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We like our Fiat Ducatos (I think chassis is the same as a Citroen Dispatch) as they offer an extremely low load height for a 3.5t Van (they are front wheel drive). They also return 28mpg or thereabouts with local driving and 30mpg plus if on a motorway.
I am told that the Toyota Proace and Proace City are actually Citroen vans underneath. If that is correct [or even if it isn’t] then I would buy the Toyota equivalent because the Toyota dealer ethos is second to none. I have had eight new Toyota Hilux’s and one new Aygo and have dealt with my local Toyota dealership for many years. They will go to any lengths to solve problems and look after the customer, not that there are many issues. Any problems I have had over the years have been inconsequential things like corrupted head unit software or daft things like that which were quickly corrected.
I have been told by friends that the Ford aftercare is not so good. My brother in law had a new Mondeo [which incidentally had the worst turbo lag I have ever seen] and the Ford dealership were not interested in any issues once the car was purchased.
You have to think about what happens if you have a problem and need to go back to the dealer. That’s why we on this forum always recommend dealing with and having a relationship with the local mower dealer rather than mail order.
I only speak from many years’ experience of buying new vehicles. I used to have new Land Rovers but the dealer was terrible, as were their mechanics. I don’t think they could have diagnosed a flat tyre. The Land Rover vehicles themselves always had one problem after another which never got sorted. A friend of mine’s step son is a mechanic at the local Land Rover dealer and tells everyone ‘never buy a Land Rover as they constantly have technical issues’. I switched to Toyota and have never looked back.
I was amazed at the huge difference between the Toyota and Land Rover dealerships and the build quality and the lack of technical issues between the vehicles themselves.
You should join BASC and get a 36% discount off a Proace.
I've got a 2017 transit. Superb vehicle, and I believe they are just slightly more spacious than their equivalents. It's a T310, MWB, Med roof. Front wheel frive. It pulls like a car, corners like a car and feels like a car!
The only annoyance I've had is the DPF needing cleared, given that I typically do around 15-20 short trips a day under 1-2 miles. I expect any diesel would be the same.
I may look at a different brand next time, and could probably have bought a new Citroen for the same money as the year-old ford I got, but it looks so much better, feels more refined, I believe it typically has a better spec and I've no regrets.
Hi Dan, how have you found the Ford dealer when it comes to sorting things out?
21% BASC discount on Transits plus dealer discount on top.
Sorting what things out? Nothing's gone wrong, and I wouldn't expect it to.
I don't fancy having to liaise with a Ford dealership. I get the feeling they're useless.
Dan, I'm liking the paintwork on the back doors!!
A mechanic recently told me diesels won't be too good for short trips (which is what I do) because of the dpf in modern diesels. Do you guys have problems?. My vehicle is diesel but pre dpf so no problems. I also want a newer van, maybe petrol, if they make them!
I’ve had no issues with the Hilux, or the two previous ones I owned which also had the DPF’s. I only do 6k per year and given how busy I am you can imagine that they are all very short drives between jobs. The Hilux which was registered on 8-11-17 has now done a little over 12,000 miles and no issues. It regenerates now and then. It seems to go for a few weeks without regenerating and then does it several times over two or three days, but that's probably because it isn't getting long enough to do it in one go.
Some manufacturers seem to have it engineered properly while others don’t. Certainly where Hilux’s are concerned I have heard of no problems in the UK. I have heard of some issues in Australia, but they have a different engine over there and which is only Euro 5 as opposed to ours which are Euro 6. I would say don’t worry too much about it. I would happily buy another diesel. I don’t know about other makes but the Toyota warranty if five years, so it would be their puppy if it went wrong anyway.
i have 2017 Hilux also, the dpf seems to burn itself off every 200 miles or so, a ten minute drive seems to be enough for it to do its work, it may do a burn on the longer trips sometimes but i wouldn't notice it, it's only evident when you stop and the engine is idling higher than usual and if you go round the back of the truck you can smell the smell, the dealership topped up the Adblue when they did the service
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