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Mine's got one in the rear offside corner! (Leisuredrive plan A layout). Agree with you 100% - the reason I chose the T5 is because I needed an every day driver that would double as a mini motorhome. Suits our family of four perfectly.
Mark
Ps I opted for the 1.9 engine after hearing so many horror stories about the 2.5. Volvo dropped it from their early V70's & brought in the D5 - it just wasn't up to the job.
No worries Carl. I don't know what came over me. SWMBO would prefer a coachbuilt but I am veering towards a slightly bigger VW conversion like the Westy California Exclusive, or maybe a Big Nugget transit conversion (when they come on the SH market).
One of my friends who is a VW technician wouldn't agree - from what he says the 5 pot has an awful reputation and they are glad to see the back of it.
Hi Stanner I’m not sure who your VW tech works for but he sounds like a bit of a Walter mitty. The reality is that the T4 and T5are the choice of taxi owners who cover huge mileage and loads of town driving each year. They are their van of choice for one reason only. How many Fiats do you see as taxi’s maybe zero I think.
T5 campers are under used so if looked after they should last forever.
Bad engine oil management is the only thing that could result in problems but sensible owners use the correct oil at the correct intervals.
So Stanner perhaps you could elaborate on your Walter mitties views it should make interesting reading.
Compare all this with the judder gate posts on here alone and it will confirm just how good the 5 pot unit is. My 174bhp will knock spots off of most other commercial base units on power refinement and reliability. Will look forward to Walters’s comments.
Just in case you don’t believe me, I have left a link that will put you in touch with informed people a number of which are taxi owners. Be my guest.
http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/late-model-t5-problems-stil l-exist_topic44222.html
One last point on the California conversion being expensive.
I have been following the post regarding the NEC show on here this week.
Someone has just parted with £90,000 for a basic Fiat based conversion. It take all kinds dont it.
One of my friends who is a VW technician wouldn't agree - from what he says the 5 pot has an awful reputation and they are glad to see the back of it.
Hi Stanner I’m not sure who your VW tech works for but he sounds like a bit of a Walter mitty. The reality is that the T4 and T5are the choice of taxi owners who cover huge mileage and loads of town driving each year. They are their van of choice for one reason only. How many Fiats do you see as taxi’s maybe zero I think.
T5 campers are under used so if looked after they should last forever.
Bad engine oil management is the only thing that could result in problems but sensible owners use the correct oil at the correct intervals.
So Stanner perhaps you could elaborate on your Walter mitties views it should make interesting reading.
Compare all this with the judder gate posts on here alone and it will confirm just how good the 5 pot unit is. My 174bhp will knock spots off of most other commercial base units on power refinement and reliability. Will look forward to Walters’s comments.
Just in case you don’t believe me, I have left a link that will put you in touch with informed people a number of which are taxi owners. Be my guest.
http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/late-model-t5-problems-stil l-exist_topic44222.html
One last point on the California conversion being expensive.
I have been following the post regarding the NEC show on here this week.
Someone has just parted with £90,000 for a basic Fiat based conversion. It take all kinds dont it.
I'm simply passing on what he says and he's one of the top techies at the local dealer.
i drink with a aa man, and he recenltly had a vauaxhall van, he was told that the aa dropped vw as the t5 was too exspensive and too unreliable. my brother has a 55 plate california and imo it is the most overhyped exspensive builders van going, even with the 4x4 drive. he loves it but he wouldnt dream of camping in it as its to small!!
Our 98 1.9 T4 ex delivery van from LeisureDrive serves well as a camper ( Spain, Italy and France, plus UK ) so far and also an everyday vehicle for me. No loo, but we manage on campsites of course.
Engine lags on a hill when loaded and a bit of a pain in that way but I cope. It was all we could afford. I would like to update in spec and covet a neighbour's T5 05, but have never been in one or tried one therefore not aware of pit falls, but they do seem expensive.
Ours was fitted out by a "carpenter" friend of the previous owner who bought the L/Drive conversion. Not half as good as the original Westy fitting in our prev T2 Bay of course. Light weight veneered panels and boards make up the furniture, but it's all there and works apart from the sliding bed, which was a bodged joke which I replaced three years ago with a R&R. Not enough DIY skills to try to upgrade the rest of it, so we soldier on as it were.
Stanner, thanks for that test report link. I have seen various posts on VW forums by T5 owners confirming that the T5s can be either great or really dire (pot luck) with posters wishing they had stuck with their previous T4.
In the days when I owned a VW Golf Mark 2, I came to realise VW's reputation for reliability was a myth. That Golf needed all sorts of unexpected replacement bits despite regular servicing and low mileage. It was nice to drive between AA call-outs. Yet the Mark 2 Golf was reckoned to be the best made Golf ever. My current Vauxhall Vectra is 9 years old and its reliability and build quality is streets ahead of that Golf.
Our Westy's T4 Transporter base vehicle has been reliable so far (touch wood) only needing normal servicing and replacement battery, tyres, exhaust and brakes. The VW trim hasn't been as robust as one might expect for a commercial van. Plastic handles and knobs are too brittle and break very easily. The quality of VW's paintwork is questionable. The door card for the sliding door has come off its plastic fixings and now needs refitting to stop it rattling because it spoils an otherwise rattle-free conversion.
Stanner, thanks for that test report link. I have seen various posts on VW forums by T5 owners confirming that the T5s can be either great or really dire (pot luck) with posters wishing they had stuck with their previous T4.
In the days when I owned a VW Golf Mark 2, I came to realise VW's reputation for reliability was a myth. That Golf needed all sorts of unexpected replacement bits despite regular servicing and low mileage. It was nice to drive between AA call-outs. Yet the Mark 2 Golf was reckoned to be the best made Golf ever. My current Vauxhall Vectra is 9 years old and its reliability and build quality is streets ahead of that Golf.
Our Westy's T4 Transporter base vehicle has been reliable so far (touch wood) only needing normal servicing and replacement battery, tyres, exhaust and brakes. The VW trim hasn't been as robust as one might expect for a commercial van. Plastic handles and knobs are too brittle and break very easily. The quality of VW's paintwork is questionable. The door card for the sliding door has come off its plastic fixings and now needs refitting to stop it rattling because it spoils an otherwise rattle-free conversion.
SD
It could be why so many ex-VW owners now have Mazda Bongos.
I used to mystery shop (vehicle servicing) for a "well known German car maker" (I'm not allowed to say which one ) and it cured me of ever wanting one.
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France
) and it cured me of ever wanting one.
