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By a Vito instead and use the £3000 you save for a bike or a holiday
Transits are prone to theft as that's what most tradesmen use as their vehicle.
Just as easy to get in most other vans
If you keep them longer than 3 years the residuals come into play, but with the research i did , there's not much in it over 3 years ( on outright purchase anyway IME)
Residuals is the good thing about T5's. The reason I chose a T5 was because I was financing the van and knew I wouldn't be keeping it long enough to pay it off, so needed it to be worth more than the outstanding finance when I came to sell it in about 4 or 5 years time. Looking at used values of 8 to 10 year old vans the T5's were the only ones that actually retained any significant value...all other brands of van the values just dropped to virtually zero.
So my choice was either buy an old crappy 'bangernomics' van and and assume it's residual value would drop to zero when I come to sell it, or get a nice 3 year old T5 run it for 5 years or so, sell it for about 2/3 of the price I bought it for, pay off the outstanding finance and might even have some 'equity' in the car to put towards a deposit for the next vehicle. Why drive an old banger about when you can have a 'nearly new' van for the same monthly outlay.
We've had a T5.1 Caravelle for 4 years, best family vehicle we've had. All previous ones were estates, the last one a Merc E Class. We all prefer the Caravelle. We've a row of seats out and the back allows us two dog crates and mountains of kit. I built a shelf over the whole rear seat area in the summer, it's made it more practical. Just lob everything in and it tows our caravan like a train. Granted it's not as refined, but it is plenty quick enough with the 180 engine and DSG box. And being the Caravelle Exec it has plenty of mod cons. It ticked all the boxes for us when we changed cars. Wouldn't go back to a car now, but that's more from a practical side of carrying everything either as a daily or on holiday.
Had mine for 2 years. Changed from estates to a VW van because I wanted a camper and something with more space for changing at races plus the ability to get 3 kids car seats on the rear bench seat. Mine is a T6 Beach.
I love it no way would I go back to an estate car. No issues with mine so far (well it is only 2). Economy is slightly better than the two XC70s I’ve had not as good as my old Insignia estate. Comfort wise way better than an Insignia estate. Brilliant on long drives. Insurance is reasonable. VED is quite expensive £260.
Residuals are fantastic compared to estate cars.
Speed it’s not that fast but fine when up to speed and not noisy in 6th gear on the motorway.
Drove a new Renault hire van think it was a Traffic in France this summer. It was rubbish compared to my VW. So the guys that say they have been left behind by the competition are way off.
Was the Traffic same spec as yours? They tend to be cheaper for similar spec...
Playing devil's advocate here...
Residuals are fantastic compared to estate cars
Until you sell it residuals are just an unsecured deposit
"If you keep them longer than 3 years the residuals come into play, but with the research i did , there’s not much in it over 3 years ( on outright purchase anyway IME)"
That's what the book figures say. what I see at auctions and what you see when trying to buy is very different.
Yeah but Steve your average ownership is in hours 😉
Will be interesting to see how the new buying shift impacts the VW residuals, its a market that relies on aspiration and disposable income
Regarding multi story car parks and ferries, the Vito is only 1.8m high (Transporter is a fair bit higher).
I’ve had my Vito from new in 2006, it’s done 212000 miles now with no big problems. Just a few sensors and a prop shaft rebalance at around 150000 miles.
Definately by buying another new one which will see me well into retirement.
If you are going to live the "dublife" don't forgot the following so you become a real cliché:
"One life live it" sticker.
Colour coded flowers hanging off the rear view mirror
Black alloys
Chequered bonnet.
The silly wave
Animal stickers
VW logos everywhere.
Barratt house.
A poster on an air-cooled VW page was complaining about all the wannabes at the VW festivals - he said there were so many T5s and T6s he may as well have parked at Wickes!
Get one! You will love it
Get a van You will love it
Agreed...get a van (even if it is/isn't a vw), they are great (says me who is on his second Berlingo as he has neither space nor money for bigger (but would love a bigger van)).
We had a T30 174 van we turned into a Kombi for 10 years. Really loved it more than we should have. Bought for 13k and sold 100k later for £6k.
