[aymank]

Need a van that is cheap as chips.. Literally

Good as can be on insurance / mpg.
Need a small to medium size .

Anyone had good / bad experiences with any of the following

Connect. Berlingo. Transit. Sprinter , vito?

[car-man]

Originally Posted by aymank

Need a van that is cheap as chips.. Literally

Good as can be on insurance / mpg.
Need a small to medium size .

Anyone had good / bad experiences with any of the following

Connect. Berlingo. Transit. Sprinter , vito?

One of my neighbours has a Connect which has done 495,000 miles with one engine change.

A customer of mine has a Berlingo with 150,000 miles on it, just done the head gasket for him.....first real problem since new in 1999.

Transits are ok, but the brake parts and replacement labour costs are high, plus you will need eyes in the back of your head to stop bits going missing!

I serviced a few Sprinters, not the best or most reliable of vans (in my opinion).

Vito are awful in my opinion.

I used to look after a fleet of over 30 Peugeot Expert vans had very little trouble with them....I bought one of the fleet 4 years ago and still run it, done 60,000 miles without a sniff of trouble and does 50mpg any day.

Don't buy a Vivaro, probably the worst van on the road.

The Renault Trafic version is alright and so is the Nissan variant.

[aymank]

Thanks !

Expert vans... Any model / year to avoid ? Looking at second hand and just to able to narrow than the search

[car-man]

The ones I'm used to are the 2004 onward with the HDi engines, I did used to look after a few Citroen Dipatch ones with the old 1.9 diesel engines, these were very underpowered but generally reliable (there's a Fiat version with the 1.9 engines).

Mine is a 2004 110 2.0 HDi.

[aymank]

Cheers mate think I'm going to go for a Berlingo as ones with decent mileage and not too old are in my price range

[car-man]

You'll be fine with one of those

[redaprilia]

Berlingo 1.6 HDI needs to be on very good oil and changed well ahead of the scheduled to prevent problems 1.9 old non turbo is much more durable but slower . If you are going Berlingo change the wheels to 15" and get Goodyear Duragrip tyres as with the 14" wheels and standard fare Michelin ( hard rubber ) they are dodgy in the wet !

[aymank]

Originally Posted by redaprilia

Berlingo 1.6 HDI needs to be on very good oil and changed well ahead of the scheduled to prevent problems 1.9 old non turbo is much more durable but slower . If you are going Berlingo change the wheels to 15" and get Goodyear Duragrip tyres as with the 14" wheels and standard fare Michelin ( hard rubber ) they are dodgy in the wet !

Cheers for that redaprilia!

[car-man]

I use this oil for the 1.6 HDi engines.........

Comma :: Productsguide

[redaprilia]

Originally Posted by car-man

I use this oil for the 1.6 HDi engines.........

Comma :: Productsguide

That is a classy fully synthetic oil , Am I right in thinking that it is only just slightly lower spec than the long life stuff for VAG TD engines ?

[car-man]

Originally Posted by redaprilia

That is a classy fully synthetic oil , Am I right in thinking that it is only just slightly lower spec than the long life stuff for VAG TD engines ?

Yeah, it seems so, that oil is a C2 spec, the VW longlife is C3.......

Comma :: Productsguide

The main thing is to use oil that is compatible with the DPF used in the later diesel engined vehicles.