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I was allowed out on my own. Ill fitting uniform provided - I was a white van man. These Sprinters are superb bits of kit. 128000 miles on my 2013 van today, engine as smooth as velvet, interior as solid as anything, I love it. Pressure is on from the word go with deadlines to arrive and then depart "on time" and not before - not used to jumping out and climbing into a van - need some decent footwear. Dunno if I'll stick it out...we'll see.
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Met a guy on holiday last summer who had a firm that converted these into luxurious camera and he had one with him.
Stunning bit of kit and his was mostly done with aluminium as opposed to the normal fibreglass.
I’ll try and find a link ....
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My retired dentist mate up near Appleby bought a 3 yr old white Sprinter a coupla years ago and has made a superb job of making it into a mobile home/caravanette/motorhome. Fairly small inside but he built a toilet compartment at the back then a false bulkhead. When you open the back doors, there's about a foot of van incorporating storage for folding chairs and wet/doggy stuff. There's even a pull out shower hose to clean the two Springers off after a muddy walk.
Beautiful job done. He didn't push the living space into the cab, but it's big enough for two. They took it to Verona last year to take in a couple of operas.
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" engine as smooth as velvet, interior as solid as anything,"
But I have yet to see a Sprinter with ALL of its rear-facing lights operating correctly ;-)
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As they don't have brakes it's no wonder. After all the car in front has more than enough for two
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Our local merc commercial dealer bought a fleet of Peugeot Boxers for his own work!
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Bought a first generation Sprinter about 15 years ago when I moved down to Wales; which reminds me that they've actually been about for 20 years now. Still a class leader in many ways, but tinworm is a problem as they age. Many owners still swear by the earlier ones, less electronic gizmos to go wrong.
Mine was a LWB with the middle spec 310 engine; motorway cruising at the limit was pretty effortless and it still returned 29 mpg overall. I've considered a SWB for my next van but they do tend to be rare in good nick and command a decent price second-hand.
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This van is crying for an auto box. 90 miles in a day mainly town driving (and around hospital sites). Checking through the defect book looks like blown lights, squeaky clutch. We do a walkaround before driving off, we have to sign off that everything works. It's a lovely drive, better, I would wager than the brand new Fiat Motorhome we had.
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>> This van is crying for an auto box.
Ironic isn't it? Auto has been the default for larger commercials for a few years now, and you'd think it would be a logical choice for multidrop van work.
Mind you, some of the autos aren't quite up to it; I quite fancied the Renault Master with the "quickshift" semi-auto option, until I was warned off by a friend who works at our local Renault truck dealership. Apparently the box is troublesome and repair is very costly.
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A former colleague has taken up driving for Tesco. They have IVECOs with an 8 speed box. Says it's great. Talking to one of the other drivers, he says that the Mercs are more reliable than the smaller Transits they run.
One thing with the Merc, it has cruise and a single multifunction stalk. Soon got my head around it but feels illogical after everything else seems to have similar two stalk set ups. No aircon either so I guess it will be a bit of an oven in summer.
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>> This van is crying for an auto box.
.... been driving an auto sprinter based motorhome around NZ for three weeks now
You'd think 5 speeds would be few enough for it to choose an appropriate gear every time, but it seems like just enough to ensure that it won't.
Changes are nice and smooth, though, just not often into the the ratio you would expect, or even when you would expect it.
Odd for a vehicle with only 10k km on the clock.
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Try AirBnB next time? ;-)
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>> Try AirBnB next time? ;-)
>>
....better auto box?
This is the only vehicle I've driven where I "kicked down" and it changed up!
(Which, incidentally, I wanted it to do, but was despairing of it doing so)
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>> You'd think 5 speeds would be few enough for it to choose an appropriate gear
>> every time, but it seems like just enough to ensure that it won't.
>>
>> Changes are nice and smooth, though, just not often into the the ratio you would
>> expect, or even when you would expect it.
>>
That might be because, with the greatest of respect, the vehicle telematics are smarter than you are.
When I first had a lorry with an auto box (actually a Volvo i-shift which strictly speaking is an automated manual) I found that if left to its own devices, it changed upwards far earlier than I would have done in a manual, even had I been observing the protocol of "keeping it in the green"; comparisons soon showed me that despite my perceptions, progress was no slower if I left it to its own devices, and fuel economy actually improved slightly.
