Faults:

Rough idle, fixed under warranty. Van was an ex-demonstrator so wasn't perfect.

General Comments:

As a works van it has had a lot of use over the last year or so, and generally has held up OK. To drive the van feels OK handling wise, acceleration could be better though, but it is only a 1.3, try a bigger engine if you carry heavy loads.

Love the fact there are sliding doors on both dies, normally most vans would have one side door only. Makes it very practical. Comfort level is good and driving position is OK, however there are a blind spots that take getting used to like most vans - probably because I'm used to driving cars. The interior feels cheap if I'm honest and the gear change already feels loose, but maybe it's meant to be that way, it was like that from new.

Overall a decent little van that gets the job done, my only concern is will it last for many years? So far so good, but a mate of mine has a 1996 Combo van and it's still going. It has had an easier life though and was used privately, not as a works van, where as unfortunately most vans like this have a hard life ahead of them.

Faults:

Early days, so nothing has gone wrong as yet (and I hope it stays that way).

I used to rave about my old 1.7 Di, but I find the 1.3 CDTi very good. When I first got my 1.3, the MPG was approx 46. After giving it a full service (all filters and quality oil), I can achieve 55-56, and this is with recently fitted roof rack and towbar plus my tools etc. Motorway speeds 65-70, normal roads 40-60.

I always said my next van would be another Combo. I find them practical, they drive like a car not a van, and that makes a big difference on a journey.

My advice is go Combo; keep your Connects, Berlingos etc. All they are, are door to door work vans. Viva Combo!

Faults:

Wiper blade motor failed at 32k.

Goes into limp mode if I rev it in first. It's hard to get up hills!

Rear springs cracked at 43k.

Weird 2cm up and down movement in the steering column, like height adjustment, only not. Didn't affect the drive at all, but was an MOT failure. New column was over £300.

Water coming in the passenger footwell after heavy rain.

Gear linkage snapped at 44k.

Bonnet pull failed!

CV gaiter fail.

Gearbox failed at 46k.

General Comments:

The worst, most dated, cheapest, nastiest, most basic van ever!

Based on old Corsa technology to use up old Corsa stock.

How can so much fail on a car that's done less than 50k?

In the end I was pleased the gearbox went, because I was forced to scrap it. No one else will have to suffer.

Faults:

This was a company fleet vehicle, which I obtained from new, and did just under 60,000 miles in till I parted with it.

The van had the tiny 1.3 turbo diesel engine in, and this engine was a constant source of problems, mainly with the engine management system.

There were numerous occasions when it just would not start for no reason. If I left it a few minutes it would then start OK. It also had a habit of going into Limp Home mode and would not rev above 2000RPM properly, then it would suddenly be OK again.

The turbo intercooler pipe split, resulting in oil all over the front of the engine and a loud whistling noise on acceleration, which was annoying.

The performance was dreadful, it was hesitant on acceleration due to the electric controlled accelerator pedal, which does not use a cable linkage, the 0 - 60 time was diabolical, and even worse if the air con was on.

It went into Vauxhall soon after I had it for the performance problems, they told me there was nothing wrong and I wasn't driving it properly.

The fuel consumption was appalling - 300 miles from a tank, probably because I had to floor it to keep up with everything else - I am sure this was related to the other ECU problems the van had.

General Comments:

A dreadful van in terms of its engine.

Not as bad as the previous Combo I had, an old shape one, the one that looked like a hearse, big and bulbous.

That chewed drive belts and got through alternators like there was no tomorrow, many a time I was stranded waiting for the AA.

It is better looking than its predecessor, but no more reliable. The seats were hard and although it had air con, it didn't have electric windows - strange.

The load space in the back was OK, and if it had been more reliable, I wouldn't have minded driving it, but each morning I always thought to myself, will it last through today without problems?

If I was buying a small van myself, I would have preferred a Transit Connect. The Vivaro is OK but that's a Renault built van with a Vauxhall badge.