by mike10 » Wed Jul 05, 2017 12:07 am
I Work as a handyman myself and I've got a 2010 MK7 115 T350 medium wheelbase with a semi high roof. Mine's also the front wheel drive so has the slightly lower floor. I can stand still in the back but moving around runs the risk of banging my head on the roof ribs (although I only did it a couple of times before naturally bowing my head a little when walking along the van). I'm 6 foot tall though so if you are shorter than that you may be OK. I would suggest finding one for sale somewhere near you and walking up and down a bit in the back to test for yourself. I may have opted for the high roof myself (I'd be able to comfortably stand up and also get another shelf on the racking), however, I have some regular clients with overhanging trees that makes getting my van up the drive awkward as it is so a high roof may have been a bigger pain. I also like to think that not being the long wheelbase makes it easier to find somewhere to park in the street outside clients houses (although that may just be my imagination as I doubt the few inches difference really makes that much of an impact).
I find that I've managed to pretty much fill my van with all the stuff I carry around, with (self built) custom racking down both sides, there's definitely no room for a work bench so I have to make do with carrying a folding one with me. I've got the 350 version as with all the tools and the stuff I carry to cater for the 'just jobs' (ie, "while you are here could you just ....") means there's already a fair bit of weight on board before I start adding materials for particular jobs.
It took me a while to find a sensibly priced decent one of the version I wanted, the 350 MWB semi-high FWD as they seem to be not so common. Lots of the smaller, lower weight capacity ones, or the bigger, higher capacity ones (mostly RWD though).
Definitely don't wear your good clothes to look at a van as you'll want to crawl around and inspect the underside for rust. Mine is one of the Turkey built vans and there is pretty much no rust on it, that's definitley not the case for all MK7s though and last month the MOT man remarked on how good mine was compared to what he usually sees. There are lots of vans about so take your time and find the best you can.
I can't really comment on engines or technical aspects of the Transit, I've not had mine too long, I'm learning lots from reading posts on here though. Only thing I would add on that front is that it is probably not wise to get the lowest powered engine if you opt for the highest weight capacity.
Anyway, enough blather, hope some of that helped.