Darcar
Forum Member
The Mercedes Vario is probably the biggest van body available in this country.
yeah I know you can get library buses or special build vans, but I think the vario is the largest standard body. They are at the heaviest 7.5 ton gross. But can be any where from 5 ton. The engine is a 4.25lt turbo, 5 speed manual is usual, although you can get a automatic, later versions have a 6 speed gearbox. Adblue was also added in the newer trucks. Production stopped in 2013.
They are available in a lot of forms.
The van body is available in SWB, MWB & of course LWB. and in 4 wheel drive if you lucky enough to get one!
There are a few companies that build the vario chassis cab into a bus body, these are usually a lot wider and longer than the van. There always seems to be a lot of buses for sale!
If you’re looking for a vario ( or the older 609,709,711,814 etc ) then you will probably already know that they are built on a truck chassis, in all the T1&T2’s I’v seen I’v never seen one with a chassis problem. They are massively over engineered.
RUST however is a problem, it’s the killer for the steel body vans.... the worst I find is under the windscreen behind the slam plate, and down inside the front wings. Unfortunately they also rot around the bottom of the skirt and the seems, can cause trouble too! But the good news is that it’s only cosmetic, not structural, so repairs can be done fairly easily!
The drive chain is fantastic, the engine is capable of a million miles if serviced properly. The manual gearbox doesn’t give any problems either, the auto can be a bit temperamental! And you’ll have to watch that the diff has a high enough ratio, because some of the buses were built as city buses, and were hop on hop off. These never ment to do high motorway speeds.
Being a heavy lump with the aerodynamics of a brick, your never going to get more than 25 mpg, nearer to 20 mpg. Having said that they are very easy to drive. Forgiving through the gears, I love driving mine..
Good luck finding a good vario van, bus or special. Have fun with your build.
Darcar.
yeah I know you can get library buses or special build vans, but I think the vario is the largest standard body. They are at the heaviest 7.5 ton gross. But can be any where from 5 ton. The engine is a 4.25lt turbo, 5 speed manual is usual, although you can get a automatic, later versions have a 6 speed gearbox. Adblue was also added in the newer trucks. Production stopped in 2013.
They are available in a lot of forms.
The van body is available in SWB, MWB & of course LWB. and in 4 wheel drive if you lucky enough to get one!
There are a few companies that build the vario chassis cab into a bus body, these are usually a lot wider and longer than the van. There always seems to be a lot of buses for sale!
If you’re looking for a vario ( or the older 609,709,711,814 etc ) then you will probably already know that they are built on a truck chassis, in all the T1&T2’s I’v seen I’v never seen one with a chassis problem. They are massively over engineered.
RUST however is a problem, it’s the killer for the steel body vans.... the worst I find is under the windscreen behind the slam plate, and down inside the front wings. Unfortunately they also rot around the bottom of the skirt and the seems, can cause trouble too! But the good news is that it’s only cosmetic, not structural, so repairs can be done fairly easily!
The drive chain is fantastic, the engine is capable of a million miles if serviced properly. The manual gearbox doesn’t give any problems either, the auto can be a bit temperamental! And you’ll have to watch that the diff has a high enough ratio, because some of the buses were built as city buses, and were hop on hop off. These never ment to do high motorway speeds.
Being a heavy lump with the aerodynamics of a brick, your never going to get more than 25 mpg, nearer to 20 mpg. Having said that they are very easy to drive. Forgiving through the gears, I love driving mine..
Good luck finding a good vario van, bus or special. Have fun with your build.
Darcar.