Band Van

CormacBass

I'm looking for some advice,
What's a good cheap reliable van to carry your gear and 2 to 3 band mates?

Cheers

Rigsby

No van is reliable unless it has been well maintained and serviced regularly. Having said that, I have regularly driven the Renault Transit and Toyota Hiace and found them both to be great work horses.

Vomit

Yeah just make sure it's black, and clean.

maccored

cant beat a Sprinter

Savman

Hiace for reliability. Sprinter for megamiles, all the others for comfort/extras. Avoid the sh*tty gearbox in Renaults (and Opels/Nissans) unless you like expensive repairs.

PMI

Depends on back pockets really....

We have a 07 sprinter / fully kitted/loaded etc.. split, 6 seats, 2 lcds, gear etc.. blah blah.... so using full weight!!!

I does min 5k a month of gigs, and it maintained all the time at a merc dealer.

It eats tyres as its a single wheel as we wanted to avoid limiter (twin wheel) so you can get to gigs and back quicker

Had a hire of a renault and thought it was great van (rapid) but it was only 1 weekend so cant say anything about years down the line ?!? I think Savman above might be of more help here ?

An older 313/316 might be good for ya or if your looking smaller move to the 2 series shorted wheelbase

If it has usual history etc.. you will be happy, great workhorses.

maccored

i have a pretty small 212d which I got nice and cheap. its done a quarter of a million miles but theres an ex merc sprinter mechanic up the road who looks after things pretty cheaply.

Savman

The Renault gearboxes go bang by 80k miles. €2.5k to fix at an indie dealer or upwards of €4k from a main dealer. Comfortable and lovely drive, absolutely, but I would not touch one again with a barge pole. The Opel Vivaros/Movanos and Nissan Primastars etc are all basically the same van with Renault origins.
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Ford Transit is a happy medium, although some of the Rear Wheel Drive versions have Clutch/Flywheel issues which can be pricey to fix (€1k plus) and needs doing every few years apparently.

I've no real knowledge of the VW Transporters but have heard mostly good things.

CormacBass

Thanks everyone. I've never owned a van before so all the advice is great.

Can't believe this hasn't been posted!



Maybe the lads in motors might have some guidelines to help too.

AndyTheDude

PMI wrote: »

We have a 07 sprinter / fully kitted/loaded etc.. split, 6 seats, 2 lcds, gear etc.. blah blah.... so using full weight!!!
It eats tyres as its a single wheel as we wanted to avoid limiter (twin wheel) so you can get to gigs and back quicker

You need to get the traction sorted, mate. It's as simple as that.

I've spent some time working in car/van rental industry, so my voice goes for Ford Transit, no better van on the market right now...

Rigsby

Papa Smut wrote: »

Can't believe this hasn't been posted!

This might give you an idea

CormacBass wrote: »

What's a good cheap...

CormacBass

I was looking at transits alright, I don't need a very big van straight away and id like to keep the diesel costs down, a connect model maybe?

J.S. Pill

Mitsubishi spacewagon.

Roomy, very versatile and reliable.

On the downside, a bit thirsty and not something you'd want to load with gear and park in a dodgy area what with the back windows and everything.

Malice

I haven't got any van advice as my car is big enough for all my gear. If required this thread can be moved to the Motors forum where you might get more ideas.

Drummerboy08

It all depends on what gear your going to be carrying.

If your a 4/5 piece band with a big rig PA and lights, drums etc etc then you'll need something LWB. The Sprinter seems to be the most popular. Along the same lines would be a VW Crafter. I know Bluemoose use a Renault Mascott double Chassis cab with a luton box. The Mascott itself doesnt suffer from the same gearbox issues as the Primastar, and its cheaper than a Sprinter.

If its only a small bit of gear you carry around, a SWB Ford Transit or VW Transporter is the job. The Transit is the cheaper and probably the better of the two.

If your a one man band jobbie, something like a Transit Connect/Peugeot Partner/Opel Combo is ideal. I've sold countless Combo's over the years and they've proven to be fairly reliable as long as they are looked after, but I suppose that goes for all vans.

As mentioned above, the chassis cab might be a cheaper way to go if your looking for something of that size. YOu could probably pick up one fairly handy in crew cab guise with a tipper on the back for cheap. Buy a luton box, get it swapped over, and hey presto you've a fairly decent bus.

Something like this -



Just get the unit on the rear of the chassis replaced and your laughing.

CormacBass

Thats great advice, thanks

unclebill98

I got a VW Caddy. Soild van if you can fit all the gear in.