[Closed] Vauxhall Combo Crew 2011 or older van for family duties, any advice?

Only experience I have is with the 1.3 CDTI engine these come with. Hateful little FIAT thing.
My OH has a Corsa with the stupid thing fitted. So far it's had turbo failure (£800), injectors fail (£1500) and a new sump as they're prone to rust. They're also slow and crap.

Mm doesnt sound promising then, maybe the 1.7cdti be better then?

It might be, at least it'd be a bit more powerful for lugging a family around. I'm not sure where that engine is sourced from. A friend had a Vectra 1.7CDTI and it seemed OK but they had an appetite for gearboxes. The Combo may not use the same 'box though.

I think things like the Citroen Berlingo/Peugeot Partner are supposed to be a good choice as I've seen guys on here get excited about them. Not had any experience myself.

If you want to be trendy then a Caddy is the way forward but you'll need deep pockets.

Mother in law had the slightly more car ified version terrible electrics on it door locks were a major pita then the engine started playing up and she got shot and bought a berlingo. I've a normal van 1.7 combo it's been great for the last three years I've had it, we only use it for bikes but it's done a few big trips they are a bit noisy and not the most comfortable so god knows how bad the rear seat in the crew version is. If you need the seating but don't want a bigger than combo van I'd consider a people carrier (we used a Honda shuttle before great car) or a car version of the berlingo with tints on the windows

Yeah i had a 2003 Peugeot Partner 2.0hdi, was great but rear suspension collapsed and was to much to repair, and very hard to find another decent one had been looking but just seen lots of combos about and at right price.
VW Caddy they well out of budget! lol

Citroen Berlingo/Peugeot Partner the newer 2008 alright?

I've no idea sorry, my knowledge runs out past VW & Vauxhall lol.

I'm sure one of the STW van gurus will be along shortly!

Ah many thanks, its just a mine field buying a second hand car and just dont wanna buy a money pit!

the 1.7 works out more economical than the 1.3 with real world motoring.

not the most comfortable so god knows how bad the rear seat in the crew version is.

the front seats are pretty cramped for taller drivers.... but then, oddly, the rear seat leg room ends up being pretty enormous - quite limo-like even- so good if you have adults rather than children in the back so long as you're not a particularly tall adult yourself.

If you you're talking about the crew cab version (rather than the van-derived-car) then they were often built with a bulkhead behind the back seats and the rear seats may not fold very effectively (or at all) and with the rear passenger seats taking up such a large portion of the rear cabin you're not left with very much boot - not enough to get a bike in really. The crew cabs seem to have been built in batches for a handful of fleet operators - royal mail etc - and haven't all been fitted out and spec'd in the same way so don't assume that if you've seen one you've seen them all, theres quite a bit of variation.

To be honest, might an estate car not be a better option? I've been through van buying before and ended up with a VW T4. It was great for biking but little else, I just found it a pain as a daily driver (for me personally). I've had 2 Passat estates since (an old B4 and a slightly newer B5.5 TDI) and to be honest they're fantastic. Can fit bikes inside easily (wheels off and keep the seats up or wheels on with the seats down) in fact cargo space is probably better than a small 'crew' van. For trips away I use a roof rack for bikes leaving the boot for luggage and the passenger compartment for passengers.

Needless to say, I do love an estate

Yeah i have thought about an estate car, like a focus estate 1.6 petrol to avoid all the erg valves and Dfp etc that the diesels all have these days. i got a max budget of £3k.

Had a 1.7 CDI crew van for several years. Got me through all the school runs with the kids and doubled as my painting van (when it worked!)

Things to watch out for:

Water ingress into the cabin, a common fault, water gets in, I think down the steering rack so check for wet carpet.

Spare wheel is easy to get nicked. Mine did.

Suspension coils have a tendancy to fail and go boiing. All four of mine did at various times.

EDU which is bolted to the water pump can develop dry circuit joints. Mine did. There is a thriving business on eBay for reconditioned units.

Gear linkage ball joint wears and pops out meaning you can't get into first or in reverse. This happened to me, fixed with a cable tie.

Leak in water system. Fixed with that stuff you put in the resoivour and it blocks holes.

I wouldn't touch another Vauxhall after owning this vehicle.

