common faults. Renault/vauxhall seem cheaper but have mixed reviews. VWs more expensive, but better resale, lots of positive comments, but maybe difficult to get a sensible review as any critcism seems to be leaped all over by the VW enthusiasts.

I have a renault traffic cheap to buy, generally cheap to run but cost me a lot for a new clutch/dmf. Not a prob unique to renault/vauxhall, but common for a lot of high miler deisels.

(edit)

Thanks Olddog – I’ve gone for the Scudo – lots of different opinions – seems marmite, but a couple of people I know each have one, or the same varient from Citroen/Peugeot and are happy with them. Managed to get an 05 plate SX, with VOSA authenticated 43K miles. Kinda old, so no DMF, simple electrics and limited IT stuff to go wrong.

It had been mothballed/SORN for 2 years as part of a receivership, and has service history, including a ‘back to work’ service of new CV joints and new cambelt at 39K 4 months ago. Not entirely perfect – a windscreen chip, slider on one side needs adjusted and minor cosmetic damage to driver’s door, plus used by a painter so inside is Jackson Pollack, but drives straight, tyres all wear evenly, and seems sound mechanically. All for sub £3K! So here’s hoping!

We own 10 small vans for our business and rate them 1-10 poor to good as follows:
Vauxhall Combo – cheap but constantly being repaired = 2
Citroen Berlingo Pre 2008 – great van not many issues, cheap to buy = 7
Citroen Berlingo new shape – great van no many issues, cheap to buy, bit of a flimsy build = 8
VW Caddy – great van not many issues, great build quality, expensive to buy = 9
VW Transporter -great van not many issues, great build quality, expensive to buy = 9
That’s my opinion anyway.

Ensure you get one with a sloping dash (towards the windscreen) so you can stash copies of the sun securely.

I don’t know a thing about vans, but Angel Tuning often appear in the pages of AutoItalia for their work on Fiat group cars. certainly worth having a chat with them. Also, as a serial Italian car buyer I always recommend regular servicing and oil changes. The Italians cannot understand why people complain about their reliability when servicing has been ignored!

Yup thanks Fandango – has a partial service history without huge gaps, and I’ll do a proper flush, fluids and filters next weekend to get things off to as good a start as possible. I agree – doesn’t take much either in time or money to keep them maintained, much better than having to sort out a disaster after