I am currently driving as a work van a 2006 lwb hi top Transit, 2.4 turbo diesel, its now done 165,000 km, got it at 120,000. Its fine enough to drive, currently doing 1100km a week in it. Not impressed by the build quality and the reliability. Currently we have replaced the water pump,a wheel bearing, diff bearings, passenger seat belt, air con has conked out 3 times, starter motor is on the way out, then there is the rust, lots of it, obviously from the original assembly. The rust has been "repaired" under Fords 5 year warranty but is back again. I am staggered that a company the size of Ford would produce such a poor quality product. We are in the panelbeating and auto paint supply game, so I see these transits having the rust repaired all over the place. This got us talking at work, who produces anything better! The japs don't make a van of the size we need, all of theirs are made for short people so that left us with VW, Mercedes-Benz, Fiat or Iveco. Asking around I got the answers: VW lunch their engines when the water pump goes, M-B are hell on their brakes and Fiat have very dodgy electrics. Iveco "who"! lol. I would love to hear from you guys as to your experiences as we want to replace our vans in the not too distant future and is what we have now as good as we can expect.
scoobeey,
Jun 5, 12:20pm
Hiace
rsr72,
Jun 5, 12:23pm
Mercedes-Benz, VW.
gammelvind,
Jun 5, 12:40pm
Lol, I am 6'4", I can stand up in the Transit, while the reliability of the hiace isn't in question, I ain't no hobbit. :-)
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 12:52pm
I would buy any of the above, people heckle any vehicle and all of those are good machines and well ahead of the Transit in my opinion.
If I had to choose it would be the VW.
BTW, is this going to be manual or automatic! If its an auto VW is the easy choice as it has the best transmission.
Hopefully this won't ruinyour thread but really the reliability of the Hiace should be in question and it dosn't compete even if you could fit into one. Toyota diesels are not great engines at all but at least with the older ones you only had to play Russian Roulette with the heads cracking. The new diesels have a raft of different problems and often need fairly major work with less than 50k on the clock. Its not really Toyotas fault its just that because diesels cars have not been allowed in Japan for a decade they fell way behind on R & D compared to the European brands.
scoobeey,
Jun 5, 12:57pm
So why including mine and MANY more hiaces are reaching neally a million ks with NO major probs!
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 1:00pm
Thats how russian roulette works, sometimes you get away with it and good servicing does increase your odds. I have a couple of mates toyota Diesels and they absolutely baby them (5000km oil changes, full and proper services the lot) yet they have done a head each in the last 18 months.
Hiaces are also death traps and shouldn't be allowed to be sold, but thats another story.
Anyhow you can have the last word if you want. I don't want to spoil this thread, shouldn't have mentioned it really.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 1:01pm
What year van are you looking at kazbanz!
Oh and go on. you can say it. Ffff Ffffffff Ffffffffiiiiiiaaaaa
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 1:13pm
Incidentally gammelvind, what you have been told about those vans are classic old wives tales. People love to appear knowledgeable on a subject and love to quote stuff "they heard". Pretty much none of that is applicable to any of the vans you are looking at and is just the result of Chinese whispers going back decades. The fact that these people didn't know what an Iveco is shows you their level of understanding on the subject.
gammelvind,
Jun 5, 1:24pm
I agree with you Jazz, hence I am asking, though ree the VW my opposition has had VW's now gone to hiaces because of the probs they had. 2 vans needing engine rebuilds, 1 at 80,000 and another at 150,000. Apparently due to water pumps failing and the cam belt (!) falling off. Probably not enough Ivecos out there to find any comments.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 1:33pm
What year roughly were these vans! This sounds like the old plastic impellar waterpump issue where the waterpump should have been replaced before that milage for that very reason. VW went to steel impellar waterpumps quickly after it started turning up as a problem though.
Anyhow, the new VW Diesel Transporter does not have a timing belt from memory (gear driven) so its a non-issue.
gammelvind,
Jun 5, 1:37pm
The shape before the one in the link you posted earlier.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 1:39pm
Dosn't really help, the T5 has been around since 2002. Anyhow, no longer an issue and if it was handled appropriately it should not have been an issue even for those affected.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 1:45pm
I read this wrong, its probably the T4 which is even older again. Like I said old wives tales, not applicable anymore. The plastic impellar waterpump issue only affected vehicles up to circa 2000.
