Living with a T4

Timely thread for me,.. but I looked at the prices and they were a bit too spendy for me,.. so ... what are the alternatives as well

T4s are decent vans but really stupid money to buy lately - Prices for late t4s aren't far off the price of a much better condition t5 and there's really no comparison - T5s are really much better all round, and you can still buy all the parts from VW. VW are currently discontinuing most "trim" parts for t4s like sliding door steps, ashtrays, rear threshold covers and all the stuff that is generally bashed to hell on ex builders vans, which is really annoying and the used parts prices are flying up to reflect this.

I convert them to campers as one of my on and off jobs and in the last 18 months the price of post 2000 t4s has gone up by about 40-50%. You could probably buy an early t5 with less miles on for about the same price, and T5s will wear the miles a lot better.

That's not to say t4s are bad vans, it's just hard to buy one for anywhere near the right money unless its a petrol one or something which people seem to avoid like the plague.
That said I drive a t25 camper daily and wouldn't swap it for a t4 unless it was something really special - they are sort of stuck in that "not new and nice/not old and interesting" zone.

Anyway, T4s:
Lower them 60mm and they drive ok but there's fairly limited front suspension travel up front, the bumps stops aren't too hard though so it doesn't hurt too bad. Lowering them this far is cheap - £60 for rear springs and just wind the front bars down, job done in about an hour.
Cheap springs are curse word if you want to carry any weight but a normal camper conversion is OK unless you have got 4 people and all their luggage.

They rust in various places but the sliding door runner is very common and very annoying, check it out right at the front, the runner track wears at the steel and it rusts through and the door runner bearing drops through the hole when the door is shut. Pain in the to fix properly because you have to weld a patch in perfectly flush or the door runner will grind on it, and there isn't room to get in on top to smooth the repair out with a grinder unless you cut half the side of the van off for access. Take some rags and a torch and wipe all the grease out of the front end of the runner and check it, look from underneath also, give it a good poke.

As for engines, 1.9td are alright, 2.5tdi are quite good and you can remap them and make the a bit more sprightly if needs be. 2.4 none turbo are dog slow and super clattery but apparently dead reliable.

SWB VW LT would be one alternative, anything with a merc badge seems to rot, which is odd as the LT is the same shell, but much nicer engines and packaging of components.

Early MK6 tranny van, much better than the mK5 for rot and so much quicker, reasonable on fuel and good towing cap on rwd versions, cheaper parts than VW, no belts to change.

Don't bother with a 4 cylinder, you'll always wish you bought a 5 pot.

I had a 99 t4 2.5tdi with 230k on it and it was great. Only the 88bhp model but would still go over the tonne and did OVER 1000 miles on £102 of diesel (diesel was around £1.20 at the time)

Best bet is to look out for an ex AA van as they will have been regularly serviced and were given a power increase to 112bhp from the factory as per the AAs wishes.

They drive just like big cars. Scene tax is mega though so be prepared to travel for a good one. I flew from humberside airport to Aberdeen then got a train to Inverness to collect mine.

Ross

I've been having similar van thoughts recently and have found it's really frustrating! VWs are all scene taxed (observation, rather than whinge) and all the old J stuff (which is what I'd really like) is off/gone to Africa! I spoke to our resident Merc specialist about Vitos at The Gathering who suggested that, at the low budget end of the market you need to buy one that's already had the injector seals done or you're looking at a. A lot of work or b. A lot of outlay on labour if you can actually find someone who wants to do the job! At least I think that's the gist of it...more knowledgeable people are welcome to elaborate.

I'm wondering about Toyota Power Vans...they're smart looking and seem relatively common. Any one had any experiences with them, especially economy-wise?

My Caravelle.



Caravelle's are LEZ compliant if it makes a difference to you, camper conversions are NOT.

2.4's are not THAT slow. I drive my velle to work every day, I have driven 2.5 TDi and 1.9tdi's for work, TDi's have more low down torque but the NA 2.4 diesel is quieter and revs better and higher.
Petrols just drink fuel.

The wheel arches and panel seams rust but not horrendously. Price wise, cheap ones are available. I paid £900 for mine last year, I have seen similar for £1200. Non turbo diesels are cheaper, as are VR6's.

Good luck.

From what I have seen/heard of T4's they are great vans, my friend has a 5 pot 102BHP model and its been perfect, no massive amounts of rust, and 100% reliable,

IMO they are better built than T5's however the drive is better in the T5's . If you want to get into the "scene" side of things they are easy to modify, although not always that cheap for certain things.

The petrol ones aren't too bad -- I've got a 2.0 4-pot, does ~27mpg generally and it's a full camper with a hightop. Also it's smooooth and has more oomph than most of the diesel options And LEZ compliant, and petrol's cheaper than diesel and it doesn't do that many miles anyway and, erm.

I have been running a 1998 2.5 lwb for 2.5 years. During that time I have converted it from a rough builders van to a presentable day van. I wanted a 2.5 lwb with a tailgate but in the end settled for a barn door model. I was fortunate to find a 102hp intercooled example which makes for comfortable driving, 70mph around 3000 rpm and around 40mpg. Upside - it is a comfortable van, fitted saab leathers in front, easy to drive and looks the part. Lots of compaines supplying parts, etc Downside - not cheap to buy initially, lwb makes some parking abit tricky due to length and IF the engine goes wrong can be expensive. 2.5s are sensitve to cambelt changes, need setting up with laptop. As with all diesels clean air, fuel and oil and they will go on for years. 600,000 is common. Autoboxes are best avoided unless you really want one.