Yet another van thread (Transit Custom)

The older ones maybe. Same £320pa for a random 2018 Shuttle and panel Transporter that I checked.

I have a 2020 Custom sport, had it for 3.5 years no far and done 37k, Its had zero problems in that time, its a nice place to spend time travelling and is very comfortable, not sure if there is a difference between the lower spec models and the ones further up regarding the seats etc.

I find the CarPlay is annoying as your phone has to be plugged in, the paint is a little bit crap and marks relatively easily, we also have a 2015 Renault traffic buisness+ which when compared with the custom isn’t anywhere near as nice, gearbox doesn’t have a particular nice change, steering is slow and has very little feedback, lack of cupholders and is very very plasticy. However it has never had any issues either.

As someone else mentioned there are a lot of Customs on the road and there are bound to be issues and people that have the problems are bound to be vocal. I remember when we got it, I think I drove just about every medium sized van about and found the custom to have the nicest blend of drive, interior and practicality at the time, I wouldn’t have any trouble recommending one to someone after a van.

Budget wise I’m not sure what 10k will get you at the moment, not long ago it bought a pretty ropey builders van that had been abused but that may have changed.

i’ve had my egr valve replaced – think it was about £400 from halfords to do it.

We had a 2007 Transit that only did local routes and regularly clogged its EGR valve. The workshop just used to clean it, which was the cheap option

The 2018 replacement hasn’t suffered any similar problems, although its DPF warning went haywire and alternated between empty and full for a couple of days until that was sorted

We have a ‘21 Transit combi sport which we bought as an ex demo van, which meant it was barely used. The dealer clearly went nuts and spec’d it up to the eyeballs, but we were quite fussy in we wanted it to be as nice as it could feasibly be as a van.

So far, it’s been great, does what we need it to do. We have 2 friends with T6.1’s, both of which have been in & out of the garage & still not fixed. They also cost £25k more new (and ours was not a cheap van either).

I’m still of the same opinion of vans though. Even if it’s a nice Transit, or a £55k+ T6, they are absolute garbage compared to most modern cars.

But they are practical. We couldn’t have taken 4 people to the Alps, with 7 bikes & enough kit for 2 weeks in any car.

I’m in a similar boat atm and looking to get a Transit Custom in the near future. We have one at work and I find it comfortable to drive and perfectly refined for a van. Managed to get 38mpg out of it on a varied route over around 150 miles recently.

I’ve been watching the market for some time and no reason you can’t get a decent condition boggo van for 10k. A local garage just sold a 100k-ish 66 reg in champaign/silver with various extras for £9995. I used to be scared off by the wet belts but now just factor changing it in to my budget.

My biggest issue is deciding which to go for. I really want a Torneo as it would be perfect for what I need and save me work further down the line but I’d need to borrow more money as they start at 15k for anything worth looking at and quickly go much higher. I could just get a straight van and pay outright but I’d then need to get a couple of seats + windows fitted pretty quickly which is fine but then I think I may as well just get a crew cab. Problem with those is that the rear bench is fixed so a pain to get a bed in unless you go for the lwb, which doesn’t look as good. I could replace the rear bench but then I may as well get a normal van as buying a crew cab (12k+) then spending money faffing around with seats starts pushing me up to Torneo price, which brings me back to the start!

The car the van will replace is in for an MOT and service this month and will be getting sold after that so I imagine my final decision will come down to what looks decent + available when I need to buy.

My custom is 10 years old, ex Brighton council van. Minimal rust which I’ve taken care of in about 10 mins. They don’t seem to rust like the old vans used to.

Why not buy brand new. That way you can have a transit custom AND a VW transporter since they are essentially now the same vehicle 😉

Whats peoples thoughts on Mercedes Vitos? I’m going to be replacing my Nissan NV200 early next year so I’m starting my research early!

Hi there, infrequent poster alert but I’ve had my Transit for a couple of years. Now, this could be construed as a not-so-stealth ad but it’s currently on EBay for £11250 and has a new full engine with about 6500 miles recorded. The timing belt went (at 175k miles, I should add).It’s first three years with a fleet owner account for 150k miles. All I can say is, I haven’t gone balls-out to sell it as i too would like to convert it to day van / holiday duties but it owes me money! They drive fantastically well for a van and it’s high spec too – lined and carpeted I could easily envisage doing BIG trips in it. They’re not at all like the vans of yore or more workaday vans like Boxers / Trafics.  They’re really nice to drive, handle well and can be parked anywhere. PM me if you want more detail but even though I’ve spent a fortune on it, I don’t  hate it. That should tell you all you need to know.