Anybody on here run a late ish VW Transporter?

[Specialone]

As title?

Im thinking of selling my golf and my transit connect and getting a VW transporter as my only 4 wheeled transport.

Wanted to know things like running costs, parts prices, any known faults to avoid or cost into the purchase?

Im also probably gonna use it to tour a little bit, take bike in the back then either sleep in it or take our big tent and home comforts (for the wife not me i must add).

I got my golf new in June 2007 and its done 17.5k miles, so it doesnt get used much and with the building trade not paying as much as it used to its a cost i can do without as its costing me around £700 a year before ive done any miles with insurance, tax (£120) and servicing.

Cheers

[DSGMATT]

Would advise to go and have a wander on T4 Forums - if that is the model you mean? Went to a VW gathering last week - the Vans and Campers of T4 and newer dominated the event by around 50 > 1 compared to Splittys and beetles/ T25. They are really popular now compared to the older stuff - that aside it was more of a water cooled event.

You can get a decent trade off between a Van/ Camper and general car for reasonable monies.

[Wideboy]

not much help i have been looking at them also, the Roll's Royce of vans. As you know some vans aren't fantastic on fuel from what i have seen the general consensus is the the newer transports get 30-35 mpg depending on how you drive.

i've started looking at vivaro's due to the price of transporters but the mpg figures aren't much better

[Specialone]

Been on the forums already, no definitive answers and sometimes the info is cloudy as its through rose tinted glasses sometimes.

The 105ps t5 are the ones im looking at, colour coded bumpers etc, they seem to be able to to get 35mpg pretty easy apparently so thats no worse than my connect.

[Wideboy]

you got he LWB high top?

[DSGMATT]

Been on the forums already, no definitive answers and sometimes the info is cloudy as its through rose tinted glasses sometimes.

The 105ps t5 are the ones im looking at, colour coded bumpers etc, they seem to be able to to get 35mpg pretty easy apparently so thats no worse than my connect.

Maybe go to a gathering then - speaking to owners would give you a feel of what the issues are/ could be and what models to look for? The owners I spoke to last week were friendly in gneral and let us sit in the living areas to see the features they had added.

My old man had a T25 Caravelle with a WRX motor in/ porsche alloys etc - was a good laugh but rust starts creeping in after a while. He is tempted to get back into a LWB T4 with all the goodies.

[Specialone]

you got he LWB high top?

Nah, swb 220L, abs, its a late 04 plate, 48k miles, i bought it 18 months with 8k on the clock.

[Small Clanger]

One of the lads that subbies for me bought a new 10 plate. Nothing but trouble, loads of warranty work, I'll ask him for details tomorrow.
One of my wholesalers has an older Sportline, loves it, no bother. Used during the week, big mileage at work and at w'ends for hauling kids/mountain bikes around. Looks cool too.
A neighbour runs a 56 plate, joinery business during the week, cleaned out now and again for travel with wife/kids/dogs/bikes. Again, no bother as far as I know although he had a slight F/N/S bash and the headlight unit was £lots.
Another friend has an 08 combi, mainly used privately and for hauling a Lambretta to Santa Pod (yes, i know :rolleyes:) That's also nice, shiny black and, as far as I know, been ultra reliable.

I'd have one tomorrow without a doubt, trouble is, where I work, I need a 4X4.
When you decide to sell the Connect, PM me details, I'll ask around. You never know.

[maviczap]

Ask Paul the 6th he had one & Tim in Belgium's got an ex AA one

We run a T5 as one of our works vans, its been great, no problems at all.

Trouble is that VW moved some of their production to places like Turkey I think, which is where the problems lie.

We've got two VW Crafters in our fleet, which have been ok, but have had niggling electrical problems from time to time.

T5 is great to drive, although having a properly noise insulated cab would make it even better

[andrewsmith]

T5's are good just like a good sup, but do shift.

They are a current darling of the Fleet hire firms along with Skoda and Seat.
They are VW's and aint cheap if they feck up, this is the only big failure I've heard of from firms (but they rack stupid miles up on the whole fleet)

TBH VW's are hit and miss, a contractor (where I'm working) has the caddy's and transporter's and they have killed one in under year (had done 50k in 11 months). They do run 2 years and get shot lease hire

It was a coolant system and full top end rebuild

[monkey]

I've had a couple of new Caddy's and the first one managed to shear a chunk of engine near the mount. It was replaced onlky for VW themselves to not bother fitting a different mount properly and so sheared the drive shafts.

I've heard from a reliable source that their build quality isn't what it used to be.

That said they went totally galvanized many years ago so whatever model you get won't rust.