Van test drive day

[DomP]

Going on a van hunt today, gonna catch a big one. No seriously enough bear hunt quotes, I've been test driving small vans today. New berlingo are nasty so I tried a 2015 caddy what a nice drive that was, worth the extra cash? Well if the tax man is having it anyway yes! And as its a daily driver it i need to be happy with it.
Any way this one was a 102 bhp 1.6 version, coming from my 182bhp clio a bit of a let down performance wise which has made me think of trying the 140bhp or remapping the 102bhp. This is a safe and regularly performed mod both for performance and economy. So my question after this Aldi Toro loco blurt is any one got any caddy experiences or in put? Not interested in sensible opinions just agree with me😉

[Adam Ef]

If I was looking at a van that size I'd be looking at the Nissan E-NV200 electric van. If you lease the battery instead of buy it's surprisingly less to buy than I'd imagined it would be. depends on distances you need to do and performance is probably lacking but electric vehicles are going to be the future.

Unfortunately if I get a van I'll need it to be bigger and there's nothing like that around at the moment.

[DomP]

Very rural for me and big Welsh border hills so electric wouldn't cut it I'm afraid. Admittedly the caddy is partly aesthetics/desirability but then depreciation on resale in 3-5 years is good as in my favour compared to French vans. Man that Berlingo was a bag of c##p, 90bhp of gutlessness

[DomP]

I'm quite sold on a caddy, I think there is good reason you see so many

[andrewsmith]

Try the Renault kangoo or the merc citan if you want the posh name.
We have a fleet of them at work and they're decent and use the same motor as the trafic iirc.

If you need something bigger, nv200 (Nissan note underneath)
Or going bigger again Renault trafic, Vauxhall vivaro or Nissan nv300 all the same vans underneath. 6 courier firms around here have ditched fords, Toyota's and citorens for them

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

[Luckypants]

<snip> but electric vehicles are going to be the future.

Very rural for me and big Welsh border hills so electric wouldn't cut it I'm afraid.Quite right I think. There was a report on Wales Today about the lack of fast charging points around Wales. They showcased a chippy from Welshpool who bought an electric van and it has severely impacted his business due to the range in that terrain.

Charging points will be like broadband / mobile phones. Nothing in the middle of Wales until government pays for them.

Get the Caddy, 1.6 TDi in my Seat deals with hills not problem, even loaded up with 3 blokes and cycling gear in the Pyrenees.

[DomP]

I loved the 1.6tdi 102ps I drove, it was so much more refined and car like than the citroen berlingo.

Honestly I regularly work in Hereford 20 miles from me and if I'm low on fuel I have to go out of my way as there isn't a single fuel station on route.

[Wideboy]

I had a caddy as a company van a few years back and it was by far the nicest van I've driven, after leaving that job I down sized my transit and bought one as I only carry tools now. Custom racked you can get a lot of gear in the back and I can get about 20 odd 8ft timbers in it with the bulkhead out, but you can get the bolt on roof rails cheap and clip on roof bars so you don't have to deal with wind noise from permanent roof rack.

I have the older 2k 1.9 tdi as I wanted a specific model. It weighs nothing so pretty pokey in a traffic light gp and easily hits a ton when loaded up, **** hot on fuel too, been considered getting it remapped but cant make up my mind. Not had a bike in it yet but the tape measure says its doable without the bulkhead. There's a guy on here that's also on the caddy2k forum who gets his track R6 in the back of him.

I'm not 100% if it was rectified but the 1.6's had a water pump problem, they commonly detonated around the 70k mark but I'm not sure if this was a sudden failure or prolonged. From my experience water pumps tend to start grinding before they detonate. Probably been sorted now, this was about the 61 plate age.

I had a brand new partner van when working away a few weeks back, there's no comparison IMO.

[DomP]

Cheers mate, I totally agree regarding the comparison with cheaper French vans. This is a 2015 1.6tdi 102ps which I may consider getting remapped to around 140 as it seems recommended to free up the engine as well as improve the torque no end so having a positive effect on mpg...apparently

[Wideboy]

Yeah the caddy has been remapped pretty extensively by many companies now and the gains you can achieve through little or no work are quite good.

There's **** loads of mods you can do to them as well, they have a bit of a cult following like the transporters, especially the 2k models. I've contemplated doing so much to it, lowering it, banded wheels and colour coding ect, but I travel down country lanes and tracks so it would quickly end up ruined. I like some of the things people do but IMO when you have to worry about bouncing down kerbs and potholes you defeat the object of having a van.

[DomP]

What does 2k stand for, I've only just worked out the C20

[Luckypants]

I'm not 100% if it was rectified but the 1.6's had a water pump problem, they commonly detonated around the 70k markLong since fixed! If you bought an older model it would be prudent to get it changed but as the OP is looking at a 2010 model, its fine.

Like many modern engines, the water pump is driven by the cam-belt and any good mechanic would recommend a water pump change at cam-belt renewal time in order to avoid future problems. Cam belt driven water pumps are expensive to change due to the labour involved, so preventive maintenance like that is sensible.