Advice on Buying a Van

sc89

Hi, I'm interested in buying a crew cab van and I'm wondering which make van and model would be the best to buy for reliability and fuel consumption? any suggestions?

Bpmull

What kind of size are you looking at. In other words do you need to carry anything big in the back on the van. We have a lwb renault master they can be got in crew but are a very big van. We get 32mpg out of ours which I consider good for its size. Renault tragic is smaller and would do closer to 40 mpg but the older type wasn't as reliable as the master. What year were you looking at roughly?

dgt

Bpmull wrote: »

What kind of size are you looking at.

^^^^^
This

Crew cab #1


Crew cab #2


One will fit in the back of the other :eek:

So what size and purpose?

sc89

I would be looking to get a van around the size of a vw transporter to use as a band van to carry band equipment and band members! I would be interested in getn a van around '05/'06?

Bpmull

sc89 wrote: »

I would be looking to get a van around the size of a vw transporter to use as a band van to carry band equipment and band members! I would be interested in getn a van around '05/'06?

I just had a look on donedeal and there is not a major amount of crew cabs for sale. Alot are expensive I suppose it depends on your budget. The cheapest crew cabs of that size would be the Renault trafic but 2005 2006 which is the older model. They are known to not be the most reliable when the mileage gets up on them. In saying all that we had a 2004 and 2006 and both were reliable but then they were bought new and sold at 3 years old and didn't have anymore than 80 k miles. It might be worth having aloof at transits I don't know a whole lot about them. But there is alot of people that swear by them in terms of reliability. Hopefully someone will come along who knows abit about transits that would give some advise. My first choice would still be a 2005-2007 master SWB crew cab I know a few people who had crew cabs and thought they were great one was even a band. But looking on donedeal there is none for sale so I can't even show you any examples.

JohnBoy26

I don't know if they can be got in crew cab or not but a Toyota Hiace won't be beaten for reliability and low mainyainance costs.

dave1982

I've seen a few crew cab hiaces

Bpmull

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I don't know if they can be got in crew cab or not but a Toyota Hiace won't be beaten for reliability and low mainyainance costs.

They are a great van for reliability. But the op is concerned with fuel economy. The hiace has to be literally one the hardest vans on fuel on Irish roads. You would be doing well to see 20mpg. My dad had one in 2004 and he absolutely despised it it robbed him on diesel. I know transits wouldn't be exactly good on diesel but still better than hiaces.

JohnBoy26

Tbh what another van will cost you on repairs will far outweigh what the hiace will cost you on diesel. I know there bad on diesel but there not 20mpg bad! There must of been something up with your dads van, he should be at least seeing figures in the late 20s early 30s mpg.

Bpmull

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Tbh what another van will cost you on repairs will far outweigh what the hiace will cost you on diesel. I know there bad on diesel but there not 20mpg bad! There must of been something up with your dads van, he should be at least seeing figures in the late 20s early 30s mpg.

I can't really remember its so long ago. But I know of two other people who have them and they recon there getting 25mpg. But I won't argue with you on reliability they are really reliable. But in saying all that the master we have is over 7 years old we bought it new. And the only thing that has ever been changed outside wear parts (eg brakes tyres belt service) was one wheel bearing and that's a fact it's even on original bushing which the mechanic said 3 months ago were old slightly wore and that's with 200 k km on it. IMO Renault commericals are seriously underrated. Since 2004 we have had 10 Renault commerical vehicles alone and none gave any majour trouble at all. Most were sold after 5 years but some of them had high enough milage. And them vans were used for construction so they didn't have the handiest life ever. At the same time if you abuse most vans they will cause serious trouble. The hiace is probably one of the best to take abuse though.

sc89

Thanks for your opinions/advice lads!

Ronnie Beck

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/commercials/4435125

I've found these vans reliable and very nice to drive.

sc89

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/commercials/4435125

I've found these vans reliable and very nice to drive.

Yeah I was thinking of getting a VW Transporter because a lot of people have recommended them to me!

Ronnie Beck

sc89 wrote: »

Yeah I was thinking of getting a VW Transporter because a lot of people have recommended them to me!

Timing belts have to be done every four years/60000 miles but apart from that there pretty good. That one looks more expensive than others but it is a crew cab and looks well looked after. Timing belt done recently too, whenever recently was.