Transporter or Traffic

[Dave Bruce]

Hi Macky, you have narrowed it down to the two that I would consider too, that Trafic is getting a great reputation in my area, seams to be very reliable and a great shape.

Looked at the Maxus too, recon the deep channels are to compensate for the thin metal! Didn’t like the gear change/pedals/switches, but the price was good.

Sorry can’t help with the decision, may help who has the nearest agent, in Oban we have a Fiat garage so alot of Ducatos and Scudos, VW you have an hour drive same with Renault although there is a renault mechanic in town.

Cheers

Dave

[Robert Lambie]

i’de go with the renault… im not keen on the make but if i had the choice on the two vans ide go with that. VW’s are great, very reliable etc but a tad over priced. we have used mercedez vans for years now, we have a renualt for our cherrypicker and a smaller van, exact same shape as vw caddy but differnet name and ill be damned if i remember 😕
if its a leased van, you cant really go wrong if your covered for fully on services parts etc all in on the price? that being the case renault for definate.

[David McDonald]

Right it’s decided then I’m going to for a Sherpa from Freight Rover, or possibly a Commer Van.

[Nick Minall]

Just for looks I would go with the Traffic, the VW looks a bit dated to me.

[Peter Normington]

Is that the new style tranporter Nick ?

[Lynn Normington]

never mind the mechanics go for the best impact for your graphics 😛

Lynn

[Nick Minall]

Yes peter the new one sill looks old to me, the new caddy is nice though, I have a Connect LWB High top can get 8×4 sheet in just (!)

[Roy Roffey]

hey macky

i personally have a vw transporter. i was in the same position as you a few months ago. i chose the vw as its a good reliable van with a great driving position, a 8 x 4 sits nicely (flat – not on its side ) in the rear and a great blank canvas as for sign writing.

i have 5 dealerships i do work for in my town and vw sells the most vans out of them all, not that that’s a good reason to buy, but that must tell you something.

I’m sure that you ll buy what ever suits you and as long as your happy with it – that’s all that matters

roffs

[Stuart Whitehouse]

I’ve just bought a new van. I went for a mercedes Vito. Comes with lots of extras as standard whereas the trafic & the transporter come with very little meaning price was very similar.

A SWB renault trafic wouldn’t fit an 8×4 sheet in. They advertise that it holds 2400mm length but thats in a tiny recess at the bottom of the bulkhead meaning you’d have to lay it on the floor which I thought was no good.

[David Rowland]

I think our most popular customers vehicle is the VW Transporters, so I guess that might help your choice, we also have one. But we do have a VW garage next door however 🙄

[Shane Drew]

quote Stuart Whitehouse:

I’ve just bought a new van. I went for a mercedes Vito. Comes with lots of extras as standard whereas the trafic & the transporter come with very little meaning price was very similar.

I am the same, looked at all 3 myself. Purchased the Vito lwb crew cab van as it has the best features for the price, and it was cheaper than the VW. I really wanted the VW because I have had beetles and kombi’s all my driving life, but end of the day it came down to price and practicality. Don’t like the trafic for its looks, and they don’t have enough sold here to give me a lot of confidence in their reliabilty.

[Phill Fenton]

I have owned the new shape Trafic for nearly four years. It’s been a very reliable vehicle and is built to last. It has a fully galvanised body shell so should be rust resistant (there isn’t any sign of rust anywhere on mine). The only shortcoming is the loadspace. It just a fraction short of being able to take an 8×4 sheet lying flat. I like the shape – it’s modern and drives like a car inside. Nissan and Vauxhall also sell the same van.

I can’t really comment on the VW as I have never owned one.

The new Mercedes Vito should also be considered along with the Transit of course.

As Roy said as long as your happy with whatever you buy, that’s all that matters. Both vehicles seem to come highly reccomended and both have a lot going for them

[John Robinson]

If you’re considering a Trafic why not also consider a Nissan Primastar? They are virtually the same van although Nissans come much better equipped than the Trafic for the same price. Had one on lease since June and I am well pleased with it. When I was considering which van to get the Nissan salesman told me that Nissan UK were pushing to get a bigger market share with the Primastar and were therefore offering great deals, which I can now vouch for. I’m paying far less now per month than I did for my Vito, for a much more comfortable and far better equipped van.

HTH

John

[John Simpson]

quote Macky D:

Also whilst on the subject of vans – is it just me or have LDV spent £500m in developing the new Maxus and £490m of that went into making sure it had the deepest / worst possible panel recesses in the world?

