Faults:

Radiator leaked / replaced at 39000 miles.

General Comments:

I own a courier company in Devon.

This van has done 32000 miles in the six months we have owned it.

It is not the most attractive or comfortable van, but from a business point of view it is fantastic.

Although it is only 3 years old, it is very basic, providing very low running costs with low fuel consumption. I actually enjoy driving this little thing.

Last month I did a 750 mile round trip from Devon to Cumbria in 15 hours.

If we require any more small vans, I will be looking out for one the last models produced in 2006.

Faults:

Thermostat went at 190,000 miles (ish) (but we were loaded up fully, and towing a heavy caravan, with all our wordly goods in from England to the south of France, in a very hot May)

Alternator went at 200,000 miles (ish)

Steering track rod cracked at 220,000 miles.

Something has just gone wrong with the clutch (squeaky and smelly) and just trying to work it out! (220,000 miles)

General Comments:

Cheap to buy, cheap to run and absolutely fantastic for using to as a camping car or to move stuff around.

Surprisingly comfortable seats for a working car, though could do with a little more leg room for the driver, knees brush against the steering wheel if you're 6 foot or above (perfect at 5'8" though).

Not massively fast, not much acceleration power and quite heavy steering (and badly rusted bonnet) but general reliabilty makes up for all this. Never had any serious problems and since I've had it's done a there, back and there again trip to the south-east of France (from southern UK), has been on a three week odyssey from France to Tarifa in southern Spain and back again, and is now currently residing in Åland, Finland having driven up here fully loaded)from France.

Faults:

Lots of very random rust, seals and usually prone places are fine. But there are two fist sized holes in the floor plan, one under each seat.

The bushing on the rear suspension have worn out and have caused both wheels to tilt so the top of the wheel rubs on the frame when its loaded. Was fine until about 120,00 miles.

Other than that everything works really well and it has needed nearly no maintenance.

General Comments:

Go kart!!! Very little power, low top speed, but bloody hell is it fun to through around corners. Slippery when wet thou.

Even if you are your ragging the hell out of it, it will still be doing 40mpg.

Can happily fit 12 people in the back if they don't mind getting very very cosy.

Massive amount of space in the back. Only managed to fill it a couple of times. Very happily did 900 miles 2 days to the south of France.

Odd way of making it a comfy ride, but it works, van has rock hard suspension, but really soft bouncy seats, does make for a comfy ride.

Basically the cheapest and most fun van you could possibly buy.

Faults:

Over 11 years of very harsh treatment there have been quite a few, some caused by previous abuse. Only once has it failed to finish a journey.

Most serious: head gasket failure around 80,000 miles, caused by repeated overheating/refilling on a trip to Hungary (caused by broken fan cowling vibrating against and holing radiator, and being in a tearing hurry so we just had to press on). Ignored resulting water leak which meant a complete strip-down and engine rebuild at 100,000 miles (GBP 1000). Been totally reliable for another 80,000 miles.

Camshaft oil seal (~40,000).

Injection pump driveshaft seal (~60,000).

Clutch actuator lever bent (~90,000m) - the one time I had to get breakdown recovery on a journey. Welded straight in 20 minutes and still in use!

Clutch cable snapped (170,000m).

Clutch pedal weld failed (pedal bent off to one side!) (110,000m).

Accelerator cable snapped (50,000m).

Fan sensor electric connection unreliable (leading to overheating) (90,000m) - needed a good clean.

Significant rust after 12 years old (sills, inside bulkhead, inner wings, footwells, behind rear lights) - rear wheel arch seam bad after 5 years.

Rear suspension bushes/bearings prone to failure after about 130000m - not DIY-able, cheapest to get a new rear axle from the scrappy.

Glow plug failed every 40,000m or so.

Persistent starter solenoid problem - won't turn over when hot. Wire direct from battery always starts it. Replacement of any of: solenoid/earth strap/battery/starter/ignition switch/starter cable fixes it for a while. Eventually added a second relay to the circuit which did the trick.

Headlight switch failed (130,000m).

Low fuel warning light/sensor failed (60,000m) - never bothered to fix that.

Brake disc sheared off when parking (48,000m) - must have been faulty manufacture, but they wouldn't admit it.

Lower suspension arm loose in wheel bearing carrier (60,000m).

Windscreen wiper motor failure (50,000m).

Door catches (on body) sheared off (110,000m) - poor design lets them rust out in a neat circle.

Driver's seatbelt tends not to unreel (150,000m)

General Comments:

Extremely good value, reliable vehicle. The XUD engine is amazingly resilient in all conditions even when hugely loaded.

You can get an awful lot of stuff in a C15 and you can sleep in it too (if you are short - 5'5" (1.68m) or less for comfort), even with two bikes and all your camping stuff in it.

Not particularly fast or refined. It did 96mph when I got it, but will only do about 82 these days. Quite noisy, especially as it has got old and rattly.