View Full Version : Buying a new work van
djbrowney
15-02-11, 10:12 PM
Bought a vauxhall combo van about 6 months, ****ing brilliant little van, drives nice, good on fuel ect ect everything i was looking for. But it's just not big enough, i cant get my locksmithing and carpentry tools in it.
So i need a bigger van, i dont really want to buy any thing bigger than a tranist swb if possble. I have about £10,000 to spend ??? I was very keen on the black vivaro's (imo they look Modern/quite cool) but every one i speak to say's dont get one nothing but problems. I use a transit 09 plate for the company i work for now and thats already had egr/dual mass/ ect ect and that was only at 30,000.
what people opions
Cheers in advance :thumb:
joenova_gte
15-02-11, 10:29 PM
you will have nothing but trouble with vivaro's. clutch slave cylinders are a common problem.
Gaz1300SR
15-02-11, 10:38 PM
Transporter all the way for me.
djbrowney
15-02-11, 10:39 PM
what common faults do they have ^
None lol transporter every time for me too. After having experience of working on both transporters and vivaros i'd go vw everytime.
I've had three trafics since 04 covering over 400 thousand miles with a severe lack of maintenance with minimal problems
joenova_gte
15-02-11, 10:46 PM
i would say transporter or transit
djbrowney
15-02-11, 10:49 PM
None lol transporter every time for me too. After having experience of working on both transporters and vivaros i'd go vw everytime.
thats cant be true, my mum has a mk4 golf and its had **** loads of common fault problems :confused:
Derick-Sport
16-02-11, 05:54 PM
i drove a vivaro with 140,000 miles on for 2 years without even lifting the bonnet was a superb van
Angus Closier
16-02-11, 06:10 PM
I have seen a few issues with transporters......However the guys at work rate vitos and sprinters very highly....
A slave cylinder on a vivro is not exactly a bad fault, ive done loads and there not hard. Also yeah transporters are nice but they are £5k more for equivalent year etc compared to a transit/vivaro and there not that much nicer/better.
you will have nothing but trouble with vivaro's. clutch slave cylinders are a common problem.
disagree we have loads of vivaros at work and there much better than the transits for breaking, and the vivaros are driven just as hard
djbrowney
17-02-11, 12:07 AM
very mixed view here lol
its either going to be a transit or a vivaro i just cant justify the extra £5000 then the vat on top just for a volkswagen :(
I have seen a few issues with transporters......However the guys at work rate vitos and sprinters very highly....
one of each at work.
nothing has broken unless we have broke it.
only other times they have gone in is for a service etc
and merc here work through the night, so no down time for your business.
the vito is surprisingly quick also
Transit IMO, when we had ours was red lined off the drive every morning, never once have we (my gang) broken down in a tranny.
never once have we (my gang) broken down in a tranny.
[VND/Mowgli]Suppose it helps if you go into it knowing 'she' is a bloke.[/VND/Mowgli]
Transit for me too. Can't be beat.
If not, I vote Vivaro/Trafic. My mate and his brother have them. Mates is the Vivaro and aside from a new gear linkage it hasn't needed anything of note in the couple of years he has had it. The Trafic has needed a few more things, but it appears to have had a very very hard life from the previous owner. Both were bought at auction.
Little things aside though, they are both spot on vans. The LWB Vivaro is huge too. Oh yeah, and they drive as nice as anything but the very latest Transit/Sprinter/Transporter.
Angus Closier
17-02-11, 12:36 PM
one of each at work.
nothing has broken unless we have broke it.
only other times they have gone in is for a service etc
and merc here work through the night, so no down time for your business.
the vito is surprisingly quick also
The vito v6 is quick......but not as quick a a vivaro we had in to map, that was unlike any van I have ever driven!
Some boyo gave my mates 2003 Range Rover Vogue a right good go off the lights. He was in a new Transporter (iirc) Some 2.5 TDi thing with 190 BHP and god knows how much torque. It was quick! lol
Come on Browney, its a easy decision, get yourself a Transit so you can blend in with all the other pikey mother fookers from your area, ideally white, with a orange light and some roof bars to load your copper pipe onto.
Come on Browney, its a easy decision, get yourself a Transit so you can blend in with all the other pikey mother fookers from your area, ideally white, with a orange light and some roof bars to load your copper pipe onto.
:d Mobile/Freephone number is also essential. Ensure it has chrome bull bars, side steps, mirror covers, prancing horses on it etc and start talking about trimming conifers and call everyone 'boss' to complete the look.
djbrowney
17-02-11, 02:19 PM
Come on Browney, its a easy decision, get yourself a Transit so you can blend in with all the other pikey mother fookers from your area, ideally white, with a orange light and some roof bars to load your copper pipe onto.
