Buying a van?

clv101

clv101

clv101

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Joined
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I'm thinking about swapping my car (04 Fabia vRS) for a small van. I very rarely need to carry more than one passenger however, I'm more often than not carrying bikes or tools around so the load space would be more useful.

I'm looking at the SWB Transit Connect, low roof and the VW Caddy, again the smallest version. I guess I'm looking at 3-5 year old vehicles.

These two both seems a little better than the Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Renault Kangoo which have an internal load length just a little shorter than a bike. The Ford and VW will both fit a few bikes in comfortably.

So a couple of questions. What is insurance like on something like the Transit Connect or Caddy? The Fabia is group 9 but what's the deal with ‘commercial vehicles’? Is the fuel efficiency much worse than a car with the same ~1.9 turbo diesel engine? Servicing intervals seem similar to cars, are the costs comparable?

This is the kind of thing I'm looking at:

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/makemo...7b6f2edd43fd012f016fef020d79/featured-listing

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/makemo...-id/at8a65f6202f48f2e7012f58ba9d1d5f01/advert

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/price/...-id/at8a60d6e02de6cd12012e12bb6f047f51/advert

http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/price/...-id/at8a647b6f2f48f3f3012f613872cd590b/advert
 
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Having driven a transit connect I can see no reason to buy one over a focus or mondeo estate for non business usage. Drop the rear seats in either and they're nearly as practical, but much quieter and a lot more comfortable.
 
I think the insurance may be more than the equivalent car as you are never going to persuade an insurance company that you are not using it for trade and business.
Don't forget that you pay VAT on the purchase and there is a good chance that they have been driven by someone who not only did not own the van but probably did not give a crap about it.
 
You struggle to fit a full size MTB into a Transit Connect as the load bay with bulkhead is only just over 5ft.

You would need to remove one of the wheels to fit it in easily.

Having driven a few I would get the TDCI as the extra power over the standard 75PS one is noticable on the motorway, the lower powered ones will struggle to do a constant 80.

Manage about 35mpg on average, the tank isn't the biggest, only 55L iirc so range is ~400 miles.

The body seems to last well compared to a full size transit, no rust to speak of. Handling is quite good too.

To quote a past post.

Drives very well, mine is the 73bhp (tddi I believe) and power delivery is very linear but underpowered, get it going and its OK but need to drop it into 4th to keep at 70mph on long steep hills (M62). It should handle tidy and feel nice and connected to the road with good steering feel, ABS is an option so see if it has it or not.

Im seeing high 30s to the gallon on average fuel wise with a light load the majority of the time.

Since ive had it the rear wheel arch liners crack and had both sides replaced under warranty from Ford.

The rear door handle broke, so couldnt open the door from the outside, again fixed under warranty, could have been me being a bit rough with it.

A wheel bearing went.

Worst fault, at 69k the clocks broke, the van would run fine but the instruments didnt work at all, replaced under warrenty again.

For longer trips there is no central armrest which is a pain, and only one 12v supply, so have to chop and change between satnav / itrip or get a socket double upper device.

Cant complain too much, it gets hammered daily like most vans do and its not grenaded!

Apart from that its just been consumables really, brake pads and tires. Not needed any work done apart from that and mines a 56 plate on 121k now, just had its first MOT which it passed with no advisories.
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Since then the fuel pump broke, the cambelt needed changing, the keyfob/barrel wore out.

Errr sure there is more, but can't think of anything off the top of my head. Got shot of it with 161k on the clock after 4.5 years.
 
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Gribs said:
Having driven a transit connect I can see no reason to buy one over a focus or mondeo estate for non business usage. Drop the rear seats in either and they're nearly as practical, but much quieter and a lot more comfortable.
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These vans really are quite a bit bigger. Load volumes are around 3-3.2 cubic metres compared with around 50 cubic feet (1.4 cubic metres) in the Mondeo with the seats down. The van's at least twice the volume, and a more practical shape.
 
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Loved these limited edition ford transits, do you like that?

