So was I. I’ve run commercial vans for years. Normally fords but I’ve also had Citroen and a merc for a short time. Never ever had one cost me anything like that to keep it on the road. Let alone for such little mileage. My last transit had 37k on it when I bought it. Had 175k when it died. Apart from a new battery and normal wear/service stuff I never spent Hardly anything the engine. It still had the original clutch. I think it cost me £90 for a new pulley and a belt. I can’t believe what you’ve spent on a van that has essentially done the sort of miles that a lot of builders vans do in little over a year.
We have a 66 plate Transit now, it's been pretty faultless so far(about 95k miles) and is very nice to drive too
I never said it was ‘acceptable’. At the time of the repair work (as it’s a vehicle used to transport the family I want it to be as safe as it can be) it was deemed cheaper to fix it than replace the van with something with an unknown history. I’ve not included the costs of fitting a replacement tailgate with a window (the wife didn’t like it having a solid tailgate) and replacement colour coded bumpers too. The van had just had a new clutch when we got it and that I understand had cost just over £2000..... I must have had 2 to 3 sets of tyres fitted over our ownership at £500 a time and serviced regularly (regardless of miles used) which is not cheap as it uses bloody expensive oil. I suppose I could have sold it when the front subframe wanted changing or had it welded and painted over, but chose to replace it as I felt it would be safer to do so. It could be that as it is used so little it isn’t helping it (a bit like the camper) and it should be used more, but I don’t go far now I’m retired. I may well eventually convert it to a camper when the kids are older and sell the old Bay to help fund the conversion. It should last a while seeing as I’ve changed most parts of it. All I can say is T5’s in my experience are not cheap to maintain or run......well the T30 we own isnt The previous owner is a drinking associate and knows what work has been done to the van and how many miles it has done since he sold it to me. Chances are he is thinking all the expensive work has been done/paid for and he could reap the benefits of my costs.
Build quality of the interior was spot on all the bits you touch where fine. As for the doors falling off yes they did fall off bottom runner on the track it popped out when fully open. The panels are thicker than most vans the new customs are paper thin. If I was after a van it would be still be T5 but without all the romantic Ideals of it never being once a builders van and the costs that go with them Edit* stuffed the quote thing up.. don't want to put anyone off from getting a T5 it's your cash ect but thay are not the fabulous unicorns people go on about the mountain bike world love them for the bragging rights of them for not being fords. They go wrong just like all the other vans but finding a good vw is hard due to the high demand I do think a lot of them would have been scrapped if they had a different badge on
Bottom roller wears on the slider, it does give you plenty of warning as you have to scrape the door open until you investigate and find it’s only a £10 part off eBay and an half hour swap over. The drive quality is superb, but if you gun it from the starting line on a regular basis it will eat front tyres and put excessive wear on the drive shafts ( everyone guns them at first ) Repairing and servicing them yourself is perfectly straightforward although the engine compartment is tight, and whoever designed the oil filter placement needs a socket shoved where the sun doesn’t shine. There are loads of YouTube videos for most jobs. If you’re looking at one check the electrics work as should and pay attention to judders when you accelerate it could be a gearbox mount that is notoriously difficult to fix as the captive nut falls into the bulkhead and it’s a pig to sort and people usually end up having the box out or lifted to cut the bulkhead and replace the captive nut, a judder can also be worn driveshafts and gearbox stub shaft £300. Other than that they are very basic and simple if the engine has been looked after.
Oh, if you use garages to do your repairs then find one that doesn’t see £££ signs when you rock up in a T5/6 ( transit drivers don’t have this issue as they’re all assumed to be plumbers or tatters )!
Transit custom less cool Buy a custom and have the rest of the money for when you can holiday in the Bahamas with all the family full five star for a month Now that's what I call cool
I’ve never really took to transit vans if I’m honest. I liked the Thames vans if that’s any consolation?
I'm seriously considering changing my T5 lwb camper to a Vito Dualiner, bit smaller, better value for money, inside is a bit cosier as a day to day vehicle, the wife will hopefully be more likely to drive it; I can still lug all my stuff about and camp in it if necessary. But for family camps, means we have to take the Bay, every cloud and all that!
