Anyone Ever Had A Citroen C15 Champ Van??

[matttt3222]

might be needing a van and these look handy and a little different to the normal small white vans I see all the time

anyone ever had one?
just wondering what they are like to service and drive

ta
matt



*HTW Edit - Title was all caps, now corrected.

[trigger]

We used to run a coupe of V Reg ones when I worked for a motor factors, they were cheap and cheerful.
We used the 1.8 diesel models, which were quite nippy but the brakes were curse word, upgraded to EBC green stuff pads which helped.
And don't put to much weight in the back as they become unstable!. (I nearly killed myself once delivering a 205Lt drum of oil in the back of one!)
But apart from that, they are dirt cheap to run and buy, one van we had done 130k in 5 years with no real problems apart from trim breaking or falling off and the rear lights blowing every other day, typical French build quality really!.

Here, have a photo of my old work van from from about 5 years ago



And here's one taking a corner at 20 mph with a bag of plaster in the back...

[PandaSelecta]

Try having a look at a Fiat Fiorino 1.7TD, as you get 40 mpg, a nice car like cabin, space in the back for a full size bath (if thats the sort of thing your interested in), and they can easily take the weight (2 scrap cast irons baths, and the rest of the suites at a time). Plus they don't look that modern (look like a mid 80's Fiat Uno with a box on the back)

edit - what ours looks like...

[reanimation]

GF's dad has one, had it 1.5 years since we got our van off him. He's not broke it yet and he broke a Sierra 1.8 pinto eventually with neglect. still plenty these about. Basically a Visa yeah?

[dollywobbler]

Yup. A Visa van that just refused to go out of production! Until they did a few years ago...

Hardy little things, although switchgear can be a bit breaky. As mentioned above, with lots of weight in the back, they handle like a wheelbarrow full of paving slabs. I drove one with er, quite a few people in the back (thankfully not very far...) and it was bloomin' hard work!

[TYP 19]

indeed they are hard work with no powersteering and a load of people in the back! My Dads old is now my paintbooth/ shed/ storage facility until the Golfs built, still runs though

[Lankytim]

My dads had loads. they're cheap, basic motors, the engine is the best part of them. The rear suspension can go wonky, the cab is crampt, older ones can rot pretty badly but they're reliable, take loads of stick and have some character. I like them!

[milfordcubicle]

Aren't the 1.9 'DW8' engines used in late ones a bit shonky?
I would like to try one out, I bet they're quite amusing.

[dave21478]

I have had a couple now and run one day-to-day as a hackabout / parts fetcher. Its the 1.8 diesel engine, which is robust, but not that refined. No matter what style driving I do, its simply refuses to give any worse than 51mpg, and often a fair bit better than that.
Rear load space is good (better than a vauxhall combi I'm led to believe?) and it will take 600 kgs payload, which is impressive.
The cabin is basic but functional.
Common faults are the twin-speed heater fan failing on one speed, door check-straps pulling out the doors, allowing doors to flap open too far and hit the wing, window winders can fail too, along with general citroen nasty hard plastic dashboards that split, crack and rattle.
Rust on the sills, front edge of the bonnet and bottoms of the doors. Also rust-scabs on the bit above the cab roof as with most of this style of van from untreated stone-chips.
Check the rear wheels arent wonky with excessive camber - a sign of worn beam bushes. A common problem and best bet is to bin the whole rear beam and fit a good one as repairs are a bit tricky without the right tools.
Handling can be interesting, but I quite like it. Cheap tyres don't do them any favours in the grip department at all.


EDIT - most are Lucas diesel pumps I think. Mine certainly is, so veg oil isnt advisable.

[dave21478]

forgot the photos....

[reanimation]

begging for some treatment IMO

[bstardchild]

My Brother in Law has one - borrow it whenever I need to move some tat - brilliant little tool - swallows loads of stuff - I got four senator doors in the back with space to spare drove them down from Norfolk to Reading and picked up a huge bit of furniture and brought that back - averaged 60mph and close to 50mpg from a smelly oil burner

[matttt3222]

not thought of a florini
ill look into those too
any idea if these run on veg oil? no a problem as I'm not doing mega miles just curious
also ive seen 2 with side windows now,do any of these have rear seats or a option when new to have them?

[topghia]

its the xud engine fitted to many of the french cars it will run on veg aslong as it has the bosch fuel pump but be warned the price of veg oil is higher than derv at the moment unless you can filter it theres not much point

[dave21478]

side windows are an option on them, but as far as I know, the 4-seaters were never sold in UK. They were sold here in France as a normal 4-seater van, and also a longer wheelbase version, again with a rear bench seat.
Other factory oddities are a 4x4 version and a 6-wheeler, again never sold in uk, sadly.

Side windows are a definate advantage though, visibility is poor otherwise when checking blindspots or pulling out of junctions that arent a straight T shape. The steel panels are just bonded in, so yu can hoik them out and fit the windows if you find a set with the rubber seals.

[rustingdeathtrap]

don't buy a petrol one. They have the 1.4 tu engine and are depresingly slow. The earlier petrols had the laid back engine and were just as slow and rattle to boot.
The diesel is a nice van in a 'not quite like any other van you'll ever drive' kind of way.

[skinnylew]

Buy a petrol one and slap a Saxo VTS engine and have 120bhp+ on tap

[Rich606]

My dad had one for a while...

Aug 12, 2008 18:22:31 GMT dave21478 said:

Common faults are... door check-straps pulling out the doors, allowing doors to flap open too far and hit the wing,

It had that

window winders can fail too

And that.

Check the rear wheels arent wonky with excessive camber - a sign of worn beam bushes.

And that's what scrapped it

He picked me up from uni in it once and it did High Wycombe to Bath and back, fully loaded, on quarter of a tank. Pretty good really.

[scrapheapchallenge]

here's mine:




don't get one.

lol

OK good points - it goes on forever, reliable little engine

bad points - handles like utter utter cr@p, light bulbs pop on a regular basis, heater gives up, awful to work on (about 3 hours to change the sodding glow plugs!) cheap and nasty french design, made out of tinfoil, rusts as soon as you look at it.

Kirsty

[matttt3222]

you like it then lol