Multivan over IMAX purchase. Need your advice....

[Transporter]

Yeah, probably many are switching from 1990 Ford Econovan or Mitsubishi L300 and never seat it the T5 or MB Vito.

[joel0407]

I've got to say the best van I have ever driven was MB Spriter with sprint shift. It was an ex Ambo so it had a few upgrades and most of my driving was reasonably long trips. It would happily cruise all day at 140+Km/h in the NT. Normal driving at 110 it would only use about 10.5l/100km. Ambo seats had adjustment and suspension in every possibly direction. Arm rests. Aux Heater. Rear Air con. But it's a big van. You can still parralel park it in the street but it wont go under many car parks.

Happy Days.

[Tornado T5]

Yeah, probably many are switching from 1990 Ford Econovan or Mitsubishi L300 and never seat it the T5 or MB Vito.

It's true, I had a customer driving a Hiace and let him drive my Transporter for a quick squirt and he couldn't believe how well the T5 drove, or how much better and car-like over the Hiace, he kept opening and closing the driver's door listening to the vastly more solid thud it made and instantly noticed how much space he had between the side window and his shoulder, mind you my T5 had 110,000km at the time and his Hiace was 7 months old.

[phantomcamel]

I won't get into the Multivan versus Hundai comparison, as that would be just silly from my point of view, but in terms of engine I might make a comment...:
It really comes down to load IMO - for normal use the TDI340 (Single Turbo) is more than ample. If you tell me that you also be towing a boat/horse-float/camper van I'd probably steer towards the twin turbo.
The other benefit of this is that if you are quick, the TDI340s are on a drive-away campaign ($49,990) - now if you look for a reasonable young second hand one, it will still cost you late 30s to mid 40s and you may enherit someone elses drama.
As far as I am aware we had no dramas with the DSGs in the T5s/Multivans - mainly Polos & Golfs seem to be the culprits, but I guess the extended warranty is not a bad idea.

[Sunny43.5]

Interesting comments from a VW dealer there , why would you say for $30-40 k you can buy one second hand late model but "might inherit someone else,s dramas " Inside information ???/

[SnowMotion]

Before buying my Transporter Crew van I drove the Hyundi and it was really no comparison. The VW is a great van to drive and is so good on the open road. Having done 7 trips to the snowy mountains this year i can attest to the ease of driving and handling a load.
That is the good. The bad is dealing with VW.
Whilst the driving is so good the way VW manage spare parts and client relations has a lot to be desired and they could learn a lot from Japanese manufactures. To date I am still trying to get the armrests fitted to my van that were ordered with it. 8 months to manufacture and 7 months of ownership and still not resolved. VW lack the resolve to stand behind their agreements and as such i will see them in court over this soon.
My van was delivered with A/C not working so the dealer re-gassed the system, saying that was the problem. (did not make sense to for a perfect system to loose all its gas in 3 months) 6 months later and the aircon only works on one side of the car. Dealership tells me that system is working within normal range so no problem. Fed up, I took it to another dealer, Compressor is faulty and needs replacing. BUT, it will take 3 weeks to supply.
I would still rather drive the VW but they could really improve their service.

[Sunny43.5]

Okay that makes the statement clearer thanks for that , as for services missed etc what is your take on the Triptronic auto that is not able to be serviced by our "friendly "VW dealer .

[Jmac]

Im sure the answer is there isnt a service missed with the Tiptronic, there is no set schedule for it, i for one am totally against that as oil of any kind is going to and has to break down. Biggest enemy of any engine or gearbox is friction therefore oil service is a given but what can we do , in its warranty period or "lifetime" period we follow the guidlines set. Yep hard pill to swallow, i know for sure , its also hard telling someone they are up for mega bucks to fix.
Anyway back on topic, im VERY impressed with the latest CR engines with the DSG, i look after a couple in a fleet set up and have had no dramas, must admit personally im glad we are way from the gear driven set and back to the belt, thats just me, yeah the gear driven engine when on its game is very strong but have way to many issues with it. New one is pretty nice. On the Hyundai, i tuned my mates one and the torque on that thing is whopping, but have heard they are lunching engines too, so like Transporter says have a good look on the forums to see what folk are saying
Cheers and good luck with your choice
Jmac

[FMJ]

Drove the 340 today, transmission was impressive, very smooth and responsive(no torque converter slushiness), power felt adequate, accelerated quicker than it felt and was quieter than the IMAX and easier/more relaxing to drive. Multivan it is…. Thanks for your input