Small Commercial vans

MountainMonster

I've currently got a Volvo C30, but due to work commitments my wife and I are looking to trade this in against a small commercial van similar to a Volkswagen Caddy Life or a Ford Tourneo Connect. We've seen both of them, and the Ford is good as for around £12k we can get a nearly new model, but these are not available over a year or two old, and we would consider a low mileage van if the price was lower.

Are there any good vans around the 10k price range that are similar to the 2 mentioned above? We need a big boot, foldable/removable seats so we can put a mattress in the back on really long journeys, and it needs to be fuel efficient. Are there any similar offerings from Vauxhall or others?

pinno

Volkswagen transporter, except they have a very high 2nd hand value. Low mileage for a Ford is 60K but low mileage for a VW diesel is 90-100k. I know someone with a VW transporter 3 litre sport TDi with 240k on the clock. The thing is immaculate and mechanically A1. Not that I think you want a 3l sport btw.
Mercedes Sprinter is another very good choice. Drives like a dream. Easy get 250k out of them if looked after. For 10k you can get a hell of a lot of van for your bucks though low mileage one's fetch a premium and I don't think that would be your main priority. VW's and Mercs in the 120k bracket with service history's will go a long way.
If you think about it, they will give you another 130k - how many miles do you plan to do?!

bianchimoon

lot depends if you are buying privately or as a business expense, there are some very good finance deals ie contract hire that make a lot of sense if you are using it for business and you can reclaim the vat

mercia_man

I was recently looking at getting a reasonably compact and economical van-based camper and the Caddy Life and Tourneo Connect are two obvious possibilities. Two others worth considering are the Nissan NV200 and Fiat Doblo, both of which are used in highly rated camper van conversions.

The VW Transporter and Merc Sprinter are of course a lot bigger, perhaps larger than what you are after.The VW in particular is pricey, partly due to its fashionable image.

If image is not important to you and you are willing to consider a bigger van like the VW or Merc, a significantly cheaper alternative is the Hyundai i800 people carrier or i-Load panel van. They are very popular in the far east and Australia and are of similar size and do the same job as the VW and Merc, with high mileage life and rugged reliability as they are based on a commercial vehicle rather than saloon car. The i-800 is more powerful and refined than the i-Load. I have an i-800-based camper and it is brilliant. My experience is that Hyundai dealers treat their customers much better than some of the big names.

MountainMonster

Mercia Man wrote:

I was recently looking at getting a reasonably compact and economical van-based camper and the Caddy Life and Tourneo Connect are two obvious possibilities. Two others worth considering are the Nissan NV200 and Fiat Doblo, both of which are used in highly rated camper van conversions.

The VW Transporter and Merc Sprinter are of course a lot bigger, perhaps larger than what you are after.The VW in particular is pricey, partly due to its fashionable image.

If image is not important to you and you are willing to consider a bigger van like the VW or Merc, a significantly cheaper alternative is the Hyundai i800 people carrier or i-Load panel van. They are very popular in the far east and Australia and are of similar size and do the same job as the VW and Merc, with high mileage life and rugged reliability as they are based on a commercial vehicle rather than saloon car. The i-800 is more powerful and refined than the i-Load. I have an i-800-based camper and it is brilliant. My experience is that Hyundai dealers treat their customers much better than some of the big names.

Thanks for all your input guys! The Transporter and Sprinters are too large for my liking, and the cost of them is too high for something I would consider. I've literally only been looking at vehicles the size of the Doblo, Caddy Life and Tourneo Connect as that is still small enough to be able to use as a daily driver too. I've also got my wife who refuses to drive a large van, and the smaller ones we are looking at are going to be a stretch as is.

I just had a look at some of the I800 camper vans, and they do look awesome, but on Autotrader most are above the £20k mark, which is too far out of our price range. Motorhomes were not something we had thought of, but it does seem to tick all of the boxes. I'm having a hunt around on Autotrader to see what is available in our price range!

mercia_man

Good luck with your search. Another possibility might be a Japanese import small van such as Mazda Bongo. You can get these converted to campers for your budget. There are various other similar vans of different makes from Japan. Bongos are no longer made but there are more recent vans coming through. They are said to be a good used buy as they don't use salt on the roads in Japan and there is no secondhand market there as owners sell and replace with new after doing only a small mileage. There are various people who do them. Have a look at Wellhouse Leisure website - they do good Japanese import camper conversions as well as award-winning conversions on Hyundai, VW and Ford vans.

Another very cheap option is a micro panel van. We once had a Suzuki Super Carry, the same as a Bedford/Vauxhall Rascal, formerly used by a local newsagent for paper deliveries. That was great for carrying bikes, dogs, camping gear, junk to the tip etc. But its cruising speed was only a noisy 65mph on the motorway and traction unladen in snow and mud with its rear-wheel-drive was poor. It was not a vehicle to throw around on bends because of its height combined with short and narrow wheelbase. But we loved it.

One other thing. Don't worry about driving a mid-sized van of the Hyundai, VW Transporter, Merc Sprinter size. My wife and I were nervous when we first tried our i-800. We got used to it virtually straight away. I use mine all the time and feel completely confident doing everything from supermarket shops to driving over the Alps.

ben@31

Mercia Man wrote:

One other thing. Don't worry about driving a mid-sized van of the Hyundai, VW Transporter, Merc Sprinter size. My wife and I were nervous when we first tried our i-800. We got used to it virtually straight away. I use mine all the time and feel completely confident doing everything from supermarket shops to driving over the Alps.

When turning at junctions you just need to drive forward more and start the turn later or you clip the kerb.

A LGV instructor once told me, forget about the height of the vehicle or how boxy it is, just think of the chassis in 2D / how much floor space it takes up, then driving a big van doesn't seem that intimidating.

VTech

My daily driver is a transit custom and I couldn't be happier, I use it all the time.

Caddy for a smaller vehicle is super but as has been said, VW hold prices.

Ber Nard

Mercedes Vito SWB? Still pretty big and van-like but nowhere near as big as a Sprinter. We have one at work and people who have never driven vans before have no trouble with it.

pinno

The transporter is not that big. Look at this:

2008 VOLKSWAGEN TR-PORTER T30 174 TDI LWB Diesel in Aggborough and Spennells £4600 !! (Autotrader)





Perfect condition, with change in your pocket - only 64k on the clock.

RDW

Just make sure it's not white...

MountainMonster

That does look good, but my wife is dead set on there being windows in the back, and still fairly car derived. We went to look at a Fiat Doblo today, and that fit the bill perfectly for my wife. We're waiting on a few things to be finalised on our side, then will be going to look at a Ford Tourneo Connect, and will then buy either. We are looking forward to it.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Pross

Citroen Berlingo, Renault Kangoo or Peugeot Partner? Or possibly Vauxhall Combo.

pinno

MountainMonster wrote:

That does look good, but my wife is dead set on there being windows in the back...

Problem sorted:

MountainMonster

Alright guys, after much deliberation we have decided to get a Fiat Doblo. We weighed everything up, and found a nice one around 6K that we will probably end up getting.