[quote="Black X5"]
Very nice indeed. Why did you not like the Sprinter? I've never driven one but was looking to get one as the next workhorse. Currently in. Vivaro aka Trafic aka Primastar which TBH has been great.
[/quote]
I was going to reply to this before dinner but realised my rant might go on a while! I also apologize to anyone who doesnt really care
I should probably quantify all of this by saying the sprinter was a hire van, it was also the LWB version on a 61 plate.
Now i have to admit that i used to like the old shape ones a lot but since the update they seem to have got bigger and slower. We had the 313 (129bhp) version in somewhat poverty spec. I have also done 7500 miles in 5 weeks. 2 trips to rome and 1 to madrid. Firstly and worst is that the thing is totally gutless, skin and rice pudding are a few words that come to mind. Considering my last transit was only a 140 you could generally leave it in 6th and it would pull happily all day.
Hit a slope on the motorway and your having to change up to be able to keep any sort of momentum. All the torque is between 1500 - 2250 rpm so on the motorway your never in a power band. It will cruise at 80-85 but only on the flat with no headwind. I have never had a van that used so much diesel either. Over the 7500 miles it has averaged 21mpg. The last transit was at least doing 24 and the turbo was on its way out.
The ride is soft! I can only assume its similar to sitting in a blancmange. it just lolls all over the place......its the only vehicle ive been in where if i closed my eyes i started to feel sea sick.
What also surprised me was that for a 61plate van the headunit would play mp3 but there was no way of plugging an mp3 player. I ended up having to get a fm transmitter to be able to play stuff off my iphone.
God giveth and god taketh away........we had cruise control but its on a lever above the all in one indicator / windscreen wiper stalk so you either ended up turning the cruise on when wanting to indicate or slowing or speeding up when wanting to change lanes on the motorway.
If your looking at something to replace a vivaro with i would seriously look at the transit. We ended up at smc ford in crayford and based on other dealer quotes provided us with a £31000 van for £21500. Took a while to turn up though as it was factory order but its just such a nicer van to drive and be in.
Will obviously be fitting lots of deadlocks and a big alarm as the transit seems to go walkabouts as much as the BMW's
Hope that helps but feel free to ask anything else and i apologize to anyone who thought this was a BMW forum
)