Duetto or Dorset/Symbol

Whilst not new to campervans we are looking at moving up to the next level or as my son calls it an old person van i.e. something with a bathroom. We want to keep things fairly compact and had decided on something like the Symbol.  Lockdown has made things a lot harder obviously so wanted to pick a few brains on here.  Have managed to look around a few Symbols before the latest lockdown and are waiting to look at a Dorset as and when we are allowed. I have now also found a Duetto for sale and wondered what peoples views were between the two.  Both vans are similar age (Dorset on a Fiat 2003 Duetto 2004) with similar relatively low mileages. The Ford has aircon not sure about the Fiat both have had work done for previous MOT's.

My gut reaction is that the Ford is a better van than the Fiat (this is without looking at either yet but in general) however the Ford is slightly narrower than the Fiat and being reasonably tall, 6', would I notice this? I know the Fords are prone to rust but are very repairable.

So my question is I suppose if they are similar in condition, age, mileage, spec and price which is the better van?

Hi John
Welcome to the forum from Bridington, 
Boaby

Personally I'd go for the Duetto.

I prefer the Ford as a base vehicle, but also (and this is subjective) they feel a little 'cosier' - what I mean by that is they don't have the raised cab floor (to my knowledge), so you can spin the passenger seat and it all feels part of the living area.

In the Symbol the cab floor is raised, so you end up with the passenger seat sitting high up and sort of out of the way.

Like I say, just my opinion and very subjective, but I'd recommend sitting in both to see if you find any differences like that yourself.

I personally found the Duetto lacking in cabinet space (10reg Duetto) try out the length of both beds, also in the Symbol.
Check out what type of heating you want, some have diesel others have gas,depending on model?
Should be lots of info and members reviews on all models if you have a look around the posts.
Boaby

Beds in either of these, and indeed anything else, but these particularly, are critical. Duetto I mean, believe the Symbol may be better
Had a Harmony sold after only a few weeks massive £££'s loss simply could not get on with the beds, incl making it as a double, how that's done with doors closed in rain, I'll never know.
Take that part of your inspection very seriously.

'Duetto, Duetto, Duetto!' ( Father Ted's Mrs Doyle.) Or in our case a DSG Topaz!! cos of the knees. 
frederic
Beds are fine in Duetto and the parts for servicing are readily available especially for the later units.
Go for the manual lwb rwd as the later Marquis fwd ones were a little lacking in the conversion dept. imho.

Thanks for all the replies so far, in normal times I would be clambering all over multiple vans but obviously everything a bit harder at the moment. My gut reaction in the Duetto, hopefully will be able to go and look at it soon. The better half is getting a bit twitchy about not having a van even though we can’t actually go anywhere yet. Size wise the Symbol or Duetto should be fine for us as previously had a succession of swb van conversions and when we had our T4 Autohomes high top used to spend multiple weeks away with four of us. Admittedly we did normally put up a drive away awning but not always.

I seem to be repeating myself but I am a Ford fan. If only from the issues the Peugeot type vans seem to throw up and my time doing breakdowns at the roadside. Try getting gearbox parts for an older Peugeot for a start. Ford parts are generally cheaper and they are easy to work on.
I would have stuck with our Duetto apart from the rust issue an older Ford can have. I found the Duetto a little bit more roomy even though it had the same layout as the Symbol. It felt solid and nice to drive. The beds were easy to make up and very comfortable. 
Whilst looking for a newer Duetto I was told about a couple of Rienza coach builds for sale. Low mileage and a lovely interior. Yes it was much bigger than we needed being a coach build. But it was Ford based so I decided it couldn’t be refused.
When we were touring the country looking for our first van we looked a few VW,s . The Topaz was a close contender followed by the Clubman. Unfortunately the Topaz beds were a bit short and there was no cooker. The Clubmans were above our price bracket. 
Good hunting. There will be a nice Duetto out there for you.

We bought an 07 Duetto after looking at many Symbols.  Look carefully at the storage, we thought there was more in the Duetto, we find the high level stowage where the Symbol has windows just below the roof very useful.  We’ve been very pleased with ours.  There’s a Dorset in this area that’s been for sale for a very long time, it’s interior is very tired and smells of smoke despite the lowish mileage so do make sure you look before deciding!

When we were looking for our first van our tour took us to a lot of vans and motorhomes that should not have been sold as they were.
It varied from wet carpets, smelling of wet dogs, selling of smoke and not cigarettes. One at a large dealership had green mold growing on the inside window channels. 
When we found the Duetto there was a Clubman parked next to it. I looked at it first. Management said it was very old English looking but she liked it. It was two years older and higher mileage than the Duetto and automatic. Unfortunately it was also three grand more than we could afford. 
Maybe in hindsight we should have gone for that and not had the rust issues but the Duetto was a good starter van and we stacked up a lot of miles before we parted with it.

We looked at upgrading our "97 Duetto a year or so ago; looked at newer Duettos and Symbols. Decided the Symbols were more cramped than the Duettos. 
 
But both had less storage than our '97 Duetto, so we bit the bullet and spent what we would have lost on p/ex and upgrading, on having all the rust dealt with on our current van.