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>> That might be because, with the greatest of respect, the vehicle telematics are smarter than
>> you
... that's certainly possible, (but I reckon I'm smarter than the average gearbox, Boo Boo. :-) )
It revving it's guts out at over 3500 rpm, holding on to a gear when it is quite happy at around 2000 a couple of ratios lower ( once youve got it there) doesn't seem over-smart (or mechanically sympathetic).
I'm not sure where the sweet spot is on this engine (or indeed, which output this version is), but it generally wants to run at higher revs than I would expect.
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Mon 19 Feb 18 at 19:45
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>> It revving it's guts out at over 3500 rpm, holding on to a gear when
>> it is quite happy at around 2000 a couple of ratios lower ( once youve
>> got it there) doesn't seem over-smart (or mechanically sympathetic).
>>
>> I'm not sure where the sweet spot is on this engine (or indeed, which output
>> this version is), but it generally wants to run at higher revs than I would
>> expect.
>>
Something doesn't sound right there; Mercedes auto boxes are usually a benchmark for good engineering.
Have you tried briefly lifting your foot off the throttle to entice it into an upward change?
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>> Have you tried briefly lifting your foot off the throttle to entice it into an
>> upward change?
>>
...but of course (my daily drives are both auto).
It has little effect; the change-up point seems rather arbitrary, and even the revs in top are rather higher than I would expect (it doesn't seem to want to run much below 2200 revs).
It is worth remembering, however, that this is a vehicle with the aerodynamics of a brick, running at close to its MAM.
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>> It is worth remembering, however, that this is a vehicle with the aerodynamics of a
>> brick, running at close to its MAM.
>>
That's why I posted the analogy with my lorry, similar characteristics. It does sound to me as though something is not quite right with it.
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>> Pressure is on from the word go with deadlines to arrive and then depart "on
>> time" and not before - not used to jumping out and climbing into a van
>> - need some decent footwear. Dunno if I'll stick it out...we'll see.
As someone in same place as you, working for wants not needs and too keep occupied and in the groove, the pressure thing might be too much. Particularly so if exceedancies are an automatic steward's inquiry/disciplinary.
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Thought of that. Still working at the old job three days a week...so options are open including no work. Mrs RP has also had a bank hours driving job with the NHS and has been working three days a week for a while...she says that's too much !
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I am now part of the gig economy and quite happy with that..
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I had to look up what the ‘gig economy’ meant
Years ago I had a car R715 GYG....I’ve a photo of it on my desk with an incredibly muddy Westie sat next to it, following a romp over Ilkley Moor
Fast forward 10+ years and I moved to Giggleswick, which all the locals refer to as Gig.
Spooky
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>> I was allowed out on my own. Ill fitting uniform provided - I was a
>> white van man.
>>
Please forgive me. It is not normally my nature to be discourteous.
With your training, education and professional qualifications, what are you doing driving a van and debating driving a van for Tesco?
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I think my post is discourteous.
Please delete.
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I think your post is discourteous too.....to every van driver in the country.
Pat
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"I think your post is discourteous too"
Come off it, Pat, you're getting as tetchy as Brompt ;-)
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I don't like to hear anyone categorised, and to categorise them as a group as uneducated is quite wrong.
It's like saying all door to door salesmen are too thick to do any other job.....wrong on so many counts.
If that makes me tetchy, then so be it.
I think Duncan realised that too, to his credit.
......but experience has taught me to think before I speak, or write.
Pat
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"I don't like to hear anyone categorised, and to categorise them as a group as uneducated is quite wrong."
Goodness gracious, Pat, I fear that you really are as tetchy as Brompt. My dad was a miner, I've been a bin-man, filled holes in roads, mended bridges, been a gardener, been a musician, surveyor of power-lines and a phytopathologist. Which bit of me do you think is uneducated?
Maybe the O.P. has always wanted to drive a big van. What's wrong with that?
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Here I go again being completely misunderstood Haywain. I really do wonder if I am really that hard to understand.
