2011 VW Transporter T5.1 140

[horico]

Welcome to the ownership log for the family bus. I'd been campaigning to have one of these for some time without a sniff but a meeting of needs meant that it was suddenly on the cards. Mrs H has a Skoda Scout for the last couple of years and one of the reasons for her changing from a Golf R was to tow our first caravan. It was only 1250Kg or so MTPLM so was under the 3500kg limit for towing without the B+E licence and for the scout. It's great to tow with too - 4wd,184bhp and DSG.

Anyway, we've wanted to upgrade the caravan for a while but would clearly need a bigger tow vehicle. We could have just 'enlarged' the Scout but there were a couple of other 'man reasons' to look into a transporter. These were: a daily for me so the M3 could have a rest - I changed work location so was now doing 4 times the mileage to work; second, a van would be useful for transporting the motorbikes to the various shows during the year when riding would be second choice; said towing capability; transporters are cool.

Criteria was a 2010 (T5.1) on 6 speed which necessitated a 140 model or above - rumour has it the 5 speed is problematic when mapped and under hard use. I also wanted wither a shuttle or similar inside, sportline bodywork and ideally a colour other than silver or white. DSG and 4Motion would be perfect but there's no chance at our budget. There were slim pickings as most look like they're born with 160k miles on the clock but after speaking to a few sellers, I found one with just over 80k that ticked most of the boxes. Here are the seller images:




Wheels were Range Rover (copy) 20inchers. Not bad condition but would benefit from a refurb.


On the original reg and after arriving home. The garland was binned immediately:


First thoughts were that while I do like the silver alloys and rails, the window trim and grille trim was just a it too much for me. First thing to go was the window trim - the first of a few things that, while I commend anyone making a vehicle their own, the execution was a little lacking.





Better


Next was de-chroming the grille and a black badge (our old Bailey ready for sale and temporarily on the drive). Private plate added.


Black handle covers - they'll be replaced with painted items eventually but I can handle these for now...



Brink tow bar fitted - chosen as it's both detachable and diagonally so - to avoid cutting the valance (which rewarded me by coming loose). TDI badge removed and rear badged changed to matte black.


You might remember that I mentioned not having the B+E licence - well I put in for the test and managed to pass, 2 days before we were due to take the new caravan away for a fortnight. Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind. The day before going away, I discovered a cracked alloy after a tyre went down.


The next, and simulataneous issue was that the offside locking wheel nut refused to come off - it bent the key so much it almost snapped. The socket wasn't quite so lucky.


Long story short, I managed to get the spare on the nearside and gambled on not needing to get the offside off. Luckily, the offside front waited until I got back from holiday to crack itself and deflate.


I got s lift home from work and sourced a set of steels. A tyre place close to work got the locking wheel nuts off and they were binned.


More to follow.

[horico]

Something that I do need to do something about is the state of the springs, and possibly the dampers.



I've measured the fact the van is lowered around 50-55mm at present and I like the height as it is. The 20's were very harsh so i'm loathe to go back to them with the current set up. The ride is improved with the steels but it still isn't good enough - I know it's a van but I can't help but think an upgrade wold be welcome. There are lots of choices but for me, it's either something like the Bilstein B14's or comfort kit from Transporter HQ. The other choice is whether to go back to 20's and slammed or embrace the current trend of swamperisation.



While pondering which way to go, I had some discreet decals made up which reference my YouTube channel.


You remember my desire for 4motion? It would have come in handy on our last trip out with the Lunar. I won't bore you with the detail but needless to say, it was testing when the motor mover also decided to play silly buggers.



Thankfully, the scout was on hand to assist.


Positioning the front wheels of the van on the hard standing and motor moving the caravan helped get us off without too much drama though.


Next up was an xmas treat - a pendle remap, a leader in the field of Transporter mapping. Initial figures gave a healthy 149BHP and 343Nm. This was a little on the generous side but it's the increase I was interested in. Final figures posted were 186BHP and 408Nm - a nice 37/65 gain.




The drive is far better - it's just got more of everything and while it's no rocketship, it picks up noticeably better in all gears. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like towing as it did need frequent down changes on inclines which can get tiresome at times (and I'm not one to hold up traffic if I can help it). I'd wholeheartedly recommend a pendle map to anyone with a transporter.

