[Closed] Any newish Vivaro owners or users?

The only thing I'd add is make sure it's compliant with the lives of GM's emissions zone. It's more or less ruled out any older vans - so that's my 'project' gone out the window.

emissions zone

I'm up in the Highlands. Emission zones 'should' be a while away from being a day to day issue for me. But noted.

Sure it has been said plenty time before - the VW stuff is nice, but isn't really any more reliable or better than the competition these days. The VW stuff is expensive as you pay for the name, but the competition tends to have slightly higher specs for the same price, work just as well and tend to be slightly cheaper to run.

I'm in a similar position, think I'll go for a Euro 6 model, however it'll almost certainly never see an urban journey.

Obviously the answer to this is to join the T4/5/6 clan

A tradesman working on the house has a nice T6; as a previous T5 owner, I asked him about it. He was seriously unimpressed with it and won't replace it with another. Heard a few stories likewise.

The Vivaro looks a cracking van.

I presume you are meaning the current Citroën / Peugeot / Toyota derived Vivaro (but actually now made in Luton not the SEVEL nord plant)?

We've had the Citroën Dispatch version for about four years now (xl 6 seater crew van, 2 litre 120 Euro 6). Very happy with it and 100% trouble free. The only criticism is the cab isn't as well thought out as a Transit in terms of bottles, cup holders etc. Also a bit sparse on tie down points in the back.

Some say they are a bit tinny, but they are a good chunk lighter than the equivalent T6 = better payload and economy. We've owned the previous generations for the last 23 years and it is noticeable where they have deliberately shaved weight eg you wouldn't jump up and down on the roof. But in my opinion that is just good engineering rather than making a tank.

Don’t consider a T4 they are too old now and quite a few garages local to me refuse to work on them. Love mine and just clocked 205,000 but I’m saving for the day it finally gives in, no sign of that yet I hope.

Transit Custom for work appears to be fairly bomb proof though.

Cheers OP, I'd been considering asking the same question for the same reasons about the same vehicle.

If anyone knows whether you could build in a fixed single bed/seat with storage and have enough head height for a 6ft occupant its be appreciated. I like my current van but getting anything on the roof is a right pain, and long term I'd like to transport Canoes on top. You can get side loading racks but the van is tall enough already.

That's be the the new version of the Vivaro/Expert etc.

I'm interested in these for when van prices get halfway sensible again.

I quite like the idea of a smaller, lighter medium-sized van for personal use.

I've been driving a Vivaro (well 2 Vivaros) for the past 8 years or so. Love it, perhaps not ideal for a daily urban commute but for carrying bikes, furniture, cats, garden waste and occasional ghetto camping it's hard to beat. Even the LWB version fits in urban spaces (eg car parks) though it's a tight fit at times.

Thinking of getting an electric but maybe better to wait a year or two, they are quite new and can only get better range-wise...

Oh, I get well over 40mpg too, so it's hardly a gas-guzzler. The only downside is the tax really.

Very interested in this thread, as the same as Marin above we've got a T4 with 195k on the clock. Both myself, my wife and our 7 year old love it to bits (we've had so many adventures in it) but it's definitely on borrowed time now. We had it resprayed a good few years ago but even after that, the bodywork is desperate for attention now (rust). Not having any issues with local garages working on it, but the costs of keeping it going are definitely getting tough to stomach.

As with most on this thread, we've looked at T6's, and they do seem overpriced compared to other makers, and I'm not convinced T6's are any better quality / more reliable either. Vivaro is definitely on our hit list. We do have some requirements though. Needs to be able to accept a sea kayak roof rack, back seat for jr (as he grows the third front seat will be difficult), but space in the back for bikes - I don't see the point in having a large vehicle like that and then having to put bikes on a rack anyway. I may as well have a nice comfier / more economical estate car. Lastly, no carpet. 2 border collies and regular, year round, sea and bikes based adventures means we use the back of the van as a warm/dry changing room so sand, mud, salt water etc is guaranteed. Carpets wouldn't last 5 minutes.

It's timing belts water pump change etc they seem wary about but saying that it never misses a beat and fires up first time. Plus it makes us really cool driving round in them littleman!

Indeed Marin! 😁 Actually, ours is due a timing belt now… sorry, didn’t mean to derail the thread onto T4’s!!

I got a brand new Vivaro as a hire van last summer. Drove Yorkshire to Innerleithen to Kent to Yorkshire. The experience was enough to cross it off my potential purchase list. It was noisy as hell inside (couldn’t listen to the stereo) and the seats were L shaped and really uncomfortable. The driver’s seat has a small amount of adjustment in it but the passenger seats didn’t and my passenger complained about how uncomfortable it was. Might be better without a bulkhead behind you, but can’t imagine that would help the noise. Budget and functionality might well have had me buy one before that hire, but I was glad to have had the hire experience and not ended up owning one.

All vans are noisy inside. Noisier than cars anyway. Relatively cheap to buy sound deadening which made a huge difference in mine

FYI, the GM emission zone thing has been put on hold for now due to the backlash of local business and other things.

They have been asked to plan an alternative by July

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/update-on-greater-manchester-clean-air-zone

I was about to tell a tale of woe of the two new Vivaros we had at work, chopped in at not inconsiderate cost (around a year old) due to gearbox failures, total electrical fail and other pain in the arse things.
Then I realised it was 2013. So probably not relevant, we've had Ford's only ever since. Not without their faults but they've never been undrivable or on fire.

I’d say this was noisy by van standards. I’ve driven and ridden in plenty, this was my least favourite, and it had done 13 miles when I got it. I doubt there are many vans that improve with age!

I wonder what the electric ones are like for noise, as really that's the option that put the Vivaro/Expert family in the picture for me.

Not any time soon admittedly.

I’d say this was noisy by van standards. I’ve driven and ridden in plenty, this was my least favourite, and it had done 13 miles when I got it. I doubt there are many vans that improve with age!

I've read a couple of reviews that have said the latest gen of vivaros have shed some weight - in theory to improve efficiency. I guess that it could make it noisy too.

My experinece of converting the ducato was that removing the bulkhead massively increased seat comfort but made it noisier. Once the thermal insulation was in (making sure not to add too many squeaks), especially on the floor, the noise levels improved hugely.

The crew van we have is very quiet (so trim and bulkhead in the cabin but unlined steel in the back) - much better than the old shape Vivaro (with bulkhead) or the T5 (no bulkhead) we have at work. And better than the fully trimmed Dispatch Combi we had before.

Have we actually ascertained which model Vivaro it was Hannah? The date of your trip could have been either end of line old model Vivaro (Renault Trafic) or new Vivaro (Dispatch / Expert / Toyota). They are TOTALLY different vans.

FWIW I don't have the same complaints. We are 30k miles into our latest Dispatch including separate trips from UK to Switzerland and Brno Czech Republic - so I've spent plenty of time in both seats and they are fine 🙂 There are very few vans that have two seater bench seats with an adjustable backrest. And there are also two types of passenger seat (one that folds up for carrying long loads).

Littleman - if you are considering the current shape crewvan for kayak carrying just check out what it is like for roof rack mounts. For some reason ours only has two sets of threaded holes in the roof above the passenger compartment - nothing at all at the rear of the roof so you'd need to use a sucker mount or something at the back if Vivaro is the same. The normal 3 seater van seems to have rack mounts at the rear. No idea what the combi or spacetourer equivalent versions have. Vivaro bodies appear to be welded in the UK (presumably from French pressings) so they might be different.