>>My dad was a miner, I've been a bin-man, filled holes in roads, mended bridges, been a gardener, been a musician, surveyor of power-lines and a phytopathologist. Which bit of me do you think is uneducated?<<
What I was trying very hard to say is that in all of those jobs you mention, and many more mundane type of jobs, there are some very well educated people doing them simply because the choose to, not because that is all they are capable of.
I was rebuking the OP for assuming that someone with an education wouldn't want to drive a van.....that's all.
Sorry I spoke at all.
Pat
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To the person who granted me a frownie, please find the courage to post and tell me why.
I promise not to bite.
Pat
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"To the person who granted me a frownie, please find the courage to post and tell me why."
Not me - I don't do frownies ....... and certainly not for a fellow Chisit.
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I knew it wasn't you Haywain!
Chisit? That's why I thought we understood each other!
Pat
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Missed the edit....that's a badge I should wear with pride:)
Pat
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>> I think your post is discourteous too.....to every van driver in the country.
>>
>> Pat
Deep breath....
I agree with Pat.
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>> :)
>>
>> Pat
Kinda, so do I. BUT, I can see what Dunc was trying to express. Timed multidropping is a crap, tough, stressful job, for not much dosh. If you have the requirements to do better paid, easier less stressful jobs (or even have the financial resources not to do it at all)
Why would you?
If you want to drive a van for fun (and it can be) then why not buy one (he can afford to) and do Ebay or bid for deliveries. Choose your destinations the dates and offer them up on crowd sources.
Its the Uber version of white van man
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>>Why would you?<<
Because sometimes when you've spent years in a high pressure career where attention to detail is all consuming, it's just nice to earn a little bit of pin money doing something so completely different and easy.
Pat
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, it's just nice to earn a little bit of pin money doing
>> something so completely different and easy.
>>
>>
I'm not sure a delivery van driver is something easy?
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It's not as hard as RP's previous career, which is my point.
In fact, no job you actually enjoy doing is hard.
Pat
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I'm afraid I don't know the OP's previous career. Still it doesn't strike me as a pin money type job.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sun 11 Feb 18 at 12:17
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Neither do I, but Duncan said ''With your training, education and professional qualifications,''
That was a bit of a clue, I think.
Pat
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>> Neither do I, but Duncan said ''With your training, education and professional qualifications,''
>>
>> That was a bit of a clue, I think.
>>
>> Pat
IIRC RP is a retired solicitor.
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I was being tactful on the basis that it isn't my place to divulge info on anyone else!!!
In view of the pendant thread that may well throw some light on things.
Pat
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>> I was being tactful on the basis that it isn't my place to divulge info
>> on anyone else!!!
I don't think it's any secret Pat. He repeatedly wrote about his work while still practising and has mentioned his former career quite recently.
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I didn't think my wife had a very stressful or demanding job (in the civil service) but she used to yearn to be a supermarket checkout operator.
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Just topping up my pension Duncan and keeping occupied ! :-).
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>>Because sometimes when you've spent years in a high pressure career where attention to detail is all consuming, it's just nice to earn a little bit of pin money doing something so completely different and easy.
If anyone else had said that Pat you would have slaughtered them for being disrespectful to van drivers!
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Actually, I wouldn't Bobby.
It's getting too tedious to bother posting on here anymore.
Everything you say get's taken completely out of context, dissected and criticised.
The pedants wait to pounce, the grammar police sit in the wings and the serial 'picky pouncers' sit and wait to link to something you said 10 years ago.
......and we wonder why so many have gone elsewhere?
For me personally, the time I spend on forums or social media is not an extension of my work time, it's supposed to be relaxation and funtime,and once it stops being that then there is no point.
I'm still in contact with so many excellent posters who used to post on these forums and stopped doing so simply because 'they no longer enjoyed it'.
Pat
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God, this tired old crap again.
If these posters are so excellent, why did they run away? Did somebody disagree with them on something?
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Perhaps someone should have taken the trouble to ask them that at the time.
Pat
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Reading through the other threads it would appear I'm not the only one who doesn't find it much of a pleasurable diversion anymore either.
Pat
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>> Perhaps someone should have taken the trouble to ask them that at the time.
I guess people just didn't care enough. I mean, you have been banging on and on about it for years, and still nobody cares.
