1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176 
Lan e vans and chassis--t - abs T he largest group of vehicles
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
we tested last year was vans over 2,500kg GVW The first on the list, in both chronological and alphabetical order. was the Citron Relay 1800 2.2HDI.Following the Sevel range's faceli ft,the new Relay adds greatly enhanced driver comfort and convenience to a product that already had a reputation as an honest, frill-free worker. Citroen's effective marketing continues to help its products thrive against more obvious badges.
Our second bite of the Relay cherry featured the same driveline combined with Citroen's off-the-shelf tipper bodywork. Despite being at a theoretical aerodynamic disadvantage, the tipper had better fuel consumption than its panel van stablemate. However, the Relay tipper's biggest attraction was its £13,000 price tag. Not only was it much cheaper than its main rivals, bizarrely it cost less than a chassis-cab without the body.
Sharing the same design as the Citroen —it comes off the same Italian production line — the Fiat Ducat° 152.3 TM goes its own way under the bonnet. Sofirn's twin-cam 16-valve engine is a jewel among van en0es,combining excellent performance with equally impressive fuel economy. Our only concern with Fiat's line-up is that it concentrates more on the 3,300kg class, leaving potential high-payload buyers with a restricted choice at 3,500kg.
This year's newcomer from the ubiquitous FordTransit family was the 350TDCI.Now combining a common-rail engine with frontwheel drive at 3.5 tonnes, it offers decent fuel economy and excellent load volume thanks to the low floor.WhileTransit's position at the top of the UK sales charts is under threat as a number of competitors up their garnes,it's the van of choice for those whose tendency is to buy what they know and trust.
Iveco's Daily range comes with three chassis configurations, and we sampled all of them. Sharing a lower rated version of the 2.3-litre engine. as seen in the Fiat, the Daily 29L10 produced fractionally worse fuel economy.The Daily L-chassis is designed to dispel the Daily's
image as a tough
but heavy product, but it's still not the lightest in the class.
Our second Daily was the 35512, with its medium-grade chassis especially designed for 3.5-tonners.This time the 2.3-litre engine was rated at 114hp.This year's crop of Dailys proves that the Italians are steadily making their product more civilised, although how far they have got is a matter of debate when A Ford Transit: Top spot under threat they are compared with some more car
inspired competitors.
The first of three Mercedes-Benz Sprinters tested during the year was a 616 CDI with a 4m Boalloy box van hod Capable of doing most of the work of a 7.5-tonner. the big Sprinter does it in a smaller, more driverfriendly package ideal for multi-drop work.
We became more familiar with our second Sprinter, a 311 CDI which we had on longterm test.This is the first of the 'Mk2.5' Sprinters and the changes were mostly cosmetic, but Mercedes did lead the way in speccingABS. traction control and
ESP stability control as standard on most versions.The mid-range engine gave excelle fuel results on the initial test, and on our lina run before it was handed back at 19.000 mile it had improved to an amazing 33.2mpg.
Our final Sprinter was a monster the 316 CDI. We're not sure who really needs a 3.5-tonner with 154hp (more than enough ft a 7.5-tonner), but if you have a blue light or simply just a lust for power,Mercedes has the van for you.
Our final Mercedes representative could equally have been presented in the rigid and distribution vehicle category.The Vario is now unique in the UK as the only 7.5-tonne panel van on the market. Its favoured status by travelling purveyors of Snap-On tools is something of a cliché, but it does highlight th fact that for certain specialist operations it h no factory-built competition.
Being a badge-engineered clone of the Renault Trafic and Vauxhall Vivaro,all the comments below apply equally to at three vehicles.Wk Nissan really offer with the Primastar 100 is a product lot its dealers to sell into fleets alongsid its car and other light CVs.
Our first standalone report on the Vauxhall Vivaro in 2003 was a fond farewell to our long-term test vat Other than a split injector pipe the Vivaro had proved totally reliable and, hy the end e its 17,000-mile tenure, laden economy had improved to 39.1mpg.
Our last Vivaro was the new High Roof model. We were instantly reminded why the Luton-built product is still our current favourite in its class.The combination of refmement, versatility, performance and
A Nissan Primastar. Aimed for fleet buying
economy takes some beating — but there are two new Germans waiting to knock it off its perch. You'll have to wait a few weeks to see if they manage it. •