What has stopped you from buying a T6?

[LogicprObe]

Ford have 5 years on Customs and Transits....actually all their vehicles.

Unlimited kms?

[Tornado T5]

Unlimited kms?

Yes for vehicles collected after 1st May 2018...not bad for a commercial vehicle under a 5 year finance for example...sadly I bought last year.

[LogicprObe]

Yes for vehicles collected after 1st May 2018...not bad for a commercial vehicle under a 5 year finance for example...sadly I bought last year.

I'm in the market now..........not urgent though so I'm certainly looking around.
My first inclination was to go from Transporter to Crafter, mainly because of the barn doors issue............but I'm having second thoughts.....

[Tornado T5]

I'm in the market now..........not urgent though so I'm certainly looking around.
My first inclination was to go from Transporter to Crafter, mainly because of the barn doors issue............but I'm having second thoughts.....

My personal opinion having shopped around for a while is that VW still builds the best vans from a build, finish and craftsmanship viewpoint however they are over-priced and under-specced. Maybe the Crafter might change that however unless you want a "common variety" wait times could be long although an 8 speed auto has great appeal.
Vito's are even more over-priced and are not put together as well as VW's, and I suggest lag behind the Ford products. Although they would be the most "car-like" to drive and the 7 speed auto with 140kW is a nice combo.
The Ford Transit Custom and larger Transits are very good. Better built than Mercs imho and while still a little more expensive then what they should be you you get a smooth auto, 125kW in the FWD Transit and a nice 8" screen with plenty of safety features at a reasonable price. Not as many on the ground with rhd sliding doors however most are rear wing doored and the Transits have great turning circles. Plus they have the greatest width between wheel arches for forklift loading.
The Trafic surprised me. More car like in ride then all the other vans, much higher spec level and great pricing but I feel it needs more power/torque and my first wish is an auto as lately stop/start driving has increased and while hill hold really helps nothing beats "shoving it in drive" and forgetting. Driving any manual van means you do have to concentrate more which is probably a good thing.
So if you have time for a delivery wait and money is not a major concerm I'd go VW.
Next the Renault if you don't need an auto, followed by Ford if you don't need a crew van.
Ford are like VW in Australia at the moment re van models, far more product range overseas then what they choose to offer here.

As your are more in the Sprinter/Transit/Master/Daily class I'm not as well read in these vehicles.

Transporter has stated he got out of his Sprinter so you can follow his posts, I've test driven the larger Transit 125kW auto fwd and it was good, so much so I ordered the smaller Custom knowing it would have less power but even better dynamics and the same comfort.. Masters have a semi-automated manual..I hate those.

[Umai Naa!!]

Am I the only one who hasn't got the dollars?

Nope.

All I wanted was a Runner to replace my very tired 1.9TDI.

[Transporter]

Transporter has stated he got out of his Sprinter so you can follow his posts, I've test driven the larger Transit 125kW auto fwd and it was good, so much so I ordered the smaller Custom knowing it would have less power but even better dynamics and the same comfort.. Masters have a semi-automated manual..I hate those.

If only the ride quality is important and nothing else really matters, the Sprinter is ok. The Iveco Daily is exact opposite but worth to look at if someone is after very durable, strong, tough van. I like the all 4 disc brakes and with twin turbo 150kW 3.0L TD, even with manual gearbox you're never caught in wrong gear.

Iveco Daily 2018 50C21
Advantage over others:
Can carry 2150kg on car licence, proper chassis, longitudinally fitted drivetrain, good ground clearance and low overhang front and rear, very good turning circle, 3.0L diesel engine that is proven from the past to last and it doesn't suffer from the oily intake lake many others, driver's suspended and heated seat is standard.

Disadvantage:
Drives like a truck, poor quality interior, outdated dash, no rake adjustable steering column (only height). The head unit is the worst one out there, it uses iGo maps, it has a huge start up delay every time the ignition is turned off, the reverse camera is poor quality, it would be better if there was just a hole in the dash, it's real waste of money for such nav unit in 2018 model vehicle. The electrical wiring looks very flimsy, missing support and brackets everywhere you look at.

[LogicprObe]

Is that the Sprinter or Iveco?

[Transporter]

Is that the Sprinter or Iveco?

Iveco.

[Tornado T5]

Iveco.

I can tell you want a Crafter....

[Transporter]

I can tell you want a Crafter....

Yes, I do and I hope that the 4motion Crafter will have more ground clearance than the FWD Crafter, otherwise it won’t be suitable for what I’m using it for.

[Tornado T5]

Yes, I do and I hope that the 4motion Crafter will have more ground clearance than the FWD Crafter, otherwise it won’t be suitable for what I’m using it for.

I jumped on the VW site to see what I could configure...er only Runner still there while the downloadable brochure has more details but awd ..as yet..isn't listed....why oh why ....bring in parallel importing now....

[LogicprObe]

Well, they did say they were bringing in more and more options this year..............and there's four months to go!
I'm struggling to see how an auto is worth 8-10 grand over a manual though.

[Bryn23]

I had to email VW au to get the recent crafter brochure about two weeks ago as it only had the Runner brochure on it.

The 4 motion isn't available until late this year, early next year, so thats why its not up there.

Im still waiting on my dealer to send my the options list, he claimed there was about 7 pages of options, but as i haven't seen it, i can't say thats true, i'm hoping it is as that would me we get a huge range of options

At least Seikel offer a 30mm lift for the Crafter, also if you download the UK Crafter brochure it should have the ground clearance height as they have the 4 motion at this time.

[Transporter]

I jumped on the VW site to see what I could configure...er only Runner still there while the downloadable brochure has more details but awd ..as yet..isn't listed....why oh why ....bring in parallel importing now....

Yeah, that’s why I couldn’t wait with selling the Sprinter. When you find out that you bought a lemon, you want to get rid of it in a reasonable time, so you get as much of your money back from the original purchase. I knew that it’d be many years after release of Runner, before they offer 4motion and you have only someone’s word for it. Still remember last fake news in the media, that 4x4 Crafter is coming to Australia, that was few years back and articles are still floating there.
Volkswagen makes great cars and vans, but the Volkswagen Australia is letting them down and will use any excuse not bring in here what people ask for. The New Zealand has much less of pupolation and they always had more options than we have here.

[Bryn23]

Is there a way to post the AU Crafter broshure (not the runner version) on PDF on here?