Chrysler Grand Tourer

The Rovering Member · 16th January 2024, 00:07

My wife has been hankering after a van in connection with her antique business, for stock-hunting & stallholding, that sort of thing. We've hired a couple of vans in the past & found a standard Transit a bit small but a LWB hi-cube ideal. Well either in ULEZ form are pretty expensive & we wouldn't want a LWB sitting outside the house anyway. So it just so happens my brother has one of these Chrysler's (actually a Grand Voyager ), a 2014 in 2.8 diesel, top spec form which he's been running for the last eighteen months.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/chrysler/grand-voyager

It came from a friend/customer who bought it new, then a couple of years back offered it to my brother for a price he couldn't refuse as it was just sitting around with no MoT. He had an MoT put on plus a new timing belt/water pump, some brake work & a DPF regen'. He loves it but has now decided that he doesn't use it enough so has offered it to us for 75% of the price he paid for the work done on it & 33% of the book price. With all the seats dropped into the floor it does an extremely good impersonation of a medium-sized van & with them up an equally good one of a small minibus. So we're going to replace our trusty hardworking Fiesta with it which keeps it in the family & the Fiesta will remain too as my stepson & his wife are having that. It will cost us a bit more in road tax & insurance but it will also cost us the ULEZ charge which is unfortunate but as we won't be using it daily & the times we need to carry most of our stock at once are relatively few, we think the low purchase price still makes it a worthwhile proposition for the business & it is of course a bit more versatile than a van. It's not something l ever thought l'd buy but l must say, it's quite an unusual vehicle & l'm quite excited at the prospect of running it. I will be keeping a log of the running costs. Wish us luck.

The Rovering Member · 16th January 2024, 17:12

And it turns out that Kevin in Wickford had three of them so is familiar with the cars, which is handy.

skellum · 19th January 2024, 19:59

A friend parted with his recently and now bitterly regrets it. It failed the MOT and (I think) he was rather misled by garage about how hard it would be to fix. Apparently the rear seats lift out and make a load area big enough to take a full sheet of plasterboard, or sleep in on a camping trip. Now he's got an old Freelander and needs a trailer for his DIY supplies and dump runs.

The Rovering Member · 19th January 2024, 21:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by skellum

A friend parted with his recently and now bitterly regrets it. It failed the MOT and (I think) he was rather misled by garage about how hard it would be to fix. Apparently the rear seats lift out and make a load area big enough to take a full sheet of plasterboard, or sleep in on a camping trip. Now he's got an old Freelander and needs a trailer for his DIY supplies and dump runs.

They have the Stow & Go seating system. All the rear seats fold & drop into covered recesses in the floor. When the seats are up the recesses can be used for storage. The system won an award from Popular Science magazine when it was released. The LWB Grand Voyager has 1600 litres more storage space than the equivalent Espace. It's the biggest in its class as far as l can see, mainly due to its boxy shape which to me is a boon, l don't like those egg-shaped MPV's at all & l must admit l have always wanted to own some kind of Yank though l never thought it would be a diesel.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/200...-answer/18560/

They're not rocket science but l can imagine some garages being reluctant to take them on. The garage where my brother & l go for our MoT's did the work on the brakes & the timing belt but later seemed to think the handbrake would be about £1500 to sort out & couldn't trace what's keeping the engine management light on. When l asked Kevin in Wickford he confessed to having owned three of them & said the handbrake lever ratchet will need welding & that many later OBD scanners won't communicate properly with the Chrysler's, you just have to know which ones will. So a couple of things in common with our beloved 75's there.

The Rovering Member · 9th February 2024, 20:54

We have her home now, just the residents parking permit to sort out. Having known nothing about these until four weeks ago I'm definitely of the opinion that the Generation 5 is the best looking & most impressive of the seven generations of the Voyager.
I'm very impressed with it in all respects but have surmised that the 2.8 diesel will do an indicated 80mph but prefers not to.

16th January 2024, 00:07	#1
The Rovering Member I really should get out more....... Rover 75 saloon Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: London Posts: 2,962 Thanks: 263 Thanked 538 Times in 431 Posts	Chrysler Grand Tourer My wife has been hankering after a van in connection with her antique business, for stock-hunting & stallholding, that sort of thing. We've hired a couple of vans in the past & found a standard Transit a bit small but a LWB hi-cube ideal. Well either in ULEZ form are pretty expensive & we wouldn't want a LWB sitting outside the house anyway. So it just so happens my brother has one of these Chrysler's (actually a Grand Voyager ), a 2014 in 2.8 diesel, top spec form which he's been running for the last eighteen months. https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/chrysler/grand-voyager It came from a friend/customer who bought it new, then a couple of years back offered it to my brother for a price he couldn't refuse as it was just sitting around with no MoT. He had an MoT put on plus a new timing belt/water pump, some brake work & a DPF regen'. He loves it but has now decided that he doesn't use it enough so has offered it to us for 75% of the price he paid for the work done on it & 33% of the book price. With all the seats dropped into the floor it does an extremely good impersonation of a medium-sized van & with them up an equally good one of a small minibus. So we're going to replace our trusty hardworking Fiesta with it which keeps it in the family & the Fiesta will remain too as my stepson & his wife are having that. It will cost us a bit more in road tax & insurance but it will also cost us the ULEZ charge which is unfortunate but as we won't be using it daily & the times we need to carry most of our stock at once are relatively few, we think the low purchase price still makes it a worthwhile proposition for the business & it is of course a bit more versatile than a van. It's not something l ever thought l'd buy but l must say, it's quite an unusual vehicle & l'm quite excited at the prospect of running it. I will be keeping a log of the running costs. Wish us luck. __________________ Reducing the size of my Rover fleet by adding a 75 to it. Last edited by The Rovering Member; 16th January 2024 at 07:14..

16th January 2024, 17:12	#2
The Rovering Member I really should get out more....... Rover 75 saloon Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: London Posts: 2,962 Thanks: 263 Thanked 538 Times in 431 Posts	And it turns out that Kevin in Wickford had three of them so is familiar with the cars, which is handy. __________________ Reducing the size of my Rover fleet by adding a 75 to it.

19th January 2024, 19:59	#3
skellum Avid contributor MG ZT Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Stornoway Posts: 115 Thanks: 17 Thanked 41 Times in 27 Posts	A friend parted with his recently and now bitterly regrets it. It failed the MOT and (I think) he was rather misled by garage about how hard it would be to fix. Apparently the rear seats lift out and make a load area big enough to take a full sheet of plasterboard, or sleep in on a camping trip. Now he's got an old Freelander and needs a trailer for his DIY supplies and dump runs.