And i quote
Is that hair round your mouth or do you always talk like a cu*t .
Have traffic's at work. Since we have lots of weight in the back they eat a gearbox every 100k or so, Other than that, they seem fine.
Calamity Josh
17-02-11, 02:59 PM
We had a ex carlsburg brewery transport lwb with all the extras and even a crane in the back to take barrels down to the cellar, it was a lovely motor... BUT we went through two gearboxes in three years, and with recons going for about 2k you can imagine! But it every time 5th gear just went, it was only once we sold it we found out that aparantly the 5th gears don't actually break up like we thought and the recon companys told us, actually what happens is the 5th gear jumps off the end of the cluster!!!!!! :eek: And we had spent all that money on gearboxes...
Sprinter all the way. Trafic/vivaro/movistar's are crap. you had best keep a few spare gearboxes in the back to be safe, along with a few ABS pumps and a few hundred bottom ball joints, as they eat those for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We look after 3 company fleets of them at work, and they are hatefull pox ridden things.
Don't be fooled into thinking that a Vito is good because its a merc, they are next to useless as well.
Transporters are expensive, but for good reason, as they are fooking mint :)
Transits are ok but they like to munch dual mass flywheels to pass the time.
and I'm pleased to see that nobody has mentioned LDV's. We'll keep it that way...
Vivaros an such like use the same gearbox as newer shape Vecs (F23??) an Ive heard of loads of people having to have recon box's on them.
Personally, if it was my cash, Id look for Vito's, Transit's & SWB Sprinters.
Ive driven loads & fooking loads of vans, big, small, Luton's, flatbeds etc etc & Ive only ever really had faith in the Merc's on long drives (once done 800 mile in a day in LWB high top Sprinter without so much as a hicup & was flat out all the time ~ hire van FTW!)
Friend of mine has got a Transporter Sportline on 56 reg he bought from new, its since had a new clutch & 5 nearside inner CV's & 3 outer, its on about 50k at the mo. Although I does go like a rocket.
Pistol Pete
17-02-11, 10:12 PM
Transit gets my vote. Cracking vans.
Transit gets my vote. Cracking vans.
Very good vans, I had a Transit MWB Welfare van when I was doing highways agency work & it was faultless though the 6 months or so I had it :)
Sprinter/ crafter i reckon. I wish I bought a newer one now. Having hired one, but old ones are just as good.
Transit sport?
Sprinter/ crafter i reckon. I wish I bought a newer one now. Having hired one, but old ones are just as good.
Transit sport?
Sport is over rated IMO. A plumber we use has one, an TBH, why have leather seats in a work van lol lol
Sport is over rated IMO. A plumber we use has one, an TBH, why have leather seats in a work van lol lol
I went with my dad when he purchase 3 new vans straight from ford. And I was gagging to test drive one, but there wad none there. I had to drive back in some crappy brand new top of the range one instead lol. I think they're awesome. No good to me though, not big enough
I mean I wouldnt mind one like, but TBH I just dont see the point in having leathers in a work van lol its more of a poser van IMO lol
I mean I wouldnt mind one like, but TBH I just dont see the point in having leathers in a work van lol its more of a poser van IMO lol
Tarmaccing and scrap metal retrieval is a very glamorous trade. Suits it perfectly imo.
Tarmaccing and scrap metal retrieval is a very glamorous trade. Suits it perfectly imo.
Recyling you mean :thumb: lol lol
ok so the transporter isn't perfect. (can't be compared to a mk4 golf lol) However, my mate has an 05 plate sportive vivaro. 23k ish dmf replaced. 37k ish gearbox replaced, few miles later gearbox out again to replace all clutch hydraulics. 40k ish new clutch. 43k ish abs control unit ful of water. It's also had the fuel pump and injectors replaced due to swarf from the fooked pump blocking the injectors. It also had track rod ends and arb links for the first mot. Just to make you aware of a few common probs lol
^transits have problems too though John. Most fail there MOT's for welding around the lower sliding door rail/hinge area & on the sills.
yeah i agree all vans have their faults Mike, I guess it'll all be down to budget and preference. After having worked on vivaros for years and transporters for a couple of years i know which of the 2 i'd have for ease of working on and reliabilty. can't comment on other makes models :)
Id have the VW too John for sure!
djbrowney
22-02-11, 09:58 PM
does anyone know if the same gearbox is used in the vivaro on the 2.0 as in the 1.9 cheers
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