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>>, and still nobody cares.<<
Very interesting view from a self confessed businessman who is profit and customer focussed.
Pat
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>> >>, and still nobody cares.<<
>>
>> Very interesting view from a self confessed businessman who is profit and customer focussed.
What are you on? A self confessed businessman? I didn't even know it needed confessing, never mind that I should do it to myself.
And WTF have profit and customer focus got to do with this?
I've always known that you weren't smart enough to understand the subtleties within what I write, but it becomes increasingly obvious that you don't have the wherewithal to keep a grip on your own words.
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Neither do you have the upbringing and breeding to be polite, but hey ho, I really couldn't care less about you Mark, or what you think.
BBD treatment from now on, I think.
Insults may make you feel good.....however they just make you look bad to everyone else and don't hurt me at all:)
Pat
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I bet you that you will not stick to your word about ignoring me.
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>> What are you on? A self confessed businessman? I didn't even know it needed confessing,
>> never mind that I should do it to myself.
Now if we're talking pejorative phrases in the English language that grate 'self confessed' is out in the lead.
Surely confession is in and of itself something one normally does of one's own volition. It is a better thing therefore to be confess off your own bat than to be forced to do so by external pressure in whatever form.
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Its all RP's fault. If he had gone out and got a decent respectable job, one that we could all look up to, instead of being a no good bum white van man in a poxy clapped out old Sprinter, none of this would have happened.
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Nothing wrong with being a white van man.
It's the assumption you have to be thick to do the job I have a problem with, although it seems some on here have problems understanding that.
Bobby, over 12 hours later and I still can't figure you how you arrived at that conclusion?
Was it wishful thinking?
Pat
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"It's the assumption you have to be thick to do the job I have a problem with, although it seems some on here have problems understanding that"
I don't think that anyone on here has made that assumption, Pat, me owd duck. [ ;-) ]
Anyway, I'm sure we're all quite aware that the bloke flippin' that burger could well have a PhD in classics.
When my son isn't on some filming mission, he collects/drives cars for his local garage - it's the gig-economy. I suppose it's a form of zero-hours contract and sometimes it works to your advantage.
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>>Pat, me owd duck. [ ;-) ]<<
You always make me homesick:(.
I feel a trip back home coming on...a walk up Borough Hill or Old John followed by a nice meal at The Navigation!
Pat
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>>Bobby, over 12 hours later and I still can't figure you how you arrived at that conclusion?
The discussion had been going along the lines roughly that even though RP was educated he was free to do as he pleases. Someone questioned why he would want to do this job and then apologised as if he was inferring that this job was "below" him.
You then said his post was discourteous to every van driver on the road but then followed it up with the comment " it's just nice to earn a little bit of pin money doing something so completely different and easy." The inference being that this same job, in your eyes, was easy.
Thats why I made the comment.
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I got what Bobby was saying and I agree if anyone else had said what you did you'd have had a go because they were getting at anyone who drives as their job.
But the written word can often be misinterpreted and one needs to be careful what is said and how someone else will receive it and understand it.
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>> The inference being that this same job, in your eyes, was easy.<<
Of course it is, I've spent 30 years doing timed multi-drops on an artic.
BUT, the point I'm making is that because it's easy doesn't mean it's mundane or beneath anyone.
It's a great life with no stress if you can get the hang of being on time for your first drop and then knowing that anything after that one is not down to you.
I absolutely get why anyone would want to spend time doing that for pin money after a career that required a lot more input.
IMHO the post was discourteous to every van driver but more than that, to everyone who has made a choice to do what makes them happy.
Just because you choose not to use your full potential shouldn't ever be a reason for others to judge you.
I many peoples eyes I threw away a great career, turning down promotion and left to be a lorry driver many years ago.
It was the best move I ever made and for the next 30 years I never 'worked' at a job, I enjoyed every minute of it.
What people forget though, I didn't lose the qualifications I had with that decision, I didn't suddenly become a thick person capable of doing nothing else........ I became happy, for the first time in 9 years.
Pat
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Search the thread and you'll find that the word thick appears four times, three times from you Pat and once from someone quoting you. Nor is there any synonym, as far as I see.
