Vans

Author
Discussion

orangesrule

Original Poster:

1,420 posts

147 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
Hi all. So I'm thinking about buying a panel van. A bit of background; My fiance and I would like to do a mini euroroad trip next summer (4-5 weeks). We also go camping around Devon and Cornwall a fair bit, and would like to do more of the UK. A few of our mates have Vans, mostly T5's. I do quite a bit of mountain biking and also living in Devon we drive a lot of lanes and back roads. This vehicle would be my 'daily', I do have an rx7 in the garage and ride a push bike to work every day though!

This brings me to the question what size van do I get!

Budget is flexible but looking around the £10kish mark inc VAT for a base vehicle.

Would need to house a bed and a kitchen(sink/hob)


Various options include:
LWB renault trafic/vauxhall/nissan equivalent
MWB high top sprinter (concerned about rust)
MWB high top boxer/Ducato (these come in smaller than the sprinter (concerned about general build quality)).

It strikes me a trafic is basically a big car, which means it would be super usable.

A sprinter could have a static bed with garage underneath for bikes ect. And a decent sized kitchen.

Would like the thoughts of the forum in helping with my decision!!

Kind regards





Edited by orangesrule on Sunday 22 December 16:42

Trevor555

4,404 posts

83 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
Great idea, seems it's becoming very popular nowadays.

The T5 probably has the most aftermarket extras/accessories available.

I wouldn't go anything high roof.

It'll prevent you from using most car parks.

I ran a Transit custom for a while, it went into my local multi story ok.

It did 40mpg on a run.

Loads of middle bench seats available on Ebay if you need to turn it into a Combi.

I went Transit instead of T5 at the time as my budget was also 10k

I failed to find a decent T5 for 10k.

I think their popularity has sent prices too high for T5's.

orangesrule

Original Poster:

1,420 posts

147 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
Yeah T5's are put of the question due to price. Transit customs look cool, but I've heard horror stories about their locks.

Spx

182 posts

101 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
Crafter
Long wheelbase, high top
I’ve driven it around South Hams aplenty, prefer to drive it in London. So much space inside.
Bed by the side door which you can leave open at night and sleep in moonlight. If you’re parking a lot get a camera on the back.
Once you drive one you’ll feel pity for the tiny van folk!

rustfalia

1,935 posts

165 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
I am planning in doing the same after 5 years with our 86 vw t3 high top.

Will be going crafter or sprinter but yes concerned about rust as it's one of the reasons I want to get rid of our vw.

High top will be fine the while idea is to get rid of the pop top rubbish.

When travelling Europe no one has pop tops, all in high top Van's

A lot of traffics tbf.


Escort3500

11,827 posts

144 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
Transits are not bad vans. We had a MK 7 ELWB high-top 130 and it was a fairly tough beast and nice to drive. However, you MUST rustproof it (esp in the wheel arches, inner door skins and chassis rails.

They’re notorious for poor security. We replaced our door locks with after-market ones (from Garrison Locks) and fitted a sturdy locking OBD port box.

orangesrule

Original Poster:

1,420 posts

147 months

Sunday 22nd December 2019
quotequote all
Spx said:
Crafter
Long wheelbase, high top
I’ve driven it around South Hams aplenty, prefer to drive it in London. So much space inside.
Bed by the side door which you can leave open at night and sleep in moonlight. If you’re parking a lot get a camera on the back.
Once you drive one you’ll feel pity for the tiny van folk!
I'm in Plymouth, so venture around the South Hams quite a bit, how do you find it in the lanes?

Spx

182 posts

101 months

Saturday 4th January 2020
quotequote all
Friendly
It doesn’t take long to get the hang of reversing, everyone is used to the food delivery vans so there aren’t too many surprises.
Have a test drive in a long tall crafter you’ll see

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Saturday 4th January 2020
quotequote all
Is it just the UK that has different speed limits for vans (to cars)?

Spare tyre

9,456 posts

129 months

Saturday 4th January 2020
quotequote all
Iload / i800 ?

mini95

241 posts

244 months

Monday 6th January 2020
quotequote all
I had a VW T4 for a while and now have a lwb Ducato, I also looked at Sprinters and Crafters, also lwb.

Lwb maybe a pain every day but the extra space when travelling is worth it in my view. Having a shower and toilet on board makes a difference! Part of the reason I chose a Ducato was it is wider than the Sprinter or Crafter so you can sleep across it easily, rather than the bed being length ways. The Lwb Ducato is 6m so a bit shorter than the Sprinter so makes parking a bit easier.

