{"id":212,"date":"2008-09-12T16:53:32","date_gmt":"2008-09-12T16:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=212"},"modified":"2008-09-12T16:53:32","modified_gmt":"2008-09-12T16:53:32","slug":"500000-mile-vauxhall-combo-van-a-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/212","title":{"rendered":"500,000 Mile Vauxhall Combo Van &#8211; A Record?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_214\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-214\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-214\" title=\"Vauxhall Combo with 500,000 miles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/vaux-500k-combo-1-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Vauxhall Combo with 500,000 mile\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-214\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 GM Corp.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Like most of the economy, the secondhand van market is slowing down a little at the moment, with buyers only paying top money for high spec, low mileage vans.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">However, it&#8217;s easy to lose sight of the fact that vans are commercial vehicles and are designed to have a much harder and higher-mileage life than cars &#8211; as Nigel Weaver&#8217;s 500,000 mile Vauxhall Combo shows.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The 53-year old courier from Maidenhead, Berks, bought his Vauxhall Combo new from Burnham Garage in Slough in 2001, just as the model was making its debut.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Seven years later, after averaging over 75,000 miles a year, Nigel\u2019s Combo has just clocked up its first 500,000 miles, all on the original engine.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_213\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-213\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-213\" title=\"vaux-500k-combo-2-sm\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/vaux-500k-combo-2-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Proof - Nigel's 500,000 mile Vauxhall Combo\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-213\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 GM Corp.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI bought the Combo because I liked the look of it, the fact it was comfortable and like a car to drive,\u201d said Nigel. \u201cIn my job, you need to be comfy as you spend your entire working life on the road, and it seemed a well made van so I bought it intending to run it until it dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In 2008, the 1.7-litre diesel-engined van is still going strong, and continues to rack up well over 1,000 miles a week in Nigel\u2019s hands, often in continental Europe as well as in the UK.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI do some work for a brewery and regularly have to take British-brewed beer out to the head office in Amsterdam,\u201d he said. \u201cThat gets some funny looks at customs, taking a van load of beer <em>out<\/em> of the country rather than the other way round!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Nigel claims the key to his van\u2019s longevity is to stick to a rigorous maintenance programme. \u201cI\u2019ve always ensured the oil is changed as soon as it\u2019s due, and have always used genuine Vauxhall parts,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The van has had a few running repairs, including a new steering column and reconditioned gearbox at around the 400,000 mile mark.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI could hardly complain at that mileage!\u201d added Nigel. \u201cIt still regularly does over 60mpg, but I\u2019m most impressed at how the interior has held up \u2013 the cab scrubs up lovely. I\u2019ve never had the back ply-lined, though, so the rubber mat\u2019s looking a little worn in places these days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s easy to lose sight of the fact that vans are commercial vehicles and are designed to have a much harder and higher-mileage life than cars &#8211; as Nigel Weaver&#8217;s 500,000 mile Vauxhall Combo shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}