Hi all,
I have been toying with the idea of a van for years and have an offer hopefully of one of these FSH, loads extras, 2012 and approx 130000 miles.

We would be selling our car to get it, so basically, thoughts, good points, bad etc.

Any help great fully received.

Thanks in advance.

We have had a 2013 for 3 years, it has had the following issues.

1. The rear washer motor fills with water, some genius designed it so the water hose runs through motor housing, over time it degrades and leaks – treat it as a consumable.
2. The Front tires wear unevenly despite the tracking being done, still not got to the bottom of this one.

Other than that no problems, swallows bikes, camping gear and kids with ease and does 40mpg on long runs.

It’s only done 62k though.Manual gearboxes have a reputation for being a a little flaky, but I’ve read it’s actually the linkage – something to watch out for.

Don’t know if this helps, but I had a 59 plate 115, which was a nice drive but awful manual gearbox, and rust, and more rust. Lots of things wore out like brakes, everything had to be replaced after only 50k. I had it for just over 4 years and just too many things needed replacing and it was basically running as a car. I wouldn’t get another.

I’ve got a 56 plate 3l auto Dualiner I’ve had since new. Mainly do motorway miles so original discs lasted 200000 miles.
Original exhaust lasted more than that.
Prop needed rebalance around 150000.
Had to replace my rear wiper motor as mentioned above.
Had a few issues with sensors but nothing serious.
No rust.
It’s done 230000 now and I’ve no doubt it will keep going.

We’re really pleased with our 2011 Vito Dualiner. We’ve got the mid-sized one, which is referred to as the ‘Long’ in MB parlance.

Pro points:
– Easily takes 4 people and 4 bikes (I’m confident you could get 5 people + bikes in)
– Lots of kit as standard – eg. cruise control, electric windows, blacked out windows
– Tailgate and dual-sliding doors are standard fit.
– Available with windows all round if you want to avoid the builders van look.
– Clever rear seat design which allows them to fold and roll forwards if you want to get them out the way.
– The Dualiner is nicely finished inside, including full headlining and plastic trim in the back. Compare and contrast with a VW combi van.
– A good choice of engines, especially if you want an auto like us. VW 180bhp bitdi engines have some pretty serious issues and we found the 140bhp not quick enough for our tastes. We have the 3.0 V6, which is definitely quick enough :), but the 163bhp version was nippy enough as well.

Minus:
– Rear wheel drive, so you’re potentially more likely to get it stuck in a field. That said we haven’t had a problem yet.

I’ve got a 2013 on 300k (almost entirely motorway miles).

Gearbox is indeed flaky, and yes, we have lost our rear wiper motor. And I think the “eco” function causes some weird loss-of-torque issues sometimes. But otherwise, all seems fine.

The rust issue we have dealt with by having treatment and a respray of the affected bits for about £200, and the body shop guy has indicated we will need to do this every couple of years if we want to keep it clean.

I would probably still consider getting another in the future.

I should add that that’s after ownership of 2 VW T4s – one of which I loved; the other of which was okay.

I have a 111cdi long and love it, had an injector leak (black death) but was spotted early on and repaired by local independent MB garage.

@SaxonRider – do you know what they used as a rust inhibitor? I have a couple of spots (from neglect) and would like to treat them.

55 plate, few bits of rust, round tailgate handle and wiper, door bump plastic trim slots all fixed. Bits replaced propshaft, springs 2 failed might have been a bad batch ? front discs and ecu fan an easy fix on a 115 dualiner with 130000m. Will be looking for another as it will refused breakdown cover for Europe next year. The rear wiper easy fix new o ring, clean contacts on gear assembly and drill a hole in housing incase it leaks again, lasted 6 years so for. High level brake light fails a fix on the Web, some solder connections are weak resoldered game done.