Van replacement

[Hudson1984]

Hi all,

i'm in a phase I get into fairly regularly.

ok so, we've always had 2 vehicles. Sadly our second vehicle has always turned out to be bloody RUBBISH!
Had a golf - was a cheapy and nothing worked on it
Replaced it with a mondeo - was NOT a cheapy, head gasket went.
and that's just the last 12 months.

I'd gone round in circles with what to get, and we decided leasing was our best option. Included all the overpriced extras to ensure we're never without a car and no matter what happens, largely speaking, we're covered.

Now, that takes car of the daily driver - school runs and all that.

Our other vehicle is our long suffering T5 Caravelle now we love this van, it does alot very very well, can load it up and go camping which we like, can chuck the dog cage in the boot or empty it out and have a great hauler for every bit of crap we want.

for weekends and walking holidays and all that it's hard to beat it.

HOWEVER

it's a 2005, and it's becomming an expensive beast, we've repaired the doors (power opening) every year, the electric windows have only just started working again. We replaced the whole exhaust, replaced the fuel tank etc etc.

Now I know it's a van, but the VW tax is wearing a little thin and I'm keen to look at other options.

Do I just keep throwing money at it on the understanding it's a money pit and live with it in the knowledge it's great in alot of other areas.

OR

Trade it in, get something newer, and ideally with less expensive issues - normal maintenance I can of course handle.

£10,000 in your pocket, what would you do? (it's worth circa £10k trade in - I don't have £10k to upgrade it)

[georgeyboy12345]

Probably keeping your van and getting it sorted is the cheapest option, better the devil you know and all that. But here are some suggestions anyway

Hyundai i800 2.5 CRDi
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303024...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303105...


BMW 220d Gran Tourer xDrive
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202302134...


Toyota Land Cruiser 3.0 D-4D
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303135...


Mercedes R350 CDI L 4Matic
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202303115...


Audi Q7 4.2 TDI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202302074...

[ZX10R NIN]

It depends on what type of van you want & also how much you're spending per year to keep it running?


An alternative is the i800:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202302023...

[agent006]

You'd get quite a nice 2012ish Mercedes Viano for ten grand.

[Hudson1984]

yeah it's a tricky one, and one that comes round again and again.

our requirements really are:

decent sized mid section, for changing cloths (kids) after muddy walks or time on the beach etc.
Room for loads of camping crap
able to tow (only a motorbike)
automatic
being able to walk through from front to back is a lovely feature

which of course, is all the stuff that attracted us to the T5..

It's really whether i'd get a better van of a different make for the value of this. I can't see us going back to an MPV just don't think it could do the same job

[ED209]

Hudson1984 said:

yeah it's a tricky one, and one that comes round again and again.

our requirements really are:

decent sized mid section, for changing cloths (kids) after muddy walks or time on the beach etc.
Room for loads of camping crap
able to tow (only a motorbike)
automatic
being able to walk through from front to back is a lovely feature

which of course, is all the stuff that attracted us to the T5..

It's really whether i'd get a better van of a different make for the value of this. I can't see us going back to an MPV just don't think it could do the same job

Sounds like you want to buy my Vito sport x brabus off me. 3 litre diesel, auto, tow bar fitted, captains seats, it’s a long so a little bit more room than a t 5