mercedes vito advice

cadobady

Hi

looking to buy a new commecial vehicle and am considering mercedes vito. anyone got one? or can anyone suggest a good alternative in a similiar vein?



thx

liptonvillag

Don't have a Vito. I was warned 5 years ago when buying a new van to stay away from them. Mate had one only 3 months off the showroom floor and timing belt just snapped while driving. He had it covered under warranty so they replaced the whole engine brand new. Pity he couldn't just return the van and get his money back i say. Mechanic warned me that they can very troublesome. They were 6 or 7 years ago anyways as were Mercedes cars in general.maybe they've sorted out their problems. I know they changed electrical systems in the early 00's and have had a **** load of recalls and problems since. mercs ain't what they used to be. I bought a pug partner new in 06 and haven't had a days trouble with it. Talk to a mechanic and he'll tell you what vans he see's that keep coming in the door to him for repairs.

colm_mcm

Have a look at the Hyundai h1.
170hp
Twin rear doors
Twin sliding doors
RWD

Much cheaper than a vito. Very good drive.

kildare.17hmr

the new vito are a great van, very fuel efficient, loads of power if you go for the 113 or 116. More expensive than the competition but hold their value well too in comparison. Doesn't feel like a van to drive. I drive one and love it, would hate to drive a different van now. Drove a 08 120cdi auto for a bit, serious machine

colm_mcm

The cheapest 116 vito is 27 grand. It will always be worth more than a cheaper van but will certainly lose way more money.

snowman707

no personal experience but guy that services plant for me has 3 of them, usually keep them about 4 years and approx 200k kms ,

previously he had Mitsubishi but seems to be happy with the vito

darragh o meara

liptonvillag wrote: »

Don't have a Vito. I was warned 5 years ago when buying a new van to stay away from them. Mate had one only 3 months off the showroom floor and timing belt just snapped while driving. He had it covered under warranty so they replaced the whole engine brand new. Pity he couldn't just return the van and get his money back i say. Mechanic warned me that they can very troublesome. They were 6 or 7 years ago anyways as were Mercedes cars in general.maybe they've sorted out their problems. I know they changed electrical systems in the early 00's and have had a **** load of recalls and problems since. mercs ain't what they used to be. I bought a pug partner new in 06 and haven't had a days trouble with it. Talk to a mechanic and he'll tell you what vans he see's that keep coming in the door to him for repairs.

That's a load of boll ox Merc Vitos don't have timing belts. I know cos I worked in a merc dealership for long enough

As for Vito advice, the earlier pre cdi ones were a great van but gave problems from time with cv joints which for years weren't available separately. Only a full drive could be got which was very expensive. You can now get a spurious cv joint for a couple of quid from a motorfactors. If I was to buy an older Vito of tgis shape the pre cdi would be my choice

The 00-04 (anything cdi). A great powerful van which had a few niggly electrical problems. They suffered a bit from the costsaving that went on in Merc during the early noughties and the electronics suffered a bit, sensors like air intake temp would throw a fault and put the van into limp home mode at the most awkward of times!! Keys can loose their coding too at times. The semi automatic is one to stay away from, as is the viano with air suspension in the back. The cv joints tended to be better but still not abuse proof.

In the garage I worked in we had a Vito 108d and a 110 cdi both of which were driven within an inch of their life's and we actually got rid of the cdi.

The new shape 04 on suffered from a few things like

Front anti roll bar bushings wore out very quick

Window regulators were common failures

Elec window switches would break very easily on the passenger side although this was due to there being no auto up click and people would give it a good tug. There was a modified item brought out.

Wheel speed sensors would give a bit of bother

Air intake temp sensors again gave problems

Tracking was a big issue but I'm sure it been sorted now, the setting provided by merc would cause undue tyre wear on Irish s hit ty roads.

The engines were good but some electrical gremlins can appear at times. There is a massive amount if electrics in these vans and with the new merc type fob key they can give problems ( I never thought them keys were suitable for commercials anyway ) if I was getting one I'd go for the 120 cdi a pure animal on the road !!

kildare.17hmr

colm_mcm wrote: »

The cheapest 116 vito is 27 grand. It will always be worth more than a cheaper van but will certainly lose way more money.

sure full retail Price. You will get one a lot cheaper than that

Solnskaya

personally reckon they are a hateful sh1tbox with more issues than Courtney Love. Anyone who has ever played with a snapped off heater plug with the butt still welded into the head will concur. The "little bit of bother" they give tends to be day in and day out with a huge tendency to rust if exposed to the earths atmosphere. Candy Gear linkage cables, chocolate brakes, liquorice electrics and smartie dealers. After a while they are just sickening, not sweet.

kildare.17hmr

Solnskaya wrote: »

personally reckon they are a hateful sh1tbox with more issues than Courtney Love. Anyone who has ever played with a snapped off heater plug with the butt still welded into the head will concur. The "little bit of bother" they give tends to be day in and day out with a huge tendency to rust if exposed to the earths atmosphere. Candy Gear linkage cables, chocolate brakes, liquorice electrics and smartie dealers. After a while they are just sickening, not sweet.

the new vito is a sweet machine with new engine, gearbox and suspension. They did have rust problems but now come with 12 year corrosion warranty and have for some time so that's not an issue. If you want to talk about problems just look at the injector problems with the traffic, vivaro and primastar! Klann had to make a special tool to remove thebloody things because no one could get them out when they all gave problems. Not to mention the trouble with the glow plugs in the dome models

