Sport :thumb:

Or a Vauxhall Vivaro

I've had an awful lot of vans over the years. And they all get abused, overloaded, never serviced, treated like **** and do insane mileage. (Yet my cars live like queens, go figure)

Peugeot expert - dead. Was crap, not man enough for large loads or high miles.

Peugeot partner, as above,

Transit, slow, but reliable, moderately comfy.

Transporter - underpowered, and seriously uncomfortable.

Hiace - best van I ever owned. Indestructable and never once let me down. And comfy too.

Vivaro, again not broken this one and still acceptably comfortable. (Done 40kmiles with no services in 3months) although it is noisy

Combo - comfy, but noisy, and a bit small for what I need. Only ever needed a battery on it

One thing I would look for which made a big difference to me at least would be the gear lever mounted up high off of the floor, I don't think I would buy another van with the gear lever sticking out of the floor again.

Why?

Just makes it better to drive, more car like and less van like. But that's just me.

I look after a fleet of over 200(ish) vans

Just thought i would let you know my experiences,

The VW vans are a good workhorse and comfy to drive, but DMF's and flywheels are a costly problem when, (not if) they fail,

Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat and Renault all have their inherent faults, mainly due to transmission faults,

Ford Transits I don't get many costly repairs, however the payload is quite low.

Personally I would go for a ford transit crew-cab, where you can partition off the rear of the cab to store tools and still have the rear bed to remove any rubbish

Forgot to say, Mercedes are virtually bulletproof but brakes, CV boots and rust are a constant headache

Mine is the 100 bhp,long wheelbase.the newer ones have 115bhp.

Ford Transit is the best selling van for a reason,seek out a good one you will love it...mine has 170bhp,full voice control,sat nav,auto lights and wipers,cruise control,heated screen,heated seat,park sensors,electric windows and mirrors,bluetooth and a cradle,alloys etc I bought it new in 2006,its been a great truck.Has had some faults,early on it had 2 egr valves,gearlinkage issues and a few other bits but its done 90k now so cant complain.I used to carry my mini digger in the back for weeks on end and would hardly know it was in there.

Tempted by the vito at the moment, or possibly a hi ace price depending

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/used-va...enz/model/vito

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/used-va...enz/model/vito

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/used-va...price/3000/max

Hi ace every time dude.

I used to work in the motor trade for 20 odd yrs and worked on them all / spoken to the drivers, the only van that is pretty much bullet proof is the toyota, there's a reason they are the most popular choice in adverse conditions around the world..........Reliability.

Sold mine on 96,000 only thing that went wrong was the front pads wore out once.:lol1:

Hmm Ok, not to keen on the older model though which makes my budget stretch too far

I had a transit for a while and it absolutely drank diesel.
I have a citroen dispatch currently and its been great.

I've had quite a few vans, scudos are soft as shi*e and go through wishbones like there's no tomorrow, had 2 Citroen relays the last one I had was a 2.2hdi was the one that can carry a heavier payload and would carry as much as you could fit in and went like stink still broke in the end due to poor maintenance and some are prone to cracked heads I'm told but I would have another and just maintain it better.

Wor kid has a 52 plate transit, its slow as shi*e noisy bad on fuel but seems pretty reliable BUT only after replacing the shocking DMF and clutch with the single plate conversion

Mick

Buying a 4k van and not getting a transit would be madness.

Another vote for Citroen, we have had a few and they are good, we have a brand new Berlingo now and it really would take some beating, handles really well, three seats in the front and the passenger seat folds flat so you can get long items in, goes ok as well :) our old Berlingo does ok too!

Without doubt- Toyota Hiace. Not the trendiest van to look at but exceptional reliability with good fuel economy.
If you go on review centre website and look up vans, the Toyota Hiace is rated top dog amongst users (Higher than a overpriced/overhyped VW effort)

See, i told you :D and i have never looked at that site, just did my own survey for about a year before i went self employed, and all i can do is agree with the above.

I'd do an intrim oil change myself in less than half an hour and let the dealer do the one for the service book and kept all the receipts, which stopped any haggling come sale time, i got top dollar off the first person that viewed it.;)

The Hi-Ace gets some blistering reviews.
http://www.roadtestreports.co.uk/roa.../Toyota/Hiace/

Anybody ever had a remap done on one? How would they be as a tow car? I see the only really negative review is about them being slow but I suppose the bloke thats moaning just bought the smaller model.