Have Ford lost it with the Transit?

[Cavcraft]

Unfortunately most of the Nissan/Mitsi/Isuzu pick-ups round here are piled high with old bikes/peoples gates, have greedy boards on the sides and are piloted by lads of about 15 with dodgy haircuts.

[George-Roper]

We did have an LDV bus for a short while, that was a good Bus

No but what have you got, Freddie? No E's as i'm loved up enuf!....

Why? It was like the one in the pic.

 

It didn't go wrong, unlike the Vee dubbleyah's and it was ok to drive. It wasn't as good as a Transit but it was about £40 less a month!

 

Ah well I thought you meant the older Sherpa style L.D.V and not the Maxus. Sorry and carry on as you were

[504GL]

I'm surprised to see people going through so many clutches and so on. My dad has a petrol Toyota Hiace back in Australia. It's 11 years old now and he's had it from new it must have at least 200 or 250k miles on it and its on its original clutch. Slightly different type of van of course but being a courier it does a lot of stop start driving and carries some fairly heavy loads.

[dollywobbler]

A Transit is probably better than a Peugeot Boxer. I complained bitterly about them earlier, but our minibus has just gone wrong. Warning light at 3500 miles. Turns out that the engine isn't 'talking' to the dashboard. Probably something knackered in the emissions side of things. Now stuck at the (reluctant) dealership waiting for them to get off their arse and fix it.

[danthecapriman]

I'm surprised to see people going through so many clutches and so on. My dad has a petrol Toyota Hiace back in Australia. It's 11 years old now and he's had it from new it must have at least 200 or 250k miles on it and its on its original clutch. Slightly different type of van of course but being a courier it does a lot of stop start driving and carries some fairly heavy loads.

 

It probably depends on the use the van gets, ours get loaded up heavily, pull trailers that are very close to the vans weight limit and have to manouver them into some very awkward, tight places and we also do all that on and off road, so in mud, gravel, building sites etc etc. It will all take its toll on the van after a while. I suppose with the newer type transits having DMF trouble aswell the problems are exagerated alot by the rough use some of them get.

I certainly remember having mine filled with tools and several 25 litre oil drums, most probably overloaded thinking about it, I missed a turning out in the sticks near hindhead and had to reverse the van up hill up a side road to turn around and it got a few feet up the hill and wouldnt move anymore! I had the clutch fully engaged and the revs up and it just sat still! Had to have a new clutch very soon after that!

[AnthonyG]

Mk3 Transits seemed to get worse for rust as they got facelifted over 15 years - I remember the D-J reg ones lasting very well, certainly compared to the Mk1s and Mk2s which often got binned at 5 years old. Then later on they seemed to care less about the build and/or the paint and smiley faced ones from M reg onwards started to rot most enthuiastically.

 

Vauxhall Vivaros (is that the Trafic in Renault terms?) seem to do something right, otherwise they wouldn't be so popular with owner/drivers like plumbers, TV aerial people etc.

 

Anyone remember Bedford Midi's?

 

My mate has been running a G reg one in all weathers (and it lives in Newquay, Wales, on the coast) for the last 7 years, he's getting a bit tired of welding it up every MOT time for the last three years though and it may be headed out for export next year (they are Isuzu 'Faros' in other markets). The 2.2 NA engines still going at 190K, although the gearbox did expire at about 130k!

Apart from the rust, he loves it.

[wackywacerwill]

I've a boot in 2 camps here. A romantic rose tinted part of me strongly believes that a proper van is only proper when it has square frontage and proper bonnet and for that reasoning alone all was lost when the last mk2 went out of production. My other foot is stood in a field full of love for wedges and having sampled them all most likes pressing the loud pedal of the smiley variant.

I'm running a M plate Twink now as the aga was non LEZ compliant plus suffered from the usual rot including frilly chassis rails. Sad to see the old one go but it did sterling service and paid for itself many times over before the tax ran out for the final time and it never returned from taking that fateful load to the bridge.

 

Here's the current one, smiley sporting an earlier grill ('cos smiley grills are made of egg shells) Last of the proper Transits.

 

When I get tired of welding it up (not for a fair while yet) I'll but one of these and transfer the good bits over. Last of the proper Transits.

 

Drove a 11 plate Tranny the other day for about 200 foot and it was shit. This is by no means a comprehensive road test mind and to be fair is always my first feelings from any modern. It's just that any Tom, Dick or Harriet could hop in and say 'It drives just like a car', end of the day it's a van and should bloody well act like one

[Cavcraft]

Funny old thing the Mk3. Still recall an early one with 4 speed plus overdrive box that we took in turns to try and wreck because we didn't like the usual driver of it and he specifically told us to look after it when he was off.

Would love an early one with the nasty looking bumpers and cloth seats, though from experience it was actually the earlier ones (up to about late 1992) that rotted the most underneath.

Getting someone to play with the fuel pumps (tools required: hacksaw blade, screwdriver, 13 and 19mm spanners from memory) could make them go a bit quicker and one wag discovered if you nailed them in fourth gear then banged them into thrird and immediately let go of the clutch pedal the rear wheels locked up a bit.