Ford Transit Courier Van ( Petrol Ecoboost ) - robust enough for courier work ?

deejaybee

Hi all,

Bit of background - Worked as a S/E courier for around a decade, I am on my second Suzuki Carry van now, but although a good runner, it  is a bit of a shed nowadays, so i am thinking of replacing it. In many ways the Carry is the ideal vehicle for me as some of the areas i deliver are rural with narrow country lanes etc, plus it has sliding door both sides, and tailgate to keep you out of the rain when loading. Another consideration is to reduce Income Tax, also i am Flat Rate VAT registered, so can reclaim the VAT back.

As online delivery volumes has massively increased over the years, so the area i cover has got smaller,  nowadays its around 40 miles a day, but doing at least 100 drops each day, which i why i am looking to stick to Petrol, as i am assuming the stop-start nature of my mileage would kill a DPF-equipped Diesel Van ?

When i do a nationwide search on Autotrader, it brings up around 300 Petrol Vans ( 100 times more Diesel Vans ) - a lot of them are Ford Transit Courier 1.0 Ecoboost,  they look decent, with adequate load space for my needs, shame only 1 sliding door though.... but "Ecoboost" worries me, i remember reading horror stories about those engines on here, only skim-read at time... but maybe on 2017/2018 ish ecoboosts those issues were sorted ?

any advice / experience appreciated , thanks

deejaybee

Had a quick google, looks like the Ecoboost Coolant Hose Failure, was an issue that affected 2011-13 Focus 1.0 engines..

AdrianC

It isn't stop-start that kills DPFs. It's never getting properly hot. 40 miles a day? It's getting hot.

deejaybee

AdrianC said:

It isn't stop-start that kills DPFs. It's never getting properly hot. 40 miles a day? It's getting hot.

Ah ok i take your point, although i remember when Royal Mail went out and purchased loads of Diesel Vans ( Peugeot IIRC ) for Posties, and they had a lot of DPF related issues..

custardy

deejaybee said:

AdrianC said:

It isn't stop-start that kills DPFs. It's never getting properly hot. 40 miles a day? It's getting hot.

Ah ok i take your point, although i remember when Royal Mail went out and purchased loads of Diesel Vans ( Peugeot IIRC ) for Posties, and they had a lot of DPF related issues..

It was the Fiat Doblos. They were horrendous. Had one with 19 miles on it flash up regen required once.
Not an issue with the other vans. Fiats were a poor choice for RM
RM use is generally less than a multi drop courier.

ontheroad1970

Would depend on how many times the OP stops in the miles driven.  If it's too stop/start, will the engine get to temperature?

Tiexen

I would have thought a vehicle built to "Stop/Start a lot would be ideal for multi drop.

gabitzul

How about an electric van? Nissan eNV-200?
https://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/e-nv200.html

ontheroad1970

Tiexen said:

I would have thought a vehicle built to "Stop/Start a lot would be ideal for multi drop.

I'm thinking more about DPF issues.

deejaybee

gabitzul said:

How about an electric van? Nissan eNV-200?
https://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/e-nv200.html

Definitely something i would consider if i could charge at home, but unfortunately in a 2nd floor flat, so no go.

Herzlos

ontheroad1970 said:

Tiexen said:

I would have thought a vehicle built to "Stop/Start a lot would be ideal for multi drop.

I'm thinking more about DPF issues.

I think there's a bit of confusion with stop/start here. A van with stop/start technology (the engine turns off when you're stationary and out of gear like at traffic lights) will be fine because it's designed to do that and the car is still 'on' and won't turn the engine off if it's decides against it. A van where the courier is presumably turning the car off at the ignition when doing deliveries every 2 miles doesn't have the option to keep running and may be worse for the DPF.

At that mileage, petrol probably makes more sense anyway.