Leyland Daf Sherpa 400 2.5 TD

Loved these ood vans had sevwral new ones in the 90s and vrown to love them. If looked after they would be as loyal as a dog. Rust prone slow and noisey i could not.help but love these old vans always had turbo versions struggled we a full load on brakes overheating but again fantastic to deive. Loved yhe growl but notjong else like speed on its side

Wish i cpuld fimd one of tgese nowadays i would do it as a camper which was always on my wish list.

The best of the british terrible but loveable.

a very solid van the leyland dafs were very practical very versatile

work van and minibus though early B series engines not very strong and can

suffer from cracked or warped cylinder heads,rust isn't a major problem

provided like all viechles it is maintaned reguarly,O series engines are the

one to go for,petrol and diesel are both okay just be very careful with

Diesel engines apart from those issue's a very smart,very practical and very

versatile van.

I own a Leyland Daf 400 series (ex Royal Mail). She is a 1996 N Reg van with only 88,000 miles on the clock. The engine and gearbox are REAL gems and really make the van a great cruiser. The Peugeot 2.5 Diesel engine will cruise forever at a steady 90mph and still return a decent mpg figure. However,in the 2 years of ownership, the van has already blown 2 diffs-I think its all Sherpa's achillies heal!

Inside the van, its so big. Even with 4 seats in the back behind the front 3 seats there is still stacks of space to accommodate everything a builder would require. These vans are great load luggers even with a full trailer behind.

However, its a truly awful drive - it needs plenty of revs to get it up to speed and the steering is horrible - too heavy, not enough lock and very vague but you do get used to it eventually.

Bodywork on these vans are also causes for concern. Despite my van being one of the youngest before the shape changed, iv got rust bubbling on the front wings, bonnet, grille and side loading door. All in all, this van was a wise £550 well spent, great motor!

I had a Leyland-Daf Sherpa 400 2.5 TD (ex Police) long wheel base medium high top with dual line air cooled disc brakes and 3.85 tonne chassis. Made very useful conversion to camper with projectile resistant windows, roll cage and perspex inner walls. It never let me down but used to eat through front nearside tyres on roundabouts. Worked best when being thrashed and was always very stable in high winds and when thrown into corners. Only did 60k miles in my hands but provided very fun vehcle to drive, I only gave it up because I got involved with older cars. Top speed was only 70 but was all I needed, it was even stable towing a car on a trailer.