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Mrs Flying Ox has decided that her A5 cabrio is not ideal for carting 2 kids and a dog + bikes to days out, so although this has probably bin dun a million times is there anything inherently stupid about buying a 150k+ miles non-ULEZ Vito? We live in the sticks and on the very rare occasion we need to go into a CAZ we can use my car, so I'm not too fussed about paying the £6k premium for a Euro 6 model. Probably do about 7-8000 miles a year but generally longer drives, so not for nipping to the shops and back.
I know: buy on condition not on mileage, check for a decent service history, budget for a water pump change straight away - but is there any glaringly obvious pitfall I'm walking blindly into? e.g. 3L engines prone to exploding, wheel bearings are made out of cheese, entire floorpan will rust the first time the roads are gritted, that kind of thing.
MAin thing i found was taxation class, it was £600 a year.... the Transit is half that.
OTher than that, it was a lovely drive. Mine was the 2.2 (i think) Auto and drove really nicely. The one i had didn't stay long as the dealer couldn't sort electrical gremlins, but i think that was specific to that van, not all Vito.
Vito dualiner tax class should be the same as any other van, £300 ish, the viano and travellner will be £600
Mine was a dualiner and £600. I tried to argue with them, they laughed at me. POssibly the advert was wrong and it wasn't a dualiner.. Dunno, mine had 3 sets of seat, 2 in front and 2 rows in the back. The sides were plastic lined not van internally.
Maybe it's the extra row of seats? Mines a dual liner but doesn't have the third row, all plastic lined out in the rear from factory.
My 2012 dualiner has been great 35+ mpg and 300 tax . 116 engine
nice to drive as well
To answer the op.
The main thing to keep an eye on with the 2.1 engine (other then regular servicing) is the injector seals, these can fail and a fuel/carbon mix of sticky tar will build up on top of the cylinder head, it's very easy to check for by removing the air box and takes about a minute to get to the head for a visual check, I do it every 6 months or so.
I bought mine (2013 113cdi 98k miles) Oct 22 for pretty much the same use, the wife and kids prefer to sit in the back as the seats are wide, comfy and individually reclineable, the dog rides up front with me, usually sprawled out across the bench seats. It'll either be full of mountain bikes, a dirt bike or a track bike and could have a trailer or caravan hooked up too, it's perfect for it.
Twin sliding side doors with privacy glass, rear tail gate with privacy glass rather than barn doors, parktronic (mercedes name for front and rear parking sensors) works well, it's comfy, quiet and relaxing to drive, managed around 36mpg with the caravan on (not too bad for a 4+ ton train weight, 45+mpg when not towing (managed to hit 60mpg on a trip to cowm reservoir from Cheshire before now)
It's pretty much the perfect vehicle for us, should have bought one years ago.
To add
Service parts are generally quite well priced direct from Mercedes. £145 for a full service kit including 10 litres of oil, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter. Only parts I've needed are a coolant level sensor £20, a failed bonnet release lever (common issue) £15 and a battery £145, it was 10 years old and the original unit so I'll forgive it.
AC on most vans will have failed at this age, the condenser rots through behind the fans and is a fairly labour intensive job to change (grill, bumper, head lights, slam panel etc all need to come off to get it out). With the engine running and the AC on (button on centre console, light on AC is off, light off AC is on) I think the two fans in front of the condenser should be running constantly, you can see them through the grill, obviously cold air from the vents too but this can sometimes be difficult to tell in winter.
Fuel consumption towing the caravan is 26mpg not 36mpg 😁 wishful thinking there.
I dunno much about Vitos apart from the reputation for tinworm.
But if you're after a higher-mileage, well looked-after crewcab van - I'm just about to sell my 2007 Vivaro on 162k (and had gearbox refurb last year).
It is amazing for moving cars / bikes / kids around.
3L engines prone to exploding
What!? OM642 is a cracker. Few easy things to look out for but its a well tried and tested engine, used in tonnes of stuff in various states of tune, strong, and oh-so-much nicer than a a clattery 4 pot!
It will get dreadful MPG round town, much, much better suited to long cruises. Bigger variation than the 4 cylinders.
As per poster above - genuine service parts are well priced and very well supported from main dealers.
Clattery?! How very dare you! 😀
The V6 is a belter, sadly I couldn't find a decent one when I was looking.
I think the main thing to look out for on the 3.0 litre is an oil leak from a couple of o' rings. They cost almost nothing to buy but involve dismantling half the engine bay to change them, I think they're down in the middle of the V.
I had a V6 Dualiner from new in 2006 (galvanised). Did around 250000 miles in it then sold it to the mechanic at my MOT place. It’s still going strong. Never suffered from Black Death. It has a variable vein turbo which can get a bit gummed up and can cause boost errors. Rear wiper motor can go as the washer fluid runs through it.
Other than that it’s the perfect MTB vehicle
the viano and travellner will be £600
Nope, my 2.2l Viano is £240.
Great car/van mine is. Love it. Nice to drive on big roads long distance. I've got the xlb version and at the moment have taken the third row of seat out. Mines an 8 seater, all leather, mmm nice! Me, missus, 2 kids and dog, then LOADS of shit on the back!
Registration was RJ10HFT don't know if you can find out the tax cost from that.
Vito Traveliner Long (may be as it was classed as the Traveliner)
I'm guessing the tax class is a bit hit and miss then 😁
Forgot about the rear wash wiper, replaced that too £45 and an easy job. The water for the rear washers runs through the motor spindle, the seal wears and water dribbles into the mechanics and rots it, not the best design ever, accept that you'll need to replace it every so often.
Don't bother with a compact, there's no room for the spare wheel under the van so it has to go in the rear load space. Go for a long (same wheelbase as compact but with an extra foot of load area and spare wheel fits under rear of the van) or the xlwb.
Yeah my rear wiper motor needs replacing. Need to get round to it....
Registration was RJ10HFT don’t know if you can find out the tax cost from that.
Vito Traveliner Long (may be as it was classed as the Traveliner)
M1 type approval, up to 9 seat passenger carrying that's why the tax was high. You want N1 to be classed as goods vehicle and around £300 ish tax.
I would avoid the 3.0 V6 OM642 version. Google oil cooler seals, expensive to replace due to positioning of the oil cooler, which is widely regarded as a when not if occurrence. A shame because it's a great engine.
Mine was an XLWB. I’ve got a 2018 XLWB tourer now (2.1 engine). Economy is way better, the tourer has seat rails so the seats can easily slide forwards/backwards. I usually have the 3rd row out and slide the second row quite forward. There’s still loads of legroom but this lets me fit loads of bikes in with wheels on. You might not get the rails in a dualiner so with modern bikes it will probably be front wheel off, even in an XLWB unless you have them diagonal or can really turn the bars.
All sounds pretty good then. Thanks all, I'll put my autotrader pants on and get looking.