Currently looking for a people carrier / bike transporting device. A friend of a friend has his caravelle up for sale.

https://www.blocket.se/annons/jamtland/vw_caravelle/87356680

Ad is in Swedish, but I reckon you’ll get most of it. I think I have heard to avoid 2.5s? Ad says rear suspension has been recently changed, which is apparently another known issue? Anything else to look out for?

Tack på förhand!

first things: caravelle in mainland EU is what we’d know as a shuttle: so 9 seats instead of 7, less leather, more aiport taxi. You still get many toys and rear heating, but it won’t have a second evaporator, electric doors or seats that fold into a bed. Unlikely to have a night heater, but almost certainly will have a webasto thermotop engine block heater for which you can get a remote start kit. What we’d know as a caravelle is a multivan over there.

2.5 5-pot engine is actually made by volvo. It’s pretty reliable, heaps of torque, possibly regarded as agricultural. Gear driven cams but camshafts themselves are known to break. Injectors and their driving looms are also prone to failure. Some suffer from broken exhaust manifolds which manifests itself as fumes in the cab.

Some T5s are amazingly reliable. Mine was not. Here is the list from the last 18 months. It’s gone now to WBAC – it was THAT bad I couldn’t bear to sell it on privately nor chop it in:

The door lock that wouldn’t unlock; the sliding doors that wouldn’t close; the brakes that seized on solidly at 60mph on the A1; the rear diff that shat itself sitting on the drive; the diff lock that wouldn’t; the entire front suspension which ate all of its bushes, bearings and drop links because they’re nicked from a polo; the heater wiring loom that caught fire on the A66 necessitating a rapid bailout of my terrified family while dad went to work with the extinguisher; the AC that didn’t; the lights that I had to manufacture myself as the OEM were only good enough for a Kübelwagen during blackout in 1944; the second fire that thankfully put itself out but required a rewire of the whole AC system; the piston rings that got eaten by the grinding paste ejected by the self-destructing EGR cooler and the head gasket that failed catastrophically on the A50. It was also starting to rust. That on a 75k mile 180BiTdi with full VWSH.

caravelle in mainland EU is what we’d know as a shuttle: so 9 seats instead of 7, less leather, more aiport taxi.

Mine was a Caravelle with eight leather seats before I stripped it out.

2.5 is a torquey engine in either guise.

my mates on his third 2.5 engine.

First one died of injector seat damage leading it it turning over for ever followed by injection pump failure.

the second one from a known refurbisher lasted a matter of weeks.

The third one is still being negotiated.

He has had it a year its been a pig.

sounds like i should give it a miss!

caravelle in mainland EU is what we’d know as a shuttle: so 9 seats instead of 7, less leather, more aiport taxi.

Mine was a Shuttle with eight seats before I stripped it out.

60k is not bad for a van, but it makes me wonder what it was used for… That number of Km is on the high end for normal use as is the number of owners.

Årsskatt on that is high according to Mina Fordon and it will have poor economy, but I have bought worse. Having it reflashed might help with the economy too.

To be honest, I like the look of it, but I would certainly want someone to go have a look at it first.

the heater wiring loom that caught fire on the A66 necessitating a rapid bailout of my terrified family while dad went to work with the extinguisher;

Bloody hell, with all those problems you should have let it burn! Would have been a kindness.

@willard  you sound like you know what you are talking about . What is the best way to go about getting a used car in sweden?  Are there certain websites to check , like a Parkers equivalent over here? I

I’m after a small van that can work for the family (two children) but that has space for a bike in the back, and ideally to sleep in for a night or two!

For winter camping versatility, forget your modern comforts and go for a local klassik…

If it was summer use only you could have kept an eye out for the deathtraptastic Saab campers from the 60/70s(??).

[Edited for direct linking incompetence…]

@howsyourdad1 I ended up buying our car from a local dealer, so it was a relatively painless process. I gave him money and he gave me a Passat. Well, he gave my sambo a Passat…

Swedish körkort is a bonus for buying, as is a personnummer. If you have both of these, download the “Mina Fordon” app and use that to check up on the vehicle you are looking at. More owners is maybe not so good. High mil, maybe not so good. If you know a local mechanic and they can help, take them with you.

