4 Years, 95,000 Miles Stick or Twist

[480bhp]

I thought i'd give my thoughts after 4 years of ownership and 95,000 miles covered, they may or may not be relevant to anyone.

Looking back over old posts, i didn't realise the discontent i had for that van at times, so it would be a fair reflection to give an overall picture of my ownership.

Back in November 2016 i purchased the Blackberry T6, 204ps SWB, DSG, T5 Sportline alloys in black, Rear spoiler, VW Lowering springs, LED's plus a host of other extras deemed necessary at the time.

Torn on what to do with the front end, i didn't opt for the VW Sportline spoiler, and instead purchased a Maxton Splitter, That subsequently never made it on to the van, but a Sportline one did

First impressions of the van were great, but they were soon tarnished as little glitches popped up,

Error codes, Requested Re-gen all the issues were emissions related.

But despite this, it's only fair to report, that at no point has the van required any parts fitting to solve the issues, and after 95,000 miles my fears over the EGR, AdBlue, DPF have proven to be nothing but "Internet Anxiety" (i know this isn't the case for some of you )

The tailgate stopped releasing around March 2020, and was booked in to VW for a repair, only for lockdown to happen and the repair get delayed, in the meantime the fairies popped along and fixed it, and it's been fine ever since

The van has been serviced at the same VW dealers it was purchased from, overall the dealer has been ok, but on the odd occasion i've felt like they could have done more.
The service intervals have been pretty much every 14,000 give or take a little, the DSG was serviced at approx 40k and 80k and the cam belt and waterpump at 80k too.

What else has it required:
1 Set of pads, 1 set of rear discs, plenty of tyres and that's about it.

AdBlue has been consistent in it's use, although for a brief moment a few weeks ago it all lit up again and gave me the 650 mile to empty fault, this cleared itself within 5 minutes, so it was probably just a sensor glitch, this has happened twice in my ownership, first time quite early on, which resulted in a dealer visit, and then this one.

The Regens are pretty consistent if a little annoying at times, approximately one commences after covering 70 miles from a fill up, the next one is roughly after 300 miles. Now 80% of my driving is done on the motorway, the other 20% is mostly fast A roads, so it annoys the hell out of me that after driving for 2 hours and 100 miles the van decides it needs to regen as i pull up my drive at home.

Fuel consumption has been pretty consistent overall, averaging roughly 32mpg over 95,000 miles, it's only been filled with main brand station fuels (Shell, BP) occasionally Vpower in the early days, but not for many many miles now.

Oil consumption is higher than most vans i've had before, i can usually get through a litre of oil in between services.

Being a van it has the full steel bulkhead, something which is a must for me, but if anything it does hamper the seat's adjustability, i don't seem to be able to get the seat back as far enough as i'd like, and the backrest is too vertical. I can do as many as 500 miles in a day on some occasions and regularly 100-200 miles on other days, i've now found that the seat becomes uncomfortable after a few hours of driving. As a result i'm going to look in to removing a section of the bulkhead, get the seat in a suitable position then fabricate a new section for the bulkhead.

So as i'm in the 5th year of ownership it's been revamped slightly to better suit my requirements, the Lowered Springs have gone and been replaced with stock springs, while they were off, the dampers were replaced too (Thanks Deaky) the VW sport line front spoiler has been removed, and i'm now sporting a stone chip free standard front bumper minus the towing eye cover, A towbar has been fitted, and the Bott Smartvan racking has made way for a new set up from VanKit.

It feels like a new work van, the springs and dampers have given it what looks like a swamper conversion, the new racking has made working and storing stuff easier, and i've just had the cabin apart to run in some wires for the perm 12v lighting for the load area (switch operable).