Ford-Transit-SportVan-23732.jpg
 
clv101 said:
These vans really are quite a bit bigger. Load volumes are around 3-3.2 cubic metres compared with around 50 cubic feet (1.4 cubic metres) in the Mondeo with the seats down. The van's at least twice the volume, and a more practical shape.
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It depends what you're carrying. 4 complete mountain bikes fit easily in a Mondeo estate, they don't in a connect as they're just not long enough.
 
i own a vw caddy, the insurance is 800, i have 2 yr's ncb, i can get my mtb in it but im not sure how many bikes you'd get in, the drive is really good, better than a lot of cars ive drove, i have a 1.9tdi and its fast with just over 100bhp, but if you dont drive it fast you can get 50mpg out of it, ive had 55mpg before but i get bored of driving slowly..

the caddy looks better than any other van imo and there are lots of extras you can fi to the van to make it look even better..
 
Mickie said:
i own a vw caddy, the insurance is 800, i have 2 yr's ncb, i can get my mtb in it but im not sure how many bikes you'd get in, the drive is really good, better than a lot of cars ive drove, i have a 1.9tdi and its fast with just over 100bhp, but if you dont drive it fast you can get 50mpg out of it, ive had 55mpg before but i get bored of driving slowly..

the caddy looks better than any other van imo and there are lots of extras you can fi to the van to make it look even better..
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Yeah, I think the Caddy would be my first choice, but it is quite a bit more than the Connect.

A third consideration is the Vauxhall Combo, its internal load area is 1787mm (compared with 1781 on the Caddy and 1739 on SWB Connect). The Vauxhall also has a half decent 1.7 CDTi 100hp engine.
 
Combo is a better van than the Connect, the only advantage the Connect has is that its higher off the ground, if you are going down a lot of heavily rutted dirt tracks to go biking this is an advantage, otherwise the Combo is better. Go for a 1.7 rather than a 1.3, it makes a big difference in drive and over all reliability (since the engine is not strained)

And if you are looking at vauxhauls, it can be an advantage to find someone with a Tech2 machine, they can tell you if its been clocked.

Caddy is pricey, but more car like, but as standard I find them a little boat like (never tried a modd'd one)
 
Gib_Gib said:
Combo is a better van than the Connect, the only advantage the Connect has is that its higher off the ground, if you are going down a lot of heavily rutted dirt tracks to go biking this is an advantage, otherwise the Combo is better. Go for a 1.7 rather than a 1.3, it makes a big difference in drive and over all reliability (since the engine is not strained)

And if you are looking at vauxhauls, it can be an advantage to find someone with a Tech2 machine, they can tell you if its been clocked.

Caddy is pricey, but more car like, but as standard I find them a little boat like (never tried a modd'd one)
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Whats the point in modifying a van.

Stops it from being a van. Putting big bling wheels on it, lowering it etc just makes it stupid.

I have driven my Connect through 3 foot tall crops, along beaches, through 12" of water on flooded roads, through several winters going to the back and beyond in the snow and its been great for that.
 
I user to be a commerical estimator looking at damaged vans all day long. I wouldn't go for a Combo. We always used to joke when we saw a bad front end one that it hit a rabbit. They don't crash too well and are very small. Get you self a nice Transit SWB or a Merc Vito / Vaux Vivaro.
 
Also consider the older Peugeot Expert HDi - granted, its pretty basic and will not win any prizes for interior design but according to the manual, loading space is 205cm long (6'7 ish). Over the last year I've had an average 38mpg and I don't hang about. Just make sure you go for the HDi (110hp) rather than the old 1.9 Diesel (69hp), I've had them both and there is a world of difference - the HDi will cruise all day at licence loosing speeds, the 1.9D will barely hit 80 on a down hill.
 
The Expert is probably just a little bit bigger than I'm thinking of, it's a fair bit wider than the others. Maybe a bit too far towards the van end of the van-car spectrum.

Scooby-DoobyDoo, what's your van of choice from the small ones (Connect, Combo, Caddy etc).
 
clv101 said:
The Expert is probably just a little bit bigger than I'm thinking of, it's a fair bit wider than the others. Maybe a bit too far towards the van end of the van-car spectrum.

Scooby-DoobyDoo, what's your van of choice from the small ones (Connect, Combo, Caddy etc).
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I would get an Astravan (new shape iff you can afford), but it's a bit like an estate.

VW Caddy for build quality, but not cheap.

Or if on a budget a Peugeot Expert or Citreon Berlingo.

I do like the bigger vans like transits. 2000-2002 SWB for about 2k. SOmething like this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270737081876&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
 
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