For business purposes I am looking for a small van, most likely transit connect / Citroen Berlingo type size.

Having had my ford focus 2013 ecoboost for many years and intend to keep still, I know that having had spend £1300 on a timing belt replacement, anything between 2013 and 2020 is quite risky with ford unless you do some research.

 

Therefore id like to ask, what should I look out for when purchasing a ford van, around the 2017 mark. Seems to be a lot of different varieties out there, SWB LWB, 2.0 etc, 

 

Is there a lengthy and expensive belt change due around the 100k mark that I see so many vehicles listed for? Obviously for a business vehicle 100k miles probably isn't too bad assuming the vehicle is somewhat cheap around £5k, but is there any major service due at this time?

I would have thought most used 5-10 year old Transit Connects will be 1.5 TDCI.  In that case, it's a dry belt and fairly easy to change.  Recommended at 10 years or 150k miles.  Wouldn't expect to pay much more than £400 for the belt change on those.

Small Peugeot/Citroen vans are likely to be 1.6 HDi which is very similar to the above, and identical to the 1.6 TDCI in older Fords.  The belt change is around the same cost for all of them.

Main issue with Transits compared to cars is rust...  They're built to be used & abused.  Not for longevity.

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

and identical to the 1.6 TDCI in older Fords

Not sure if you just mean older Fords in general ? The older Transit connect was a 1.8TDCi

1 hour ago, unofix said:

Not sure if you just mean older Fords in general ? The older Transit connect was a 1.8TDCi

Yes, just meant Fords in general.  Plus several other manufacturers (Volvo, Mini etc).