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I had a 56 plate Vauxhall vectra and it cost me £1400 to get the dual mass fly wheel replaced and new clutch fitted!And whilst on the subject of diesel manual vehicles - google dual mass fly wheels too!
Have a look at the ex British Gas vans some have a desent raking system
Only had my Transit connect limited L2 for 4 months, but I think it's great. Drives really well, cabin is a nice place to be and you can get tall steps in the back and has the load through bulkhead for conduit and trunking which has saved me buying roof bars and tube.
I'm a vivaro man but if you like Fords then maybe consider the transit custom not connect, ok it's larger but not as big as a vivaro traffic etc, plus you would get a nicer ride height.
HandySparks has a seriously nice transit he bought new a while back - maybe he'll be along with a review later!
I have just looked at the price of a new shape transit and it's more than I want to spend
take this though, I can spend up to £10k so this is the sort of thing that gets me excited!
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201602050733544?atmobcid=soc3