[Richtea1970]

Thanks OP, I'm bookmarking this.
Always liked these and want to do a camper van conversion one day, watching with interest.

[tommyboy1972]

Nice write up, I will enjoy following this. Thank you.

[austinsmirk]

I’m a big Vw fan. Had a few over the years. I’m glad the god awful r r wheels have gone. Very tacky ! I’m looking to buy another soon: it’s extremely difficult to spot one that hasn’t been wrecked with add on tat !!!

[austinsmirk]

As for legendary Vw reliability: from reading many many adverts, at about 120/140 miles they seem to throw up all sorts of issues.

[Gandoolie]

This might seem like a daft question, but what do you insure it as? Commercial as it’s a van?

[KingofKong]

That’s a nice bus, plenty of potential and Pendle do really good remaps.

Crappy springs always give a harsh ride, I’ve got B14’s on my bus with 20" wheels and the ride is ok, not great around town, but perfectly ok on a run. The B14 Komforts get good reviews, a little dearer than B14’s, but THQ do them with free fitting I think? CRS know their suspensions too and are very well regarded - http://crsperformance.co.uk/

Get some door seals for a quality door clunk - https://travelinlite-transporters.co.uk/products/t...

And some Silentcoat and carpet for the interior, my bus doesn’t sound like an empty metal box anymore.

Oh and no need to run 20’s at high psi, 36-38 is fine.

Enjoy

[horico]

Richtea1970 said:

Thanks OP, I'm bookmarking this.
Always liked these and want to do a camper van conversion one day, watching with interest.

I won't be going that far with it but I hope to tidy it up a little. My plan to use it to transport motorbikes in the back was one of it's plus points!

tommyboy1972 said:

Nice write up, I will enjoy following this. Thank you.

My pleasure , I hope you enjoy following.

austinsmirk said:

I’m a big Vw fan. Had a few over the years. I’m glad the god awful r r wheels have gone. Very tacky ! I’m looking to buy another soon: it’s extremely difficult to spot one that hasn’t been wrecked with add on tat !!!

I'm far from a VW fan but I do appreciate how these look and the possibilities available with them. For that very reason and as you say - it seems that 90% have been messed about with while only applying half an arse about the job in hand. There's nothing major wrong with this one but almost everything I've tackled so far could have been executed far better. Oh, and I hate friggin gorilla glue!

austinsmirk said:

As for legendary Vw reliability: from reading many many adverts, at about 120/140 miles they seem to throw up all sorts of issues.

with 50k to go before the danger zone, I'm glad to have got one with such relatively low mileage.

Gandoolie said:

This might seem like a daft question, but what do you insure it as? Commercial as it’s a van?

Honestly, I can't remember now. It's insured through Brentacre who are very flexible when it comes to these and the associated mods, even the remap. It has 8 seats on the V5 but is still classed as a van technically and the N1 category. All I need, however, is rear windows and it will be subject to car speed limits rather than those for a van.

KingofKong said:

That’s a nice bus, plenty of potential and Pendle do really good remaps.

Crappy springs always give a harsh ride, I’ve got B14’s on my bus with 20" wheels and the ride is ok, not great around town, but perfectly ok on a run. The B14 Komforts get good reviews, a little dearer than B14’s, but THQ do them with free fitting I think? CRS know their suspensions too and are very well regarded - http://crsperformance.co.uk/

Get some door seals for a quality door clunk - https://travelinlite-transporters.co.uk/products/t...

And some Silentcoat and carpet for the interior, my bus doesn’t sound like an empty metal box anymore.

Oh and no need to run 20’s at high psi, 36-38 is fine.

Enjoy

Cheers. Indeed, Pendle came out as the preferred choice for the map. The dyno runs are a nice feature of that so you can see what's happening. It may be that I go for the Komforts but I'm considering some 18's and BFG tyres - I like the lower slung off road look rather than raised swamper. If I could afford it, however, i would likely just slap some air ride on and be done with it... I haven't looked at CRS - thanks, I'll check them out.

Door seals were on the van when it came (I even bought some before realising doh!) and it's carpeted inside. I'd like to re-do it though as with a couple of things, I reckon I could do a better job and make it look and work better.

