Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Roger Oakley on September 01, 2013, 08:54:31 pm

Title: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 01, 2013, 08:54:31 pm
For you guys that have vans,
If you have either of these Ford Transit (new shape) or Vauxhall Vivaro?
Good points? Bad points? to either of the above.
Looking to re-new and these two seem to be about the best of the SWB vans.

Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Don Kee on September 01, 2013, 08:57:45 pm
Transits mechanically are brilliant work horses, just a bit suspect to rust.
If you get one, first thing id do is get it on a ramp and spray the the underside floor, sills, wheel arches and chassis with some anti rust paint and you'll then have a cracking longterm van.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Lee GLS on September 01, 2013, 09:12:01 pm
Transits mechanically are brilliant work horses, just a bit suspect to rust.
If you get one, first thing id do is get it on a ramp and spray the the underside floor, sills, wheel arches and chassis with some anti rust paint and you'll then have a cracking longterm van.

I would agree with this.

I have never seen a rusty vivaro, but my 57 reg transit has a few little bits of rust, it's where you get stone chips the rust incredibly quickly.

The engines are better in the transit going by the research I did before buying mine.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: windymiller on September 01, 2013, 09:23:46 pm
Older vivarios were well known for there gearboxes packing up after about 50k
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: 8weekly on September 01, 2013, 09:40:51 pm
I have a Boxer which has been trouble free.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: George P on September 01, 2013, 10:51:17 pm
our 59 transit is good all round, had it from 6 months old,
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: PoleKing on September 01, 2013, 10:56:29 pm
53 Trafic-absolutely perfect Upto 90k.
Nothing but grief after.
Loved it though.

61 Trafic. 20k so far-perfect.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny) on September 02, 2013, 03:27:01 am
58 plate Vivaro.
Love it. Its drives like a car. full of Toys like aircon and satnav. 37Mpg. rust free, 120k miles. Injectors replaced at 100K this seems to be the common fault on the CDTi.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 02, 2013, 06:26:13 am
Thanks for the answers so far very helpful, I had heard about the gearbox problems on the Vivaro.
The Vivaro does seem to have a few extras as standard over the Transit.
Isn't the Boxer based on the Vauxhall?
Would be leasing anyway so guess you can throw it back at the company if any problems in the 1st 3 years.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: PoleKing on September 02, 2013, 07:28:18 am
Just for compare & contrast-I only get 30mpg loaded.
High 30's empty but that few & far between
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny) on September 02, 2013, 07:33:51 am
Hmmm leasing.. I did consider this. but at the end of the day Leasing is a lot of money. My van is 5 years old. The main fault has been rectified. It cost me 4k cash.. even if the depretation is 2k in the next two years thats still less than 100 a month.. compare that against leasing… big difference. OK I haven't taken into account the unknown factor re van history and performance.. but you would know pretty quick if its a minger..
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: andyM on September 02, 2013, 07:41:21 am
I looked into leasing recently and was surprised how expensive it was.
So I decided to buy instead. 
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 02, 2013, 02:13:57 pm
Leasing, you can claim virtually 100% back, the deals I'm looking at are around £240.00 per month inc Vat.
The vehicle we use now was bought from new (Navara D22) Close on £18K back in 2005 now worth maybe £4K, so don't think I would buy again.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Lee GLS on September 02, 2013, 09:21:15 pm
Leasing, you can claim virtually 100% back, the deals I'm looking at are around £240.00 per month inc Vat.
The vehicle we use now was bought from new (Navara D22) Close on £18K back in 2005 now worth maybe £4K, so don't think I would buy again.

Please explain how it is possible to claim "virtually 100% back"!
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: South Window Cleaning Ltd on September 02, 2013, 10:08:32 pm
Vivaro
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 02, 2013, 10:38:38 pm
Leasing, you can claim virtually 100% back, the deals I'm looking at are around £240.00 per month inc Vat.
The vehicle we use now was bought from new (Navara D22) Close on £18K back in 2005 now worth maybe £4K, so don't think I would buy again.

Please explain how it is possible to claim "virtually 100% back"!

Lease-hire can/should be 100% claim back, might depend how your accountant see's this, some may not want to see it that way, same as HMRC.
Lease-piurchase, then that's different, the tax breaks are a lot lower.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Griffus on September 02, 2013, 10:44:06 pm
Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course  :)

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.

Title: Re: Van question
Post by: PoleKing on September 02, 2013, 10:46:07 pm
Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course  :)

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.



