Hey Lads...
A while ago I had a thread about my first car, albeit with a crappy budget. Things have changed now and I???ve got a steady job and a decent income. My budget has somewhat doubled with the ability to get a loan. So with a bigger budget more vans have become available. And these big buses have taken my interest.
Ford Transit, Mercedes Vito, VW Transporter
Has anyone had any experiences with any of these? I???d be looking at spending about ten grand on one.
I assume the Merc and VW are going to be expensive on parts and servicing. Are any of them remotely reliable, or are they mostly lemons?
Cheers
Poop
for ten grand, they'd mostly be superpoop
hyundai iload or what ever they are calling them now
but a ten grand commercial van is always gonna be a high millage whore
^^^^ what the Doc said.
Also remember that a commercial vehicle has probably had a VERY hard life.
VW parts on T5s can be horrific ($7.5k for a recon auto 'box, $12k for a new one). T4s less so, but still not cheap.
For that money I'd go a VY Commodore Wagon. Parts way cheaper, way nicer to drive, can get almost as much in them (and sleep in them) and you'll get plenty of change out of 10k.
Loans suck. Avoid like the plague if you can. Especially loans on depreciating assets like vehicles. If you can avoid having a loan, do it. Your financial future will be a lot more secure without one - plenty of my mates got car loans in their early 20's. Now they're mid-30's and have poured six figures into car loans and complain that they don't have a deposit for a house.
Save money. Then buy something expensive if you have to once you can afford it. You'll find that it's a lot harder to part with 10k once you've earned it because you know how much effort went into it.
The likelihood of you listening to this is almost nil, but believe me - avoid the loan if you can.
Hiace. You can find one with only 200,000k on the clock for about $8000-9000. Will run as long as you care to keep the vehicle.
Get a transit after 1976 they have disk brakes don't worry about motor just body & drop a windsor 351 v8 & top loader & put a nine inch diff out of a f100 in it . Convert to a Holden water pump they sit flatter & bingo you got a van that kicks ass . Learned they hard way on a 1974 model & had to convert to disk brakes & learned the hard way about fitting motor I cut the fire wall out to fit .But I did meet a bloke after who had done the Holden water pump trick it would of saved me so much hassle . I swear a transit body I reckon weighs less than an xy body for sure . It flew maybe because I worked the motor a bit also . If I had the money I would buy a transit that's probably 2003 model ex postal van with a high roof & try to pick up a really late model wreck of a xr8 & throw the driven line of that in .maybe even try to 4wd set up with v8 fit out back like camper . I see the picture of the Iveco it looks good but I think for a bit cheaper you could build easy. Mmmm 6ltre six speed van with Fwd option . Two sets of wheels mmm airbag suspension adjustable height mmmm built in air jacks . love heart bubble windows well maybe not the windows. Trundle tray bbq and sink Got to stop watching custom car shows
Select to expand quoteactiomax said..
Get a transit after 1976 they have disk brakes don't worry about motor just body & drop a windsor 351 v8 & top loader & put a nine inch diff out of a f100 in it . Convert to a Holden water pump they sit flatter & bingo you got a van that kicks ass . Learned they hard way on a 1974 model & had to convert to disk brakes & learned the hard way about fitting motor I cut the fire wall out to fit .But I did meet a bloke after who had done the Holden water pump trick it would of saved me so much hassle . I swear a transit body I reckon weighs less than an xy body for sure . It flew maybe because I worked the motor a bit also . If I had the money I would buy a transit that's probably 2003 model ex postal van with a high roof & try to pick up a really late model wreck of a xr8 & throw the driven line of that in .maybe even try to 4wd set up with v8 fit out back like camper . I see the picture of the Iveco it looks good but I think for a bit cheaper you could build easy. Mmmm 6ltre six speed van with Fwd option . Two sets of wheels mmm airbag suspension adjustable height mmmm built in air jacks . love heart bubble windows well maybe not the windows. Trundle tray bbq and sink Got to stop watching custom car shows
My dad had a transit. 4.1 litre, and they all had the firewall cutout and a hatch that crept into the passenger compartment in order to fit the straight six in it. You had to take it off if you wanted to change the sparkplugs.
The thing went really well, because the diff ratio was well suited to a 4 cylinder and low speed. It was fun.
Now, I think the holden V6s would fit into the Transits easier than anything else.
If it was an older transit with a straight six, I think a motor out of an AU or BA would be the way to go.
Dead "ex postie" and Late model Transits are best converted with commodore V6 and auto trans.
Castlemain rod shop and a few others make the crossmember kits for them.
IIRC the best [simplest] conversion uses the VP Commodore as a donor as it pretty much drops in, and the auto is not computer controlled.
The transits have a reputation for being horribly expensive when it comes to engine, clutch or gearbox repairs- and many get scrapped because of this.
You should be able to find a dead one at a decent price- rip out the engine and gearbox- and sell them to recoupe some of your cash.
Then pick up an auto VP Commodore for your donor.
even better - if it is running on LPG, you could set it up to run dedicated LPG and hang the tanks underneath- and you have no need for catalytic converters or emission contol stuff.
stephen