It's now at the age where i'd look to replace the van, but having been on the VW configurator and seen that a like for like spec is now around 50k it's just not worth it. The van is still fine, it does it's job well, and its at the age now where i'm not so precious about it, i no longer worry when i see a slight imperfection (pot hole) in the road that can't be avoided, when i see that stone leave the tyre of the vehicle in front, or when someone looks like they're parked a little too close for my liking

So i've decided to keep running the van, for how long who knows, but there's not a single van available new today, that would tempt me to replace it. Looks like i'll be waiting to see what the VW/Ford van of the future turns out like, as yet there's no details available and the spy shots people keep showing are of a multivan, which is not going to be the same i'm led to believe. It should be available in late 2022, early 2023 so by then the T6 should be on around 150k if i still have it.

Is there any other high mileage vans on here? i'd expect quite a few to be pushing 120k now, what issues have you had? could frequent high mileage use be a saviour of EGR, DPF, AdBlue systems?

 

[JOG]

I thought i'd give my thoughts after 4 years of ownership and 95,000 miles covered, they may or may not be relevant to anyone.

Looking back over old posts, i didn't realise the discontent i had for that van at times, so it would be a fair reflection to give an overall picture of my ownership.

Back in November 2016 i purchased the Blackberry T6, 204ps SWB, DSG, T5 Sportline alloys in black, Rear spoiler, VW Lowering springs, LED's plus a host of other extras deemed necessary at the time.

Torn on what to do with the front end, i didn't opt for the VW Sportline spoiler, and instead purchased a Maxton Splitter, That subsequently never made it on to the van, but a Sportline one did

First impressions of the van were great, but they were soon tarnished as little glitches popped up,

Error codes, Requested Re-gen all the issues were emissions related.

But despite this, it's only fair to report, that at no point has the van required any parts fitting to solve the issues, and after 95,000 miles my fears over the EGR, AdBlue, DPF have proven to be nothing but "Internet Anxiety" (i know this isn't the case for some of you )

The tailgate stopped realising around March 2020, and was booked in to VW for a repair, only for lockdown to happen and the repair get delayed, in the meantime the fairies popped along and fixed it, and it's been fine ever since

The van has been serviced at the same VW dealers it was purchased from, overall the dealer has been ok, but on the odd occasion i've felt like they could have done more.
The service intervals have been pretty much every 14,000 give or take a little, the DSG was serviced at approx 40k and 80k and the cam belt and waterpump at 80k too.

What else has it required:
1 Set of pads, 1 set of rear discs, plenty of tyres and that's about it.

AdBlue has been consistent in it's use, although for a brief moment a few weeks ago it all lit up again and gave me the 650 mile to empty fault, this cleared itself within 5 minutes, so it was probably just a sensor glitch, this has happened twice in my ownership, first time quite early on, which resulted in a dealer visit, and then this one.

The Regens are pretty consistent if a little annoying at times, approximately one commences after covering 70 miles from a fill up, the next one is roughly after 300 miles. Now 80% of my driving is done on the motorway, the other 20% is mostly fast A roads, so it annoys the hell out of me that after driving for 2 hours and 100 miles the van decides it needs to regen as i pull up my drive at home.

Fuel consumption has been pretty consistent overall, averaging roughly 32mpg over 95,000 miles, it's only been filled with main brand station fuels (Shell, BP) occasionally Vpower in the early days, but not for many many miles now.

Oil consumption is higher than most vans i've had before, i can usually get through a litre of oil in between services.

Being a van it has the full steel bulkhead, something which is a must for me, but if anything it does hamper the seat's adjustability, i don't seem to be able to get the seat back as far enough as i'd like, and the backrest is too vertical. I can do as many as 500 miles in a day on some occasions and regularly 100-200 miles on other days, i've now found that the seat becomes uncomfortable after a few hours of driving. As a result i'm going to look in to removing a section of the bulkhead, get the seat in a suitable position then fabricate a new section for the bulkhead.

So as i'm in the 5th year of ownership it's been revamped slightly to better suit my requirements, the Lowered Springs have gone and been replaced with stock springs, while they were off, the dampers were replaced too (Thanks Deaky) the VW sport line front spoiler has been removed, and i'm now sporting a stone chip free standard front bumper minus the towing eye cover, A towbar has been fitted, and the Bott Smartvan racking has made way for a new set up from VanKit.

