Worst van

[glenn1340]

I`ve just been looking at the poll for the best van and it started me wondering what was the worst van you ever had to drive? Mine was a `77 Morris Marina. What a bucket of poo that was, four speed with a 0-60 of never. No radio, crap heater and vinyl seats. That was very closely followed by a BL Sherpa with the sliding windows. Top speed of 50mph. To achieve that I had to wear ear defenders as the noise was deafening, especially when the exhaust fell off at the manifold and I had to drive round the M25 at 20mph.
Oh what happy days

Glenn

[TRASH101]

A Sherpa for me was the worst. Worn steering box made it lethal above 40mph.

I did have an old Transit twin wheeler once which was great until the king pins needed sorting. The worst part about the Tranny though was that it broke down once in Hull and my mate kindly towed me to a garage at what seemed like 100mph and with a slimmer chance of stopping than "something that won't stop". A true defining moment of what I am today.

[beagle]

Anything that left a French factory pre-2000

[monkey spanners]

Transit for me was the worst, guttless, handled like a shopping trolley with three wheels and EVERY TIME i turned the engine off the gearknob hit me in the knee, gave me nightmares....

[philfridge]

Have to say my worst van was a F reg Austin Maestro diesel. When you put your pedal to the metal it just used to make loads of noise and smoke. Funny thing old people at the bus stop sometimes put their arm out, it sounded like a bus coming along. Then one night some thieves broke in and removed all my tools and equipment. What fond memories

[Andy W]

Oh happy days, I had a Marina, Sherpa and a Maestro, out of the 3 the Maestro was the best and it was my first van I bought when I became self employed so holds fond memories for me.

My worse modern vans were a 1995 Vauxhall combo, it was a 3 year old ex post office van and always breaking down and a real money pit, my current van a 54 Renault Trafic which I had from new was no better, a real heap of crap from day 1.

[Quality]

1985 Mk3 escort van - the van was ok but the 1.1L crossflow engine was absolutley totaly and utterly honestly guttless

[Voyager]

1993 Bedford Midi LWB.

Easy to drive, handled pretty well 'coz it's mid-engined. Damn quick with it's Izuzu 2.2 Diesel engine.

But, it's a Vauxhall, more tin worm than metal. Had to weld a plate across the bottom of the rear liftgate, then the hinge mountings went byebye instead. Wheel arches were mostly filler on wire mesh.

Worst fault was a parasitic drain on the battery. Even after fitting a new one I was re-charging it weekly after 3 months. Not easy when the battery was under the floor behind the passenger seat - how the f*** are you supposed to get to that with jump leads if it won't start ?

[Andy AC]

One my former employers had an R reg transit, got it second hand at 20,000 miles. Was a nice van, but from 25,000 miles onwards started a very long self destruct sequence. It had an annoying habit of shearing the alternator bolt, and then working its way backwards through the oil filter One of the times it happened, I was driving back to digs when working in Manchester. It had just gone 11pm and it decided to dump all of its oil and grind to a halt in possibly the nastiest, grimmest, unfriendly part of Manchester I have ever seen. Didn't really fancy getting out of the van for long, It seemed like hours before the RAC man came to rescue me.
That van was a disaster, had almost everything go wrong with it. Eventually the oil pump gave up while my mate was driving it down the motorway - oops.

Also had a citroen dispatch at that company, it was so uncomfortable, used to be in agony after driving for just a few minutes.

Andy

[gtiair]

A datsun 1500 pick up when fully loaded up steep slopes in reverse

[jjthefridge]

Hi,

i had a crappy bedford HA van, didn;t like starting and it got kicked alot, also had sherpa with sliding doors, really cool for for looking at girls in short skirts on m25, driving past me.

j.j.

[Colin G]

they old Citroen dispatch vans where sheds, handled like a wind sale and the wind howls in the side doors

[djbe]

Oh happy days, I had a Marina, Sherpa and a Maestro, out of the 3 the Maestro was the best and it was my first van I bought when I became self employed so holds fond memories for me.

Maestro was my first self employed van But despite the noise and the fact that the tops of the rear doors touched when it was full loaded it did about 50mpg!

Wouldn't go back to it unless I had to but it did get me started

[djbe]

One my former employers had an R reg transit, got it second hand at 20,000 miles. Was a nice van, but from 25,000 miles onwards started a very long self destruct sequence. It had an annoying habit of shearing the alternator bolt, and then working its way backwards through the oil filter One of the times it happened, I was driving back to digs when working in Manchester. It had just gone 11pm and it decided to dump all of its oil and grind to a halt in possibly the nastiest, grimmest, unfriendly part of Manchester I have ever seen. Didn't really fancy getting out of the van for long, It seemed like hours before the RAC man came to rescue me.
That van was a disaster, had almost everything go wrong with it. Eventually the oil pump gave up while my mate was driving it down the motorway - oops.

Also had a citroen dispatch at that company, it was so uncomfortable, used to be in agony after driving for just a few minutes.

Andy

But transits are crap

[marc5180]

I've got a transit and mines fine, apart from the odd engine management system fault.

The worst i ever had was a Citroen relay box van.

[Colin G]

I've got a transit and mines fine, apart from the odd engine management system fault.

The worst i ever had was a Citroen relay box van.

is it one of them new shape transits? mines is the same bloody egr valve keeps throwing it into limp mode, i have since disconnected the cable to the egr valve and it runs sweet as a nut now

[marc5180]

I had a 56plate transit up until last year it kept cutting out for no apparent reason and wouldn't even turn over when i tried to restart it. I took it back to fords and they had it for 4 months and couldn't find a fault with it but it kept breaking down.
I swapped it for an 07 plate transit (the new shape) and the engine management light keeps coming on now and i seem to be losing power.
It's on 80k now so hopefully i'll get a new one soon.

[Magoo]

An Opel Vectra s/w, as a run-about. What a heap of ###p, spent most of the time in getting sorted, never was. Mainly overheating , computer shut downs. Driving along it would spin out of gear [ auto] , had to turn of ignition and start again, not cool at 120km on a motorway. Lots of not freindly waving from other cars. In essence , a heap of expensive ###p.
Now will stick to proven OZ product.., not GM.

[lowcool]

the worst would have to have been the diesel nissan urvans back in the 80's

[Colin G]

im just glad i never had to experience the joys of them vauxhall midi vans

[acnerd]

A 1997 Ford Courier van with double back doors and no burglar bars. Got all my tools stolen by pikies when living in London, in the first 3 months. Alternator went .... flat batteries. Heating broken in winter. Overloaded with all my gear ..... warned that the rear load springs were severely worn. 0 - 60 in 15 minutes, but never got a chance to drive with a foot flat for 15 minutes to enjoy it. Gutless!!

[chiller man]

I know what you mean ref the marina Glenn, had one of the earlier models with the 1100cc engine.It was pants!The gate on the gearbox was ten miles wide,steering was poo,brakes crap and the whole thing rusted around me earoles after six months. nice one. Another layland brainwave?

[glenn1340]

The gate on the gearbox was ten miles wide

I remember that, like mixing up a bread pudding. Finding reverse was pure pot luck.