[Johnny B]

I have had 3 Ford (Fiesta) vans in the last 8 years.

My current one is a 1999, and is almost completely rust free, except for the lower edge of the tailgate. Underneath is all original and perfect, having just passed its DOE (Irish MOT) recently.

Over here most Ford vans of the same age are sheds.

John

 

[Donnie Nicolson]

Transits are reliable ,but no use up here in North West Scotland as they basically vanish into a rusting pile of reliable running gear  i have had the Primastar ( same as Vivaro Trafic) since 2005, couple of tips, gearboxes are weak so change the oil every time you change the engine oil ( easy job for your garage) the wiring passes over the injector rail and chafes, add some electrical tape too protect it, ( causes loads of silly issues that your garage will charge a fortune for) and dont thrash em , mines got 130k, still on same gearbox and has been a great van, ive now bought the 115 horse version which is at 80k and so far only needed a clutch, least it wont rust away tae nothing

[PoleKing]

I'm with Donnie-I'm in Lincolnshire so nowhere near as harsh weather but the Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar are a great van. I'm on my 2nd. 1st was 2.5 140bhp. Extra power was nice but I had turbo issues. Nothing else though. Completely rust free, 53 90k when I chopped it in. Lads here have had the transit(same ol'-loads of rust but everything else bullet proof) and the Nissan 2.3, crap body but engine/gearbox bullet proof. One guy had prop issues on the swb but a few have had own problem free.
The trafic/Vivaro/Primastar are all Nissan made so problems will be rare really, jap engineering and all.
As I said I'm on my 2nd after 4 years of Peugeot Expert and Citreon Relay and I'd only move to the VW transporter (when I can afford it!)

www.laneswindowcleaning.com Rutland

[andrew hamshare]

In my experience Transits are only good for bank jobs.

[scottt24]

I always buy my vans from the same family owned garage and the guy that owns it told me that years ago when transits and escorts were used by most major fleets that the companies using them drove ford so low on prices that they had to cut back on how many coats of rust proofing and primer that they did.
He also believes that the number of coats the transits get has not changed to this day and they will always rust
However he also said that if he had to drive a van he would buy a transit, purely because they are so reliable and easy to fix

[tompoole]

Transit or landrover for me.... Reliable.
No rust on my 11 plate :-) and it cost same as my previous
pooproen 1.6 dispatch which was a terrible van!!! Me thinks
Citroen are nowhere near as good as old non hdi , mine fell
Apart in six months.....
By far was my landrover defender , should never have sold it
Only downside was 22-25mpg.

[Scrimble]

The trafic/Vivaro/Primastar are all Nissan made so problems will be rare really, jap engineering and all.

lol you are talking absolute crap!

they are all renault made (french) and are full of problems gearbox turbos electrical etc etc

[Spruce]

PSA hot dip galvanise every van body assembled. The body isn't completely dipped, but I can't recall where the 'cutoff' point was/is. I'm not sure what Fiat do with the Ducato/Relay/Boxer vans though, as they are build in the Fiat factory.

The lower body of our Xsara is also galvanised and that is virtually rust free.

Hi spruce, thanks for that information. On old vans I think it stops at the bulkhead , and I did have some rust in the engine bay.

They dipped the whole body which included some on the engine bay and front 'chassis' and the wings/fenders. When I changed the front springs on my son's Peugeot Partner, the top of the spring mounting housings weren't galvanised. There is quite a bit of add of framework in the front that holds on the radiator and front bumper brackets

None of the suspension or cross members are galvanised as that was added later as part of the running gear. The sump on his van looks quite rusty. As I wasn't in the mood to replace that at the time, I 'painted' it with some old engine oil, knowing that we are going to have to replace the clutch sooner or later as its a 'heavy' as anything and I would do it at the same time.

[Spruce]

What I find interesting is why the Transit Connect (early models are nearly 9 years old now) don't rust as badly as their Southampton built bigger brothers.

With the Transit now being earmarked to be made in Turkey along with the Connect (the Connect was always made there) then maybe the rust problem will be tackled.

Come to think about it, the latest Transit must be being build in Turkey, so now would be the time to introduce new anti corrosion measures.

[robertphil]

i had a fortnight in Southampton about 5 yrs ago and when driving in traffic a big transporter loaded up with new Transits was alongside me ,i noticed rusty water marks on the sill of a brand new van

[Nick_Thompson]

Appreciate the interesting replies men.
 
Quite an insight.

I love my Transit but every month there is less of it to receive my affection.

[KS Cleaning]

i had a fortnight in Southampton about 5 yrs ago and when driving in traffic a big transporter loaded up with new Transits was alongside me ,i noticed rusty water marks on the sill of a brand new van

R u sure u never had shecht on your goggles Bob?

