Which Van For Cargo Transport ?

[DamirGTI 342]

Hi

 

Anyone with van experience here please ?

 

Need to buy some kind of van for business ... second hand one '95->01 production date .. it'll be for liquid/wine transport , for a bit long mileage traveling (but not so often ..) which includes combo of fast motorway runs and up and down hill A and B roads .. so it must move when it needs !

 

Been investigating a little bit , and within my budget , found these ones as an best option : Peugeot Boxer , Citroen Jumper , Fiat Ducato ..

 

Now , as all the three above are identical body/suspension/engine type (bar the Fiat Ducato , Fiat engines ..) , thought , should be good for servicing/repair jobs as the body/suspension/engine parts are interchangeable in between the three ..

 

Despite the similarities , Fiat Ducato seems to have more powerful engines than Peugeot/Citroen .. so , dunno which engine is best power and reliability wise ?!

 

1.9D and 2.5D are out of the question me thinks .. so , which one of the turbo ones to go for 1.9TD , 2.5TD or 2.8JTD ? PSA or Fiat engine ?

 

Thanks !

 

Damir

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Does it have to be that big, the Expert/Dispatch/Scudo is a good van and not so big, so cheaper to run.

[mikeyd 13]

vw lt 35? pretty much merc sprinter but without the price tag or miles on them-had one for 6 years and only replaced it with a newer one as it came up at the right price

dont bother with a transit -unless someone else is paying the repair bills!![as told by a mechanic that serviced light commercials]

fiat ducatto goes well but prone to reliability issues compared to peugeot/citroen siblings

renault master-roomy reasonable price but gearbox can be troublesome

[welshpug 1,657]

As above, and if possible, get a HDI as they are better on fuel and not so slow.

 

not certain on the larger vans, but the Expert/Dispatch/Scudo all use the same engines, the JTD badged units are just DW10's, the 2.8 may be a fiat but is still used by PSA.

 

whereas the 2.2 in the later larger vans is a Puma, i.e FORD but still a decent engine really!

[maxi 36 1 Cars]

Transits are the best vans on the road. I have always had them and never had a problem including my 52 plate 125 350 with over 200k on the clock. It flies too. You always get a couple of bad ones but the proof is in the pudding and the majority of vans on the roads are transits.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Transits are the best vans on the road. I have always had them and never had a problem including my 52 plate 125 350 with over 200k on the clock. It flies too. You always get a couple of bad ones but the proof is in the pudding and the majority of vans on the roads are transits.

 

Nah - Sprinter......fastest things on the motorway!

[DamirGTI 342]

Well , will need a bigger one cos the idea is to install inside three separate tanks each of say 500L volume + will need to transport PVC and glass bottles , as well as smaller canisters (for which i need quite a lot of space as they're factory packed in square form size up to double mattress !! so they're light cargo but eats up most of the available space ..)

 

VW 35 - forgotten about them .. will look up the pricing of those ones ... not quite keen on Merc's , cos they're a bit pricey and over my budget ..

Transit - went on a "jolly boys outing" once with one of them ! (dunno which engine it was ?!) but was painfully slow and sluggish

 

So , Boxer/Jumper is better than a Ducato ?

As for the engines , been looking on "Autodata" , and it says all Ducato models have Fiat engines (but same cc range as Boxer/Jumper .. could be just labeling issue dunno .. however looking up to the specs and timing belt layout - the Fiat ones are clearly different ) , and some Jumper models as well have Fiat engines .. while Boxer has just and only PSA ones ...

 

HDI - supposed this ones would be bad choice ? cos of the complexity ... thought that the old fashion diesel ones would be better .. could be wrong though ..

 

Thanks for ideas boys

 

Damir

Edited June 30, 2011 by DamirGTI

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

Sprinters, injectors. Poooooo

[allye 530 3 Cars]

Sprinter 313, 135hp or something. Any more need to be said!

[dee205 3]

I'm a salesman for a van breakers.

 

Boxer/Ducato/Relay aren't anywhere near what a Sprinter or Transit would be. Parts are harder to locate if you need them.

 

The 2.2 Boxer engines are the same as the FWD Transit engines bar the turbo and a few other bits

 

Trafic/Vivaro/Primistar are as close to driving a car as you'll get in a van and despite how people moan about gearboxes etc, if you service them when you're supposed to and use good quality gear oil and stabiliser they're a cheap van to maintain and drive.

 

I'd stear clear of the 1.6HDi Berlingo/Expert engine unless you want to replace the turbo every farts end.

 

The Sprinter is a good big van but suffers a bit of the old tin worm like the Transit. Parts are more expensive especially if you go near a dealer for new parts.

 

Renault Master/Vauxhall Movano aren't bad either and like the Trafic go for ages if looked after.

 

All said it would be hard for me to look past a 350 or Jumbo Transit but even after a few years they rust like feckers. The 140hp tdci engines in the new model vans are quick as hell. Again the Transit is a real cheap van for parts,new or second hand.

 

Damien