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A t the end of the driving exercise, we asked both
Page 27
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of our guest testers to rank the vans, and also to reveal how their views compared with any preconceptions they may have had. Considering that neither had any opportunity to discuss their views with each other, the results were amazingly similar. Before driving, both rated the German pair highly, but afterwards they agreed that they were of a similar level at the bottom of the stack. It's probably no coincidence that both Vito and Transporter are on track to be completely replaced within the year. While they are still fully capable of doing a good job, it cannot be denied that they are showing their age in more modern company. And remember that these five vans represent most of the cream of the sector. There's no shame in being worst of the best.
We were more surprised by the closeness of the testers' verdicts on the second and third placed contenders, the Ford and the Toyota. We ran a scoring system in the various categories as an aide-memoire rather than as a proper scientifii measuring tool, but out of 300 available points, the Hiace finished just one point ahead. With each tester giving the second place to the other van, however, we'll call it an honourable draw.
But biggest surprise of all, to our testers if not to us, was the way Vauxhall's Vivaro romped away with a unanimous victory. All concerned felt its blend of practicality, refinemei and productivity put it clearly ahead of the pack. As CMhad awarded the Vivaro our Testers' Choice accolade earlier in the year, we had a good idea of its abilities, but our guests hz not really considered that a Vauxhall could challenge the more established names in the sector so successfully.