2 - 3 K to spend. Is it enough ?

[Malli]

Hi guys ! Can you give us a bit of advise.?

I'm a musician who’s gonna have to be doing a fair bit of traveling probably on the motorways with a reasonable amount of gear a lot of the time. I’ll be kipping in the van from time to time and will also have some mates crashing in there every now and then for a couple of days at a time and maybe even my kid ( 2 yrs old ). I really need it trouble free for a few months until I’ve earned some decent cash. It’d be nice if the van had some guts but i could do without forking out a grand for a turbo or injection system or something else major going wrong, cause knowing me, it will. And once I’ve bought this I’ll be skint.
It needs three seats up front. Not too rusty. My last van kept getting nicked so an immobilizer would help. I’ve got 2-3000 to spend and was hoping for a Mark 6 Mwb or lwb SHT .Anything under 100.000 miles. Or a really good nick late Mk5 ?

Am I hoping for too much or d’you reckon this is reasonable ?

This is my one and only chance to get a decent van and I don’t want to screw it up.
My only worry with the Mk 5 lwb/mwb is that I’ve read a post or two saying that they scream their heads off at 70mph.. Is that the case ? Cause I’ll be on the motorway a fair bit.
And what do you lot reckon of van auctions.? Should I steer clear or are they a good place to pick up a decent van for cheap ?
I’ve also been looking around at trade sales and private buyers, and I originally thought private would be cheaper but there do seem to be some very pricy private sales around and some quite cheap trade vans of the same sort of condition/milage etc. Is the price often just pot luck depending on the seller ?

[madmark]

mate this is tricky
the mk5 will be very revy on he motorway and 70 will be about it! also the problem is even with mk5 you must watch for rust its not just the wheel arches that go, its the floor and chassis ,lovely van but rust like anything!
have you thourt about a ex police lwb transit this would be great for what you need ,but these are turbo but would sit nice at 65 -70 on the motorway and comeing from the police normaly they are well looked after!
as for mk6 great van but you are at the bottom end of the price range you might be lucky and land a good one ,i would say for you want you need a 90/350 lwb but again it could be revy it all depends on the diff ratio!

[Malli]

Wicked, Cheers mate
OK !! So what you're sayin', is a) an ex police lwb Mk 5 with turbo or b) a Mk 6 90/350 or upwards with a decent diff ratio which may cost a bit more cash ?
This leads me to my other questions that i've got a bit of trouble with about the Turbo's and stuff.

I realise that Mk 5's have optional turbo's, injections and stuff which'll keep your van sweet at 70 and give it guts if you've got the cash, but whats better ? turbo, injection, turbo injection ?. Petrol ? are they big trouble ( seen a lot of probs on the forums ) and are they big expense if and when they go wrong ?
Another thing , i dont quite get is, do the Mk 6's generally come with turbs and inj's or is it certain ps' upwards or what ?
And one more, how can you identify what a vans diff ratio is, and if its not right, can you screw around with it.? (Ok that's two !)

[madmark]

the ex police van normaly will be di turbo mk5 this is a good engine if serviced regular, but the pumps cam give problems and hunt abit on about 2000revs but will do this forever!
the mk6 are all turbo they are god but when they go wrong will cost a fiar bit to fix ,this is allright if you can aford to put it in and have jobs done! with the mk5 they are much easyer to keep and parts are easy to get as well! comeing from the police they are normaly spot on as you cant have a police van cophing up the road with a group of skinheads chasing it can you!
i i had the option and your budget i would go for the mk5 orr unless you were in the right place and picked up a low milage mk6!

[madmark]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-TRANSIT-TURB ... dZViewItem

[rover]

If you have a budget of 3 grand at most I would say dont spend that much, I get customers coming to me all year round with the same questions (although for a variety of vehicles), my answer is always the same.....If you have 3 grand then dont spend more than 2.5, that way you will have 500 quid for any repairs that may crop up, it dont matter how good or well serviced a vehicle appears, something MAY go wrong! There are NO garuntee's no matter how good it was to the last owner!!

Like Mark says, try and find yourself an ex-police lwb mk5.

Rover.

[Malli]

Right , that's my brain sorted then, Cheers mate !
Looks like i'm gonna get me a pig van , yee haa !!

I'm gonna get on the case and look for the nearest police auction, which'll be no where near me cause i live in Weymoth, probably Blackbushe i reckon.

Anyway, thanks a lot Mark, and Rover, I'm happy as a pig in sh*t now !!

Take it easy, i'll probably be hasseling you again soon .

Cheers again,

M

[madmark]

your welcome ,keep an eye on the one on ebay she looks very tidy and has allready been owned by a band! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-TRANSIT-TURB ... dZViewItem

[Malli]

I've just checked that one out on e bay and it looks great, just the biz.

If its in real good nick, what d'you lot reckon its worthish..?

[Smooth Hound]

i would take geminis advice on this, if you dont jump at the first one that comes then you will eventually get a nice van for 2500. there is a forsale section on this forum if you take a look youll see what they are getting or not getting,

[MarkM]

*editted*

Ignore this I just noticed the date of the thread !!