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THE 2007 CONTENDERS
Page 47
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SEVEL (FIAT DUCATO, CITROEN RELAY AND PEUGEOT BOXER) As many readers will be aware, Sevel is a joint venture between Fiat and PSA, which is itself a combination of Peugeot and Citroen. The revamped Sevel van (Fiat Ducat), Citroen Relay and Peugeot Boxer) is another strong contender for this year's award.
The three versions are identical apart from their badges, grilles, some engine variants (Fiat uses a Sofim engine in some models) and, no doubt, pricing, as each maker seeks to capture some allimportant sales.
We had the Citroen and Fiat versions, which allowed us to compare the PSA and Fiat engines. Both gave an impressive account of themselves, but by a narrow margin we prefer the Ducato.'s Sofirn power unit. It felt rather more lively, particularly at low revs, although once again the difference is small.
In any case, the strength of the Sevel lies in its driveability. The steering lock is incredible, allowing these vans to turn on a sixpence; the ride from the suspension is superb; and when cornering hard, the Sevel feels as if it's on rails.
We're not big fans of six-speed transmissions in vans as we always find ourselves hunting between third, fourth and fifth gears, particularly around town. But the Sevel box is slick and once they get used to it, drivers will soon know which gear is right for the conditions.
The extending of the Sevel range means the company now has a massive 17m3 option, which fills a major hole in the line-up.
And the continued reliance on front-wheel drive for the whole range (the competition all use rear-wheel drive for highweight variants) means that you get low loading heights across the line-up.
The latest Sevel gives Fiat a good chance of following up on its 2006 success with the Babb' Cargo.