You're going to really hate me now!

If we were all really after reliability, wouldn't we be driving Toyotas? If you consider just how widely they are used across the globe for the hardest of duties, you'd be pretty assured of how well they performed as workhorses. Go to the Carribean and every 'taxi/bus' thing is a Toyota. On Dominica they fill them to the brim with people - and I mean people on laps, people in the gaps between seats - and drive up volcanoes where the skill is to keep momentum to prevent the bus spinning up and sliding back down. They just never seem to go wrong.

Mr Hedgehog wrote: The Transporter wrote: Since when was a fucking van an aspirational vehicle I owned 2 Hyundai vans and trust me a T5 is something very aspirational indeed.   The 2 I owned from new over 8 years where (1998-2001 H100 STD non Turbo) (2001- 2006 H100 DLX with a turbo) this was before I could afford  to buy into the VW T5 So I know just how bad a Hyundai is and bits drop off and break loads. To start with it was a nice surprise to find that when you own a T5 unlike a Hyundai the door handle can be used in cold weather without breaking off in your hand and you don’t need to change the radiator every 10-12 months due to it falling to bits   Sure some VW dealers are piss poor but all the Hyundai dealers I dealt with where cowboys and getting warrantee work done was unbelievably hard I even had to speak to the importer to get recall work done on the front hubs as the dealer didn’t want to do it   The grass is not always greener

dazoo wrote: My experience of VW vans has been dire, my 85k example is shot to shit. Don't get me wrong, I bought a lemon, but it shows that even with a solid service history these vans can be destroyed in well under 100k. Turbo, clutch, DMF, heater, fuel pump, brake disks, crank sensors, etc etc all needing replaced within 5k miles of each other. It is in the garage at the minute with an undiagnosed starting problem that only happens when the vehicle has been left for a few hours. My new (to me) van is going to be my car. Most of the time I will ponse about in it with little more than dive kit in it. Worst case it will do a few hundred miles every couple of weeks with a motorbike in the back. I'm hoping that that should not be too taxing. However it seems to me that people like me have created a demand for 'nice' vans. And 'nice' vans don't stand up to ritual punishment as a work van very well.  Everyone on here hates slow agricultural diesel vans, we all like the VW image and the refinement. But I think they achieve that by using car-like components that just are not up to the job in the same way old vans used to be. And let's not be naive about warranties - it will be a very involved calculation based on risk/reward. Hyundai are having to support a 5 year warranty to differentiate themselves and to break the stereotyping. That's easy to do when the engines etc that you use are simply revamps of engines with track records going back 8 years. Not so easy when you try to innovate, then it is very easy to get stung. And at the end of the day, if a manufacturer has a major cost on his hands re. warranty, well they just reject it.

Was the mileage warranted ,  I think one of the major problems is that vans do high miles and are easy to clock

The Transporter wrote: And cars always do less miles and are almost impossible to clock

No some cars do high miles and can get clocked , but we are talkin about vans , whats the relavance .

Sadly I know of one guy who leases his vehicles who routinely has them clocked, he has a maximum mileage agreement and so has them wound back before sending them for services.... IE runs them for 20k, has them wound back and then sends them for service so on the face of it the mileage is genuine... I'm told that it is just as easy to clock a car as it is to clock a van and there are plenty of 54 plate cars with higher mileage than my van.

Just about every panel on my van has a dent or a scratch, it will be run 'till it is scrap so the issue of resale value to tradesmen is not so great, If I wanted to maximise my resale value, then I would lovingly wash, wax and cosset the damned thing but I wouldn't be able to get any work done. Get yourself down to the auctions and see what the true value of T5s are, the trade knows that they are a wheeled money pit, it is just the badge snobs who believe that the T5 can do no wrong. Yep I'll be happy to replace my van with a new Toyota when the time comes, sure they are a little utilitarian and bland but I know plenty of tradesmen who run toyotas and to them my T5 is a bit of a joke. They are fine for light work and occasional use provided that you wax them every other day  but that is about it.

There may be something to the contract theory above. My van was previously a contract vehicle, so perhaps the 'clock before service' routine was being carried out?

The Transporter wrote: Since when was a fucking van an aspirational vehicle......

kernow wrote: Ha it suits some tradies , my van is like my work tidy clean and well organised . I dread other trades who turn up in heapes of dented crap with thier tools rusting in the back , because thier standard of work and finish is usually reflected in the state of the van they drive .  And thats what customers think  for sure . its doesn't have to be a new van or a VW my old 97 transit was still tidy and undented when i sold it in 2007 .

kernow wrote: Ha it suits some tradies , my van is like my work tidy clean and well organised . I dread other trades who turn up in heapes of dented crap with thier tools rusting in the back , because thier standard of work and finish is usually reflected in the state of the van they drive .  And thats what customers think  for sure . its doesn't have to be a new van or a VW my old 97 transit was still tidy and undented when i sold it in 2007 .

With you guys 100% this seem to be true with my fellow sparks anyway.

The Transporter wrote: kernow wrote: Ha it suits some tradies , my van is like my work tidy clean and well organised . I dread other trades who turn up in heapes of dented crap with thier tools rusting in the back , because thier standard of work and finish is usually reflected in the state of the van they drive .  And thats what customers think  for sure . its doesn't have to be a new van or a VW my old 97 transit was still tidy and undented when i sold it in 2007 .  Ha! my tools are too busy working to go rusty.. I agree that a wreck on wheels is not a good sign but a van without battle scars isn't eaning it's keep..... Bit quiet at the mo?