Mercedes Vito

yomchi

Hi guys,
Deciding whether or not to buy a Mercedes Vito 2001 model 2.2 diesel.

Seems clean enough, no rust etc and drives well.

Has anyone any experience of these vans?

Any info appreciated

Stavros Murphy

yomchi wrote: »

Hi guys,
Deciding whether or not to buy a Mercedes Vito 2001 model 2.2 diesel.

Seems clean enough, no rust etc and drives well.

Has anyone any experience of these vans?

Any info appreciated

I like them, sort of, but they are a ball of scutter on the mechanical front. Plusses are reasonable fuel economy, comfortable, nippy enough with the bigger HP engines, a great practical size, good badge.

Minussseses are injectors failed and stuck in the heads, same for heater plugs, wayward tracking eating tyres with no easy remedy, brittle suspension, cables made of cheese, brake lines made of toilet roll, brakes featuring milk bottle tops as the main component, body rust that appears everywhere due to crappy spanish paint prep and assembly, bits of trim held on with velcro, spit, a prayer and some blu-tac, disinterested dealers, expensive spares and nothing that goes wrong every being an easy fix. Other than that, they're great.

Some lads buy one that was assembled after the coffee-break when Hulio still had a caffeine buzz on and was in top form and they rave about them. Others get ones assembled after barcelona crashed out of some provincial championship and the entire workforce was in a massive huff and would rather have been somwhere else. Bit varyish, tbh.

yomchi

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

I like them, sort of, but they are a ball of scutter on the mechanical front. Plusses are reasonable fuel economy, comfortable, nippy enough with the bigger HP engines, a great practical size, good badge.

Minussseses are injectors failed and stuck in the heads, same for heater plugs, wayward tracking eating tyres with no easy remedy, brittle suspension, cables made of cheese, brake lines made of toilet roll, brakes featuring milk bottle tops as the main component, body rust that appears everywhere due to crappy spanish paint prep and assembly, bits of trim held on with velcro, spit, a prayer and some blu-tac, disinterested dealers, expensive spares and nothing that goes wrong every being an easy fix. Other than that, they're great.

Some lads buy one that was assembled after the coffee-break when Hulio still had a caffeine buzz on and was in top form and they rave about them. Others get ones assembled after barcelona crashed out of some provincial championship and the entire workforce was in a massive huff and would rather have been somwhere else. Bit varyish, tbh.

Haha cheers for that, seems like they're not up to much so. The van I'm looking at has a tiny bit of rust on it. It's hard to get a half decent van, might stick to looking at transits.
Cheers

Stavros Murphy

yomchi wrote: »

Haha cheers for that, seems like they're not up to much so. The van I'm looking at has a tiny bit of rust on it. It's hard to get a half decent van, might stick to looking at transits.
Cheers

If you get a good one, 03-05 ish, can be a great van. I prefer the 2.4 rwd lower hp versions(simpler) 90T330s are a good van, but get the one with the bigger wheels - and they are no way fault-free, but they are eminently fixable. They're my van of choice for work - I need to buy another this week so I've been looking at a few. Rust is again, the no1 enemy. The mechanical, I pretty much ignore, easily fixed. Lower the mileage, the better, no matter what anyone says.

Interslice

I've a t4 transporter. Find it nice to drive and get about 40mpg out of it. They newer ones don't rust. Engine is bombproof if you keep on top of the timing belt changes. They've gotten pricey enough though. Don't know what your budget is but you'd pay around 3 - 3.5k for a clean one with lowish mileage.

http://www.donedeal.ie/commercials-for-sale/volkswagen-transporter-for-sale/6275497

Gosub

Those Vitos have trouble with the steering rack AFAIK. They are built in Spain, so quality of build is sh¡te. The T4 is a far superior van all round. The 5 pot 2.5 TDI is the best engine.

Interslice

Gosub wrote: »

Those Vitos have trouble with the steering rack AFAIK. They are built in Spain, so quality of build is sh¡te. The T4 is a far superior van all round. The 5 pot 2.5 TDI is the best engine.

Ye meant to say that. That's the one I have. The other engine are slower and less reliable.

Technoprisoner

this is the one you want to buy :cool: http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mercedes-v-280-v-class-needing-repair/6372370

Interslice

Technoprisoner wrote: »

this is the one you want to buy :cool: http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mercedes-v-280-v-class-needing-repair/6372370

2,200 euro:eek:? I think that' been for sale for years. Certainly looks familiar.

Stavros Murphy

Interslice wrote: »

2,200 euro:eek:? I think that' been for sale for years. Certainly looks familiar.

"Needs Repairs". Don't they all.

Technoprisoner

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

"Needs Repairs". Don't they all.

thats just code to bargain him down lol

Stavros Murphy

Gosub wrote: »

Those Vitos have trouble with the steering rack AFAIK. They are built in Spain, so quality of build is sh¡te. The T4 is a far superior van all round. The 5 pot 2.5 TDI is the best engine.

I've had them engines in VW LTs- (hateful vans IMO ). The two belts, one at the back, is a turn-off for me. Reliable engine tho. But in the LTs anyway, the utterly dire ride and drive, locks that simply don't, no matter what you do, and the fondness for diesel did it for me. Just a bloody delivery van with no regard for the driver whatsoever.

Like sitting on a dumper with a mad top-speed and ratios below fifth that were designed by a non-driver. 1st-one second. 2nd-three seconds. 3rd - one second. 4th- no, we just copied 2nd for the craic. 5th - see, we built it for the autobahn Paddy - the other gears are just for getting it onto the autobahn.. and now you are doing 180kph...yeuch.

Interslice

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

I've had them engines in VW LTs- (hateful vans IMO ). The two belts, one at the back, is a turn-off for me. Reliable engine tho. But in the LTs anyway, the utterly dire ride and drive, locks that simply don't, no matter what you do, and the fondness for diesel did it for me. Just a bloody delivery van with no regard for the driver whatsoever.

Like sitting on a dumper with a mad top-speed and ratios below fifth that were designed by a non-driver. 1st-one second. 2nd-three seconds. 3rd - one second. 4th- no, we just copied 2nd for the craic. 5th - see, we built it for the autobahn Paddy - the other gears are just for getting it onto the autobahn.. and now you are doing 180kph...yeuch.

Engine is fitted tranverse on a T4 so not too bad. You just need a decent mechanic with the software to set the pump timing spot on with that second belt and your sorted.