Which van?

murpheous81

Looking to buy a van for cira 8k to haul around surfboards and the like. I have a list in my head of a VW transporter, Opel Vivaro, Renault Master, Ford transit.

Are there technically/mechanically etc I should stay away from. Any other suggestions would be appreicated.

cabrwab

There all good vans!
The transit is a work horse, there is a boardsie that drives a newish one to answer what he thinks i wasn't a huge fan of them to drive.
The transporter i disliked even further although the new one is a huge improvement over the last model, the gear's were awful, we had trouble with the starter motor bearring running a gear box some how. This is just what the mechanic told me.

The renault master/opel/nissan are a nice van to drive, comfortable to drive feels like more of a car then the rest imo.

The mercedes vito aren't bad for a van either although reliability has being questioned! before.

peasant

A largely under-rated (and therefore cheap) van imo, the Ducato

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1068730

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1183886

and its "bigger" brother, the Iveco Daily, even better

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1388439

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1370964

Guy:Incognito

cabrwab wrote: »

The renault master/opel/nissan are a nice van to drive, comfortable to drive feels like more of a car then the rest imo.
.

The Master is the bigger van, not the same as the vivaro/(insert nissan name I cant remember) . The Trafic is the same as t5he vivaro.

There are OPEL/Nissan versions of the MAster too though.

murpheous81

Cheers for the recommendations. What is the reliability of the Ducato? Been checking out the Renault Trafic, it seems good so far.

CarCity

All good makes... Citroen have very nice vans... maybe stay away from LDV though :pac:

Do-more

I've had 3 different Renault Masters with a combined mileage of about 250,000 miles. One had to have a gearbox replaced under warranty and a broken engine mount and all had a few electrical glitches but was otherwise very reliable and economical. Very nice to drive. Have heard a few stories of blown turbos but never suffered that fate myself.

Had a few Ducatos before that which were a dog by comparison. In particular the hinges on the Ducato doors are very flimsy and if anyone has abused the side loading door, such as closing it on an over full load they will never run right again.
If you are having one, old non-turbo 2.5 Ducato is slow and thirsty. 2.8TD is much better.

If it's big enough for you the Trafic/Vivaro is a very nice van to drive. Not so many around, but if you can find a high roof version it would probably be ideal with enough headroom for getting changed in etc.

L-M

Surfboards? Surely they'd fit into the back of a Caddy?

IIRC, some one said on here recently, a new Caddy can be got for around 9k. Sounds like the best bet to me.

One thing to note, if your buying privately, bargain your heart out. Commercials are going absolutely no where, so any delaer should be happy to get rid of one at a good cash price.

Edit: Are you VAT registered, OP?

Graham_B18C

What about this?

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=1384300

And you can get these remapped and they're bloody quick!

murpheous81

Not vat registered.

Have looked at the newer Caddys and am impressed, def would add to the possibility list.Any one have good/bad reports about them?

Will probably buy from the UK, have gone down this route before. What would be the situation with VAT. Do I pay it there or hear & who do I sort this out with the UK dealer?

cormie

You could buy off this guy: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055551947

Also, a guy I was talking to today is selling a 05 VW LT for I think it was 5.5K

With regards buying from the UK, revenue aren't interested if it's older than 6 months and more than 6 thousand miles travelled. That's what I was told

Son

I bought a vivaro in the UK a little while back.I like the way it drives (for a van) and they use the rear space well.On average i get about 550 miles to a tank,not bad.They are more up to date and comfortable than most other vans i think.

leitrim lad

transit or transporter, i have both and one is as good as the other, its evens on them both what one lacks the other gains, and service and parts should you need any always available, because they are so popular,

other manufacturers have vans on the market but none of them are around as long as the transit or vw to perfect them

lifer_sean

murpheous81 wrote: »

Will probably buy from the UK,
QUOTE]

The Irish auctions are full of unsold vans at the moment. Cheaper than imported vans. I'd strongly recommend shopping around here first. The last two vans I imported from UK were low mileage ones with service histories etc ... took the best part of a year to sell here and lost a fortune on each of them.

The van rental companies in Dublin are bringing some of their vans to NI because they are getting better prices for them in the NI auctions than in the Dublin auctions.

pred racer

+1 for the ducato. I drive one quite a bit, nice to drive, nippy at low speed, plenty of juice with a load on, no reliabilty issues on ours and cheap as chips!
its a 2L (tdi/hdi/jtd?? whatever is in them) fuel economy not bad either.
even the low roof SWB one we have is ok for changing/sleeping in I used to do quite a bit of both when I was racing.

The renault trafic I had (for abot 6 months) LWB was nicer to drive and more fuel efficient but it broke down once a week, was forever going into low power/get me home mode, Maybe I just had a bad one (it was 2 months old when I got it) I wouldnt go near another one!

VW transporter. I drive one of these quite regularly too (older model 03ish) and I dont like it at all. also way less space than the renault/fiat/transit etc the wheel arches always seem to be in the way.

Transit. Ive driven quite a few of these too and would have nothing bad to say about them.

Thats my opinion OP for whatever its worth.