I've seen some fairly new Sprinter and VW vans with rust up this part of the world. As the new MAN vans are VW crafter based bodies, I would suspect that they will start to show signs of premature rust as well.
The worst is those Chinese built LDV vans. I've seen some just a couple of years old with rust.
It must be worse in Scotland than the North East.
The MAN vans are not in any form related to the sprinter you are thinking of the old model Vw crafter that and the sprinter used to be made in the same factory this stoped when the new shaped crafters MAN vans came out years ago
I said; "As the new MAN vans are VW crafter based bodies, I would suspect that they will start to show signs of premature rust as well." Suspect means I haven't seen any with rust; I'm just going with what I've seen on VW Crafter vans and making an assumption as they are made in the same Polish factory. I have no idea what the mileages are of the vans I've seen are either. This will have a bearing on body condition. Sorry.
Article dated 2022.
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/man/tge
There’s plenty of choice on the market for the large panel van buyer, but one model you may have missed is the MAN TGE. The TGE is the first light commercial vehicle to come from MAN Truck & Bus – which is part of the Volkswagen Group.
The TGE may seem familiar as it is essentially a rebadged Volkswagen Crafter. The two vans are built in the same factory in Poland, and the differences between the two largely centre around the front end and the badging.
Sorry Bruce thought you were inferring that the MAN was the same as the older Vw crafter which was the same as the sprinter up to 2017 , from 2017 Vw cut there ties with Mercedes and yes the vw crafter is the same van as the MAN (tge) with Vw part numbers on it but Vw will not sell you any parts as they say it’s a different van for service items like brakes , and filters which it untrue they are identical . We have two of them oldest one is 2020 been 100% reliable and no signs of any rust or mechanical issues so far .
No worries. We just haven't seen many MAN vans around these parts TBH.
We had the same drama with parts from PSA. Our local Peugeot dealer 5 miles away wouldn't or couldn't supply Citroen parts. If we gave Peugeot parts dept the Citroen part number then they could order/supply it. The crazy thing was that when we ordered the part from Citroen, it could come in either a Peugeot or Citroen labelled box.
The Citroen dealership was 15 miles away through traffic congestion. If they had to order a part from factory, we had to go into the parts dept personally and pay for it. Then we would have to go back again to collect the part when it arrived, as they wouldn't deliver it. They were an awful dealership to deal with. The last time I dealt with them was to order a left and right bumper clips for my son's car. We had to go in and pay for them before they ordered them. They wouldn't take a credit card number over the phone. We had to phone up and were told the parts had arrived. When we drove in, we were told they couldn't find the parts. Another lad behind the counter whispered in my ear that the parts manager had supplied them to a local panel beater 1/2 an hour before.
Then the factory reported them on 3 month backorder due to summer holidays in France. I cancelled the order and ordered them via the part number from Peugeot. Parts arrived next day.
I got hold of a Citroën parts list from the Citroën owners forum. That was great as I could order the parts I needed from Peugeot. About a year later, I got a snotty email from Citroën removing my access to this list as they discovered I wasn't one of their dealerships.
Over the years of owning this Boxer van, I have purchased a few parts from Coastal Motor Homes on the south coast. They have been much cheaper on the parts I've ordered and have come in Fiat packaging. Why would I order a complete wiper motor and mechanism assembly from Peugeot for £600 when I got the same for £175 from Coastal Motor Homes?
