So I sat in a new Ford Custom (T7 Transporter) and here's my thoughts.

[Arrow]

Been a long time since I've posted here but I've had to come out the woodwork to say....

I'm absolutely gutted VW have gone into a partnership with Ford. Was being quite optimistic with the T7 announcement (the proper one). If the rumours are true and the new Transporter is basically a Ford Custom with a different dash (which I think it is by all accounts) then it looks like my T6.1 will be with me until I take my last breath! Mind you... I expect the value of the T6.1 to hold pretty well now so we can thank Ford for something I guess.

Anyway.... I went to a ford dealership to have a nosey. After all it's all going to be the same construction coming out the exact same factory somewhere in eastern Europe.

The chassis, body, engine, seats were very disappointing.... It's also a Ford Engine that's going in the new VW according to the dealer.. same as they did for the new Amarok (that's 99.99% a ranger with a VW badge and dash!).

If you get the chance, open the fuel filler cap door and that pretty much sums it all up! Wobbly, flimsy plastic crap. Look at the sliding door mechanism electrical ambilical, ohh my word...

After the experience, I had to go sit in my T6.1 pure breed and grief for a little while. She cheered me up as soon as I started her perfect little VW 2.0 Biturbo and drove off.

By all accounts It's going to have a 2.5 petrol Hybrid option as well which has a range of about 30 odd miles on battery, that's enough to get you out the dealership, realise you've made a huge mistake and drive back I think. I can't see why that additional complexity with a HEV would be a good idea at the minute other than to save you a few quid entering the Zero Emission area to pick up a bag of Coal to chuck on the fire when you get home.

Anyone else had the displeasure or am I over reacting, possibly misinformed and it's going to be totally different vehicle??

 

[whodat]

Just to back you up on the pricing.
Quite confident that used T6.1 that are on VW forecourts have gone up a little over 5% in the last 6 months.

Had the pleasure to be sat at a VW dealer in the last week or so and after trying the coffee machine (you never tasted coffee that bad), nosed around the forecourt. Quite a noticeable difference in price from 6 months ago.

Cheers for the review. I should have tried a new T7 whilst there for comparison but didn't have the urge to sit in one, nevermind start the engine in case it popped apart.

 

[Arrow]

Just to back you up on the pricing.
Quite confident that used T6.1 that are on VW forecourts have gone up a little over 5% in the last 6 months.

Had the pleasure to be sat at a VW dealer in the last week or so and after trying the coffee machine (you never tasted coffee that bad), nosed around the forecourt. Quite a noticeable difference in price from 6 months ago.

Cheers for the review. I should have tried a new T7 whilst there for comparison but didn't have the urge to sit in one, nevermind start the engine in case it popped apart.

I don't think the T7 Transporter Vans are actually in the forecourts just yet, there still glueing the VW branded panels over the Ford at the minute. I've only seen the Multivan thing (also confusingly called a T7) on the forecourts.

If I were buying one now I think I'd be going for a good used 2020+ with low mileage and see how this all pans out in the next 2 years.

 

[whodat]

I saw some T6.1 type vans with 24 plates. Just assumed they were the ones with Ford engine but don't know. Just a-guessing.

 

[Arrow]

I saw some T6.1 type vans with 24 plates. Just assumed they were the ones with Ford engine but don't know. Just a-guessing.

Ah, yes you still get the T6.1s in the 24 plate. And quite possibly 25 plates if they don't register them till early next year. But I don't think they are building any more while we await the new Ford/VW Frankenstein. Once they're sold that'll be the end of an era.

 

[whodat]

Ah,
I'd better take back some of the curses then.

 

[HoopDub]

Having had both, in my honest opinion, bearing in mind I've been a VW guy since i could drive, the ford custom is a much nicer van to drive and live with as a daily. I also think it looks better modified. It's also a more modern van and not just a series of face-lifts from a platform decades old.
I'd happily go back to a custom and am considering it once i actually get my T6 back on the road.
Just my 2p

 

[Lubrown]

Having had both, in my honest opinion, bearing in mind I've been a VW guy since i could drive, the ford custom is a much nicer van to drive and live with as a daily. I also think it looks better modified. It's also a more modern van and not just a series of face-lifts from a platform decades old.
I'd happily go back to a custom and am considering it once i actually get my T6 back on the road.
Just my 2p

I agree - custom drives a lot better.
Having listened to a few mechanics I think a Vito will be my next van if I’m still buying diesels. Far less EGR and DPF issues than VWs apparently and I prefer the look to the customs. The posh spec ones are nice places to sit too.

 

[Sasquatch]

My son in law has a Transit custom. It looks good and drives well. Comfy too. Can't fault that.

But the wet belt issue is a hand grenade with the pin pulled, and even VW's mediocre build quality is light years ahead of the woefully flimsy Ford.

I'd choose the Transit to drive, but if it were my own money and I were keeping it more than a few years it'd be a VW.

The problem with vans in general for us is they're built to a price point and not beyond. Manufactuers know most will work hard and get ragged, probably miss the odd service, so the trim, paint, etc, is designed to a point that it won't last any longer than the engine. After all, why waste money on such frivolities when the engine is typically to have 150k inside of 7 or 8 years?

That's where we suffer as non business users. No one makes a van with truly decent build, quality of componentry, or a super high standard of finish simply because the typical van doesn't have a long enough useful life for it to be a factor. The only thing in our favour as VW drivers is the enthusiast market that keeps used prices artificially buoyant.

The problem is futher compounded for us non business types is that a lot of vans are built in places not known for the diligence of their engineers and artisans. Spain, Slovenia, none of these countries are a byword for craftsmanship, but that doesn't matter when the useful life of the product is limited by the hard life most will lead.