I saw one car that was serviced, no, I think “serviced” is a better description, by a mechanic in the same workshop as the owner… Oddly, all the logbook entries for servicing were the same handwriting, used the same pen and looked like they had been done recently and at the same time. He’s also added 5000 km to it in the two weeks or so since the ad went up on Blocket. I walked from that.

Pretty much use mine for what you describe. It’s a SWB 2008, 1.9tdi German import (to Spain), came with Webasto, rear heater. Faultless in the 5 years I’ve had it, did the cam belt and water pump not long back, a wheel bearing and brakes, that’s all it’s cost so far. The DMF was done before I bought it.
However it’s difficult to convert anything in Spain without getting everything homologated – if buying in the UK I would’ve gone down that route, wanted something with a bed that wasn’t a camper, Multivan is not really the best option if you’ve got the luxury of converting.

I had the 2.5 version a few years back and had re-mapped, went really well but the exhaust manifold rotted and studs rotted off, so it stank of fumes in the cab, PITA to get to it and fix. Later 2.0 one much better.

I preface this by saying I do some buying and selling of transporters, I’ve owned a number of every type (t5 on) and engine over the years and have had many more than that to sell on.

The 2.5 is engine for engine the least reliable and most expensive to fix of all the general engine groups fitted. There are good and bad in each engine of course but generally that rule holds true. many will do mega miles and they have a very distinctive sound.

The only suffix to the above is do not buy a 2.0 bitdi in any circumstances unless it has already had a brand new (not recon) engine fitted and at the same time a type/rev d egr cooler. The issue does not hit every van but does require a new engine to repair bill £5-8k.

So out of all the engines is the 1.9 still the one to go for? Or is the newer 2.0 just as good reliablity wise?

1.9 is getting old. 2.0 100/110/140 would be my choice, either with 6sp manual or dsg.

2.0 is slightly less reliable than 1.9 but only due to being more modern, nicer to the world and having more items as as result.

Everyone gets very excited about 6 speed, saves 400rpm on motorway and 102 version is more fuel efficient. There is no 100 or 110, there are 102 and 114 but latter is very rare.

10 year old, 300,000 km on the clock, new gear box, new rear suspension.
Money Pit 😀

30k miles or 300k miles…?

I looked at a shuttle a few years ago but insurance seemed very expensive because of the number of seats.

30k miles or 300k miles…?

Either way isn’t good…..a 30k car that’s had a new gear box and rear suspension would not be a good buy.

At least on a 300k car two of the major componants have been replaced.

Still lot of money for an ancient vehicle either way….being a 4 motion be some mug will buy it

cheers for the guidance so far, appreciated.

@willard yes have a körkort and i am a medborgare here, just never bought a second hand car here. let me know if you here of anyone selling anything decent!

my understanding is that a swedish mile is 10 kilometres. so a car with 30000 mil on the clock is 300,000 kilometres, so approx 185,000 miles (english).

I think i will look at something smaller anyhow, a Peugeout Partner , Berlingo or something. any tips 🙂 ?

@howsyourdad1 Will do, although all the decent ones seem to be in Kalmar or Skåne for some reason. Maybe it is just that they are cheaper there than in Stockholm, or my search for a dubbelhytt T3 in decent condition is just a bit too niche. I’ll keep my eyes open for you though.

Peugot are not bad vans. A mate in the UK has one for work (the small one?) and it is good spec, comfortable and has been reliable for him so far. Another friend has a Berlingo that he uses for hauling his music stuff around in and camping and he loves it.

Top stuff keep a look out! I can always head down south for the right car!

Some work required: https://www.blocket.se/annons/ostergotland/vw_t3/87422752

Peugot are not bad vans. A mate in the UK has one for work (the small one?) and it is good spec, comfortable and has been reliable for him so far. Another friend has a Berlingo that he uses for hauling his music stuff around in and camping and he loves it.

Ive had 3 and covered about 250000 miles in our ownership in them – the cars them selves have done nearer 400k between them .

the partner van needed an alternator and a clutch ( at 109000 miles coincidentally after the van had pulled a L3/H2 transit that had broke down home for a mate so i dont grudge it – as he lived at the top of a hill and you could smell clutch) in that time.

The berlingo multispace did require a rear axle at 125000miles/13 years old but powered on for many more miles after that .

No electrical gremlins that french cars are famed for – even the central locking worked to the day i got rid of it.

our latest ones on 30000 miles @ 4 years old and going well.

Would buy again.

@trail_rat that is good to hear, cheers