Looking to buy a light commercial vehicle, €4,500 approx

Essien

Im just looking for some opinions on light commercial vehicles. I'll be buying a house in the next few months and want to swap my 2.0 petrol for something cheaper and more practical. I've decided a small van is the way to go, we usually take my g/f's car if we've to go off anywhere so we don't particularly need another car in any case.
I am willing to stretch to €5.5k but I would rather not as the extra cash could come in handy when trying to save the deposit.
The options I have are as follows -

-Citroen Berlingo/Peugeot Partner
-VW Caddy, '04>
-Ford Transit Connect
-Opel Combo

All I'm looking for is any info people have on any of the above, pro's/con's, any advice from people who previously owned them etc

One thing I have been told before is regarding the Caddy, more than one person has told me they tend to give trouble with the gearbox and flywheel, could anybody shed some light on this if they've heard anthing like it?

Thank in advance

L-M

Lol, the first thing I was going to say to you was about the flywheel. I think the dualmass flywheels give trouble, you'll notice awful juddering in the car when you're taking off. They can be replaced with a solid flywheel from the older cars, and if it has been replaced you should get 80k odd out of it.

Opel Combos are horrible things to drive.

For me it'd be a Transit connect or a Caddy, but I'd probably pick the caddy. You'll pay a bigger premium for a Caddy though.

R.O.R

Ah, Combo's aren't that bad to drive and are usually a good bit cheaper than a Connect.

Take a drive in both and see if you could live with the Combo, or if it's worth paying more for a Connect.

Caddy is the best of them to drive - not far off a Golf 1.9Tdi, but usually more expensive, less reliable and cost more to fix.

alo1587

Hi essien,I have a 04 new shape caddy the last 18 months.Good van,nice power and drive like a car.I get aroound 450/500 miles/800km to a tank around the town.Only downside is they're a bastard on tyres,they'd eat a pair of cheaper brand tyre in a years driving.CV joints go in them too,as do the dual mass flywheels (although mine is fine at 90k mls).Other than that they're a good van,you'll pay more for them than say,a berlingo etc but its worth it.Oh,and get one with central locking,as my one is a 6 door version and I end up walking round it locking all the doors at night :mad:

Essien

So the flywheel seems to be the main problem with the Caddy, any idea how much it would cost to have one replaced?

balcan

If your not carrying any thing to bulky why not consider a car based van like a focus/astra van.I've had all the above vans,Caddy my fav,berlingo least.Combo not a bad little van,Like driving a go-cart,quite quick for a 1.3 td.STAY AWAY FROM ANYTHING RENAULT

robtri

if its cheap you are after. the Opel is not too bad....

otherwise i would have the connect.....

the caddy... keep it... over priced and doesnt seem that much better ..