Lol. The sports look exactly the same except for the badge saying 'sport'
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 02, 2013, 10:49:03 pm
Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course  :)

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.



Cheers Griffus, not really looking for LWB, parking around central London even with permits will be a nightmare (size of parking bays) etc
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Griffus on September 03, 2013, 12:26:32 am
Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course  :)

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.



Nope, the have colour coded bumpers and go faster alloys. There's no doubt a button to bounce the suspension whilst you cruise for hose. ahem.

The CDTi is a proper looking van for hairy a***d blokes  8)

Lol. The sports look exactly the same except for the badge saying 'sport'
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Griffus on September 03, 2013, 12:32:08 am
Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course  :)

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.




Cheers Griffus, not really looking for LWB, parking around central London even with permits will be a nightmare (size of parking bays) etc



Ah, London Parking.

How about this then Rog?

(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1378164799_New Van.jpg)

Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 03, 2013, 06:31:51 am
Yep that will work, get a roof-rack for hose's, lance's etc, use engine with PTO all sorted  ;D
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: tompoole on September 03, 2013, 08:23:01 am
I opted for transit after test driving both.... To be honest
The traffic had more gadgets and seats were way more
Comfy but found transit more robust and seemed to have more
Torque instantly, the traffic had slight delay when pulling
Away . Just felt safer buying the transit after searching
Vivaro/traffic problems
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Geoff on September 03, 2013, 06:45:35 pm
Shouldn't this thread not be in the w/c forum?
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Spruce on September 03, 2013, 08:35:18 pm
Thanks for the answers so far very helpful, I had heard about the gearbox problems on the Vivaro.
The Vivaro does seem to have a few extras as standard over the Transit.
Isn't the Boxer based on the Vauxhall?
Would be leasing anyway so guess you can throw it back at the company if any problems in the 1st 3 years.

The Peugeot Boxer, Citroen Relay and the Fiat Ducato are all made by Fiat. The Boxer and Peugeot use the Hdi engine where Fiat now use their own multijet engines, which I believe are rebadged Hdi's

The 2002 - 2006 models where virtually identical. The JTD engine in the Ducato was a rebadged PSA hdi engine.

The Vauxhall Vivaro is a rebadged Renault Trafic as is the Nissan Primastar.

The interesting one is that the latest Vauxhall Combo is a rebadged Fiat.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Alex Wingrove on September 03, 2013, 08:43:24 pm
Get a sprinter!

I have a mwb, and I love it,

Having said that, I used to have a Transit, and it was a very good work horse
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 03, 2013, 08:45:15 pm
So in some ways, what badge do you prefer?
Spoken to a couple of people with Vivaro's and they say the new models don't suffer with the gearbox/linkage problems anymore?
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: tompoole on September 03, 2013, 09:01:33 pm
Think the PSA engines are in everything inc the new small
Merc vans. Intact the 2.2 ford PSA engines are in just about
Everything. Yes I believe it was a ford Peugeot alliance.
Sure ill be shot down in flames but even jaguar landrover are
Using the same lumps.
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Spruce on September 03, 2013, 09:39:58 pm
Think the PSA engines are in everything inc the new small
Merc vans. Intact the 2.2 ford PSA engines are in just about
Everything. Yes I believe it was a ford Peugeot alliance.
Sure ill be shot down in flames but even jaguar landrover are
Using the same lumps.

You are right - the PSA engine dirivatives are all over the place including Jag.

I didn't know about the new Merc vans though, but I loosing touch with the behind the scenes goings on in the motor trade.

PSA did everything necessary to ensure that Ford joined party as they needed the volume to mass produce - Ford already had the infrastructure that was needed. I can't understand why VW didn't put up much of a fight to have Ford join their engine stable. After all, the Tdi engine was also a class leader and they already used it in their 7 seater.

Title: Re: Van question
Post by: Roger Oakley on September 04, 2013, 06:45:15 am
Get a sprinter!

I have a mwb, and I love it,

Having said that, I used to have a Transit, and it was a very good work horse

Without checking aren't most Sprinters high-roofs? really need to keep the size to low/standard roof height, for some of the places/parking we have to do.

Again cheers for all the replies so far, it will be between the Vivaro or the new transit really
Title: Re: Van question
Post by: tompoole on September 04, 2013, 08:44:39 am
If your buying new and not planning on keeping it out of warranty
then it will be down to personal choice.
Vivaro ,transit etc are all good vans when new , test a few
See how you get on