Which base vehicle - Peugeot or Ford?

Hello All,

We have been looking around for a few months for our first motorhome having recently sold our 2 berth caravan. We want a van based vehicle for easy access to anywhere and have our hearts set on an Autosleeper Duetto or Symbol with a budget of up to £20k max, so probably looking for a vehicle from 2002-2005 approx.

My brother-in-law is a mechanic and has experienced A LOT of electrical problems in Peugeot cars but does not know if the Peugeot vans ever suffer the same issues.
I wonder if any of you Peugeot MH owners can share your experiences - positive or negative (excuse the electrical pun ;)).

Likewise, are there any other common issues with either of the base vehicles (Ford or Peugeot) we are considering?
We viewed a 2005 Duetto yesterday (at a well known dealer) and were extremely disappointed with the amount of rust (despite being told otherwise before a 300 mile round trip!).

We would also welcome views on the pros and cons of manual v auto gearboxes.
We like the ease of Auto, but concerned about the cost if they go wrong and wonder if problems are common or not.

Any advice much appreciated from both Ford and Peugeot owners and we look forward to joining the ranks of AS owners sometime soon!

Many Thanks,
Dave

Hi Dave,,think rust wise probably the Ford is worse but if neglected Peugeot can rot to. A 2004 Symbol in my local garage is really rotten on the front chassis members at the side of the engine bay. My 2002 on the other hand is rust free everywhere,,,Suppose its down to how previous owners have maintained them..Dont think there is much between them on the mechanical side. Think you will be happy with either a Duetto or a Symbol,,we love ours. BUSBY65.

My concern around the Ford (Transit) is the high number of reports for stolen motorhomes on a Ford base as mentioned on a number of Motorhome sites.

sylvester1954 wrote:My concern around the Ford (Transit) is the high number of reports for stolen motorhomes on a Ford base as mentioned on a number of Motorhome sites.

Fit a Strike back alarm and immobiliser,,,,BUSBY65.

Hi Dave

Essentially, all the base vehicle does is get you there, and they will both do that well enough.

The habitation area is by far the most crucial consideration. That's where you will live while away in the van, and of the surprising number of people who change their van after only a year (or even less!!) almost all do so because they made the wrong decision about the habitation layout. Having been caravanners (as we were for many years) you will probably know what suits you, so the choice should be fairly easy.

After the caravan you will really enjoy the setting up when you reach your destination. The handbrake is on the wrong side, but once you have found it and given it a snatch, you can put the kettle on and watch the tuggers wrestling with their awnings, water carriers, waste containers . . . !

Dave

Welcome to the forum

The Peugeot vans are not built by them but Sevil (a Fiat/Peugeot-Citroen partenership) and are generally very reliable in that era and should not cause many problems if well maintained.   
Look for a decent 2.5TD and you wont go far wrong.
Do bear in mind the age group you are looking at and the size of the van they are likely to have higher mileages than maybe a coachbuilt would have

The Transit, has been market leader for donks and you will find that apart from availability, parts are considerably cheaper than Pug parts.

I have had 1xVW, 2xPugs and 1xTransit (Mk7) which was by far the best base vehicle of the 4

Thanks everyone for the replies so far :)

We've had fiat and Pugs both had problems with the mechanics but its just pot luck I think.We now have a mark 7 Duetto and so far has been excellent and is absolutely rust free.we much prefer the driver sensation of the Ford.

The issue of automatic verses manual, really does not exist although Ford did a thing called a tiptronic it was not a true automatic. Some people have had trouble with the Tiptronic a sort of semi auto. Last true Automatics were on mk3&4/5 Transits. Pugs as far as I am aware did not do any. We had one a non turbo 2.5 transit base with a proper auto box- rarer than hens teeth as a sales man said. It got us there, i actually loved it and everything was repairable on it. Ours was pretty much rust free even at over 24 years of age. I'd still be driving it now backwards and forth to Greece which we do every year, except the layout got to us. Mechanically it could out last the brand new fiat i drive now.   The old transit engines in mk 4s were mechanically more robust than any other Ford built.

m8form8 wrote:The issue of automatic verses manual, really does not exist although Ford did a thing called a tiptronic it was not a true automatic. Some people have had trouble with the Tiptronic a sort of semi auto. Last true Automatics were on mk3&4/5 Transits. Pugs as far as I am aware did not do any. We had one a non turbo 2.5 transit base with a proper auto box- rarer than hens teeth as a sales man said. It got us there, i actually loved it and everything was repairable on it. Ours was pretty much rust free even at over 24 years of age. I'd still be driving it now backwards and forth to Greece which we do every year, except the layout got to us. Mechanically it could out last the brand new fiat i drive now.   The old transit engines in mk 4s were mechanically more robust than any other Ford built.

Not that rare,,just sold same vehicle,,,Very reliable and as you say so easy to work on..BUSBY65.

m8form8 wrote:Ford did a thing called a tiptronic it was not a true automatic. Some people have had trouble with the Tiptronic a sort of semi auto.

I don't think you are remembering that correctly. I'm pretty sure that Tiptronic is a VAG group product (originally developed by Porsche) and nothing to do with Ford - our VW Trooper has a Tiptronic box, and it is a full, conventional auto. It can be driven in manual mode, but it is definitely not a semi-auto. They are actually very good boxes, but sadly very very expensive to fix when they do eventually go wrong.

I think you may be thinking of Durashift? But I don't know anything about them, having never owned one. My auto Mk5 Transit had the good old-fashioned conventional auto box.

-mojo- wrote:

m8form8 wrote:Ford did a thing called a tiptronic it was not a true automatic. Some people have had trouble with the Tiptronic a sort of semi auto.

I don't think you are remembering that correctly. I'm pretty sure that Tiptronic is a VAG group product (originally developed by Porsche) and nothing to do with Ford - our VW Trooper has a Tiptronic box, and it is a full, conventional auto. It can be driven in manual mode, but it is definitely not a semi-auto. They are actually very good boxes, but sadly very very expensive to fix when they do eventually go wrong.

I think you may be thinking of Durashift? But I don't know anything about them, having never owned one. My auto Mk5 Transit had the good old-fashioned conventional auto box.

You are correct,,,BUSBY65.

The cab of the peugeot is much wider which is important in a MH. Transit seems claustrophobic in comparison. Transit lover here after having literally dozens on the business fleet but for a MH application the Pug wins ... Looked after they are all extremely good now anyway.

Yes appologies it was no the Tiptronic but the Durashift, a sort of electronic concept not a true Automatic. Very few vans are automatic and since thwe mk5 transits nothing much around. Thats the point i was trying to make, especially in the price range of this post.