[PoleKing]

Scrimble-nope. They're made in Luton by Vauxhall but really the German Opel or in Barcalona by Nissan-obviously Japanese. Renault have them badged but nothing else.
Look under the bonnet and there isn't a Renault badge to be seen-mainly Nissan from what I've seen.

Look at the recalls and ownership issues. The stats make it look like a good van.
I'm on my 2nd-from my experience, they're a great van. I had turbo issues at 90k on the last one but carried 1k litres every day for 5 years in it so not bad really IMO.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Trafic

[robertphil]

far as i know the last proper nissan designed and made van ,to ship out from Japan, was the Urvan.  i see the latest nv200 is a renault   engined creature and i fancied buying 1 until i learned that

[Nick_Thompson]

So, what is the best van for the job presently with a 1000L tank on board?

[PoleKing]

If you can afford it-VW Transporter T32 174bhp sportline. I think majority of people on here would agree.
If you can't (I couldn't), Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar IMO. SWB holds a 1k flat tank with space at the back for a reel. 115bhp from the 2.0 150bhp from the 2.5
As I said, I'm on my second and love them, just my opinion though, I don't like Ford and couldn't afford VW.
A mate has a Master that he really likes, he's got 1300litres. Bit too big for domestics though really.

[[GQC] Tim]

I wanted to get a Transporter initially, but they were another 2 grand on top of the price of a VW Dispatch. So I thought nah. So far my Dispatch is doing very well, no problems. Bit thirsty in the winter weather but oh well.

[Spruce]

I wanted to get a Transporter initially, but they were another 2 grand on top of the price of a VW Dispatch. So I thought nah. So far my Dispatch is doing very well, no problems. Bit thirsty in the winter weather but oh well.

I know that specs change, but Citroen tried the petrol trick in about 2003 with a small production run of Hdi diesel Picasso's where they overfueled the Hdi engine to warm it up quicker. There were so many complaints about heavy fuel use in the winter that they reverted back to the old ECU mapping that just allowed the engine to warm up in its own time.

The Exclusive C5 and C8 though ran a supplementary diesel water heater (Webasto) to warm the car interior up quicker, but some customers moaned about that as well.

We have found on our 2.0 Hdi engines that the fuel we use makes a big difference with fuel economy. My Relay will run better by 6 MPG on Shell and Esso when compared to supermarket sourced fuel. (We've kept detailed records of fuel type against mileage for about 3 years, so this is more than just coincidence.) 

I definitely know which fuel is in the van when I come up Saltburn bank with 1/2 a tank of water on board.

[Dave Willis]

If you can afford it-VW Transporter T32 174bhp sportline. I think majority of people on here would agree.
If you can't (I couldn't), Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar IMO. SWB holds a 1k flat tank with space at the back for a reel. 115bhp from the 2.0 150bhp from the 2.5
As I said, I'm on my second and love them, just my opinion though, I don't like Ford and couldn't afford VW.
A mate has a Master that he really likes, he's got 1300litres. Bit too big for domestics though really.

VW's build lemons too - they just seem good at hiding it. My sons VW van was just out of warranty and needed a new £6ooo engine

1000l in a Vivaro? are you sure?    http://www.findvauxhall.co.uk/NEW_brochures/NEW_vauxhallvans_vivaro_movano_specifications.pdf

[[GQC] Tim]

I wanted to get a Transporter initially, but they were another 2 grand on top of the price of a VW Dispatch. So I thought nah. So far my Dispatch is doing very well, no problems. Bit thirsty in the winter weather but oh well.

I know that specs change, but Citroen tried the petrol trick in about 2003 with a small production run of Hdi diesel Picasso's where they overfueled the Hdi engine to warm it up quicker. There were so many complaints about heavy fuel use in the winter that they reverted back to the old ECU mapping that just allowed the engine to warm up in its own time.

The Exclusive C5 and C8 though ran a supplementary diesel water heater (Webasto) to warm the car interior up quicker, but some customers moaned about that as well.

We have found on our 2.0 Hdi engines that the fuel we use makes a big difference with fuel economy. My Relay will run better by 6 MPG on Shell and Esso when compared to supermarket sourced fuel. (We've kept detailed records of fuel type against mileage for about 3 years, so this is more than just coincidence.)  

I definitely know which fuel is in the van when I come up Saltburn bank with 1/2 a tank of water on board.

That's very interesting, might try that on the next fill. Got 26MPG from it in cold weather and on incorrectly inflated tyres. So hopefully should do a bit better with the correct air in the tyres (4 Bar on the rear, lets hope I'll never get a blow out!)