The CycleChat White Van Driver/Owner Thread

[Drago]

Deposit is done as is the paperwork now. If it's as I expect I could drive away with it on Saturday as the Sales Manager was making sure its ready. My old car booked in with WBAC as they have offered an acceptable price (after I didn't bite and book in) so that is being sold either way on Sunday (if I get the van or not).

Exciting!!!

 

[sevenfourate]

Finally.

Off to look at a white van this weekend. It is actually white. Very limited availability locally and an Orange one has gone (preferred colour). Decided to stick with a medium length for getting two cars on the driveway. This one is the 8 speed auto with 180 horses and 7 seat (my preferred layout two captains seats flip round and has a table unit in the middle). Extra floor rails mean more internal configuration and bike fork mount fitments.

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CONGRATS ! Jealous 🤩 Of your van and your space to park it in. I need two more kids to move out and take their wheels with them to be where you’re at.

That’s really cool though. Had a van before, using it as a day van, be doing trips away in it, is this a ‘cycling van’ or ?

 

[Jameshow]

Finally.

Off to look at a white van this weekend. It is actually white. Very limited availability locally and an Orange one has gone (preferred colour). Decided to stick with a medium length for getting two cars on the driveway. This one is the 8 speed auto with 180 horses and 7 seat (my preferred layout two captains seats flip round and has a table unit in the middle). Extra floor rails mean more internal configuration and bike fork mount fitments.

View attachment 759096

View attachment 759097

Very much a VW caravelle copy nice. 180bhp will be potent for such a light van..

Is it a wet belt engine?

 

[Drago]

No wet belt on the big bore engine.

 

[fossyant]

No wet belt on the big bore engine.

Standard external belt and relatively cheap parts wise. Says 10 years but I'll get it done much earlier.

 

[fossyant]

Very much a VW caravelle copy nice. 180bhp will be potent for such a light van..

Is it a wet belt engine?

Very similar to Caravelle. Should be reasonable on repairs as there are loads of these about in commercial form. Only need to worry about the ad-blue but I'll add some anti-crystalising chemicals to it. Gearbox is Japanese and has flappy paddle manual mode for the hills if needed. The rear ac and extra webasto diesel heater should mean it warms up quick. You can get a separate remote for the webasto so you can operate it independently of the engine but that's going to take some research.

Lots of floor rails mean flexibility to fit those fork mounts off ebay onto either metal or ply base plate that can quickly be attached to a floor rail.

 

[Drago]

Webasto heaters are awesome. The one I have is remote control, which makes defrosting very agreeable.

 

[fossyant]

Whoops. Bought

Very plush, drives like a car and slow it is not. Lots to learn on the computer systems.

 

[Drago]

Nice work Foss!

 

[fossyant]

Scary bit was, paid chip and pin for car. Then came to pay deposit for insurance, and had to verify £80 with my banking app. Bloody madness.

The rear door is huge, but if in tight places, the rear window opens so you can put stuff in the boot.

I knew more about the van than the salesman as he said they are rare. Paid extra for two year warranty and two year servicing. Double checked the servicing as it's van derived and normal services are every two years. Nope I get two MOT and services, so happy with that.

No negotiation on price or even mats. It's got all the three sets of rear mats but missing the front. The rear mats are hard to get but they wouldn't supply front. I ordered some front mats only from carmats.co.uk which worked out reasonable (also means I can just replace the front in future as they wear first - you usually have to buy a full set).

Somehow managed to miss my wife's details off the insurance after she was there for the quote, so I'll add her tomorrow (not easy on a phone screen).

 

[fossyant]

The sliding doors are electric, so either buttons or just quickly pull the handle and let go. Rear heating seems good, the floor heater outlet nearly roasted MrsF's legs on the test drive. Overhead heaters and lighting a bit aircraft like.