Cheers
Macky

don’t agree Macky, my Iveco lwb has the worse recesses whilst my old LDV had nice flat panels on a crap van.
L J

[Grasshopper]

My view as an owner is the traffic, well comfortable to drive 1800 between sevises and very riliable, panels are harder to sign up though, but the traffic is currently going for £6995 + at arnold clarkes. i know which way i would go. But there is nothing like personal preference.

Happy hunting

Jay

[Brian Maher]

dunno if its a consideration in you case mate,
but here in ireland the vw holds its resale value better,would imagine same in uk?? 😕
worth bearing in mind if you plan on changing again soon…

the lwb is the job though if you plan on carry a lot of 8×4 sheets,
but you could always hitch a trailer on the swb if needed,so get a towbar thrown in on any deal you make 😉

also worth checking out which dealer has the best reputation for servicing,warantee jobs etc..all salesmen will promise the sun moon and stars but later on when you need the back-up who will stand by their product best??? 😕

for example, we gave a good customer who has a garage a turn buying a 4×4 crewcab from them,broke a spring a few months later,took 13 weeks to get the replacement 🙁 but couldnt complain cos we get so much work from them 😕 so choose carefully….

best of luck with whichever you decide on…

[David McDonald]

Hi All

Many thanks for all the comments and feedback, much appreciated – having now test driven them both for a second time and I’m going to go for the Traffic.

Cheers
Macky

[Lynn Normington]

Macky please tell me it’s not white :lol1:

Lynn

[David McDonald]

Hi Lynn

No, if I can get one quickly then it will be Yellow, second choice black, third choice Silver.

Macky

[Lynn Normington]

all nice black is good for signs but so is yellow, silver is a bit whitish if you know what I mean but can be subtle 😎

Lynn

[Robert Lambie]

ide go for silver out the three…
but if i had the choice ide go for white. 😀

[Lynn Normington]

Why white Rob you don’t want to
blend in with white van men do you ??

Lynn

[Robert Lambie]

😮 but i am a white van man lynn :lol1:

nah, to be honest. a white van is always easiest to brand with. if you have a logo and the background is say yellow then fine go for a yellow van. but if its not, you then need that yellow background to flow through your company image. that means yellow t-shirts, blocks of yellow at the top of letterheads and so on… of course there are ways around that like tweaking the logo here and there. but i find this all a bit extreme to have a vehicle a differenet colour from the norm. especially these days when vehicle wrapping is available. not forgetting its easier to get rid of/trade in a white van than a yellow/coloured one.

i guess its a prefference thing… but ide always try getting a white van.
we have had blue, then green vans in the past. i hated them soon after buying as you are very limited to what you could do with them. well back then anyway… now we just opt for white all the time. of which i will be wrapping :lol1:

[Lynn Normington]

but you can make your van your brand !!! ours is orange
we change the graphics some times. people think we have a fleet 😛
they phone and say I saw one of your van’s. I think sometimes the colour stays in poeples minds longer than the logo!! could be wrong I usually am 🙄
In fact when we went to buy a van we wanted it fast the only fast was orange, I said to Peter no way then i thought scuse me I need to be noticed I need to be up there go orange so we did!!!

Lynn

[Dave Bruce]

I am just considering wrapping my blue van in light yellow for that very reason Lynn. I wanted a yellow van originally but a blue one came up that was a good price and I new the owner. Like you say people will remember the overall colour rather than the logo, it is easier for our small brains :lol1:

Cheers

Dave

[Joe McNamara]

Hey Macky,
I was speaking to a van dealer on saturday wh I do a lot of work for and he reckons that there’s talk of problems with the gearboxes on trafics at 60 – 70000 miles.
He said they’d just had one traded in with 70000 on the clock with a reciept in the service history for a recent new gearbox!
He was a bit worried as he’s got about ten of those vans on his pitch.
I asked his advice and he said the VW hands down.
Hope this helps you.
Cheers
Joe

[Stuart Whitehouse]

I looked into the trafics recently when buying my new van, apparently they have turbo problems at about 100k miles. One of my customers had one. cost them thousands in repairs because of the turbo. then the renault dealer they bought it off said ‘yeah, we have a lot of turbo problems about 100k miles…….’

Bite the bullet. spend that little bit extra and get a transporter or vito!

Oh, and while I’m on, I also prefer white vans. I think they look more professional. just my opinion.