It feels like a new work van, the springs and dampers have given it what looks like a swamper conversion, the new racking has made working and storing stuff easier, and i've just had the cabin apart to run in some wires for the perm 12v lighting for the load area (switch operable).

It's now at the age where i'd look to replace the van, but having been on the VW configurator and seen that a like for like spec is now around 50k it's just not worth it. The van is still fine, it does it's job well, and its at the age now where i'm not so precious about it, i no longer worry when i see a slight imperfection (pot hole) in the road that can't be avoided, when i see that stone leave the tyre of the vehicle in front, or when someone looks like they're parked a little too close for my liking

So i've decided to keep running the van, for how long who knows, but there's not a single van available new today, that would tempt me to replace it. Looks like i'll be waiting to see what the VW/Ford van of the future turns out like, as yet there's no details available and the spy shots people keep showing are of a multivan, which is not going to be the same i'm led to believe. It should be available in late 2022, early 2023 so by then the T6 should be on around 150k if i still have it.

Is there any other high mileage vans on here? i'd expect quite a few to be pushing 120k now, what issues have you had? could frequent high mileage use be a saviour of EGR, DPF, AdBlue systems?

Sounds like “Stick” to me! Still good for another 95k, I reckon!

 

[Dellmassive]

I had my last MY11 T5.1 for 7 years.

(Which was an upgrade from my MY08 T5 85k 3yr old, so again same situation as u at the time)

I only replaced it due to to the EU6 upgrade..... London was costing a fortune for EU5 vans, so the T6 seemed a cost effective move.

I was similar spec and similar millage to yours.... and was sad to see it go.

I would have been more han happy to keep it and have good faith that these the VW engines and DSG box are good for 300k plus miles if serviced regularly.

So keep it,... maybe add an upgrade or two to add a new lease of life and love for the van.


Failing that.... sell it and start again.

Get a base T6.1 with the Engine and box you want, then go from there..... but as you've found the prices keep going up every year... so that the pricy option.

 

[DaveD]

I thought i'd give my thoughts after 4 years of ownership and 95,000 miles covered, they may or may not be relevant to anyone.

Looking back over old posts, i didn't realise the discontent i had for that van at times, so it would be a fair reflection to give an overall picture of my ownership.

Back in November 2016 i purchased the Blackberry T6, 204ps SWB, DSG, T5 Sportline alloys in black, Rear spoiler, VW Lowering springs, LED's plus a host of other extras deemed necessary at the time.

Torn on what to do with the front end, i didn't opt for the VW Sportline spoiler, and instead purchased a Maxton Splitter, That subsequently never made it on to the van, but a Sportline one did

First impressions of the van were great, but they were soon tarnished as little glitches popped up,

Error codes, Requested Re-gen all the issues were emissions related.

But despite this, it's only fair to report, that at no point has the van required any parts fitting to solve the issues, and after 95,000 miles my fears over the EGR, AdBlue, DPF have proven to be nothing but "Internet Anxiety" (i know this isn't the case for some of you )

The tailgate stopped releasing around March 2020, and was booked in to VW for a repair, only for lockdown to happen and the repair get delayed, in the meantime the fairies popped along and fixed it, and it's been fine ever since

The van has been serviced at the same VW dealers it was purchased from, overall the dealer has been ok, but on the odd occasion i've felt like they could have done more.
The service intervals have been pretty much every 14,000 give or take a little, the DSG was serviced at approx 40k and 80k and the cam belt and waterpump at 80k too.

What else has it required:
1 Set of pads, 1 set of rear discs, plenty of tyres and that's about it.

AdBlue has been consistent in it's use, although for a brief moment a few weeks ago it all lit up again and gave me the 650 mile to empty fault, this cleared itself within 5 minutes, so it was probably just a sensor glitch, this has happened twice in my ownership, first time quite early on, which resulted in a dealer visit, and then this one.