 

[fossyant]

And bought a couple of faraday cage pouches for the keys. They work. Next to car, key in pouch, nothing happens. Key out, touch door handle with finger, doors unlock. Next job is to search the garage for my old disklock - had it over 25 years. Bought a refurb kit (new rubber edging, pads and sticker, so just need to tart the old lock up, and fit the new refresh kit. Glad I kept it as they aren't cheap.

 

[DRM]

Scary bit was, paid chip and pin for car. Then came to pay deposit for insurance, and had to verify £80 with my banking app. Bloody madness.

The rear door is huge, but if in tight places, the rear window opens so you can put stuff in the boot.

I knew more about the van than the salesman as he said they are rare. Paid extra for two year warranty and two year servicing. Double checked the servicing as it's van derived and normal services are every two years. Nope I get two MOT and services, so happy with that.

No negotiation on price or even mats. It's got all the three sets of rear mats but missing the front. The rear mats are hard to get but they wouldn't supply front. I ordered some front mats only from carmats.co.uk which worked out reasonable (also means I can just replace the front in future as they wear first - you usually have to buy a full set).

Somehow managed to miss my wife's details off the insurance after she was there for the quote, so I'll add her tomorrow (not easy on a phone screen).

Just make sure they use the correct oil, as it is a long life, expensive oil, that goes in them, if it's a Vauxhall, Citroen, Toyota or Peugeot dealer they should have it in stock, some garages won't, if you can get hold of the genuine front rubber mat, they are brilliant, and very tough, but they are very car like to drive, being the auto it will be an even more easy drive, also they have a galvanised body so stay very tidy, enjoy it, it looks very nice

 

[fossyant]

Just make sure they use the correct oil, as it is a long life, expensive oil, that goes in them, if it's a Vauxhall, Citroen, Toyota or Peugeot dealer they should have it in stock, some garages won't, if you can get hold of the genuine front rubber mat, they are brilliant, and very tough, but they are very car like to drive, being the auto it will be an even more easy drive, also they have a galvanised body so stay very tidy, enjoy it, it looks very nice

Last service in October 23 was the 0-30 oil at a VX dealer at 30k miles, and looks like it's done just 5k since then in 14 months. The van has come from Poole (looking for these vans there are way more down that part of England than anywhere else). Added advantage is there is less road salt use down south due to temperatures. You know when a car comes from Scotland or the North East if it hasn't been regularly hosed off underneath !

I've got an aftermarket mat coming - spent a little more for the thick ones with a pvc heal pad. Going to get some cheap rubber matting that I can cut to size for when camping/transporting stuff to pop over the existing mats, and for the boot/load area.

Must say, I haven't seen any rusty versions of the commercial Expert/Dispatch's from 67 plate onwards (when they came out), so that was one of the factors. I also believe the VX version has a better reputation than the Pug/Citroen for reliability/gremlins as it's assembled in Luton despite actually having lower residuals (bonus for me as I was able to afford the higher spec and newer van than the Pug/Citroen models).

Needs a good detailing to my standard, and they had missed the roof - even with my crutches, I was able to pull myself up on the side steps to look at the roof - was really looking at roof rack points. It's a bit green in places - nothing more than some concentrated snow foam and a brush won't remove. I'll also get out the WD40/tar remover for some spots around the arches. Once my leg is better I'll be out with the autoglym/meguires products. The paint work is nice and smooth, so no need for decontamination - the Autoglym Magma is magic for removing iron and contaminants - spray on watch the vehicle bleed, wipe over and rinse off.

Sorted the insurance this morning - spotted the schedule said 'yes' to kids under 16, we don't. Changed that and added MrsF and the premium has come down by about £80pa. Cost me £15 admin fee, so happy with that - not easy double checking insurance in a rush on a phone screen.

Car was showing as untaxed yesterday before i left the dealers - some computer glitch, but they had a copy of the receipt from the local post office for the tax with the reg. Didn't want pulling over on way home as I was right near Cheshire Police's main headquarters and one of the motorway cop's hubs ! It's all updated now on the DVLA as of this morning.

 

[Drago]

You'll love it Foss. Something very manly bojt having a van type vehicle.