New LDV Maaaaxxxxuuusss.

[warren t claim]

You'll have to excuse me if this has been mentioned before but I wasn't expecting to see a compound full of new LDV vans today.

[Kiltox]

Some things should be let die

[Guest Lord Sward]

I saw literally loads of these in Ireland the other week (see my AROnline blog for further details).

[chaseracer]

^ Kind of you to take the time, but I'm managing to keep a lid on my enthusiasm for that particular subject... 

[Kiltox]

Wonder what kind of price point these will be at - you'd need to be certifiable to buy one if they're the same kind of money as any other van 

 

Saying that - unlike MG - I can't see anything the Chinese could do to make the Maxus worse!

[STUNO]

They are selling quite well in this little country. priced a lot cheaper than other similar vans, which may explain that.

 

EDIT: which would your fleet buyer choose ?

 

$48990.00 for an LDV

 

$70740.00 for a similar Transit

[garbaldy]

Apart from the gearstick roulette I found that they drove quite well with loads of power, ton up nae bother although that was the 120 horsey one

[Wilko220]

One of their few selling points in the UK was that they were British made by a British company - hence the huge Royal Mail fleet sales, etc.

Now that neither of those things apply, I can see them being the van equivalent of the MG 6.

[scruff]

Apart from the gearstick roulette I found that they drove quite well with loads of power, ton up nae bother although that was the 120 horsey one

 

Gotta say I found them fairly agreeable really, awful gearbox mind. Have they still got the same donk in them (VM?) or a chinese version of the same?

[Sheefag]

They can get that flag off the side for a start. Cheeky bastards.

 

[Wilko220]

They can get that flag off the side for a start. Cheeky bastards.

 

Was about to say the same thing. Absolutely outrageous. Makes me want to find the compound and firebomb it.

[sierraman]

I bet they'll be beating orders off with a shitty stick.

[Lacquer Peel]

The basic van is about £16k in Ireland. Not much for a van that size but probably not cheap enough, a Transit Custom starts at £18k-ish before VAT here.

[SiC]

And the depreciation hit will probably make the finance monthly payment the same amount as a transit.

[sierraman]

As well as that where's the same back up you'd get with a Transit.

 

Why does everyone seem to want to resurrect brands with a bad record? MG, LDV, Datsun? What next? Lada?

[Dirk Diggler]

An Post (The Post) and the ESB (Electric) have bought loads of them; dont know what engine but they sound terrible (the bould Pino Harris is selling them on the Naas Road)

[colnerov]

 Hi, A mate of mine once bought an ex airport handling agent Sherpa crewbus with the bench seat down each side, we used to call it the 'Leyland Espace'

 

 Colin

[wuvvum]

I saw one of these on the A47 a couple of weeks ago.  Took me a minute or so to register what it was.

 

As others have said, the Maxus as a van really isn't that bad at all.  It's the build quality that let them down.  Not that I can see that having improved much under Chinese ownership mind...

[colnerov]

 The build quality doesn't need to be good because a van has a company service life of 5 years by which time they have written it's value down for tax reasons.

[Kiltox]

 The build quality doesn't need to be good because a van has a company service life of 5 years by which time they have written it's value down for tax reasons.

 

That's all well and good but some companies use their vans for 50k+++ per year

[warren t claim]

I saw one of these on the A47 a couple of weeks ago. Took me a minute or so to register what it was.

 

As others have said, the Maxus as a van really isn't that bad at all. It's the build quality that let them down. Not that I can see that having improved much under Chinese ownership mind...

So people will be buying an LDV 100% made up of cheap pattern parts? Marvelous!

[Felly Magic]

I doubt Postman Twat will buy em this time round, and seconded at getting that British flag off! FFS

[warren t claim]

I doubt Postman Twat will buy em this time round, and seconded at getting that British flag off! FFS

The Union Jack is to remind you that the British taxpayer funded massive investment in LDV shortly before it went tits up.

[HH-R]

Weren't they originally a Daewoo design too? Pretty much 0% British content now.

 

Bring back the Sherpa with a B/O series.

[Felly Magic]

I think it was a GAZ/Daewoo design. I honestly don't know who would actually buy one of these. It's a very dated design, and isn't that cheap. Hang on, isn't that SAIC's M.O anyway?

[Kiltox]

Looks like there has been one improvement - photos on the Irish website show the gear lever on the dash rather than a floor mounted one just like every other van made in the past 15 years (unlike the original Maxus)

[HH-R]

I thought the Maxus had a dash mounted gear level all along? Could be wrong though, only used one once (to move house), loaded it up and the back door handle mechanism fell to bits so it wouldn't open again. Shite.

[Kiltox]

I'm sure the 57 plate one I drove had it on the floor and it was like stirring a vat of porridge with a pencil

[Guest Lord Sward]

That's all well and good but some companies use their vans for 50k+++ per year

 

 

Doing warranty on GM commercials, we'd regularly see 90k miles per year throughout the range.  

 

As for those Maxxi, theres a few tales I could tell about that shite.  And I love LDV, but that thing was beyond the pale.

[Wilko220]

Maxus always had dash-mounted gear stick; Convoy and Pilot which it replaced had floor-mounted until the end (in 2005?)