The post you took offence to was, in my view, a bit jokey (you know, just like the jokey way you refer to your local shopkeeper) but nevertheless it looks like despite that, on reflection, the poster asked for it to be deleted, but as none of us mods saw it before discussion started that regrettably never happened.
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.....and your point is what?
You never fail to come in and put your twopennorth down when it's all kicked off and the damage is done.
You always come out against me and wonder why I pick you up on stuff as and when I can....well start being even handed and so will everyone else.
Is there a limit as to how many times I'm allowed to use a word now? If Bromp and Zero fully understood my original post how come you, and so many others tried to make out they didn't? Does that make Bromp and Zero wrong, or does it make the others wrong?
Moderation SHOULD have prevented this immediately as it should in so many cases.
That way we may just get some new posters posting with diverse and different views who don't get frightened off by the 'Old boys club' attitude this forum has grown into.
While we have the continual witch hunts, instigated by the few regulars everytime the board will stagnate and die because even they will get bored with each other eventually...it's already happening and is the reason this sort of thing happens so regularly.
Yes, I could 'flounce' but why the hell should I?
If something is broken you try and mend it if you care about it, not give up on it.
Pat
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Continual witch hunts, really? I know discussions can go like two dogs with a bone but witch hunts I don't think that's the same thing.
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>> Is there a limit as to how many times I'm allowed to use a word
>> now? If Bromp and Zero fully understood my original post how come you, and so
>> many others tried to make out they didn't?
Whoa there. Your comment about driving and easy had my eyebrows up where my hairline once was. Partly for same reason as Bobby; it came from you. But also because I'd actually regard multi drop as skilled and stressful.
I had the advice session from hell on Thursday; came out feeling like Fursty Ferret might do after having a 4 hour simulator session with emergencies thrown at him one after another. Domestic Violence case where complainant had limited English and we might have to breach confidentiality 'cos of risk to her kids; man penniless after losing his job who got a bit aggressive when we hadn't got a magic wand and finally a woman so distressed and distracted by her mental health problems that she struggled to give an account of what she wanted from us.
I'd rather do that than be regularly late with Amazon parcels due traffic, never mind if I'd cocked up my round.
Horses and courses I guess.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 12 Feb 18 at 19:54
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>> But also because I'd actually regard multi drop as skilled and stressful.
Pat has not taken into account that van drivers for the likes of DPD, Amazon, Yodel et al have extremely stressful professional lives with way too many drops to do in a day. And if you're not in they have to come back tomorrow. I would think HGV deliveries are fairly easy in comparison.
I've had parcels from Amazon left with a neighbour who happened to have a delivery that day. But I was in. The reason is probably because it was quicker for the delivery driver. And hassle for me to then get the parcel. Which is why I generally have Amazon deliveries to somewhere else I can collect from at my leisure.
When you get a delivery from some couriers you can track the van. You get an estimate of say lunchtime... but they have dozens of drop offs before then. Even John Lewis staff delivering and fitting kitchen appliances have really crazy schedules.... some start at 7am and finish more than 12 hours later!
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 12 Feb 18 at 19:59
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I should have added that all the drivers that have delivered here in the past few years have been migrants. Probably doing the only job they could and they will earn little for their time. Probably why they seem mostly foreign drivers. How we'll get deliveries after BREXIT is the topic of another thread ;-)
As some will know, Amazon uses many self employed 'drivers' who deliver items using their own car. So a clapped out van or car turns up with a pile of unsorted parcels in the back.
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>> Moderation SHOULD have prevented this immediately as it should in so many cases.
Yes Smokie, RP and VxFan should read every post immediately 24x7x365 and moderate immediately. No other way. It's the way you must moderate your own forum I guess. IMMEDIATE is the key word here.
So can we now have 24x7x365 moderation. Thanks
;-)
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God this is getting hard work..
35 years ago as a young man I ran a big refurb job in Knightsbridge. It was challenging. Today I rendered some stone walls. I didn’t have to think about it too much. I quite enjoyed it (as much as aching body parts allow). I FULLY understand Mr. RP’s position. Those that think that they know better - Don’t.
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>> VxFan should read every post immediately 24x7x365 and moderate immediately.
