Sadly the realisation has come that a little black two door car is not completely practical for moving large amounts of beans around.

So, I’m in the market for a van.
8-)
I started looking at the typical little panel van, Holden Combo, Citroen Berlingo, VW Caddy etc and while their 700kg odd weight capacity sounded good for moving brown beans around a bigger van that could take a pallet of green beans would be far more useful to both CS-Green and CS-Brown.
I then started looking at second hand bigger vans but some of these have seen a world of abuse and the prices are not that far from new anyway. By the time you factor factory warranty and 100,000km of wear n tear then a new van might be the best option although a good secondhand one would be closer to my budget.
So my prerequisite features at the moment are:
I don’t mind if its manual/auto/petrol/diesel/front wheel drive/rear wheel drive but would probably lean towards a diesel manual to help the planet but price is always a factor.
Looked at a Renault Trafic while passing a car yard yesterday and first impression was "boy that’s ugly", second impression was "its not so bad" and apart from having a 1200kg payload (that I could live with) it might be ok.
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehicle/photos.php?id=95181
The Ford Transit SWB low roof could be worth a look but Ford locally won’t have any more till February.
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehicle/photos.php?id=58401
The VW Transporter, Merc Vito and Merc Sprinters are quite expensive (eg: the later is the same price I paid for a house in 1995)
Online I spotted a couple of run-out early 2007 model Fiat Ducato’s too. Fiat updated the Ducato in Feb this year (the new one is sooooo fugly) and the older shape ones are at about 20% less than the current model. Might be the best value.
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehicle/photos.php?id=56339
Next weekend I’m going to have a look at a few options around Melbourne
So I thought I would think out loud and draw on the wealth of knowledge in CS land to see if anyone can offer-up any first hand experience with this league of transport?
(or maybe just bail-up your local courier to see what they like/dislike about their van)


So, I’m in the market for a van.
8-)
I started looking at the typical little panel van, Holden Combo, Citroen Berlingo, VW Caddy etc and while their 700kg odd weight capacity sounded good for moving brown beans around a bigger van that could take a pallet of green beans would be far more useful to both CS-Green and CS-Brown.
I then started looking at second hand bigger vans but some of these have seen a world of abuse and the prices are not that far from new anyway. By the time you factor factory warranty and 100,000km of wear n tear then a new van might be the best option although a good secondhand one would be closer to my budget.
So my prerequisite features at the moment are:
- Carrying capacity circa 1500kg
- Bigger than 1200mm between the wheel arches.
- At least 1200mm height at the back doors.
- Barn doors on the back that open 180+ degrees (not a lift-up tailgate)
- Cruise control (no +3km/h speeding fines on highway mileage)
- Aircon (no sweaty beans or driver)
- Minimal glass in the back (keep the sun off the important cargo)
- Seats - one or more.
- ABS would be nice (3000kg needs a lot or room to stop).
- Drivers airbag (if the ABS wasnt enough help to stop 3000kg)
- AM radio (6 stacker doof doof is not high on the list)
I don’t mind if its manual/auto/petrol/diesel/front wheel drive/rear wheel drive but would probably lean towards a diesel manual to help the planet but price is always a factor.
Looked at a Renault Trafic while passing a car yard yesterday and first impression was "boy that’s ugly", second impression was "its not so bad" and apart from having a 1200kg payload (that I could live with) it might be ok.
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehicle/photos.php?id=95181
The Ford Transit SWB low roof could be worth a look but Ford locally won’t have any more till February.
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehicle/photos.php?id=58401
The VW Transporter, Merc Vito and Merc Sprinters are quite expensive (eg: the later is the same price I paid for a house in 1995)

Online I spotted a couple of run-out early 2007 model Fiat Ducato’s too. Fiat updated the Ducato in Feb this year (the new one is sooooo fugly) and the older shape ones are at about 20% less than the current model. Might be the best value.
http://www.redbookasiapacific.com/au/vehicle/photos.php?id=56339
Next weekend I’m going to have a look at a few options around Melbourne
So I thought I would think out loud and draw on the wealth of knowledge in CS land to see if anyone can offer-up any first hand experience with this league of transport?
(or maybe just bail-up your local courier to see what they like/dislike about their van)



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