There are conversions using mwb vans that have a similar layout to the T5s but with more space and cheaper so a good compromise.

smifffymoto

4,527 posts

204 months

Monday 6th January 2020
quotequote all
I have a lwb Trafic. It is ideal for Europe as it is class 1 on the autoroute,fits in multistorey carparks,doesn’t look out of place parked up in the middle of town or on top of a mountain.
If you’re not careful you will be sucked into the British obsession of ‘bigger means better’.

pti

1,694 posts

143 months

Tuesday 7th January 2020
quotequote all
I just bought an early T4.

Terrible advert, but after some communication with the seller I've seen pictures of it in the bodyshop before a respray. It's insulated and carpeted in the back and ready to convert. Few little niggles to sort this weekend (temp sensor, door lock actuation springs, removal of hideous stickers) but I'm really pleased. I've priced up electrics and furniture and once ready it should have cost me a grand total of £2400.

Given the price of old VW vans, I think I got a good deal.

It drives like a 25 year old van, mind.

orangesrule

Original Poster:

1,420 posts

147 months

Wednesday 24th June 2020
quotequote all
So in Febuary a cheap merc e class wagon, was offered to me which i bought. Quite frankly it is bloody fantastic, 3l v6 tdi cruises so well, so i was getting in the mindset that it would be the perfect road trip car.

Until i saw a 16 plate L2H2 transit custom go up on Facebook around 40 miles away.

3 days later and i've put a deposit down.

Spec:
L2H2
2.2L 155bhp
Gunmetal grey
Limited - colour coded bumpers, parking sensors, A/C, fog lights ectect
48k miles
ex carpenters van

Going to collect on the 4th of july.

Feel a bit sick, and have to sell the Mercedes i was getting on so well with!!

MARKYYY

39 posts

81 months

Saturday 27th June 2020
quotequote all
Look forward to the updates! Bought myself a LWB Trafic sport on Tuesday too biggrin

orangesrule

Original Poster:

1,420 posts

147 months

Friday 3rd July 2020
quotequote all


Picked it up this evening. Pretty chuffed. Spent more than intended, but it was the exact spec I wanted and a bit newer/lower mileage. This is my first time driving a van, so acutley aware of the reduce visibility. Just need to get used to it!.

stevemcs

8,592 posts

92 months

Friday 3rd July 2020
quotequote all
orangesrule said:
So in Febuary a cheap merc e class wagon, was offered to me which i bought. Quite frankly it is bloody fantastic, 3l v6 tdi cruises so well, so i was getting in the mindset that it would be the perfect road trip car.

Until i saw a 16 plate L2H2 transit custom go up on Facebook around 40 miles away.

3 days later and i've put a deposit down.

Spec:
L2H2
2.2L 155bhp
Gunmetal grey
Limited - colour coded bumpers, parking sensors, A/C, fog lights ectect
48k miles
ex carpenters van

Going to collect on the 4th of july.

Feel a bit sick, and have to sell the Mercedes i was getting on so well with!!
Whats the spec on the E Class ?

orangesrule

Original Poster:

1,420 posts

147 months

Friday 3rd July 2020
quotequote all
E class was well specced, eleglance, tow hitch, distronic, chilled/heated seats, isofix, satnav, blue tooth, all the normal comforts. It has sold though.

stevemcs

8,592 posts

92 months

Friday 3rd July 2020
quotequote all
orangesrule said:
E class was well specced, eleglance, tow hitch, distronic, chilled/heated seats, isofix, satnav, blue tooth, all the normal comforts. It has sold though.
bugger. Hopefully it was a saloon and had more than 120k on the clock. Good choice on the transit btw.

agent006

12,029 posts

263 months

Friday 3rd July 2020
quotequote all
dlks151 said:
It’s my transport managers opinion (and I’m in agreement) that the Transit Panel van has gone downhill at a very rapid rate of knots in the last few years, and I’m talk on the quality front, nothing to do with speed. They’ve spent so much time gentrifying it they appear to have forgotten to give us reliable electrics and an engine that’ll see beyond 150k miles, yet they expect you to pay premium rates for them.

Other than the Connect vans I’ve binned Ford from our fleet as they are costing us a fortune to keep on the road, and whole (if limited) life costs are no better than middle of the road vans such Renault. Being a highways sector business we do greater than normal mileage but we’re binning transits at 5yrs old as the engines are goosed.

We’ve been using Merc Sprinters for the last 3yrs as we phase out the Transits, night and day on reliability and at eating up the miles, although all a bit dour and no frills in the cab, so if you want something spacious that’s going to last I wouldn’t consider anything else.

(Currently trialing the new MAN double wheel tipper, so far so good, time will tell)
But hey, enjoy your new van OP, yeh?