What's a good little van ?

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Fri 11 Mar 2011 17:51
What's a good little van ? - aneng

I'm looking for a cheap little diesel van (car derived, not transit size !), my budget is no more than £1000, so it's the bottom end of the market I'm in. Because of that, I'm trying to find out which types are the most reliable / have cheap parts etc. I'm pretty good on the mechanics front, but obviously would prefer not to be repairing it all the time.

I've had a look through this site and it doesn't seem to cater for vans :-(

Any suggestions what to go for ?

I've seen quite a few that are in the 150,000 miles bracket. ... is that a big no-no, or are most modern diesel engines fine with that sort of figure ?

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Fri 11 Mar 2011 21:51
What's a good little van ? - Avant

Whether you're buying a car or a van (with car-derived vans the mechanicals are the same) at a budget of £1,000 condition matters more than make or model.

I've never bought a van but I would imagine that it's harder to find one that's led a comparatively easy life. One possible advantage of Ford vans is that there are lots to choose from and spares are easy to find.

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Fri 11 Mar 2011 22:43
What's a good little van ? - richardcroft

Like Avant says a Ford could be a good bet. Go for a simple, straighforward mechanical van, nothing complicated relatively easy to fix. If you can go for a combo of condition and reputation for reliability. Be wary of buying a van in great nick if its got pants reputation for reliability. On autotrader there is a 85,000 miles Escort van for £600, looks well looked after in dark grey metallic. You won't be 'whitevanman'.

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Fri 11 Mar 2011 23:03
What's a good little van ? - daveyK_UK

maybe a bit out of your price ranbge, but my only experience of vans where a vauxhall combo, fords transit connect and vauxhall vivaro.

the vivaro is junk, constant problems but good size for 3 occupants up front

the combo is nippy, an ok drive (pretty much the old corsa inside), good on the fuel and does the job but does become 'loose' quickly and build quality a bit dubious

transit connect is a cracking drive but very thirsty on the fuel, when they get to 100k they become increasingly unreliable (we have had 3 go beyond 100k and they all became expensive to repair with engine problems)

I would reccomend a combo. Good on the fuel, easy to get them repaired, cheap to repair and good reliability.

Just make sure it is still 'firm' you will soon be able to tell if its had a hard life.

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Sun 13 Mar 2011 20:07
What's a good little van ? - helmet
I used to use a Berlingo when doing courier work, and couldn't fault it. However, where I dropped a clanger, was I bought the 1.9d instead of a TD version so it was a bit slow at getting up to speed.
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Mon 14 Mar 2011 12:52
What's a good little van ? - bbc123

Where I used to work they ran a couple of Vauxhall Astravans with the 1.7CDTi engine. They still run them after 6 years of reasonable care (serviced routinely but not washed much!). There hasn't been any trouble from either of them, they've been completely faultless. 50+ mpg too. There are so many about that parts are plentiful and reasonable, I've heard no horror stories related to the 1.7 CDTi engine (somebody else may be more informed than I am on this), and they drive nicely too. If I were looking for a small van, I'd be looking at an Astravan.

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Tue 15 Mar 2011 15:57
What's a good little van ? - RJ57AND

i could recommend a combo or if you want smaller the corsa hatchback style van!

we used to have an old combo from brand new (51 plate so was last of the old shape) had done over 200k when sold and never missed a beat,regular serviced etc

obv had a couple of little bits n bobs replaced just genaral wear and tear really with that mileage engine/box etc was still going strong and is still being used now by the shop owner it was sold to 3 years ago lol so god knows what the mileage is onit now this was the old 1.7d non turbo engine

can pick them up now for about your budget id imagine!

my dad now has a 2007 combo as its replacement but says he does prefer the older one

Edited by RJ57AND on 15/03/2011 at 15:58

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