Fortunately I didn't buy a van to get anywhere in a hurry (got my Volvo and Hayabusa for that) so I was able to avoid the most troublesome VW engine options.

 

[Bav]

My son in law has a Transit custom. It looks good and drives well. Comfy too. Can't fault that.

But the wet belt issue is a hand grenade with the pin pulled, and even VW's mediocre build quality is light years ahead of the woefully flimsy Ford.

I'd choose the Transit to drive, but if it were my own money and I were keeping it more than a few years it'd be a VW.

The problem with vans in general for us is they're built to a price point and not beyond. Manufactuers know most will work hard and get ragged, probably miss the odd service, so the trim, paint, etc, is designed to a point that it won't last any longer than the engine. After all, why waste money on such frivolities when the engine is typically to have 150k inside of 7 or 8 years?

That's where we suffer as non business users. No one makes a van with truly decent build, quality of componentry, or a super high standard of finish simply because the typical van doesn't have a long enough useful life for it to be a factor. The only thing in our favour as VW drivers is the enthusiast market that keeps used prices artificially buoyant.

The problem is futher compounded for us non business types is that a lot of vans are built in places not known for the diligence of their engineers and artisans. Spain, Slovenia, none of these countries are a byword for craftsmanship, but that doesn't matter when the useful life of the product is limited by the hard life most will lead.

Fortunately I didn't buy a van to get anywhere in a hurry (got my Volvo and Hayabusa for that) so I was able to avoid the most troublesome VW engine options.

Is a shame that VW charge a whole lot more for a van than the price point it's built to!

 

[Sasquatch]

Is a shame that VW charge a whole lot more for a van than the price point it's built to!

Indeed. That's VW carefully controlling supply in the western markets, they've been doing it since the 80s.

Then the enthusiast market artificially keeping used values higher gives them further justification for the new pricing.

Ford stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap, as many as they can knock out the factory door, a different business model. That VWs share value dwarfs that of Ford suggests the Germans have the better business model, but that's of little consolation to us as buyers. TBH, with VWs unseemly corporate behaviour over the years I'm surprised they still manage to pull it off, but they seem to be thriving on it.

 

[mmi]

Pure diesels seem to be available with 55 litre fuel tank so obviously will be even more economical 70 litre tank as an option.

 

[DaveD]

with VWs unseemly corporate behaviour over the years I'm surprised they still manage to pull it off, but they seem to be thriving on it.

I'm not sure about the thriving part of your comment;

Volkswagen Is in Deep Trouble, and Cost-Cutting Measures Won't Be Enough To Save It

Volkswagen may be in deeper trouble than we thought, and the cost-saving measures recently announced to stop the bleeding might not be enough to save it

www.autoevolution.com

 

[Sackmycook]

Yeah, I agree with above
VW are in serious decline ! A combination of the emissions scandal, bad cost cutting decisions and, most seriously, missing the EV boat (their offerings so far lack the technologies of other brands) means that they are slipping badly on sales and development.
I can't see a way back from them. Jumping in bed with Ford is no good thing

 

[Sasquatch]

I'm not sure about the thriving part of your comment;

Volkswagen Is in Deep Trouble, and Cost-Cutting Measures Won't Be Enough To Save It

Volkswagen may be in deeper trouble than we thought, and the cost-saving measures recently announced to stop the bleeding might not be enough to save it

www.autoevolution.com

Yet VWs share value and overall commecial value as a company still dwarfs every other single car brand on the planet, including Ford.

Nevertheless, the cracks are beginning to show...

An ‘earthquake’ at Volkswagen – and a crisis for Germany?

The company is seen as crucial not just to local but national wellbeing – and never before have its workers been threatened in their own homeland like this

www.theguardian.com

 

[Lubrown]

Yet VWs share value and overall commecial value as a company still dwarfs every other single car brand on the planet, including Ford.

Nevertheless, the cracks are beginning to show...

An ‘earthquake’ at Volkswagen – and a crisis for Germany?

The company is seen as crucial not just to local but national wellbeing – and never before have its workers been threatened in their own homeland like this

www.theguardian.com

Share values can tumble dramatically once investors get nervous. Although having Porsche and the state as major holders will cushion them to some extent.

 

[Sasquatch]

They can indeed, and that's true for every manufacturer. If one catches a cold due to market forces they all do unless they've been unduly lucky or somehow prescient.

It wasn't so long ago the entire US car industry went cap jn hand to the US government for a bailout, having all been kneecapped by a changing market. Mind you, the CEOs didn't help their case by each arriving in their company's private jet. The likes of Toyota, VW etc, survived through sheer size and mass, but it was a close thing during the recession of the 00s. They might not survive the next market shock, whatever it may be.

VW don't help themselves with their own corporate behaviour. Dieselgate, lying about their use of Jewish slave labour (and worse) and only coming clean in the 90s when most of the victims were dead and thus minimising the compensation bill... One of these days they'll get caught out with something else and they'll take a torpedo below the waterline. Hell, dieselgate might yet finish them. They're the biggest, but they haven't always been that way and they're not infallible.

 

[DaveD]

After a century of selling petrol and diesel cars I guess the future for the huge EU and UK market is very much unknown territory for all automotive manufacturers except Tesla.

 

[HoopDub]

Not to sure about the "quality" difference of the interiors. Again imo the ford is better. The dash in the t5, 5.1, 6 is really poor. Every T6 i see has the awful faded plastics and zero resistance to scratches. Also, engine woes, VW are far from immune. The wet belt is an extremely poor execution, totally agree. But anything other than a PD engine in a t5 is also like sitting on a tree branch while cutting it.
Years ago I'd have argued till im blue in the face that VW were far superior to any other manufacturer aimed at everyday folk.
Nowadays the playing field is very much level across the board.

 

[DaveD]

This is a report from a German news agency about concerns regarding VW.