Part exchanged it with soaking carpets for my current car. I believe it went to auction. 2 months later I get a speeding fine from Somerset police from after the date I part exed it. Even when I got rid of the vile thing it came back to haunt me!

Mm ok think i will stay away then and look at estates! Cheers all!

rear axle went and was to much to repair,

300 quid posted for an exchange unit and 3 hours to change. Garages quote big prices as try wprry the 4 captive torq bolts that hold it on won't come out and they have to cut the boot floor out.

Crew cab combos are very basic ,not fun for rear passengers and noisy.

I've got a 2004 berlingo forsale next week. It's had a new rear axle (sept last year) . All brakes have been done this year ,both front wheel bearings. Timing belt and aux belt done last year along with glow plugs and tappets. No rot. 4 good all season tires on. Electric blue and 40mpg no matter what.

Downsides are it needs a windscreen as it took a stone just before Xmas in the drivers side. Front wing has a crease ,its a noisy 8v engine with no turbo. 80mph max. Minimises on speeding tickets 🙂 it's a 14 year old car and the biggy -its located in Aberdeen.

800 quid .

We have just changed to a 2015 Peugeot partner. Our third one in 10 years (first newish one previous all been bought at 8-10 years) for a couple grand.

The new one is a really nice place to sit. Really comfy and much quieter. Not expensive neither for what you get 2015<10000 miles on top spec for <£9000

Have you thought about a Peugeot Partner Escapade or Berlingo, the car variants? Whilst you are never going to win any style points, they are really practical, seats for five, you can fold rear seats up aginst the front (or completely bolt them out easily) and i have had 3 people and 3 bikes in upright with wheels on, plus 6 big bags and 9 crates of Belgian beer.

Even the 2.0 HDi is cheap to insure as half are mobility vehicles and the average owner age is 82, mine was £186 fully comp for the year and 2 litre was economic and pulled pretty well.

Typically French though, the engines i found keep going if you service them regularly but they have the usual french electrics, so watch out for elec. windows, central locking etc.

I've an estate now, but really miss the two i had, so easy just to put bike in upright and not have to worry about clipping the inside of the car with pedals or oily bits!

Ah yeah did look at the replacemnt axle, but beyond my skills to tackle it i decided.
Thats a shame its so far away otherwise would have come had a look.

We've got a bigger Dispatch Combi that shares 1.6HDI engine and some dash / switchgear with the current shape Berlingo. Just clicking round to 100,000 miles and 9.5 years old. Engine is fine provided you service it (proper schedule, proper oil and filter).

The electric window issue is often the door switches that just need stripping and cleaning (they are fairly crude contacts touching a circuit board - the copper surface tarnishes and just needs polishing and cleaning). It did eventually strip the drive on the driver's window motor about 90k but replacing the whole unit was fairly easy diy and not that expensive for pattern parts.

It conked out for the first ever time on last year's summer holiday. German dealer said it was fuel filter or pressure sensor (filter fixed it for a few thousand miles) but I eventually traced it to sucking in air from a tiny split rubbed by a fuel pipe clip. New pipe loom was £114 and a wrestle to fit but all now good (working on the cheap I could have just cut the plastic pipe and bodged in a repair).

I'd have no worries about buying a Berlingo.

Exactly Mick

You won't get a more basic modern car... The only time mines has failed to get home was the other week when. The throttle cable snapped .... Had I been home I'd have bodged itup anditd hve got home. Try that when Your fly by wire potentiometer goes.

Pretty sure the new shape if fly by wire 🙂

I don't miss the old PSA cable clutch one little bit. They kept playing with the design and leverage so it was either heavy, broke cables or broke clutch fork lever. Or managed a combination of all three 🙂

Hydraulic on current shape is much better.

I'm well aware of the foibles of my new car.

I'm not looking forward to this at all.

But the wife's transporting too many school kids in bob our current berlingo for my liking.

Oddly the clutches have never been a problem on either of ours. Yes they are stiff ... But even then they are light compared to the landy.

Throttle cables on other hand. Due to piss poor routine appear to be a service item .

They pass over the top of exhaust manifold due to the way PSA converted them from LHD to RHD because of the injection pump positions and orientation. So you get 2 miles of cable passing all the hot bits.