[Sir Squeaky]

I've rented a Vivaro for a weekend and thought it was horrible. It was terribly slow and a little bit skittish for such a small van....but its the best looking van by far.
Slow?
I can see off a lot of cars in mine, let alone vans.
I can accelerate up hills at 55mph in 6th gear with half a ton onboard.
214lb/ft torque, thankyou very much.
I think you're getting mixed up with something else.



Personally my money would go to Transit. Easy for parts, every mechanic knows how to work on them. Lots in the scrappers for cheap bits and bobs and an impeccable record for realibility.

Transits? Impeccable reliability?
The latest model may be, but not the old ones.
I used to work at a Ford garage.
Old Transits were a nightmare!

What the hell is this post?
Got to be a wind-up from a guest surely!

[David Slater]

I'm sorry. Do I need to have posted a certain number of times before I have an input?

A wind up? Why?

Because I have driven a vivaro and didnt rate it? If you'd like to know my full verdict of the vivaro....here goes

The 6 gears are a joke. Maybe a clever marketing ploy but just a pain in the behind most of the time. A decent turbo would do the job better and deliver the power when and where its needed. 6 gears around town is just silly. You're pumping that box like a fiddler on steriods  As I said, I found it skittish for such a small van. I've driven Sprinters and Daily's that hold the road better and they're twice the size both in height and lengh.

We've got an 'M' reg transit and apart from 'wear and tear' items its never needed so much as a new bolt. Its slow, its noisy, it smells of diesel...but it just keeps chugging along.

We've also had an Iveco Daily (the massive xlwb thing) 3 years old when we bought, it needed a new gearbox at 65k an engine rebuild at 71k (which I manged to get Iveco to pay half after many threats of court action) things were always falling off it or breaking off!!
A Merc Sprinter we ran for 3 years was very nice but horribly expensive to maintain and service....now that beast was fast!!

Sorry if you feel I've 'dissed' your van but I'm certainly NOT winding you up and after spending the best part of 20 years pushing vans up and down the country I feel I've earnt the right to comment on the one I drove.

As I said, the nicest thing about the vivaro is its looks. I remember when they first came out thinking to myself - now thats one good looking van.

Would I buy one? No. 

[Sir Squeaky]

You must have driven a lemon, or you're thinking of a different van.

Skittish? I can corner bloody faster than you'd ever want to in a van.
There's hardly any body roll or loss of grip.
6-box is great.
The turbo is a massive boost on mine.
Over 50 yards there ain't much quicker, it eats road, and I can also drive through town at 25mph in 4th and accelerate without ever needing to change gear.

I had a Sprinter for a week, and it wasn't in the same league.
Slower, too cumbersome, and too noisy.

If the Trafic/Vivaro wasn't too great to drive I'd admit it.
I think you'll struggle to find anyone around here who doesn't rate how it drives.

[NWH]

I drove a brand spanking new 1 and it pulled to the left,i did like it though but it`s no where near as good as the Transporter.It`s second place to the VW in my book.

[steve m]

be careful squeeky theres a lot faster out there if you look. Six speed boxes ARE a godsend as our man says and yes overall they are a great little van. The main problem is that most of us buy secondhand - after all the recovery and courier companies have finished with them, and thats when the problem starts. If your going to buy a secon hand van, buy a van that was well established in the market at the time, not a new model on the market, or a model with a new type engine

[NWH]

Squeaky has a new van.

[Sir Squeaky]

Squeaky has a new van.

 

Well, it's over a year old now.
Got 5,100 miles on the clock.

[Wayne Thomas]

I drive a short wheelbase Daily and it's not fast at the best of times unless I'm going up steep hills then it outperforms against the others (fully laden). It has a smaller turning circumference than a Fiat Scudo because that was my previous van so it was easy to compare the difference.
I would like either another uprated Fiat Scudo (for economy and speed), a 140ps Transit for poke or a Transporter 170ps jobbie for the speed when I'm not working for commuting down to Plymouth most week-ends

[NWH]

I drive a short wheelbase Daily and it's not fast at the best of times unless I'm going up steep hills then it outperforms against the others (fully laden). It has a smaller turning circumference than a Fiat Scudo because that was my previous van so it was easy to compare the difference.
I would like either another uprated Fiat Scudo (for economy and speed), a 140ps Transit for poke or a Transporter 170ps jobbie for the speed when I'm not working for commuting down to Plymouth most week-ends

Transporter 174 is the ultimate van for work and pleasure.

[Sir Squeaky]

I drive a short wheelbase Daily and it's not fast at the best of times unless I'm going up steep hills then it outperforms against the others (fully laden). It has a smaller turning circumference than a Fiat Scudo because that was my previous van so it was easy to compare the difference.
I would like either another uprated Fiat Scudo (for economy and speed), a 140ps Transit for poke or a Transporter 170ps jobbie for the speed when I'm not working for commuting down to Plymouth most week-ends

Transporter 174 is the ultimate van for work and pleasure.

Yes I'm sure it's a pleasure to keep going back to the garage at 20-25mpg.
Sod that.
It's plasticy and rattely inside too, in that classic VW way!
I looked at it, but didn't like it.

[Wayne Thomas]

My van is all paid for so I owe nothing. Not beholden to any credit company for it so at 25mpg or whatever it is I'm not going to lose any sleep. Vivaros only do 33-35 -ish if I'm not wrong.
A Fiat Scudo is the most economical in that group of vans. I travel a lot now and want something fast and practical to save time evenings and week-ends. Time is just as important as money and want to reduce my journey times now whilst still having a practical van for work.

[Sir Squeaky]

Not beholden to any credit company for it so at 25mpg or whatever it is I'm not going to lose any sleep. Vivaros only do 33-35 -ish if I'm not wrong.

Spot on actually.
But 8-10 mpg more at today's diesel prices is a more of a difference than you'd think over weeks and months.
Still, like you said, if you've got no payments then you're quids-in anyway.

[twt]

Alex wingrove did you get your van direct from bt?

[rillen]

Vivaro

[windowwashers]

Transit.

Cheap to fix

Vivaro expensive

[NWH]

Transit.

Cheap to fix

Vivaro expensive

Transit ugly.

[windowwashers]

Transit.

Cheap to fix

Vivaro expensive

Transit ugly.

vivaro do look nice I have to say