[Scrimble]

My son is loving his Van, Mark, just wondering if you will be selling any more of your combos or have you replaced all your older combos with new ones?
A mate saw my sons combo and may be interested if you're selling another.
Cheers
Jon

glad he likes the van, that combo was the last of them only have doblo's now, they are good vans, like I said if you could still buy them new I would have a fleet of them

[deeege]

Ignore the payload etc small vans like that are not able to cope well with that kind of weight,I’ve had a connect and tbh the weight killed the van. A small van will eat through tyres with half a ton do track rod arms suspension mounts as well as the clutch,since I’ve had a medium size van those things haven’t been an issue as they are better able to cope with that kind of weight,you’ll get loads with small vans come here now saying I’ve not clue etc but I’ve had a small van with a 500 and like I say it killed it,I had a LWB connect from new.

Utter nonsense.

I’ve had 3 berlingos, (850kg payload) all from new and with a 450 litre tank in. All have been as good after 3 years aas they were on the first day. I do 15k miles per year a lot  of which are with a full or nearly full tank.

[NWH]

Here we go utter nonsense etc I’ve had a smaller van which I had for 6 years,it was a good van when I was carrying less water but when I had it full up with 500 litres it was to much for it. It felt unstable and tbh in wet or winter conditions it felt unsafe when full. I have a transporter now and when my tank is brimmed I hardly know it,my advise to anyone starting out and considering WFP long term would be get a medium sized van if your thinking of carrying 500 upwards,smaller vans are fine with less weight don’t forget a lot of the smaller vans have the same shock and suspension  and brake setup as there car brothers and sisters.

[NWH]

Seriously I lost count of how many times it went in for pads,my mechanic told me countless times it’s the weight I was carrying. Never really had engine issues with it but everytime it went in for a service there was a suspension issue,like I say over the six years I used a smaller van I lost count of tyres and pads-discs and suspension parts I had to pay for. 

[dazmond]

Here we go utter nonsense etc I’ve had a smaller van which I had for 6 years,it was a good van when I was carrying less water but when I had it full up with 500 litres it was to much for it. It felt unstable and tbh in wet or winter conditions it felt unsafe when full. I have a transporter now and when my tank is brimmed I hardly know it,my advise to anyone starting out and considering WFP long term would be get a medium sized van if your thinking of carrying 500 upwards,smaller vans are fine with less weight don’t forget a lot of the smaller vans have the same shock and suspension  and brake setup as there car brothers and sisters.

i have  connect L2 240 and it pulls fine with a full 500L tank and diesel heater......936kg payload....the wheel arches are not on the floor like they were on the kangoo i used to have!(and that only had a 350L tank in the back!)

[deeege]

Here we go utter nonsense etc I’ve had a smaller van which I had for 6 years,it was a good van when I was carrying less water but when I had it full up with 500 litres it was to much for it. It felt unstable and tbh in wet or winter conditions it felt unsafe when full. I have a transporter now and when my tank is brimmed I hardly know it,my advise to anyone starting out and considering WFP long term would be get a medium sized van if your thinking of carrying 500 upwards,smaller vans are fine with less weight don’t forget a lot of the smaller vans have the same shock and suspension  and brake setup as there car brothers and sisters.

So you’re basing your findings on a sample size of 1 van? Nice one.

[NWH]

Yeah because all the other makes are so much different aren’t they lol,a lot of people go on about the maximum payload let’s not forget that’s maximum payload. When they sell these vans do you honestly think that every morning they think  you are going to stick in the MAXIMUM payload and things won’t break,,ok every now and again the van will be fine with max weight in but do it day in day out you’ll kill it. The LWB connect I had was ok when down to about 300ltrs it handled like my transporter does with over 500 in it,I would always advise go up and over the payload you are going to carry everyday when you choose a van.

[NWH]

If you want a van for WFP that’ll last 5 minutes get an Astra or similar type van,same suspension as the car version 😂 along with the brakes. Good luck there in the winter I know a bloke who has 1 the van is on its arse when it comes past me a couple of times a week with 250 litres and 2  x 25 liter barrels in it lol.

[NWH]

Anyone considering  a small van for WFP get a bucket seat and full race harness installed in the drivers seat before you put the tank in 😂 as well as a top of the range crash helmet for when you end up in a ditch on a frosty morning

[dazmond]

the newer connect L2 240s are ace....the suspension is DEFO not like a car suspension!

[jonboywalton75]

My son is loving his Van, Mark, just wondering if you will be selling any more of your combos or have you replaced all your older combos with new ones?
A mate saw my sons combo and may be interested if you're selling another.
Cheers
Jon

glad he likes the van, that combo was the last of them only have doblo's now, they are good vans, like I said if you could still buy them new I would have a fleet of them

Thanks anyway Mark
Whenever you want to sort the tracker just let me know

[Stoots]

Here we go utter nonsense etc I’ve had a smaller van which I had for 6 years,it was a good van when I was carrying less water but when I had it full up with 500 litres it was to much for it. It felt unstable and tbh in wet or winter conditions it felt unsafe when full. I have a transporter now and when my tank is brimmed I hardly know it,my advise to anyone starting out and considering WFP long term would be get a medium sized van if your thinking of carrying 500 upwards,smaller vans are fine with less weight don’t forget a lot of the smaller vans have the same shock and suspension  and brake setup as there car brothers and sisters.

