buying an old van,Transit?

[gavuk]

Looking for an old van ,plenty of tansits for less than £1000,most seem to have 100k on clock thinking a semi high top swb,for occasional use only,1 ton payload is enough,seen plenty of rust on the forum are there any other normal weakness's?anything to look out for? would like PAS ,how good on fuel is the 2.5 diesel worth waiting for turbo? any and all views welcome .......Gav

 

[Wedg1e]

Do you need something that big? The Connect LWB can carry 900Kg (legitimately, I've had 1300Kg in mine by accident!).
You can also squeeze two medium pallets or 8x4 wallboards in - though the same cannot be said of the SWB as it has a lower roof.
Connects have been around 7 years now, must be some cheapies out there. Thinking of taking mine off the company when it gets retired this year... be cheaper for them to give me the van than pay me a bonus!
121K miles so far with only a broken wire causing loss of charge circuit... although now it has an annoying fuel problem that means I need to squirt it with Easystart every few days.

 

[bawjaws]

dont do it!, get a sprinter!, the swb wont fit a sheet of plasterboard in it but a mwb will with extra room, imo transits are crap, my uncles one is never out of the garage with engine problems and its an 03 plate, plus no power whatsoever empty, but as i say this is my opinion only, id go for a sprinter, weve had an r reg one for about 9 years now and the only thing its needed was an exhaust, and now some shocks (just this year), and plenty of power in it too, bulletproff reliability though

 

[dannyweld]

if you do decide to go for the "backbone of britain", make sure its power steering, and the long wheel base semihigh roof. if your getting one for 1000 you are going to have to carry out the odd repair. forget about getting a merc for 1000, it will kill you.

 

[dannyweld]

oh, and the front wheel drive wont pull your socks off, has to be rear wheel drive, has to be, would wait for the turbo.

 

[bawjaws]

youd be surprised how cheap they are, and if you are prepared to get your knees dirty while viewing, you could get a really good one

 

[migwig]

2.5 DI in the old 'smiley face' trannies is dog slow but very reliable. Had one for 5 years and never had a problem. Duratorq turbo engines in the newer (yr 2000 on) is much quicker but fragile. Problems with fuel pump failures in 2000-2003 models. Costs £1200 to fix (mine went last year). So make sure it's a later one or it's been fixed! Other than that they're great - dead cheap to buy and maintain and every scrappy's got a few for robbing bits off.

 

[gavuk]

Thanks for your opinions so far ,connects and sprinters seem to go for more than 1k ,seen a few vito's not semi hi-top but under 1k ,but have not been impressed with rust on youngish mercs ,seem worse than ford,although i like the look ,plenty of old fords, and therefore parts shouldn't be too much of a problem,expense could be, i don't really see a viable alternative but welcome opinions and experiences ..keep um coming .......cheers Gav

 

[dannyweld]

old smiley face was a great van, but the new generation are twice as good, the traction is far better, a drivers van. smiley face is hard on the back. dyna tourqe engine is a modern day classic, one of the best diesels ever made as far as i'm concerned. and by god, just forget about a vito!! or a volkswagen, second hand there money pits.

 

[bawjaws]

the citreon relays are also very god vans surprisingly, ugly, but comfey and easy to drive (on a farm road anyway!) but as long as my dad had it it was genneraly a good strong van, altough a month after he sold it to his pal the gearbox went

 

[gavuk]

Old smiley face is what i was looking at as they are cheap , am i to believe there were no fuel problems with them?......someone mentioned ldv ,used transit engine and running gear ,have not really considered them as i had a sherpa which was terrible ,drum brakes and steering box ,trade-it showing no sprinters below £1700 and connects more than that .....

 

[bawjaws]

oh, i thought you were on ebay

 

[dannyweld]

well, you get what you pay for, i would,nt be for driving the lenght and breath of britain in a old van, but if its for local work should be ok. had a couple of fuel pumps go in old transits, once a van has 100,000 miles be prepared for anything to go.

