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LEADERS OF THE PACK
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No-one tests as many CVs as CM, and every year our technical team argue among themselves to decide on the best of the bunch. See if you agree with their choices from 2004...
et out to buy a small van and you'll be faced with oodles of choice. And it's a sector that improves by leaps and bounds each year. Most of the vehicles we tested this year exceeded our expectations, particularly on fuel econorriyAchieving 60mpg in a fully laden vehicle over our test route is becoming a regular occurrence, which has to be good news for operators.
Some excellent vehicles didn't make it onto the shortlist, which reflects the number of strong contenders on the market. So it was goodbye to the Fiat Punto and Doble Cargo 1.9 JTD and Nissan's Kubistar 80 DCI— all of which are very good vans.
Ford's latest incarnation of the Fiestabased van made it onto our shortlist: the 1.4TDCi is exclusive to the range; it's a derivative of the Ford/PSA turbo-diesel collaboration. Ford's baby drives well and offers good fuel economy.
The same can be said for our next contender,Vauxhall's Corsavan. It shares its engine with the highly commended Doble Cargo (at 1.3 litres the smallest common-rail unit on the market) which is the result of a Fiat/General Motors joint venture. Besides good fuel figures the Corsavan scored for its 24-month/30.000-mile servicing intervals, which are a big step forward.
The Dobla benefits from the same fuel economy and servicing intervals, but at 805kg it offers far more in the way of payload.
The Doble is a very individu al design which makes maximum use of loadspace, and while its styling won't be to everyone's liking, it's certainly worth considering.
But the winner in this class is Volkswagen's new Caddy. We found the 1.9 litre TDIcommon-rail version hard to fault. Besides being a pleasure to drive,VW's almost obsessive attention to detail has produced a van which offers more than many cars.A great driving experience, smooth and safe handling and plenty of driver comforts made this an obvious Testers' Choice.