Correct

its pretty obvious to me, a van with a higher payload will carry the load much easier than a smaller van right on its payload limit. Like you said a lot (not all) smaller vans are car derived, same suspension, brakes and engine.

If you dont want a larger van, thats fine as long as its legal theres no problem but if you can i would always get the biggest van available. Less wear and tear, will hold the road better etc.

Imagine a skinny little chap with twig arms and legs walking up the street  with a sack of spuds on his back vs a big bodybuilder type with a sack of spuds on his back, who is going to carry the load easier?

Its just common sense really.

[Smudger]

Here we go utter nonsense etc I’ve had a smaller van which I had for 6 years,it was a good van when I was carrying less water but when I had it full up with 500 litres it was to much for it. It felt unstable and tbh in wet or winter conditions it felt unsafe when full. I have a transporter now and when my tank is brimmed I hardly know it,my advise to anyone starting out and considering WFP long term would be get a medium sized van if your thinking of carrying 500 upwards,smaller vans are fine with less weight don’t forget a lot of the smaller vans have the same shock and suspension  and brake setup as there car brothers and sisters.

Really - you dont half talk some ****

the payload is  based around the Gross Weight the van is legally allowed to be on the road - hence different models /makes take differing amounts

do you not think/heard of safety margins ?? there is always extra the van can cope with but a limit is set for safe everyday use

example - i use a 10 tonne crane and try to lift 10.1 tonnes - does it collapse NO! - it can handle 15 tonnes however doing so will put strain on the system to the point of breaking down prematurely - at 10 tonnes and under the crane will work day in day out for years - i dont need to go and buy a 20 tonne rated crane to lift 10 tonnes

the load rating - GVW are worked out on the same basis - its called good engineering practise

Darran

[Smudger]

Here we go utter nonsense etc I’ve had a smaller van which I had for 6 years,it was a good van when I was carrying less water but when I had it full up with 500 litres it was to much for it. It felt unstable and tbh in wet or winter conditions it felt unsafe when full. I have a transporter now and when my tank is brimmed I hardly know it,my advise to anyone starting out and considering WFP long term would be get a medium sized van if your thinking of carrying 500 upwards,smaller vans are fine with less weight don’t forget a lot of the smaller vans have the same shock and suspension  and brake setup as there car brothers and sisters.

Correct

its pretty obvious to me, a van with a higher payload will carry the load much easier than a smaller van right on its payload limit. Like you said a lot (not all) smaller vans are car derived, same suspension, brakes and engine.

If you dont want a larger van, thats fine as long as its legal theres no problem but if you can i would always get the biggest van available. Less wear and tear, will hold the road better etc.

Imagine a skinny little chap with twig arms and legs walking up the street  with a sack of spuds on his back vs a big bodybuilder type with a sack of spuds on his back, who is going to carry the load easier?

Its just common sense really.

if he is not overloaded the little man will be fine and not eat you out of house and home like the big guy !!!!!

bigger van - more expensive to run

Darran

[NWH]

Bigger van more to run not always I was literally eating tyres and brake pads and using more fuel over a 2.5 liter van compared to a 1.6 liter van. The thing had it’s engine thrashed to get it up hills,you could feel the van hurting,if I put a 1000 liter in my transporter it would have the same effect as a 500 had on the connect. I’ve had them both so for me it’s a no brainier i would never go for a smaller van again unless it was purely for local work with a smaller tank.

[NWH]

The redline on my van is say 5-6000 but I never normally have to go over 3000,if I drove it about thrashing it at or above it’s rev limit it would be knackered in no time. The same thing with the suspension and brakes etc with a little van if you keep maxing it out with weight things will snap and wear out fast,like I said I had a van that was too small for the job for 6 years.

[dazmond]

i only do 4000 miles a year in my van so it should last many years!

how many miles a year did you do in the old style connect you had nigel?

[AuRavelling79]

My Doblo 1.3 multijet was bought new in October 2006 (736kg payload)

From day one it had a 400 tank plus me. (90kg)
For six glorious months in 2011 it had me, Dan the man, (110kg) a 400L plus it pulled a trailer with another 200L on it until I bought my present van. 
Now it is Dan the man plus 400.
12 years old, going strong.

[Dave Willis]

That’s far too young to be working! Doesn’t he go to school?

[NWH]

101000 I kept struggling with the fact everything had to come out and go back into a new van the diesel heater was the thing that stopped me changing it,if grippa had been around then I would have changed it sooner as they do a driveway fitting service. You need to have gone from a smaller van to a bigger 1 to comment fairly,it’s ok saying your small van is fine and copes perfectly well I’m sure some obviously think that but put the same weight into a bigger van and you’ll see instantly my point as far as drivability and safety is concerned.