I'm in the market for a small van - Astra van sized, ideally, certainally no bigger.

So what is the best? Asta van, escort van, corsa van, Citroen's little van?

It'll have to be used and abused already and be less than

Being VAG biased i'd say a SEAT Inca/VW Caddy

Old Maestro diesel van, go forever and a day,and cost fourpence.

There's loads of Transit Connects on Autotrader for less than

I drive a VW Carrer Van, it's like a home from home. :P

Actually I drive a Caddy most days and I have to say they are great.

I work with 2 people who have astra vans. Both swear by them.

one of which has an M3 for his fun car, and even he was impressed by it though, i think he may have been taking the **** just a bit :P

Never heard a bad thing said about the astra vans, and when i was looking for a van, never read a bad review about em either. apparantly they drive just like the car version

I regulary drive my bosses 53 plate white Astra van for my window cleaning work, and it is fantastic, only a 1.7 dti but it is nice to drive, reliable and just overall a very easy van. And there are plenty around for under 5K. Would definatley recommend!

But you should go have a look at a few different vans, one that someone else likes may not be your cup of tea.

James

I work with 2 people who have astra vans. Both swear by them.

one of which has an M3 for his fun car, and even he was impressed by it though, i think he may have been taking the **** just a bit :P

Never heard a bad thing said about the astra vans, and when i was looking for a van, never read a bad review about em either. apparantly they drive just like the car version

I also know someone who has an Astra van, hes had it remapped and he also swears by it, funnily enough his other vehicle is a 3seires M sport...

apparantly they drive just like the car version

thats because its a 3 door astra estate with no windows

astra vans are very good but so is the connect, i would go for the connect in my experience as it has a sliding door maybe two and although not as long being taller its more useful

haha..they myust both be making far too much money!!

does anyone know the bhp of the astra van. the most common ones ive seen around are the sportive version (think its spelt like that)

If you don need need a massive amount of space, there is a new fiesta van out. 1.6tdci engine and 90bhp i think. looks quite good aswell. remap it and it would have a nice amount of power

looking at around 80 - 100bhp

Yea i think its about 90ish but his is remapped to 140ish :P

I drove an Astravan for about 3 years, quite fast and chuckable as long as there's nothing fragile sliding around in the back! We had three and they all broke down at some point with something expensive mind, oil pump went and new engine required under warranty, turbo went just out of warranty on one of them and I believe the starter motor went on the other one.

If you do go for an Astravan the Sportive is the one to get, alloys, air con, EW, EM. Some of them even came with the 2.0 DTi which would be fun.

Renault Kangoo is not bad, around 70 bhp diesel.

Astra is very good to drive and on fuel.

I have a transit connect LWB high top, and it's very comfy but it eats deisel IMO. Thank god I don't pay the fuel bill. VW caddys are very nippy too, and very good on fuel.

Avoid anything by Citreon/peugeot or fiat IMO.

Surely the same principals apply as per cars?

Get something VW

The 2.0 DTI is 99BHP, I had on in a Y plate Astra estate and it used to go pretty well.

The later Astravans are available with a 1.7CDTI Engine which is about 100 brake IIRC.

The 1.7 is far better on fuel as the DTI wasn't even common rail.

My old firm uses 2.0 HDI 90 berlingo's and they have always been reliable despite being ragged. The latest ones use the 1.6 HDI 90 engine which is more fuel efficient.

The Renault Kangoo uses the Nissan/Renault 1.5dCi engine with about 68BHP.

Personally I would plump for a TDI VW Caddy or SEAT Inca if funds allow it.

do not get a citreon dispair(aka dispatch) biggest pile of dung on the market.we have had all 4 of ours back to the dealer for a rear brake failure issue,one of which failed on its way back from the dealer after being fixed.

though slightly bigger than you require ,the vw transporter is brilliant,so i can only assume the caddy is on a similar par.

Depends what you're using it for. If a lot of it's use will be round town and involve a lot of jumping in and out then a Kangoo is good, the seat height makes it easy to jump in and out, but they sway around too much on motorways. The Berlingo I gave up on, the turning circle is way too large for a small van.

The Astravan 1.7TDi is about 82bhp. I had a sportive for about a year, and was thoroughly pleased to get rid. It was a 54 plate, with about 40k on when it went. The clutch was on its way out, rear suspension creaking like hell, and it had not had a hard life at all. Also had to have the altenator replaced as it squeeked like a tortured mouse, and thinking about it, that didn't fix it. Keeping it for any longer would have got very expensive I think. Lost a load on resale also.:(

On the other hand, it was pretty nippy, if a little raw and basic feeling. Handling was ok. Would have fitted the sports option if I had kept it, and had it chipped (110bhp I think you can get with no other mods). The trouble is its a bit spin happy if you brake too hard. My wife hit the breaks on the M6, and the back end just flipped out, and took out the entire side on the central reservation:eek: . If you do get one MAKE SURE IT HAS ABS

Parting thoughts on my old van............

OK to drive

Very efficient

NOT reliable

crappy dealers (nearly sued... they said it had abs!)

looked nice

it tried to kill my wife

My neighborough has a new shape Caddy tdi. It is fast! He loves it.

Phil

it tried to kill my wife

So what about the negatives :P

Can't comment on the small vans, but I hired a Vivaro recently with the 1.9 DTI (100bhp) engine and 6 speed box and was very impressed with it. Excellent on fuel, pokey enough to get up to speed, even fully laden, and reasonably good on fuel. My only complaint was that it looked like they'd pinched the dials off the petrol model as it showed the red line at 6k rpm

Chris

Strangely, the Vivaro we had at a former place of work was hopeless, the 1.9 DTI couldnt get it over 70mph EVER!

The Astra van, however was very nice indeed - it had Aircon too.

My van will probably never get over 60mph, if its a 1.4 N/A petrol then thet'll be fine!

Slowness isnt a problem, reliability is a must though, as is cheap insurance.

I think an SDI Caddy or similar would be spot on then.

Strangely, the Vivaro we had at a former place of work was hopeless, the 1.9 DTI couldnt get it over 70mph EVER!

That wasn't a concern for me, as I was driving it in the UK Had I wanted to though, I reckon it would have topped out around 90mph

Chris