Advice on a new Van

[Pontius]

Helo All,

Just joined the forum. Actively looking for a van currently. Transporter Kombi T6.1 LWB. Automatic. Some muted colour! Aiming to get two rows of seats in the back and to keep it mainly for weekends away and family driving holidays overseas for about 10 years, and then to convert to partial camper afterwards for just my wife and myself once the three kids have left home. Budget around 60-65K. Have seen many sites and vans kitted out eg Leighton, and they look spectacular inside and out (not too fussed on the outside extra trim TBH).

Was going for a 204ps and found one that fitted the bill (on Leighton website) but having read the forum posts about engine failure and the immense costs associated with this, combined with absolutely no knowledge of car maintenance, I thought that a 150ps would be better. Also, I'm not a speed demon. Current car is a 4WD and was thinking that this would be useful but won't be towing and rarely off road so figure that this won't be required. A couple of questions:-

1) Is the more powerful transporter a complete no no for what I want? Don't want to spend what is years of savings/some inheritance on a van whose engine will konk out on me after 100K and out of warranty and cost another arm & a leg to repair, only for the same to happen again.

2) When looking at vans from dealers, is it wise to get someone else in eg AA, to inspect beforehand or does this not pick up common issues?

TIA for yor help.

 

[Sasquatch]

My experience of AA pre purchase checks is that they are very thorough, and the cost of items requiring attention they find easily outweigh the cost of the inspection itself.

As for whether they are clued up about known faults I couldn't say.

 

[Bav]

My experience of AA pre purchase checks is that they are very thorough, and the cost of items requiring attention they find easily outweigh the cost of the inspection itself.

As for whether they are clued up about known faults I couldn't say.

Is a shame the VW master techs in the silver vans don't offer this service!

 

[drinfinity]

I reckon you are certainly on the right lines in your thinking.

I have 150 LWB camper conversion, and it does the job just fine. It’s not sporty going uphill, but it’s a van not a motorbike. LWB is the important part*

I have 4WD and it is useful for getting off wet grassy fields where 2WD vans were getting stuck. However, for occasional use I wouldn’t bother, and just take some mud tracks.

AA check would be useful - they will put a code reader on to pick up some fault codes.

*I may have mentioned LWB before…