Advice needed on buying a Mk5 swb minibus

[muffking]

Hi guys.
This is my first of hopefully many posts.

Me & the missus are looking in to buying a minibus to cart the family around in, but I can't find the info I want on the web.

The one that we are immediately looking at is a '98 R, 12 seater 2.5 Diesel with 175k on the clock.

I've read the thread about 2.5Di mpg which seems to be anywhere in the region of 22-35mpg and presume that the one we are looking at is this engine?
Is there a site that quotes the spec of the Mk5 Transit i.e. bhp, mpg, etc.

Apart from the dreaded brown stuff, is there anything that I should look out for, and what sort of price is ok at the low end?

Oh yes, is the swb fwd?

[MrMPuk]

If the van is 2.5 diesel then yes it is the 2.5Di.

BHP depends on exactly which engine the van has, the MPG will vary depending on how you drive and how much you load the van, but as you've read the post on MPG that is probably best and more accurate than Fords quotes.

Price depends on what the van is like.

The van will be RWD.

[stevew]

There seems to be a big premium on minibuses.
Do you actually need 12 seats?

Steve

[muffking]

There seems to be a big premium on minibuses.
Do you actually need 12 seats?

Steve

no, more like 9. I have a 7 seater lwb 4x4 at the moment, but by the time you've got 7 people in it there's no room for the buggys. Plus the extra seats will come in handy for carting family & freinds round in.

[MrMPuk]

9 seater Tourneo would be the way to go, then you have a nice big boot as well!

[stevew]

My van had 9 seats (I took three of them out) and a large luggage area. It's an ex police riot bus! It's a LWB semi high top from '97. It has the turbo diesel engine and a rear space heater that runs on diesel without the engine on. Also it has a cell in the back and shotgun proof windows and body panels!
The turbo engine is a nicer drive when it's working but if you read the forum you'll see it has reliability problems, unless it's the later Bosch pump (98-2000 I think ). Mpg wise I get between 22 in town and 30 on a long run with a light foot! I paid £2900 for mine 6 months ago from a motor trader. I could definately have bought it cheaper at auction.
Steve

[Luke]

mine was origanally a 11 seater minibus (mk1s were only 11) ive removed the rear seats and just left the bench 3 seater in although i could just fit a 4 if i wanted!! I can seat 6 in comfort and 6 mountain bikes! and still shut the boot!! and it aint any longer than me sierra!!

175K is quite high milage but the only real reliability problem on the Di's is the injection pump!!

[madmark]

steve late bosh pump only epics on td,s ,cant have them to reliable!

[muffking]

There's a possibility that we might go for a petrol instead as I have a company fuel card for my company car (say no more)
I guess that there is only the 2.0? Anything to look out for with these, mileage etc.

[Luke]

I guess that there is only the 2.0? Anything to look out for with these, mileage etc.

all i can say with these is try get a DOHC one if you can they are better than the pinto - in terms of power and mpg but try and get a lower milage one they wont be too clever at 175K

[stevew]

:shock: steve late bosh pump only epics on td,s ,cant have them to reliable!

Ah yes you're right! I thought it was odd as I wrote that
I misread this post: http://fordtransit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3240&start=30

Now I see they used a normal (non turbo) Bosch pump and just turned it up.

Steve

[madmark]

say i have never seen anything but epic but knowing fords they probly did something else!

[muffking]

The missus has just uncovered another possible issue, which is what my license permits me to drive.

Ideally we want a 12 seater, but cat B only allows up to 8 passengars. I have cat D & D1E on my license which covers 9-16 seats but not when carrying passengars???

It could be that only a PCV license covers passenger vehicles with over 8 passengars ?

[MrMPuk]

We've kinda covered this before. You will be okay if you get the 9 seater Tourneo as the 8 seat rule is driver plus 8 passengers.

[Luke]

cat D1 is minibus innit? D1E is minibus and trailer? you should be ok to drive a minibus!! where does it say you cant carry passangers??