Well, Im finally giving in and buying a van to tow our currently being built race trailer.
Looking at MWB type size, but it needs to be heavy duty and tow at-least 2 tonnes.
Either the heavy duty transits, although there arent that many around, Or do i go for the 3.5 tonne Iveco? Which there are quite a few around.
Dont really want to spend much more than 3k, but that sort of money seems to be able to buy an 05-07 age ish
Also apart from Rust on the transits, what else to look out for?
Whats everyones opinions? I seem to be hearing some bad things about Ivecos (Electrics) but other people rave about them...
Or is there anything else out there that is better/more suited? Sprinters seem good but much more expensive?
Thanks in Advance
[Edited on 23/7/13 by eddie99]
Do you need a van or will a pickup, like a L200 not do?
quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Do you need a van or will a pickup, like a L200 not do?
Some of Land Rovers 'older' models are rated at 3500kg.
Ed
My van was a iveco daily 3.5t Lwb. As much as I loved it it had lots of negatives. I had the 2.8l which was okay but lacked a bit bhp wise. The newer
engines are much smoother and more powerful. Gearbox was clunky, brakes were like bottle tops, steering resembled steering a boat and electrics were
shite. And believe it or not the van was in very very good condition. Everything I thought was an issue was met by response of iveco dealer,
"that's iveco s for ya!". Brilliant. It was a good workhorse and never really let me down. Do kind of regret selling it, but ends must.
Can't comment about transits, but decided my next tow vehicle would either be a 4x4 estate or Navarro.
Not sure that helps.....
Ed
Bought a 57 plate x coca cola transit just over 2 years ago, to date 1 starter motor and no regrets. Previously had a reanault traffic same as vivaro, it was a money pit, looked ay iveco when bought transit, cheaper to buy but just couldn't bring myself to do it having looked closely at them, fiats ducato looks good.
Had a couple of Iveco's as work vans and couldn't really fault them. Older 2.8's not the most powerful or economical but go forever. Newer 2.3HPI are more economical, faster and more refined. Never had any bother with either of them and unless they are really abused they don't seem to rust. Currently running an 07 plate Citroen Relay LWB (similar size to MWB Iveco) and so far has been excellent. Economy especially and also performance are better than the Iveco and they can legally carry more weight as they are a lighter van. Tows the rally car as if it wasn't there. Only real negative vs the Iveco is the much poorer turning circle with it being FWD
I had to move 'up' to a newer Transit last year, trepidation and the same thoughts as you. My finances are far worse than others, so
that's the biased view I have.
Previous vans have been MK5 (smiley) Transits. An ex AA SWB, an ex Richfords (fire and flood) LWB and an ex builders LWB. All were 3.5T, GTW of 5.5T,
incredibly reliable, faultless service with virtually no maintenance. Towed the cars across the UK, Scotland and occasionally Europe almost every
summer weekend.
All died from rust. The ex-AA van, the front axle subframe came through the chassis sections and the floorpan, a few months after the it's last
MoT. The heavier (3.5T) vans have a laminated front and rear strengthened chassis, it may look good, but there's probably nothing inside. If I
could find a good MK5...
Last year I bought MK6, 2.4TD (75 bhp turbo). High top (as usual, so you can get a mid-sleeper bed frame in there). 2002, galactic mileage, some
chassis rust. It's doing OK, but there have been some issues with end-of-life components (oil/water cooler external/internal corrosion, oil
thermostat disintegrating...etc), the (now) aged anti-theft system and electrics in general. It still has the Transit sealed-for-death propshaft UJ
mentality, so ignoring the clonks can't continue. However, that said, it's a good old lugger, quiet comfortable and cheap. I'm
happy.
Looked at a lot of Transit alternatives though.
Cheers for the advice guys, guess i'll keep looking around. If anyone knows of anything for sale, please let me know.
We run four Iveco dailys at work and I don't think we are ever going to get anything different. They are built down to a price, the interior is
pretty pants and they rattle like hell. But they go like stink and can tow 3.5 ton. Not many vans can tow that much. Couple that with the price......
Not sure I'd buy one to convert to a camper but as a working vehicle they are good. The electrics however seem a bit backwards. They don't
seem very trailer lighting friendly.
[Edited on 24/7/13 by Irony]
I had a 55 plate 2.3 hpi unijet xlwb with 50,000 on the clock sold it with 68 brilliant van used it for racing bikes and converted it with kitchen
and 2 bunks with a large garage 5m awning on the side chipped to 145bhp with speed limiter removed absolute missile for the size of it and fairly
good on juice (better than a 2005 mwb transit )
Had no problems with mine cam belt parts were reasonable from iveco as were filters .
Seeing where you are pop down to Manheim Auctions down at Colchester they sell huge amounts of vans every week if you can't buy one there you can't buy one anywhere! Most of them are straight from the leasing company and if you're careful you'll get a cracker. Oh and if you dont want to stretch to a sprinter or LT35 then its Transit all the way. Ivecos are bloody expensive to fix in my experience when they go wrong which they do, quite a bit!