The Regens are pretty consistent if a little annoying at times, approximately one commences after covering 70 miles from a fill up, the next one is roughly after 300 miles. Now 80% of my driving is done on the motorway, the other 20% is mostly fast A roads, so it annoys the hell out of me that after driving for 2 hours and 100 miles the van decides it needs to regen as i pull up my drive at home.

Fuel consumption has been pretty consistent overall, averaging roughly 32mpg over 95,000 miles, it's only been filled with main brand station fuels (Shell, BP) occasionally Vpower in the early days, but not for many many miles now.

Oil consumption is higher than most vans i've had before, i can usually get through a litre of oil in between services.

Being a van it has the full steel bulkhead, something which is a must for me, but if anything it does hamper the seat's adjustability, i don't seem to be able to get the seat back as far enough as i'd like, and the backrest is too vertical. I can do as many as 500 miles in a day on some occasions and regularly 100-200 miles on other days, i've now found that the seat becomes uncomfortable after a few hours of driving. As a result i'm going to look in to removing a section of the bulkhead, get the seat in a suitable position then fabricate a new section for the bulkhead.

So as i'm in the 5th year of ownership it's been revamped slightly to better suit my requirements, the Lowered Springs have gone and been replaced with stock springs, while they were off, the dampers were replaced too (Thanks Deaky) the VW sport line front spoiler has been removed, and i'm now sporting a stone chip free standard front bumper minus the towing eye cover, A towbar has been fitted, and the Bott Smartvan racking has made way for a new set up from VanKit.

It feels like a new work van, the springs and dampers have given it what looks like a swamper conversion, the new racking has made working and storing stuff easier, and i've just had the cabin apart to run in some wires for the perm 12v lighting for the load area (switch operable).

It's now at the age where i'd look to replace the van, but having been on the VW configurator and seen that a like for like spec is now around 50k it's just not worth it. The van is still fine, it does it's job well, and its at the age now where i'm not so precious about it, i no longer worry when i see a slight imperfection (pot hole) in the road that can't be avoided, when i see that stone leave the tyre of the vehicle in front, or when someone looks like they're parked a little too close for my liking

So i've decided to keep running the van, for how long who knows, but there's not a single van available new today, that would tempt me to replace it. Looks like i'll be waiting to see what the VW/Ford van of the future turns out like, as yet there's no details available and the spy shots people keep showing are of a multivan, which is not going to be the same i'm led to believe. It should be available in late 2022, early 2023 so by then the T6 should be on around 150k if i still have it.

Is there any other high mileage vans on here? i'd expect quite a few to be pushing 120k now, what issues have you had? could frequent high mileage use be a saviour of EGR, DPF, AdBlue systems?

You've got that van how you want it, (except the seat which you have a plan to deal with,) each year it depreciates less, it's a known quantity.
I think I'd make the same decision as you have and keep money in your pocket.

 

[huw169]

It’s good to know, and nice write up.
I moved from my trusty T4 with 175k on in October, and there was nothing wrong with it so had a huge dilemma. Drove my wife nuts.
My biggest worry was the DPF, adblue, and egr as I couldn’t find a TSI with DSG at the time.
Having done some reading I’m far less concerned now even though I mainly do short journeys.
DPF regen issue - just get a Carista. Keep an eye on your soot level, and trigger the regen when you want if it’s approaching 30g. It’s quite literally all at your fingertips now

 

[Harveyt10]

I've had three vans still have them all

2012 T5.1 MANUAL Highline Kombi 140,000 MILES full vw service history runs like a new van probably my favourite van if i am honest I've put a slidepod in this one and had it carpet lined etc leisure battery and internal 12v lighting .

A 2016 DSG Highline kombi 120,000 miles no issues what so ever with it apart from the VW lowering spring the ride is really awful , oh and a wheel bearing failed.

my latest 2020 T6.1 DSG factory Highline Kombi 16,000 miles carpet lined etc i do really like this van very smooth to drive , love the auto cruise control , and i like the new dash etc , had no issues with this van , my first service being done this week coming .

