[Roger Oakley]

For you guys that have vans,
If you have either of these Ford Transit (new shape) or Vauxhall Vivaro?
Good points? Bad points? to either of the above.
Looking to re-new and these two seem to be about the best of the SWB vans.

[Don Kee]

Transits mechanically are brilliant work horses, just a bit suspect to rust.
If you get one, first thing id do is get it on a ramp and spray the the underside floor, sills, wheel arches and chassis with some anti rust paint and you'll then have a cracking longterm van.

[Lee GLS]

Transits mechanically are brilliant work horses, just a bit suspect to rust.
If you get one, first thing id do is get it on a ramp and spray the the underside floor, sills, wheel arches and chassis with some anti rust paint and you'll then have a cracking longterm van.

I would agree with this.

I have never seen a rusty vivaro, but my 57 reg transit has a few little bits of rust, it's where you get stone chips the rust incredibly quickly.

The engines are better in the transit going by the research I did before buying mine.

[windymiller]

Older vivarios were well known for there gearboxes packing up after about 50k

[8weekly]

I have a Boxer which has been trouble free.

[George P]

our 59 transit is good all round, had it from 6 months old,

[PoleKing]

53 Trafic-absolutely perfect Upto 90k.
Nothing but grief after.
Loved it though.

61 Trafic. 20k so far-perfect.

[Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny)]

58 plate Vivaro.
Love it. Its drives like a car. full of Toys like aircon and satnav. 37Mpg. rust free, 120k miles. Injectors replaced at 100K this seems to be the common fault on the CDTi.

[Roger Oakley]

Thanks for the answers so far very helpful, I had heard about the gearbox problems on the Vivaro.
The Vivaro does seem to have a few extras as standard over the Transit.
Isn't the Boxer based on the Vauxhall?
Would be leasing anyway so guess you can throw it back at the company if any problems in the 1st 3 years.

[PoleKing]

Just for compare & contrast-I only get 30mpg loaded.
High 30's empty but that few & far between

[Jim Waugh(Albright & Shiny)]

Hmmm leasing.. I did consider this. but at the end of the day Leasing is a lot of money. My van is 5 years old. The main fault has been rectified. It cost me 4k cash.. even if the depretation is 2k in the next two years thats still less than 100 a month.. compare that against leasing… big difference. OK I haven't taken into account the unknown factor re van history and performance.. but you would know pretty quick if its a minger..

[andyM]

I looked into leasing recently and was surprised how expensive it was.
So I decided to buy instead. 

[Roger Oakley]

Leasing, you can claim virtually 100% back, the deals I'm looking at are around £240.00 per month inc Vat.
The vehicle we use now was bought from new (Navara D22) Close on £18K back in 2005 now worth maybe £4K, so don't think I would buy again.

[Lee GLS]

Leasing, you can claim virtually 100% back, the deals I'm looking at are around £240.00 per month inc Vat.
The vehicle we use now was bought from new (Navara D22) Close on £18K back in 2005 now worth maybe £4K, so don't think I would buy again.

Please explain how it is possible to claim "virtually 100% back"!

[South Window Cleaning Ltd]

Vivaro

[Roger Oakley]

Leasing, you can claim virtually 100% back, the deals I'm looking at are around £240.00 per month inc Vat.
The vehicle we use now was bought from new (Navara D22) Close on £18K back in 2005 now worth maybe £4K, so don't think I would buy again.

Please explain how it is possible to claim "virtually 100% back"!

Lease-hire can/should be 100% claim back, might depend how your accountant see's this, some may not want to see it that way, same as HMRC.
Lease-piurchase, then that's different, the tax breaks are a lot lower.

[Griffus]

Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course 

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.

[PoleKing]

Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course 

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.

Lol. The sports look exactly the same except for the badge saying 'sport'

[Roger Oakley]

Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course 

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.

Cheers Griffus, not really looking for LWB, parking around central London even with permits will be a nightmare (size of parking bays) etc

[Griffus]

Hi Roger, we've had a Vivaro for almost 6 years and aside from a couple of clutches and over the last week or so a full recon on the gearbox I can't fault it. It is like a car to drive.

I personally would avoid the Sportive though, to blingy for business imo, stick to the LWB CDTi, in white of course 

Some great lease deals out there but always better to buy if you can.

Nope, the have colour coded bumpers and go faster alloys. There's no doubt a button to bounce the suspension whilst you cruise for hose. ahem.

The CDTi is a proper looking van for hairy a***d blokes 

Lol. The sports look exactly the same except for the badge saying 'sport'