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TRUE BRIT

It's not every day that a new name makes its debut in Commercial Motor, especially when that name has been making cars since before CM first appeared. So here is our very first roadtest of a Rover van.

The Rover name first appeared on a bicycle made by the Coventry partnership of John Starley and William Sutton in 1884, with the first four-wheeler arriving in 1904. For the next six decades the company operated independently and successfully, before becoming part of the ill-fated Leyland and British Leyland saga.

Since 1967, the Rover story has been a turbulent one, involving first British Aerospace and then BMW, before being unceremoniously dumped by the latter who sold off or retained the most desirable bits,such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini.

Since 2000, the firm, now called MG Rover, has been independent and working out of the Longbridge home of Austin. It's fair to say that the current company hasn't had the easiest of rides, mainly as a result of the huge cost of developing new models.

So it's against a background of having to sell the maximum possible number of vehicles that MG Rover has boarded-up the rear windows of its 25 hatchback to create the Rover Corn merce and MG Express van range. Give or take the odd facelift, the 25 range has been around since 1995, so its certainly a wellproven product.

The van range comes with either Rover Commerce or MG Express identities. Power units are petrol, with 1.4-litre, 83hp in the Rover and 1.4,102 hp or 1.8,158hp in the MG; and turbo-diesel, with both badges sharing a 2.0-litre,100hp device. While the range-topping MG Express 160 comes with a full set of toys, including half-leather interior, body kit and 17in alloy wheels, we have shown admirable restraint and maturity by testing the more business-like Rover Commerce 2.0TD.

Despite the Commerce name, the van still carries 25 badging next to its Union Jack.

Productivity

Productivity is a relative thing — and in relation to most commercial vehicles, at 405kg the payload part of the Rover's productivity equation is puny. But if you needed ultimate payload, you wouldn't be looking at a hatchvan in the first place. If you do need to use its capability to the limit, be aware that the combined axle weights only amount to 65kg over the GVVV.

The volume available is a whisker under lrn', which is about par for this type of vehicle. Access to the 1,315mm-long loadspace is limited by a smallish rear aperture, especially at the lower edge where the light units impinge, and there's a six-inch lip to negotiate.

Our test van was fitted with a full height, half-mesh bulkhead: at £64, it's a reasonably attractive option.

The second part of the equation, journey times,holds no fear for the Rover. Its torquey engine and sure-footed dynamic behaviour combine to ensure that few external factors get in its way.

Its average speed on the laden leg of our test route, helped by near ideal weather and traffic conditions, was significantly ahead of its rivals.

Fuel consumption is the last but probably the most important factor, and here the Rover is impressive.Although it doesn't quite beat the rather more sophisticated engines from Renault and Vauxhall on outright economy, its deficit is so small that when combined with its significantly stronger performance, we reckon it takes the all-rounder title — for now at least, as the Vauxhall and Fiat rivals are soon to receive even better engines.

On the road

It's immediately apparent that the Rover Commerce TD is a strong performer, especially in the mid-range. Its 240Nm torque gives excellent acceleration through the gears, begging the question of why anyone would want the 15Shp petrol-engined MG version, which has less than three-quarters of the grunt?

The effect of this was ably demonstrated on Titsey Hill, usually a third-gear struggle. The Rover dropped to its 2,000rpm torque peak and sailed up in top gear at 55mph. The real benefits, though, are in its flexibility. Fourth gear gives 30mph at 1,500rpm, making it ideal around town, while top gear caters for everything faster.

The gearchange, with its sporty leather knob, is widely spaced and slightly rubbery — but that's no problem as long as you're precise; sloppy changes sometimes baulk.

Even on this most practical variant, the ride tends to be firm and sporty regardless of load — it can get choppy on poor surfaces but absorbs bumps well.

Extreme provocation on the proving ground revealed high grip levels and safe responses to sudden manoeuvres.

Fully laden, the rear lashing eye made contact with the road on a few speed humps and the steep approaches to test hills.

The brakes were not wonderful it was hard to avoid lock-up under severe braking; they also had a slightly wooden feel initially but respond more progressively under pressure. We'd certainly recommend the £276 ABS option.

Engine and mechanical noise is never totally absent, but by far the biggest noise problem is from the tyres. which are heard to some degree on pretty well every surface.

Visibility is generally good, although the rakish A-pillar angle creates a bit of a blind spot, while the egg-shaped door mirrors score more for style than function– not really up to CV standards.

Cab comfort The Rover's cab is a curious mix of very good and indifferent The bulk of the cabin is well trimmed with soft-touch grey plastic and grey cloth below the waistline,with beige plastic and flock headlining covering the upper half.

The steering wheel is a small sporty number with three spokes and airbag, proudly wearing its Rover Viking badge. As you'd expect from a car-derived van, the loadspace is fully trimmed apart from the metal window blanks. However, the effect is ruined by the centre console made of hard black budget plastic and the cheap-looking plastic door pockets already showing signs of unsightly scratching after just 5,000 miles.

The doors close with a surprisingly highquality thud, but opening them is accompanied by an annoying clang as the released seat belt buckle invariably hits the bulkhead.

The driving position is good for a while, thanks to comfortably shaped seats, although we found the cushions to be on the short side and became tiresome after a couple of hours behind the wheel, and our colleagues over 6ft complained of being slightly cramped.

The seats incorporate height-adjustable soft padded headrests and belt mountings. Doors have sculpted amirests,pockets with half-litre bottle holders and CD racking, chrome handles and two speakers each.We were a little concerned by the vulnerability of the large internal door lock buttons, despite the presence of "front door super locking", or deadlocking.

On the fully adjustable steering column, the switch stalks are made of old-fashioned shiny black plastic but they do the job.

One neat touch is that the rear wash-wipe activates automatically when the front wipers are operating and reverse gear is engaged.

The instrument panel,indicating speed, revs and coolant and fuel status, has dials in retro MG-style black on ivory, with orange backlighting. On top of the dash is a panel housing a clock and the standard integrated Trafficmaster display. Minor switches in the centre of the dash control hazard lights, heated rear window, front and rear fogs, and air conditioning.

As well as the usual heater controls for temperature distribution and fan speed, there are levers for recirculation and, unusually, a separate fresh air feed to face level vents –a nice touch, but the 'rosewood effect' trim around the heater control panel and radio aperture adds little to the ambience.

On the test van, that aperture was filled with £1,000 of Decker turn-by-turn satellite navigation cum radio kit.Although getting the best from it requires a good read of the handbook, it proved extremely useful, especially in its willingness to plot realistic shortest routes.

Manual joysticks adjust the mirrors, but electric windows with one-touch-opening (but not closing) for the driver are provided, with the switches located between the handbrake and gearlever. The brochure proudly proclaims an auxiliary power socket, but in fact it is a lighter socket with a dummy lighter!

In-cab storage runs to a modestly-sized, non-locking glovebox and a shelf with non-slip liner in the space created by the lack of passenger airbag. •