Solnskaya

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

the new vito is a sweet machine with new engine, gearbox and suspension. They did have rust problems but now come with 12 year corrosion warranty and have for some time so that's not an issue. If you want to talk about problems just look at the injector problems with the traffic, vivaro and primastar! Klann had to make a special tool to remove thebloody things because no one could get them out when they all gave problems. Not to mention the trouble with the glow plugs in the dome models

I agree fully on the primaviviffic, if you spill a cup of coffee on the dash, it heads to the ecu and frazzes it! And then you can't open the bugger to fix it! Classy design. And as for the new vito, me, I've no idea. Give it time, and it will prove to be as crap as ALL the other vans on the market at the moment. I actually can't name a good current model van(or car for that matter):(

kildare.17hmr

haven't come across the coffee on the dash but im not surprised at all!

ill name one for ya. VITO!

liptonvillag

darragh o meara wrote: »

That's a load of boll ox Merc Vitos don't have timing belts. I know cos I worked in a merc dealership for long enough

As for Vito advice, the earlier pre cdi ones were a great van but gave problems from time with cv joints which for years weren't available separately. Only a full drive could be got which was very expensive. You can now get a spurious cv joint for a couple of quid from a motorfactors. If I was to buy an older Vito of tgis shape the pre cdi would be my choice

The 00-04 (anything cdi). A great powerful van which had a few niggly electrical problems. They suffered a bit from the costsaving that went on in Merc during the early noughties and the electronics suffered a bit, sensors like air intake temp would throw a fault and put the van into limp home mode at the most awkward of times!! Keys can loose their coding too at times. The semi automatic is one to stay away from, as is the viano with air suspension in the back. The cv joints tended to be better but still not abuse proof.

In the garage I worked in we had a Vito 108d and a 110 cdi both of which were driven within an inch of their life's and we actually got rid of the cdi.

The new shape 04 on suffered from a few things like

Front anti roll bar bushings wore out very quick

Window regulators were common failures

Elec window switches would break very easily on the passenger side although this was due to there being no auto up click and people would give it a good tug. There was a modified item brought out.

Wheel speed sensors would give a bit of bother

Air intake temp sensors again gave problems

Tracking was a big issue but I'm sure it been sorted now, the setting provided by merc would cause undue tyre wear on Irish s hit ty roads.

The engines were good but some electrical gremlins can appear at times. There is a massive amount if electrics in these vans and with the new merc type fob key they can give problems ( I never thought them keys were suitable for commercials anyway ) if I was getting one I'd go for the 120 cdi a pure animal on the road !!

Your correct on that. Meant to say timing chain. The guy was travelling back from a U2 concert in slane in 2002 or 2003. The chain slipped and caused a lot of damage to the engine. It was decided by the dealership to replace it with a brand new engine under warranty. The van was only 3 months old. Lets be fair. Vito's have given a lot of problems and are not the most reliable vans on the road.

liptonvillag

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

the new vito are a great van, very fuel efficient, loads of power if you go for the 113 or 116. More expensive than the competition but hold their value well too in comparison. Doesn't feel like a van to drive. I drive one and love it, would hate to drive a different van now. Drove a 08 120cdi auto for a bit, serious machine

Hold their value ? C'mon. Your paying a 5,000 gratuity premium for the honour of having the badge on the front grill. Merc vito's have a high depreciation rate. Nobody will buy a 2 or 3 yr old Vito when they can buy a brand new van for the same price if a Vito van seller is trying to sell along the normal 12% a year depreciation rule.

kildare.17hmr

liptonvillag wrote: »

Hold their value ? C'mon. Your paying a 5,000 gratuity premium for the honour of having the badge on the front grill. Merc vito's have a high depreciation rate. Nobody will buy a 2 or 3 yr old Vito when they can buy a brand new van for the same price if a Vito van seller is trying to sell along the normal 12% a year depreciation rule.

ivsold plenty of 2nd hand vitos for good money, sold an 09 for more than you would pay for a new primastar 2weeks ago, trading them on for a new one i give a price lads are happy with too. If you drive a merc van most people wont go back to anything else. Fact

Solnskaya

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

haven't come across the coffee on the dash but im not surprised at all!

ill name one for ya. VITO!

Yeah, but it's a merc, and the dealers are all cnuts, and they're overpriced, and they're shyte. Apart from that, no arguement here:)

Solnskaya

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

ivsold plenty of 2nd hand vitos for good money, sold an 09 for more than you would pay for a new primastar 2weeks ago, trading them on for a new one i give a price lads are happy with too. If you drive a merc van most people wontcan't go back to anything else. Fact

fyp:D

darragh o meara

This isn't a slagging match lads!! The op wanted advice on a van and not a bashing. Yes I worked for merc and would have sold you a van in a heartbeat back in the day BUT any sales I've ever been involved with ( not that many btw as I worked in service dept ) I always told the buyers if there was anything to watch out for. As I'm doing now..

Lots of people have different opinions on vans but you can be sure that the lad who talks the loudest is the fella whos never sat behind the wheel of one I've seen many the lad converted from transits and traffic/prima star/vivaro etc. To be fair a few moved up to the sprinter because of the extra room.on the otherwise I've known a few lads who tried vitos and decided they weren't for them. If the op is buying new he is gonna have 2 yrs warranty so any problems will tend to occur in that time and will be covered under the warranty. Mercedes monitor the warranty repair meticulously and if a part is showing up a lot they will generally design a modified part and have them fitted. I can only speak for models up as far as late 2008.

If the op is having doubts id recommend a test drive and maybe a rental for a week if he likes it. Most people will fall in love with them as they are more like a car to drive than a van.

dunnariogh

anyone know at what intervals timing chain needs to be changed?

dunnariogh

merc vito 109 cdi 04