Had a hiace a few years back. Just consumables and suspension bushings, sold it at about 8 years old and 200k.
Amazing heater, could keep you warm with the windows down.
Off road traction was OK if you had some stuff over the axle, certainly no trouble in the woods. Was going to replace the rears with BFG all-terrains if I’d kept it.

Sold it because I just fancied a car again.

To help(?) with the Scudo / Dispatch / Expert (and lately Proace):-

Mk1 199?>2004 ish. Pretty robust and reliable. Nice enough to drive, but only the turbo version. Non turbo was lower geared and awfully noisy at motorway speeds. Only real weak point was cable operated clutch – cable needed replacing every 50k or so. Our only family vehicle for 9 years, 133k all over Europe and saw no reason it wouldn’t have done the same again (until written off by a BMW – also seemed to survive a crash reasonably well….). Owned a Citroen C15 prior to this and always found spares to be cheap and easily available.

Mk2 2004>2007. Slightly facelifted and more refined version of the above. Again only go for turbos, HDI engine with (I think) hydraulic clutch actuation (generally more reliable). If you can find a cheap good one, go for it.

Mk3 2007>2016. Similar-ish chassis / running gear but somehow they made a few things worse on the front suspension (clonking ARB saddle bushes). About 300mm longer at the front (extra crumple zone). Squarer body adds a bit of space. 1.6 HDI is same power as our old Scudo 1.9TD but drives very differently. Very tractable to chug around at the bottom end but nothing extra for hills / overtaking (second half of the accelerator pedal travel does nothing). Keeps up with traffic OK but nothing more. 2.0 6 speed probably a better buy. Have had a few electrical annoyances around the electric windows (switch needed stripping and contacts cleaning, then motor drive stripped – £130 for a full new mechanism).

Leftfield suggestion – could you manage with Berlingo? There is a longer version with extended rear body. The same 90hp 1.6HDI has a different torque / power map that might be nicer to drive (I work in automotive r&d and suspect testing of a fully laden + towing Dispatch probably pooped the old 5 speed gearbox so they tweaked the torque curve).

Mk4 2016> Totally new design, partly based on C4 Grand Picasso floorpan. Have driven one – very nice but probably just going to run our Mk3 Combi into the floor as whole family doing MTB / CX is pretty hard on interiors – no point having a vehicle from new then selling it once depreciation has finished.

Have seen a lot of rotten older Hiaces. Newer ones OK if you are happy with RWD (no problem as a laden work van, but I personally wouldn’t want it running around with just MTB in the back).

Nissan is an interesting size. A friend with back problems had one and struggled with the seats.

Long wheelbase Doblo?

To help(?) with the Scudo / Dispatch / Expert (and lately Proace)

After doing the research, I’m almost definitely staying clear of these vans, The Mark 1/2 appear to be slightly better but within my budget I can get better than these vans,
Theres a significant number of owners who have bad things to say about the mk3,
I’ve already lost plenty of money to a french built van,
I’m not willing to risk more.

The Berlingo has much better feedback but is far too small for my needs.

The Nissan is tempting but still has the french engine although feedback is again much fairer, it also suits my needs bar only having 2 seats.

I’m now looking towards a Hiace, everywhere I read is extremely positive.
I can work around the RWD as my work is all urban.
the MPG and the Insurance costs are the only marginal downfalls but they appear to be only marginal.

I’m short and I read that the Hiace drivers seat doesn’t move much? I’m looking at the last model of Hiace.

I was running a 2007 2.4 100hp LWB transit – for me and the Mrs for business use insurance was £650 with 2 years NCB. It did go up masssively after an accident with a hefty claim against me but IIRC it was ~£1k when I first got it. Have you had a quote for a Tranny?

We used to use hiaces at work, excellent bits of kit, probably the most reliable vehicles we had

I’m dead set on a Hiace, almost had my hands on a cracking 2010 ex MOD model last weekend but someone got in there before me,
It seems decent hiaces are hard to come by,
Trying to broaden my choices,
What’s People’s take on the Vito? Expensive to run/maintenance? Reliable?

If older than a certain age (2004??) prone to serious rust. After that they were properly galvanized, so not a problem.

Yup, I’d be looking beyond the rusty models but my main concern is the cost of maintenance, anyone have any experience?

If older than a certain age (2004??) prone to serious rust. After that they were properly galvanized, so not a problem.

I’m not sure that’s true as I’ve seen quite a few later rusty examples

It’s was mentioned earlier that any Transporter at £7k will either be high mileage or have undisclosed issues,
Can we confirm this?

I do love the look of the Transporter and would be looking at one with around 120k on the clock.

No hard and fast rules but if i was looking at a 7k transporter I’d be going with a very cynical head on looking for the hidden issue if it wSnt obvious