Been away on a small site in the new forest. Both a T4 and a T5 broke down on site and are awaiting pickup. But the old Bay made it even in the 35deg heat on Friday.
They are without doubt better to drive, and I suspect a well maintained one is less likely to break down than our old bays usually. When I had to do a seventy mile errand the other day that required a van type vehicle I opted for the T5 over my perfectly usable bay simply for ease of use in modern traffic and better fuel consumption. No brainier really, but if that sequence of events cheers you up I’m happy for you
Its all to do with the amount of stuff to go wrong. A new modern car is inherently more reliable but has more systems to fail when it gets old . An old VW bus has less to go wrong but those systems are more unreliable as they are old or overstressed.
At least when a T2 goes wrong, you’ve got a reasonable chance of fixing it then and there, and it’s unlikely to be mega bucks to repair
Been funny watching the 'for sale' ads in the last couple of months....the number of scabby old homebrew T4's that are 'regrettably' up for sale for £7k....!! Can't help thinking there will be a lot of purchased in haste vans up for sale this winter!
It’s a balance isn’t it? A T5 doesn’t have the charm of a Bay, and a Bay is simpler to fix. For us though, the deal breaker has been not wanting to cart our daughter around in a vehicle with 40 yr old safety features.
I do miss still having the T4 if I want to whizz down to Dad’s, or Spain etc. It was just get in and go, and quite quickly. Fortunately the only items we ever had fixed on our T4’s were service items. No breakdowns. I may still be looking at T4’s
I regret selling mine she was a very reliable old bus and the guy I sold it to ‘ cheaply ‘moaned about a few minor things that I’d openly pointed out when I sold it. I suppose his standards were higher then mine.
Popped over to north wales for a couple of nights last week, saw one Splitty, one T25 and about 300 T4/5s so much more likely to see one or two broken down by sheer numbers being used!