BACKBONE OF BRITAIN, OR IS IT?
A review by 01709andy14 on Ford Transit
December 4th, 2005
The new ford transit 2.4 duratorq they say is the backbone of britian, or is it? As an independant motor vehicle repairer looking after a fleet of 250 transits I see more of the good and bad points of the van than most, even seeing the after sales from the customers side and not just what Ford say.
Now the the good bits.
The new transit comes in a multitude of guises with different engine sizes, lengths, roof heights and front or rear wheel drive.This one is the 2.4 long wheel base, semi high roof, rear wheel drive.{try saying that after 4 pints}.The load space is 3399 mm long , can cope with upto 1600kg , will take 4 euro pallets or 8x4 boards........................................OH god i'm fed up with this specification tripe, whats it like ?
The van itself is a far better van than the old 2.5di bone shaker that we all know. The driving position is excellent and you would be forgiven for thinking you were driving a car. If your van is empty and there is a rain cloud on the horizon then be warned they can be a bit tail happy as the 2.4 turbo engine produces a fair amount of power. The van has quite a few good points which I won't go into. Your local ford dealer will tell you this as he is planning his next holiday on your money. The best bits are the fact that when you load the van it seems just as quick as it is when its empty, and also that 100,000 mile or 3 year warranty.
And now here we go with the bad bits.
RELIABILITY!! Working on these vans day in day out I have seen some pretty poor what can only be described as build quality.
ie: engine failure at 1500 miles
turbo failure at 200 miles
5 vans from a batch of 10 requiring new diesel pumps in the first 3 months . Thats just a few from the top of my head.
All this from the backbone of britian and a multi million pound company, what is ford playing at , thank god for that 'bumper to bumper' 100,000 mile warranty.
AFTER SALES!! Vans by their nature have to be on the road to be earning money. Should your new van require repair under warranty get ready for a bit of a wait. Some examples I have seen are 5 days for a pump, 3 weeks for an engine and even 2 days just to get it looked at!!
WHAT AFTER 100,000 MILES? The
Transit can be some what expensive to repair with it's common faults.
Things to look for if buying second hand are:
Vibration on clutch pedal when stood in traffic {faulty fly wheel at a cost of around £600}
Intermittent loss of power on motorway or poor starting{faulty diesel pump at around £1800}
Noisey timing chain and poor oil pressure{new engine!!!}
CONCLUSION
Overall I think the transit IS a very good van, however my advice would be to buy one with about 40k on it to iron out those problems from new but still have a fair bit of warranty left and then renew it before 100k.
Would I buy One?? Possibly!!
Do I run one?? No (overladen 200K Renault that never lets me down).