Its well publicized and very old news.
Incidentally there are a few later ones that look like they have the same problematic plastic impeler pump but those are made of another material PPS which dosn't crack and fly apart in the heat like the old Durethan ones did. The design idea is actually a good one its just a pity the original material did not hold up over time. Plastic type materials are lighter and corrosionresistant so it is an advantage.
vtecintegra,
Jun 5, 2:07pm
Funny how your consider the Multipla a safe vehicle when it has comparable crash ratings to the 'deathtrap' Hiace
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 2:16pm
Not comparable at all.
1. The Multipla is 13 years old now and it is very safe when compared with similarly priced alternatives. (Bearing in mind I recommended ones with a value of $10000 and under). The equivalent Toyota product that competes at that price point has a nasty habit of actively decapitating the driver in a crash. (at least in LHD form, no RHD test video is available).
2. Most Multipla's in NZ are much safer than the NCAP rating, the tested vehicle had a weakness with the airbag system that caused the low rating. This was amended quickly although the vehicle was not re-tested.
3. Even the very early un-revised Multipla has very good structural integrity and won't cut your legs off if you crash at urban speeds unlike the Hiace.
You only have to look at the crash test video's of both to understand what I am talking about.
If the government stopped allowing Hiace's and other dangerous cab forward vans to be sold (or at least attract a tarrif that goes to ACC) we would save a lot of unnecessary lost lives and horrible injuries. Not to mention the tax dollars wasted in unnecessary health care.
Tradesmans vehicles typically do a lot of milage, its pretty irresponsible that we still condone such an unnecessary, archaic and dangerous design. We are not China.
sr2,
Jun 5, 2:21pm
Playing in a band and needing a tow wagon for the race car, the dirt bikes and the boat has had me owning vans for the last 30 years or so. Current 2.8 Ducato at 200,000 K??
vtecintegra,
Jun 5, 2:27pm
They'd have to stop the similarly poor performing Transit from being imported too.The big Mercedes/VW vans don't even have a rating available, its only an assumption you're making that they're any better
ambo11,
Jun 5, 2:35pm
Whatever you do, DO NOT buy a Fiat, you will regret it forever. Mercedes Benz Sprinters (the 318, 3.0 litre V6 turbo diesel) is the absolute pick of the bunch. Have had Fiats over the last 10 years (Not my choice and are CONSTANTLY breaking down, cambelts snapping, auto trans dying, wheels bearings failing well within 100,000km etc etc), plus pathetically gutless compared to the Mercs. And before anyone jumps on me about Fiats, I have 10 years experience with both them and Mercs, and I look after nearly 10 of them, as well as drive them large distances daily. Toyota Hiace would be next best but have a high floor so reduces standing/cargo room considerably. The VWs I have heard have used Merc running gear in some models!
sr2,
Jun 5, 2:45pm
Sorry I have to disagree with you completely re Fiat Vans, after 200,000 Km I can't fault mine on the reliability front and I'm looking forward to the next 200,000Km. I have heard however that some of the earlier Ambulance conversions were disaster areas (wrong model chassis, too heavy bodies, dodgy electrical conversions ??
You just can't make cab forward vans safe. its the nature of Physics. Nuff said.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 3:12pm
+1 Its just like the few idiot motor homers who complain.They do dodgy conversions, slip the clutches like mad because they don't know how to drive properly and then complain they have problems.
We are talking about third generation factory standard vans that have not been monkeyed with. I would still slightly prefer the VW but the Ducato is also a great unit.
Its also far from slow, the other poster may even be talking about pre-common rail diesel ones (of which there were plenty of Ambulances)which is a bit like the waterpump thing. we are talking about an engine that is around 20 years old. The Mercedes got the common rails first so were quicker for a bit. Either way its highly unlikely they are using the new Multijet diesel range which go like rockets and in this application there is not going to be the weight of an ambulance on the back.
thejazzpianoma,
Jun 5, 3:30pm
I should add in fairness, you can get the Mercedes vans with a large output 3.0 engine which does have a performance advantage. but somehow I don't think the OP would be spending the 70K+ to get a high roof one of those.
Performance of the range that is realistically likely to be under consideration is really much of a muchness.
gammelvind,
Jun 5, 7:04pm
Interesting comments thus far, has anyone had corrosion issues as most transits seem to have!
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