 

[gavuk]

looking there as well but wouldn't buy unless i can see it first ,don't trust anyone to list that honestley ,so i restrict myself to 50 miles and ending when i can still get and have a look , but do look for local stuff
ps looking at relays ,lots in the price band,is that a puegot engine ,if so is it also fitter to any of their cars?

 

[bawjaws]

im sure the engines in them are the same as the peugots and possibly renaults too, so interchangeable parts,

ps. im probably being unfair on transits its just that i hate fords

 

[gavuk]

No probs BawJaws, i've never owned a ford ,and have a running arguement with my best mate wether ford or vauxhall(cars) are better,my reasoning for looking at transits has a lot to do with readily available spares because of the age and mileage i'm looking at

 

[Wedg1e]

Thanks for your opinions so far ,connects and sprinters seem to go for more than 1k ,seen a few vito's not semi hi-top but under 1k ,but have not been impressed with rust on youngish mercs ,seem worse than ford,although i like the look ,plenty of old fords, and therefore parts shouldn't be too much of a problem,expense could be, i don't really see a viable alternative but welcome opinions and experiences ..keep um coming .......cheers Gav

I tried the Vito before I opted for the Connect: the stupid gearlever bulging from the dash clouted my knee and annoyed the hell out of me (a couple of other vans did that as well, I forget which now)... the Vito had a steel partition and the cabin noise (mostly engine) was louder with a closed cab than the Connect is with no partition. Not only that but the base model Vitos were dog-slow even empty and until you were spending about £17K they were VERY basic... ie you're paying for a Merc badge. (just like the cars - glorified taxis).
The Connect is all road noise and panel boom, you never hear the engine. Also I find that turbo whistle on some engines is an irritant, again the Connect (TDCi)doesn't do it.

Might seem petty but I've driven from St. Austell in Cornwall to Teesside in one hit, as well as Aberdeen and back in a day etc etc so things that don't matter in a delivery van around town become important long-distance.

 

[Wedg1e]

dont do it!, get a sprinter!, the swb wont fit a sheet of plasterboard in it but a mwb will with extra room, imo transits are crap, my uncles one is never out of the garage with engine problems and its an 03 plate, plus no power whatsoever empty, but as i say this is my opinion only, id go for a sprinter, weve had an r reg one for about 9 years now and the only thing its needed was an exhaust, and now some shocks (just this year), and plenty of power in it too, bulletproff reliability though

It should have plenty of power, it's about a 2.8L engine. Shame about the economy though you wouldn't want to run one of those as a private vehicle

 

[Wedg1e]

Old smiley face is what i was looking at as they are cheap , am i to believe there were no fuel problems with them?......someone mentioned ldv ,used transit engine and running gear ,have not really considered them as i had a sherpa which was terrible ,drum brakes and steering box ,trade-it showing no sprinters below £1700 and connects more than that .....

You could have a rummage on the Ford Transit forum (fordtransit.org) for buying guides, tech help and horror stories.
There again I bet there are similar forums for Peugeot, Renault and yes, even Mercedes... with similar horror stories.

 

[daf45]

Late LDV400 / convoys do use transit running gear so worth a look.
Plenty of ex Royal Snail / MOD available. Good 1000kg plus pay load.
If you need semi or high top you may find the back doors flex and dont fit very well (worth welding an extra lock on) and fittings like the handles are ****e. Some of the earlier 400's used peugeot 2.5 engines and they were even OK for local work.
Others worth a look are the Pug Boxer Fiat ducato and Renault Master (rumoured to have weak gearboxes but Im well pleased with mine!)
Transit is probably the best thought out ergonomically of the lot although the smileys are sluggish and most will want a patch or two by now.
There is quite a difference with height of the step at the back for loading between the front and rear wheel drive models which may be a consideration if your planning to load something like motorbikes very often.
Hope this helps. What d'you want it for anyway? Camper? Ramraid