Ive left a couple of posts on here over the weeks to help me in my quest to find a sweet running Scudo......due to a limited budget of £1500 i dont have a massive choice but i do know what i want, a JTD/hdi W reg onwards mot and taxed.
Ive come across some old old vans 97,98 etc with decent mileage, condition etc within my budget but also ive come across (not so many) newer models 2002-2003 high milers with 150k plus but still in tidy condition.
Now Ive been listening to the van salespeople with some reservation cos all they want is money, i need to know what's the best in the long run.....old low miler or newer high miler.
Ill only be doing about 6-7000 miles a year in it, (lower than average) including the occasional camping trip maybe 4-5 times a year.

What do you guys think? cheers.

johnnyrad said:

Now Ive been listening to the van salespeople with some reservation cos all they want is money, i need to know what's the best in the long run.....old low miler or newer high miler.

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depends how they were driven/looked after really.

some low mileage (left unused for long periods of time) cars can be troublesome for instance however a high mileage car which has been used mainly on motorways (at legal speed) will go on for miles yet (see niallG doblos in doblo section which has done over 300,000 miles), a good long roadtest should give a good indication of the cars general state.

Ex-company van? could of been hacked-to-death true but alot of companies get their vehicles regulary serviced as they need to be on the road so one of these could be a good bet etc

I guess it all depends on condition as youve said. I understand motorway miles would be a lot better than urban/town miles with all that stopping starting, gear use, clutch etc, a lot more wear. The van inparticular i have my eye on was owned by 'fiat uk' up until a 3-4 years ago then onto an independent electrician company until now, just 2 owners. If i can find out if it has consistant and upto date servicing and relevent docs to prove it should be promising. Its on a 2002 plate 2.0 jtd, 150k on the clock.

like you said I think its worth a good long road test to get a feel of her, town roads and motorway. Ive been told basically not to be put off by high mileage as long as its in good working order as you said. With my limited budget and also highish insurance cover being a younger chap i cant really afford to go and replace parts soon after buying it. I guess its always a risk when you buy older vehicles. Thanks for the tip, gonna check it out properly after the weekend.

I bought a 2000 "W" plate Scudo 1.9 Non Turbo in pretty much mint condition about 4 weeks ago.

It' s done 165000 miles and to honest it drives like it's done half the mileage.

It has a years MOT and was used by a courier (owner driver) for mainly motorway miles.

I was a bit dubious about the mileage but after seeing the condition and driving it I bought it.

Don't let the mileage put you off, I looked at vans with far less mileage which were in very poor condition both mechanically & bodily.

My scudo 1.9TD EL S reg is under 70k miles but under the bonnet it's really dirty more so than my M reg C15 that's done 120k - I think it depends on the way it's been treated!

Low miles but older probably means it's done lots of local stop start driving which hammers everything but I'd say higher miles and younger suggests lots of open road (motorway) driving which tends to have less wear and tear