ot for the first time, market leader Ford made most
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
of the news in the car-derived van sector during 1991. It not only unleashed the new Escort van, but also followed this with its longawaited entrant in the high-cube market, the Fiesta-based Courier.
Inevitably our light van testing concentrated on Ford's new pairing, pitting the Escort against its closest rivals from Rover and Vauxhall, and trying the petrol and diesel Couriers backto-back.
First on our shortlist is the Rover Maestro diesel, which we compared against the new Escort in March, and the Maestro hasn't changed much over the years.
ith its torquey and economical direct-injection diesel we found that the Maestro still makes an honest workhorse with few serious faults. Unfortunately it fares less well inside the cab, where the age' of its
Ford Escort 60 1.80 Rorer Maestro 7001 2.0D Vauxhall Astramax 560L 1.70 Testers' Choice: Ford Escort 60 1.8D
design is beginning to show.
The Vauxhall Astramax diesel also pushed the Escort hard in our test and was certainly the pick of the three from a driver's point of view, with taut handling and eager performance. Although the Astramax remains good value for money the revitalised Ford now has its measure on payload, load volume and fuel consumption. Of the two Couriers we chose to include the diesel in our shortlist, despite its price premium, for its bigger payload and useful fuel consumption advantage.
In this form we found Ford's new little'un was an attractive package, with a large and practical load area matched by an impressive performance on the road.
Our Testers' Choice, however, by a whisker is the new Ford Escort. It may resemble vans like the Astramax, but it adds some good ideas of its own and offers excellent productivity.