Should we replace our Duetto

We bought a 1996 Duetto a couple of years ago, our first van.

We love her very much, the layout is ideal, and she's been very reliable mechanically.

After we'd bought her, from a dealer, we found a good deal of rust underneath, which we had treated at substantial cost. She is now solid underneath, but the wheel arches are bubbling a little. 

We accept that we are likely to have an annual programme of rust treatment to keep her going.

A recent inheritance has got us wondering whether to trade up to a newer model. However, we don't want a different layout as the Duetto suits us very well. 

If we buy another Duetto, (say 2000 or later) would we still have rust issues?

I've looked at a Symbol online, they seem to have an identical layout, but are they smaller than the Duetto? How good is Peugeot bodywork?

We paid £12,500 for our van, what would we be likely to get on a p/ex with a new van at say £22k?

What would you do?

I used to have a 97 Symphony with immaculate bodywork and low mileage. We upgraded to a Nuevo costing £24k. We got £8500 part ex.  This was now 5 years ago.  Those vans still fetch 10/12k .  So in my estimation you would probably get offered somewhere in the region of 6/7k.

We sold our 1996 duetto 2 years ago privately for £10000 and we had a queue of people wanting it. Dealers are not interested in vans this old. I had pictures of all the work we did on it  and included these in the advert. I sold within 3 days and is still travelling around the uk as we keep in touch with the new owners. 
 We went for a warwick duo from 2010 and while we miss dougal the newer van is nice to drive and has more storage space. 
My advice would be to sell privately and buy privately. 
It may be out of budget but you will not lose much on this one over the next 10 years 
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The cost of owning is the difference between buying and selling and good motorhomes hold there value.

We started with a 1999 Duetto (MK5 Transit), kept it for 7 years, did 80,000 miles, replaced it with a 2008 Duetto (MK7 Transit), did 48,000 miles in 6 years, replaced it with a Warwick Duo (Peugeot Boxer X250) in 2014 and find the Duo better than the Duetto (more internal space and ready to use single beds).

Transits are prone to rust, but our MK7 seemed better than the MK5 and the Peugeot seems even better. Our longest trip ever was 10 weeks in the MK5 Duetto and we had no problem with storage etc for such a longish trip.

The Transit, both MK5 and MK7 is shorter than the Duo and does fit into car park spaces more easily, but to date, for our type of use we find the extra internal space in the Duo makes it our favourite.

As a first motorhome we decided the Duetto was to be the one. As I said in other threads our Mk 5' N-Reg was a lovely van but the rust cost a fortune to sort out and it was only 6 months before more rust re-appeared. It had been rust proofed professionally.
We wanted a motorhome we could use all year. Being Ford minded the latter Duetto was on our short list. At the time we couldn't find another Duetto within our budget and started to look at Clubman or Gatcomes. It was only chance we spotted the Rienza. It seemed huge compared to the Duetto but being a coach build there was less to rust and appeared better insulated and had a better heater. 
It fitted on our drive, just. It is a Mk 6 Transit base and even management thinks it's less agricultural to drive. 
There are other Ford based Motorhomes built by  Autosleepers, each to there own but we like our Rienza and hopefully it should do for us now we are heading to both being retired.

The worst feature with the later Duetto's is the sometimes iffy seal between the false flat 'Plastic' molding that all the roof cutouts are bonded to. Not perhaps the roof-lights etc themselves but the inter layer bond to the actual van steel roof. This problem is known to the AS service center and a rake out of the old sealant and replacement with 'new' is a costly time consuming and relatively specialized job if the result is to be warranted.
Also any removal of the old sealant will by the very nature of the action cause some disturbance to the roof paint protection layer. A good substantial seal is far better than a nice cosmetically 'Flat' one and don't be tempted to accept a 'run-over with a mastic gun' as a remedy that might be offered by most dealers.
Out with the OLD in with the NEW is the only sure way. accept nothing less if there is even a 'slight' hint of dampness anywhere in the roof linings!
Got the T shirt!
frederic

From my time involved in the motor trade I thought I had a good idea of what rust issues most vehicles were prone to. My wife's Polo is nearly fifteen years old. Fifteen year old cars in the seventies and eighties were usually rusty wrecks full of body filler and dodgy MOT,s. 
My Duetto caught me out, probly looking at a nice clean tidy motorhome took my focus off the vehicle its self. There is a lot to take in when buying a first motorhome. The Rienza got a very deep inspection that really put the wind up the sales people we bought it from. 
A good tip from my MOT days was look at a trade vehicle, builders our farmers they will show were they rot or what fails first. There owners don't care what the vehicle looks like as long as it gets them to and from work or the pub.
Motorhomes get a lot more love and care.

Achilles heel wrote:We love her very much, the layout is ideal, and she's been very reliable mechanically.

I think you've answered your own question there.

The money you will spend in maintaining the Duetto will be nothing compared to the depreciation you get buying and selling vans every few years.

The older Duetto's are a bit of a modern classic IMO.  Good condition and well maintained they hold their values pretty well.  Put a small fund aside each year just for keeping on top of servicing and any rust treatment and it will be fine.

We bought a new Symbol a couple of years ago and a friend has an old duetto.  Apart from the obvious modernisation, the difference is very little and in some ways I prefer the layout of the Duetto - the Symbol has more headroom and is more airy, however the problem with the Boxer is the drivers and passenger seats are raised well above the main area, so when you swivel them I don't think they feel as 'sociable' as the Duetto.  Also we've probably lost more money than a Duetto costs in depreciation since we bought it, so depends on how you view that.

Have a look at our old one [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] today it is worth more than we paid for it 8 years ago and the couple who have it have been almost full timing in it. We only updated as we want to spend more time travelling and while the duetto was fine for 6 week trips we needed a bit more storage for longer ones.

I think Greyhound has hit the nail on the head. Our current van suits us very well, and we would lose a huge proportion of her value, and what we have spent on repairs so far, if we passed her own so soon. 

And if we can bring her up to jennyandpeter's level of workmanship, she'll be ideal for us for years to come.

Thanks all!