Possibly the end of an era.

[DJ Jules]

Sad news on the van! What actually failed in the end?

I've lost track of which manufacturers are collaborating on designs at the moment and if the Dispatch is now different to the Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot equivalents or just a rebadging of one of their designs. Someone told me the other day that VW transporters are about to be a rebadging of a transit - which is going to upset a lot of VW enthusiasts if it's true...

My vivaro has just gone through the MOT without any issues so I'm considering trading it in. Again. Second hand van prices seem to have settled a little now, but still not down to pre-pandemic levels.

Julian

[Benny Smyth]

Sad news on the van! What actually failed in the end?

It was the result of an accident, unfortunately.

I've lost track of which manufacturers are collaborating on designs at the moment and if the Dispatch is now different to the Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot equivalents or just a rebadging of one of their designs.

Vauxhall are now part of the PSA group. That's means that the Vivaro now platform shares with the Dispatch, Scudo and Expert.

The Trafic platform shares with the NV300.

[Excalibur]

It's alright for you lads, with your shiny new ( to you ) toys. I'm sitting on a timebomb, and can't afford to swap. The Soul Banana will have been with me for seven years in spring, and the garage and I have replaced a lot of bits on it, including one responsible for me being stopped in an impressive T pac manouvre by a couple of high powered police motors.

Benny lad, the bloke who designed your Custom must have done the Citroen as well. The lad who designed my Full Fat Transit obviously lived in one. He was a genius. If my numbers come up on the lottery, I may well be persuaded not to get a Custom, simply because the cabin is so much worse than mine. Sounds like I shan't be checking out Dispatch vans either.

And why do I need my numbers to come up? Well, after I blew up the gearbox a year or two ago, after a week of motorway work with a trailer full of Arboricultural waste ( wish I'd never taken that job ) it's again predicting its demise. Ah well.

[Benny Smyth]

It's alright for you lads, with your shiny new ( to you ) toys.

Let me reassure you that this is not alright. It's very much a financial kick to the sack that I really could have done without.

Benny lad, the bloke who designed your Custom must have done the Citroen as well. The lad who designed my Full Fat Transit obviously lived in one. He was a genius. If my numbers come up on the lottery, I may well be persuaded not to get a Custom, simply because the cabin is so much worse than mine. Sounds like I shan't be checking out Dispatch vans either.

I really liked the cabin of the Custom and, to be fair, the cabin of the Dispatch is a nice place to sit. Just not as practical as a van should be.

Plus with Android Auto/Apple Car Play, you would get your most coveted feature: the ability to send messages while driving!

[Excalibur]

Let me reassure you that this is not alright. It's very much a financial kick to the sack that I really could have done without.

But the pain in your wallet is over. Mine is still to come.

I really liked the cabin of the Custom and, to be fair, the cabin of the Dispatch is a nice place to sit. Just not as practical as a van should be.

In my Transit, I can load up with three cups of Ronald's finest brew to hand at once, and still have room for a bottle of lemonade.

Plus with Android Auto/Apple Car Play, you would get your most coveted feature: the ability to send messages while driving!

Vehicles without Apple Car Play are automatically disbarred.

[Benny Smyth]

Benny lad, the bloke who designed your Custom must have done the Citroen as well.

I have a very distinct feeling that nobody on the design team for this incarnation of the Citroen Dispatch actually drives a van. At the very most, they once hired a van for their mate to drive while they moved house. Aforementioned gripes of the cabin storage aside, the wing mirrors are obviously taken from one of the cars in the Citroen range. Compared to every other van that I have driven, they're really small and have no wide angle mirrors on them either, which I consider to be pretty damn dangerous when driving a vehicle with a lot of blind spots.

To help improve my visibility of those blind spots, I jumped onto Amazon to buy a couple of those stick-on wide angle mirrors that learner drivers use to help prevent scratching up their instructor's car when parking. One of the Amazon reviews for this product actually namedrops the Dispatch:



So yeah...poor showing, Citroen. I hope that for their next van, they employ a builder onto the design team. Or, at least, somebody who knows what it's like to drive a van day-to-day.

On the plus side, after I bought the Dispatch, I filled the tank up. Five weeks later, I filled it again for the first time since that day, having driven 658 miles in the interim. That's about 150 more miles than a full tank in my old Transit Custom, and I'm lead to believe that the Dispatch's tank capacity is a little smaller too.

Every cloud, and all that!

[DJ Jules]

I just picked up a vivaro. Same van, different badge as we've already discussed. Why didn't they keep the lashing points on the walls like the 2012 Vivaro?? And what's with the mirrors!

[Excalibur]

Benny lad, the bloke who designed your Custom must have done the Citroen as well. The lad who designed my Full Fat Transit obviously lived in one. He was a genius. If my numbers come up on the lottery, I may well be persuaded not to get a Custom, simply because the cabin is so much worse than mine. Sounds like I shan't be checking out Dispatch vans either.

And why do I need my numbers to come up? Well, after I blew up the gearbox a year or two ago, after a week of motorway work with a trailer full of Arboricultural waste ( wish I'd never taken that job ) it's again predicting its demise. Ah well.

Benny, come and join me in the Famous Last Words Club, over here.

You know I said I was sitting on a timebomb, with the demise of the gearbox for a second time not a question of "if", but "when"? The noise sounded like a warped disc grating on a worn brake pad, but that was ruled out totally, leaving only the gearbox as a likely culprit.
Well, the Soul Banana went in for its MOT today, and my nephew spotted that a driveshaft bearing was loose, and turning in its housing. Could this be the source of the dreaded noise?

Good news:
yes, it was. Having added some weld to the bracket for grip, changed oil, and filters in a mini service, and a brake sensor to pass the test, I headed home in blissful silence. ( Well as close as you can get in a twelve year old Transit ). Yippee.

Bad news:
no such thing as a free lunch. £50 for the chuffing oil in it, £40 for the sensor, £50 for the damned filters, Labour and MOT, and the arrival of the Invoice took the wind right out of my sails. £300!

[Benny Smyth]

Bad news:
no such thing as a free lunch. £50 for the chuffing oil in it, £40 for the sensor, £50 for the damned filters, Labour and MOT, and the arrival of the Invoice took the wind right out of my sails. £300!

Still better than a new van, yer jammy sod!

[Excalibur]

Still better than a new van, yer jammy sod!

Oh my young friend, indeed it is, indeed it is.