[JandS]

I don't want a new van because I will be £10k and still be paying a monthly fee with interest.
Plus I would spend more time trying to keep it looking new....plus I have just bought a brand new VW Golf car for us....it's a week old tomorrow.

[zesty]

270 won’t carry much weight mate. It’s also the 99bhp which is underpowered for window cleaners with big water tanks.

If you go for a custom, you want at least the 300, 310 or 320. (That’s the weight) you can also get away with the 290 quite easily. But 270 is very low on the payload.

You also really want to try and go for the limited spec. It’s got all the extras you could want, really is worth the extra money!

I’ll be selling my custom soon, it’s a 290 limited, but has done 110k. Full service history, never missed a beat. I’m upgrading to the facelift version and a 320 as need the extra payload really.

[JandS]

So 900 kg payload.....should be ok with a 500 litre tank then.

[NWH]

I had that tank in a roughly 100hp van it’s not enough you end up thrashing the arse of it to get it to move,the bigger the van the better it can handle weight with a decent payload.
If you put 500lts in one of these small vans and did any sort of mileage they eat through break pads and tyres for fun.

[JandS]

I don't travel much more than 5 miles to any work and always start at the nearest so tank is emptying......so first houses say 2 miles away and use say 200 litres so 200kg less already.
Nearly 40% of my work is less than half a mile from home......one day a month I do our Avenue and literally pull down to the front of the drive because 100m won't quite reach either end of Avenue from top of drive.
I do no more than about 5000 miles a year.

[JandS]

Thanks for all the input as well guys and gals because my knowledge of cars/vans is very limited...I just want to drive them.

[KS Cleaning]

Transit Customs are going for stupid money just now so you won’t get much bang for your buck at the moment in the second hand market. You will get a cheaper Vivaro, Dispatch etc but over 4 years or so they will cost you about the same when depreciation is taken into account.
e.g Cusom might cost you 15k, in 4 years time with your low mileage it will be worth 10k.
Vivaro or similar with same mileage, spec, will maybe cost 12k in 4 years time will be worth 7k. So both have effectively cost 5k over 4 years. Personally I would rather drive the Custom for 4 years.

[spudd]

Kind of off topic but haven’t any of you guys that struggle with guttless vans when pulling weight considered getting them re-mapped? Not for speed but for torque?

I’ve had my connect L2 re mapped benefits are. Better fuel and honestly pulls like a train up hills full loaded with 400l tank , electric reels, gutter vac and all the trimmings?

I do not trash my van at all actually the opposite but when it comes to torque it’s second to none.

Just a thought

[JandS]

How much to re map........presume that because you can re map the engines are the same but with lower or higher torque......so why make some less powerful than others if the engine is the same..why not make them usable to there maximum capability?

[NWH]

Be careful what vehicle you remapp especially a van you’ll knacker the drive shaft if it’s not done properly.

[Spruce]

Be careful what vehicle you remapp especially a van you’ll knacker the drive shaft if it’s not done properly.

........ and the clutch.

It's also classed as a modification and will affect insurance costs.
Now some might say that they don't need to tell the insurance company because the insurance company will never find out.

However, ecu's are becoming more sophisticated. For example, my customer tells me that the latest VW/Skoda/Seat ecus have blue tooth connectivity. They can scan it for modifications without plugging a connector into the obd2 port.

[NWH]

Some vans will cope with it better if they have the same engine they are basically just de tuned out the factory over the more powerful one,I wouldn’t tune a 90-100hp engine to 130-140hp the mechanic I use said they normally have a different clutch and stronger driveshafts. 
Mines going in for a driveshaft this week but it’s done 60-70000 on the remap before any problems occurred so that’s fine with me.

[NWH]

Some companies will just stick an aggressive map on it that’ll cause problems like driveshaft and clutch,if you do one I’d get them to do an economical map with increase in torque.
With some maps 1-2 gear are near enough unusable  especially in wet or damp conditions,front set of tyres 2-3 times a year if you drive it hard.

[spudd]

Some valid comments there.

Obviously if your gonna re map a older van it’s comes with its problems, same as buying a van that’s had a hard life and maxing it’s payload out.

Think it’s more of a personal preference, modifying any engine on any vehicles come with its risks but if you do your research and the re map is done properly then you shouldn’t have an issue.

[NWH]

Yeah you shouldn’t have an issue but a lot of garages offer a map and it’s done via a WiFi connection and laptop to a company uploading the map from the other end of the country and not specifically for the individual van,if you can better to get it done somewhere where they have a rolling road.

[dd]

Some vans will cope with it better if they have the same engine they are basically just de tuned out the factory over the more powerful one,I wouldn’t tune a 90-100hp engine to 130-140hp the mechanic I use said they normally have a different clutch and stronger driveshafts. 
Mines going in for a driveshaft this week but it’s done 60-70000 on the remap before any problems occurred so that’s fine with me.

Why did you get your van re-mapped? You extol the virtue of having a larger van to cope with the weight of your tank more easily, but end up re-mapping it.

[NWH]

I remapped it as it still had low mileage and the same 2.5 engine as the 174hp van originally it was a 130hp,I have the same Map as the 174 does and I haven’t had any issues as it was done right.
Everything that has needed to be replaced on my van had happened more or less at the mileage it is expected,clutch-Turbo,driveshaft on the way etc the 130 was fine but with the map the torque difference is night and day I can be in 3rd 4th just put my foot down and it picks up,it’ll do 60-70 up a fairly steep hill with a full tank before I’d be having to change down through the gears all the time at low speeds.

[dd]

I remapped it as it still had low mileage and the same 2.5 engine as the 174hp van originally it was a 130hp,I have the same Map as the 174 does and I haven’t had any issues as it was done right.
Everything that has needed to be replaced on my van had happened more or less at the mileage it is expected,clutch-Turbo,driveshaft on the way etc the 130 was fine but with the map the torque difference is night and day I can be in 3rd 4th just put my foot down and it picks up,it’ll do 60-70 up a fairly steep hill with a full tank before I’d be having to change down through the gears all the time at low speeds.

Sorry, but that is really not a good advert for VW.

The only one of those things I have replaced on my dispatch was the clutch at 113k. IMO opinion VW is way overhyped. I am not saying Citreon are great, but they finished several places above VW in the latest Which car reliability survey.

[Ched]

I remapped it as it still had low mileage and the same 2.5 engine as the 174hp van originally it was a 130hp,I have the same Map as the 174 does and I haven’t had any issues as it was done right.
Everything that has needed to be replaced on my van had happened more or less at the mileage it is expected,clutch-Turbo,driveshaft on the way etc the 130 was fine but with the map the torque difference is night and day I can be in 3rd 4th just put my foot down and it picks up,it’ll do 60-70 up a fairly steep hill with a full tank before I’d be having to change down through the gears all the time at low speeds.

Sorry, but that is really not a good advert for VW.

The only one of those things I have replaced on my dispatch was the clutch at 113k. IMO opinion VW is way overhyped. I am not saying Citreon are great, but they finished several places above VW in the latest Which car reliability survey.

No idea if it's the same but years ago VW sold components so you just bought the bit you needed not a complete assembly. i.e. a VW golf a CV joint failed so just replace the joint. A citroen had to have a complete new drive shaft at twice the cost.

[dd]

You can buy a cv joint for a citreon dispatch.