Diesel Small Car Derived Vans (CDV’s) come with the added benefit
of side loading doors on vehicles such as the Peugeot
Partner, Citroen
Berlingo, Vauxhall Combo and Fiat Doblo.
You can now buy intermediate size diesel vans between the CDV and
panel vans i.e. the Peugeot
Expert, Citroen Dispatch, Fiat Scudo and
Ford Connect. These are very popular with tradesmen – electricians
and plumbers. Later diesel vans have higher bhp engines and the added
benefit of 6 speed gearboxes, giving excellent fuel consumption figures.
Diesel panel vans are available with a variety of bodies from low
roof short wheel base (SWB) to Hi-roof long wheel base (LWB). These
vans can be 2.5 metres high or more and up to 4.2 metres long, giving
a huge amount of load space and very popular with the parcel delivery
services, construction industry and the Post Office.
On diesel pickups and diesel tippers, you can choose between aluminium
or metal bodies. The lighter the body, the greater the carrying capacity
of your truck. There are a wide variety of different bodies available
for each chassis base such as Dropside Pick ups, tipping bodies – both
one-way and three-way, These come in both single and crew cab carrying
up to 31/2 tonnes.
Van conversions are being used by many companies to convert their
body for specialist users and for disabled drivers via organisations
such as Motability. You can have any combination of seats and access
ramps for lifts, fitted with electronic seat adjustments, auto gearboxes
and hand controls.
Another category of diesel commercial vehicle is that of passenger
carrying. Minibuses start at 8 seats and include 9, 12, 15 and 17 seat
variants