Bikes, camping, anything you want in the back. Camping, 100 bottles of wine back from France. Sitting up high and getting six people in. Really enjoyed the whole thing.
We are now on a safe estate that's fine. If I were doing it again I would look at the Peugeot Citroen Toyota base that they co-designed. Feels like a lot more value in that way of doing it.
So van - yes, definitely. Transporter mmmm not so sure because of the inflated prices.
Never understood the VW van hate we love ours ok its not our daily runner but its solid no rattles like some other vans I,ve been passenger in. Seems a bit like the Santa Cruz bike hate just because they are at a certain price point!
T4 for 8 years now. Great vans but cool? Not anymore. Kayak, biking, climbing mates using them as second homes convinced me to get one. Now it's all, they hold their value blah blah blah and ridiculous prices. Still cooler than estates though and more useful.
Based on owning a desolving Transit I'd buy my next van based on whether it was galvanised or not!
Never understood the VW van hate
Thats easy to answer.
There are better vans out there, but because VW have “cornered” the image on “lifestyle vehicle” there seems on the surface to be little choice available.
Alternatives are available, lifestyle or no lifestyle.
"but its solid no rattles like some other vans I"
Only rattle in my van is the plates and cutlery. Are your mates vans all broken. Mines not even a particularly good/modern van.
Seems a bit like the Santa Cruz bike hate just because they are at a certain price point!
It's a combination of price point and popularity, see also Audi, BMW....
There's a nice T5 on Facebook marketplace in fort William for £15500
Seems a relative bargain.
It's got 6 seats and a rear door window.
35k on the clock 4.5 years old.
Based on owning a desolving Transit I’d buy my next van based on whether it was galvanised or not!
Arent transits supposed to do that thou,that’s part of their endearing charm 🙂
I’ve had a t5.1 caravelle for 4 years now. Bought it as an ex chauffeur car (owned by a cruise company that have a massive fleet of them) so it had 160k on it at 3 years old. It was in immaculate shape and the miles meant it was very cheap
ibe since our another 60 odd thousand miles on it and other than routine services it’s had one shock absorber fail and a rattlly exhaust heat shield requiring tightening up. That’s literally it.
because it’s a caravelle, it’s got decent sound deadening, multi zone climate control, sat nav, cruise etc (everything you’d expect from 2011) and it’s a proper car (not a van or mini bus) so it doesn’t put the heebejeebies into insurance companies.
Scene tax will likely make this very cheap to own if I ever shift it as I expect I could sell t today for a couple of thousand less than I paid - how many MPVs can deliver that?
I average 32mpg over a tank and on a run with a clear motorway at 70 with cruise on, it can do 42. Going any faster quickly gets noisy and very thirsty. Granted, the same driving style in a modern diesel estate would be getting north of 60mpg but it’s not exactly ruinously costly
mostly tho, it makes me smile every time I get in it. I’m not a car guy but I’d wanted a transporter for years and it’s been worth every penny.
There are better vans out there, but because VW have “cornered” the image on “lifestyle vehicle” there seems on the surface to be little choice available.
Can you imagine if VAG released an Audi version of the same van? They'd be able to charge an extra £10k for basically the same thing and folk would be lining up to trade in the VW badges to get one with an Audi badge.
The following year they could release a Skoda one £10k cheaper and all the existing VW and Audi haters will be lining up to buy one!
Lol!
Just sold my T5.1 camper and looking out for a T5 van. Got 3 kids 7 and under and now with bikes etc even our Seat Alhambra sometimes seems a bit on the small size once all our stuff is loaded in the boot. Unbelievably a T5 has a better turning circle than our people carrier and is not as wide so they can be a good daily proposition. I'm looking for a Kombi which is basically the bogo van but with 3 seats in the back and side windows.
Can you imagine if VAG released an Audi version of the same van? They’d be able to charge an extra £10k for basically the same thing and folk would be lining up to trade in the VW badges to get one with an Audi badge.
The following year they could release a Skoda one £10k cheaper and all the existing VW and Audi haters will be lining up to buy one!
Thats a great point.
Why haven’t Audi released a Van?
They’ve got the Q7 platform to plonk it on, and the engines..
Be awesome.