Ace, I knew we would get to the crux in the end. Its daves fault.
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>> >> VxFan should read every post immediately 24x7x365 and moderate immediately.
>> Ace, I knew we would get to the crux in the end. Its daves fault.
In this instance R.P. is the negligent party because he started the thread. In future moderators should never start new threads or respond to existing ones. That should sort it ;-) Between them they can do 8 hours per day each so not asking much.
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>> Its daves fault.
Makes a change for me to get the blame.
ps, shouldn't that be it's and not its?
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>> Its all RP's fault. If he had gone out and got a decent respectable job,
>> one that we could all look up to, instead of being a no good bum
>> white van man in a poxy clapped out old Sprinter, none of this would have
>> happened.
No it's my fault.
'twas I what pointed out the error of RP's ways - remember?
Please let it be my fault.
I never get blamed for anything nowadays.
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>> Please let it be my fault.
>>
>> I never get blamed for anything nowadays.
You are to insignificant to blame
Sorry.
(there I put in an error for the pedant in you)
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 16 Feb 18 at 17:42
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You mean the word “sorry†?
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In the eyes of *some* of the forum members, I may be thick (Ooooops, I've said that word again Smokie!) but even I know that:)
It should be TOO!
Pat
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Pat - any chance that you can stop baiting me please? It's getting a bit tedious.
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What are you talking about Smokie???
Pat
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>> It should be TOO!
>> Pat
Pedant ;-)
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At work we have a 10 year old Transit and 5 year old Vivaro.
It never fails to amaze me the amount of colleagues who drive these and remark that they loved driving a van.And I dont think its just novelty factor either.
Between the two, I prefer the Vivaro which has a gutsier, 6 speed gearbox and also heated and remote controlled mirrors which are a must in a van!
The Vivaro also has flashing beacons so we can double park and stick them on and other drivers dont seem to mind :)
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>> also heated and remote controlled mirrors which are a must in a van!
Our 2017 Transit Connect still has manual mirrors and wind down windows. Quite primitive and poverty spec really, especially when comparing it with the previous 2013 Berlingo Van it replaced, which had elecy windows & mirrors, a fuel computer, and loads more cubby holes in the cab.
About the only good thing going for the Transit is the DAB/Bluetooth stereo and AC.
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Motorhome had them. Very handy.
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I think I posted a few months ago about my nephews Sprinter - he's a salesman for surfing equipment and just got a brand new van. It has auto gearbox, cruise control, bluetooth . leather seats etc.
I would quite happily take that!
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Well - decided to quit my other job - free up some time. Been thinking of quitting for some time, woke up Sunday (worked Saturday) with a stack of things to do, busy day ahead etc, and wondered why the hell I was going to work the next day - so I put in my notice. Very liberating, working 22.5 hours a week for a national charity had become a chore. Keep the bank hours driving job though ;-)....
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Noticed a new shape Transit Luton van today and it has indicators in the mirror housing right on the furthest edge.
You know the part of the mirror that you use to gauge widths when you are in a narrow space? Or the part of the mirror that is always hit first when you meet another large vehicle?
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>> Noticed a new shape Transit Luton
Ford or Vauxhall? Transit = Ford, Luton = Vauxhall/Opel/GM.
Either way going to make money in spares for mirror replacements.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 20 Feb 18 at 22:09
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Luton bodied van?
A Luton is the description of the body style like hatchback, LWB etc
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I always thought of a Luton bodies van as a Vauxhall ;-) Where they built them in Luton.
I stand corrected.
Still going to see a lot of damaged/destroyed mirrors it seems.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 20 Feb 18 at 22:15
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>> A Luton is the description of the body style like hatchback, LWB etc
I'd regard a Luton as being built on a chassis with an aluminium box body on the back. If you're lucky it'll have a tail-lift. If not you'll get a hernia loading it.
Twice had to get quite assertive with what was then Godfrey Davis trying to tell me a Luton was an upgrade from the 'unavailable' standard Transit or LWB Renault Trafic I'd booked.
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Yup, a "Luton" is a size and shape of body - very square, and these days usually with a tail lift.
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Mercedes Benz - Sprinter - First day as logistic/solutions driver - Dog