I read lots of stories on here where people have been very unlucky with some of the vans but i must say (maybe i've been lucky) i'm a builder and all three of these vans have been problem free from the day i bought them all NEW from my local dealer . I do a little towing with them now and agin no issues with clutches etc.

So over 270'000 miles basically trouble free motoring , apart from servicing . I would stick with what you know i've been offered ridiculous money for my 2012 T5.1as it is in very could condition but i cant seem to let it go as it was my first transporter .

my final opinion is if you have had from new had it serviced and know the van stick with it if you can i really think you can get a great deal more miles out of it .

i'm looking forward to many more happy miles in mine .

 

[T12]

My t6 have done almost 110000km now, and it is 3 years old in March.
Had the egr and steering servo pump changed.

 

[The Bear78]

I haven't had mine since new but I do know its history. 2016 Euro 5 140, currently at 111000miles.
It had the EGR replaced at around 60k, prior to my ownership and since buying it at 99k I've had the cambelt changed.
No doubt there are several tyre changes in there but certainly no other major components. I've got money set aside for the DMF and clutch when it goes as it's only a matter of time!
In contrast to this we had a 2006 passat 2.0 Tdi which quite frankly couldn't have been any worse. In the three years that we had it we needed a DMF, steering column (electric), ICE ECU, DPF, handbrake calipers and switch and finally a complete engine...
I think it is a bit of a lottery sometimes and considering this and the impending move to electric vehicles I would be inclined to stick with something that you trust. I know they won't completely ban fossil fuelled vehicles for some time but I can imagine ownership getting more and more difficult and their trade in value will drop through the floor.
I don't suppose in 4 years the market will have collapsed for diesel vans but I would rather get maximum use out of each vehicle I own.

 

[Robert Hallyburton]

My 2016 Shuttle has just gone 174,000 miles. Full service history and a lot of motorway miles and (touch wood) I haven't had any issues with it other than a intermittent DRL light fault. The reduced mileage recently does worry me a bit though.

 

[Scruffy]

2016 T6 Kombi 140 DSG Blackberry. 116K and rising, and for sale when I get a reliable build slot from VW. All m-way miles, 40mpg+, apart from wear n tear the only thing that has failed was a wheel bearing. The brakes didn't need touching until 104K ( yes really) and the servicing intervals have been between 23-25k, so can't complain really. The ride is awful and something I will be attending too in the new van, and the sliding windows leak only if I forget to clean out the drain holes, but all in all ( touch wood) a reliable van. Oh, it's had a new battery recently.

 

[coullstar]

This is all good to hear, my 3 year old Shuttle has done 11k, 9k of that in the year I've had it lol. I've got a long way to go.

 

[480bhp]

Thought i'd update this after a recent AdBlue top up (part of the 8 free fills) at VW, the van also underwent a health check, here's what they found at 104500 miles

O/S Front Droplink Upper Boot Split
Power Steering Pump Leak
Front Engine Mount Split
Engine Oil Leak, Flange Seal Belt Side

Glad i have the 5 year 150k warranty, all work is covered.

VW say they require the van for 2 days, due to the cure time on a sealant being 12 hours.

Still glad i stuck with the van though.

Next up is swapping out the sport line alloys and fitting the Devonports, slowly it's going back to factory spec, just the rear spoiler now, but that'll be staying on,

 

[Danny1964Boy]

If it’s doing the job got to be stick in current environment. Used overpriced and new impossible to source. 12 months wait. Kombi worse.

 

[shropschris]

what would you get if you sell , vans are crazy priced and hard to come by . That said I was tempted to sell mine and get a swb sprinter the van is now worth ore than I paid for it 3 years ago ! the only thing that put me off was the lack of parts to convert the sprinter all kinds of stuff is super hard to buy at the moment,so i kept my T6 for the tie being