I’m cynical about T5’s because mainly everyone who has one is a bore, and they just don’t shut up about “lifestyle” and “freedom”. Like those two worlds are mutually exclusive to the T5.
I’ve seen more Transits on the road down here than T5’s these days, yes in the club car park there are ... (counts) 6 T5’s But there are 3 Toyota ProAce’s, 4 Renault Traffics and 2 Merc Vitos and ... 18 MPVs.
There’s a nice T5 on Facebook marketplace in fort William for £15500
Seems a relative bargain.
There's a used California on VW used vans website for £73,000..... Seventy....three.....
https://used.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/vehicles/vw/all-models?manufacturer=65&model=2341
Wanted a t6 but didnt want diesel as live in town and mpg on the petrol t6 no better then our old v6 bongo. Got a new petrol caddy maxi life. Take out 3 row seats equals massive boot. Getting 35 min around town 42 plus on motorway so far. Bit van like but practical with options to remove 2nd row seats and could sleep in if had to as well as being able to reach roof for bikes boards on top if req. the 1.4 tsi very smooth quite impressed and more then fast enough considering traffic everywhere these days
If you're having thoughts of getting a van then you just need to do it, irrespective of what make.
I've owned my T4 for around 5 years now, I've no idea how I used to cope without it, they're just so practical, an estate car isn't even comparable.
Yes it drives like a 'van' funnily enough but I like that. It's slow but comfortable and it's a pretty chilled out experience compared to driving a car.
I'll probably upgrade to a T6 at some point as a single vehicle. I like the look of some of the transit customs but the majority of them just look a little too 'commercial', I'd probably have one if it was a works vehicle.
76k!!! Holy bejesus!
Vivaro crew cab worth considering. New versions have ironed out previous customer woes. Built in GB too. Wish they made a 4x4 version.
There’s a used California on VW used vans website for £73,000
You could buy a very, very good used Range Rover for that! Or a really high spec big estate, and a little hatchback. And change!
And people wonder why plenty folk don't like them...those prices are clearly more money than sense (or actually buying for the badge lifestyle) as very clearly there are far cheaper options with very similar (or better) spec from other manufacturers...
(Now I've said that I suspect I'll be spending the evening looking at specs of vehicles!)
I’m not sure there are many manufacturer built equivalents of the California? Kind of a captive market and they can charge what the market will bear.
I guess you could buy the Range Rover instead and get the Butler to bring you a nice cup of tea.
15k for that used transporter? My shiney new transit was 21k, not 4 years old not 4 weeks old, it was spanking new for 6k more! Sport version 170 brake half leather sat nav etc etc, vw get yaself bent over ready for some prison dry hump!
Best thing about my T5 is how its mere existence drives some people loopy. The fact is drives ok and swallows umpteen bikes and kit is almost secondary.
Some folk do have wierd fetishes right enough
<div class="bbp-reply-author">CaptainFlasheart</div>
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There’s a used California on VW used vans website for £73,000
You could buy a very, very good used Range Rover for that! Or a really high spec big estate, and a little hatchback. And change!
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Which of those three vehicles is a factory built campervan with numerous extras added? At least compare like with like!
You could get a whole camper for 73k.
I needed an auto van a couple of years back following a busted ankle, use for both work deliveries/collections and private use. There isn't much choice I could find other than VW Transporter or Mercedes Vito or perhaps an older imported Japanese thing like a Hiace. Test drove the former ones and didn't like the Vito because it has this sticking out by your left foot (transmission tunnel?) which meant you couldn't move your foot about, no DAB and felt a bit cheaply made. Opted for a year old DSG T6 from a main dealer which was a much nicer place to be but it isn't all roses, the DMF went at 12K miles, fortunately fixed under warranty. When the warranty runs out I'll probably flog (for not much of a loss hopefully) and get another year old one with the remaining 2 years warranty left or a new one via a broker (seem to be c. 15-20% less than main dealer). It's been handy having one over the summer for holidays and trips to festivals, carrying all our clobber, kipping in it etc. I'm surprised by people saying they get 40+ mpg, mine averages around 32, 36 on a long run driving very sensibly. Maybe it's because mine is a DSG and always full of loads of crap though.
I’ve created a bit of a monster thread here...ooops!