My nephew, who is a "sales rep" for a Surfing . watersports clothing company, popped in last night with his new van.
Mercedes Vito long wheelbase type thing.
"Leather" seats
7 speed Automatic
Front & Rear sensors and rear camera
Bluetooth
Active Park Assist
Cruise Control
190hp 2.1 litre engine ,
Although he loves it, his last van apparently had the additional seats behind so could be used as a family vehicle as well.
Can see how these and the VW Transporter things are so well liked by the surfing brigade
Kind of put my 10 year old Transit to shame with its manual windows etc but think it would still shame the newer Transits as well.
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A retired friend now works for Tesco as a driver. As he started he got one of their new Iveco vans - 8 Speed Jaguar gearbox and all the trimmings. Loves it.
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>> think it would still shame the newer Transits as well.
It would certainly put our new Transit Courier TDCI at work to shame.
Whilst it has AC, Bluetooth, & DAB, that's about it in terms of luxury.
No wheel trims. Manual windows - didn't think vehicles had those any more? Manual exterior door mirrors. Very manual in fact. To adjust them you first have to wind down the window then press the glass in the direction you want to adjust them, leaving fingerprints all over the glass. Very primitive! Considering the mirrors are an aid to help in reversing and parking, it's very annoying to say the least not being able to adjust the passenger side one unless you have someone with you. And there's sod all storage space in the cabin either.
And it's limited to 70 mph. Several people who've driven it have said how dangerous it is on a motorway.
I don't think I'll ever talk negatively about the 2013 Citroen Berlingo van we used to have ever again. That was luxury in comparison to this pile of carp. What were Ford thinking?
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 6 Oct 17 at 10:37
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Bluetooth and AC should be built into H&S requirements for any van in reality. The Fiat Motorhome had electrically adjustable mirrors. Worked really well. I wouldn't like to have to adjust the nearside one for a simple driver swap.
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>> Bluetooth and AC should be built into H&S requirements for any van in reality.
The daft thing is that company policy says that no phone calls are to be made while driving. And they then go order a van with Bluetooth!
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,>> >> What were Ford thinking?
>>
What was your employer thinking? You can buy a Transit with just about every luxury under the sun these days so it's down to whoever specified it and the size of their wallet.
Likewise the 70mph limiter is user choice.
Last edited by: Hard Cheese on Fri 6 Oct 17 at 13:57
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>> What was your employer thinking?
I think they blew what budget they had on the vinyl company logos emblazoned all over the van.
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I recently replaced my Transporter Shuttle (that needed a new engine!) with a Peugeot Traveller - an Expert van with seats windows and trimmings. Standard Allure spec includes (deep breath); alloys, xenon headlamps, front and rear parking sensors and reversing camera, panoramic roof, leather seats, front seats with heaters, elec lumbar adjustment, elec massaging(!), reclining rear seats, electric sliding doors with foot operation under rear bumper, DAB, Bluetooth, climate control, keyless entry, keyless start, stop-start, interior mood lighting,elec adjustable folding and heated door mirrors, opening glass in rear tailgate (great for those over-long surf boards!), auto lights and wipers, metallic paint. I think that's about it!
It's a lot smoother, more refined more comfortable and more economical than the VW was!
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Transporters are hugely over-rated in my view. They are good vans but the camping/outdoor sports mob have driven prices up to stupid levels, attaining some sort of cult status. One can't help thinking that it's a bubble that will probably go pop at some point. The latest model Transit gets my vote. I've had poor experience of French cars so not sure I would trust one of their vans but that was long ago, matters may well be different now.
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>> Transporters are hugely over-rated in my view. They are good vans but the camping/outdoor sports
>> mob have driven prices up to stupid levels, attaining some sort of cult status. One
>> can't help thinking that it's a bubble that will probably go pop at some point.
>> The latest model Transit gets my vote. I've had poor experience of French cars so
>> not sure I would trust one of their vans but that was long ago, matters
>> may well be different now.
>>
Feedback from new Transit users is they suffer a host of faults which take ages to sort out; faulty sensors being amongst the most common.
I agree with you about the Transporter; excellent vehicle but ridiculously overpriced mainly due to cult status. Even bottom of the market rot-boxes sell for silly money. The engines, admittedly, can clock up very high mileages but once they start to rot you've just got a rusty van like every other builder in town. Vitos, if anything, are even worse for tinworm.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sat 7 Oct 17 at 08:57
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>> I agree with you about the Transporter; excellent vehicle but ridiculously overpriced mainly due to cult status.>>
Transporters are suffering engine failure, something to do with a heat exchanger breaking down and aluminium being ingested into the engine. Neighbour's '12 plate effected.
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>> Transporters are suffering engine failure, something to do with a heat exchanger breaking down and
>> aluminium being ingested into the engine. Neighbour's '12 plate effected.
>>
Which is what mine did. All the 180 BiTDIs do it sooner or later. Let's see how my French van fares reliability-wise...
I agree that Transporters are over-rated.
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Mercedes Vito Van - R.P.