[ChocolateFrog]

austinsmirk said:

As for legendary Vw reliability: from reading many many adverts, at about 120/140 miles they seem to throw up all sorts of issues.

Don't believe everything you read.

There's plenty running round with 300k and I've seen a few with 400k+ on it.

Mines on 260k and I've replaced the alternator so far, total cost £25 and I think it had lived a pretty hard life before I bought it.

[ChocolateFrog]

Looks nice OP. Not a fan of those wheels either.

Anything lowered and with lower profile wheels will hurt the ride.

I went with H&R springs and a 40mm drop with 19in wheels as a compromise between looks and ride.

If I wanted to err on the side of comfort I'd probably stick with 17's and either standard suspension or the Bilteins.

[horico]

One thing I forgot to add was that the air con wasn't working when I got it. I thought I had checked it on the pre purchase look around but it was simply blowing ice cold air out without the air con! I had someone come out to re-gas it but it still didn't work.

Luckily, it wasn't the compressor and just the expansion valve that needed changing. A heft bill avoided and air con all working (one of the requirements in the van when searching!).

[stevemcs]

austinsmirk said:

As for legendary Vw reliability: from reading many many adverts, at about 120/140 miles they seem to throw up all sorts of issues.

They don't even get that far before things start to brake.

I've never understood the need to stick 20" wheels on these vans that are not designed for them, stick to 17's, 18's at a push.

[robwilk]

horico][ said:

. It has 8 seats on the V5 but is still classed as a van technically and the N1 category. All I need, however, is rear windows and it will be subject to car speed limits rather than those for a van.

[:

Im sure you can never get this into car speed limits without having a full conversion to a camper and registered as a motor home It will always be N1 and thus van speed limits.
I looked into this when my son was caught speeding in mine. they said it was in van speed limits but mine is a shuttle and has a M1 classification ( along with the caravelle).
Just be careful, the charge was dropped before court.

[ChocolateFrog]

robwilk said:

horico][ said:

. It has 8 seats on the V5 but is still classed as a van technically and the N1 category. All I need, however, is rear windows and it will be subject to car speed limits rather than those for a van.

[:

Im sure you can never get this into car speed limits without having a full conversion to a camper and registered as a motor home It will always be N1 and thus van speed limits.
I looked into this when my son was caught speeding in mine. they said it was in van speed limits but mine is a shuttle and has a M1 classification ( along with the caravelle).
Just be careful, the charge was dropped before court.

Agreed.

Very difficult to get it reclassified these days.

Just live with the van speed limit, it hasn't been an issue in the 4 years I've had mine. Every now and then someone complains on the fb forum that they've been done for doing 69-75 on a dual carriageway, I'd guess the majority don't have a clue the speed limits are different.

[helix402]

Looks much better without the garland and black headlights.

[KingofKong]

As above, dvla clamped right down on van conversions being reclassified.

My T32 is an N class, so lower speed limits, but I can’t claim the vat back and it needs a class 4 mot?! Basically full of government contradictions.

[stevemcs]

They all need a class 4 mot, even a larger motorhome is still classed as a class 4

[horico]

From the research I've done, providing certain conditions are met regarding seating and glass ratio the vehicle is treated as a dual purpose vehicle which is treated like a car when it comes to speed limits. Kerb weight needs to be just under 2040kg, see below from DVLA:

Dual purpose vehicles

A dual purpose vehicle is a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage both of passengers and of goods and designed to weigh no more than 2,040 kg when unladen, and is either:

constructed or adapted so that the driving power of the engine is, or can be selected to be, transmitted to all wheels of the vehicle

or

permanently fitted with a rigid roof, at least one row of transverse passenger seats to the rear of the driver’s seat and will have side and rear windows - there must also be a minimum ratio between the size of passenger and stowage areas

See The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (Part 1 Regulation 3) for the full definition.

[KingofKong]

stevemcs said:

They all need a class 4 mot, even a larger motorhome is still classed as a class 4

Yeah but my point being, it’s a commercial for speed limits, a commercial for VED, a commercial for insurance, but a car for mot, a car for vat reclamation and a car for bik.