Ford Transit Range Review

Ford Transit Range - DON’T CHANCE IT, TRANSIT!

The latest version of Ford’s business workhorse.

Ford might be about as British as ten-gallon hats, pancakes for breakfast and the right to bear arms but the British people still feel a certain kinship with the blue oval’s products. The Transit van is a prime example. Preferred transport for van drivers - traditionally one of the most patriotic, flag waving sections of society - Ford’s panel van has been firmly adopted as an honorary Brit.

Naturally, this has had a far from detrimental effect on Transit sales over the years and it’s a situation that has been royally milked by Ford’s ‘Backbone of Britain’ advertising but there’s also more than a grain of truth to it. The current Transit was designed in Essex, is assembled in Southampton and uses transmissions built on Merseyside. Has it got the qualities to do us proud?

This Ford Transit arrived on the scene 41 years after the very first Transits appeared on British roads. The model would be well and truly over the hill were it not for a whole series of major revisions, facelifts and completely new designs that Ford have trooped out incrementally over that period to keep things fresh. Today’s Transit is the latest in that line, substantially different from its predecessor in most key areas but, Ford hope, retaining that core Transit appeal. There’s even a ‘green’ ECOnetic version fitted with Ford’s trusty 2.2-litre 115PS Duratorq TDCi engine and based on the front-wheel drive 280 panel van short wheelbase model. This manages 39.2mpg on the combined cycle and puts out just 189g/km of CO2 – best in class.

The smaller Transit Connect van has provided the inspiration for its bigger brother’s front-end. There’s one seriously chunky grille dominating proceedings from the Transit’s nose, bordered on either side by large clear-lens headlight clusters that reach up to a point high above the bonnet line. The characteristic wing mirrors that sprout from black plastic triangles at the lower front edge of the side windows are carried over from the previous generation model, as is almost all the bodywork rearward of the cab. Panel van loadbays don’t offer a lot of scope for vehicle stylists to apply their art and Ford have chosen to leave the Transit’s largely alone. Overall, it’s a good look for the Transit, modern and distinctive without going overboard and risking the alienation of the sector’s largely conservative buyers. Volkswagen’s Crafter mirrors some of the themes seen on the Transit’s front end but takes them to an unorthodox extreme which sits less easily on the eye.

"The Transit range, you’ll be happy to learn, is as big and complicated as ever"

The stated aim of most commercial vehicle manufacturers over the past few years has been to nudge their products closer to passenger cars in terms of quality, refinement and driving experience. Not an easy task, given the panel van’s parallel requirements for toughness, durability and reliability. Ford were nevertheless, keen to soften the Transit’s rougher edges on this model.

Particular attention was paid to cutting noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), something which they claim to have achieved to the tune of 20%. The engine block and head are stiffer, while rear axel whine has been cut and there’s a marked improvement on something called the articulation index. This sounds complicated but actually refers to the ability of driver and passenger to hold a civilised conversation above the sound of the engine, without bawling their heads off at each other.

The interior of this Transit has definitely made a step in a car-like direction. Mock-aluminium detailing is not something I’d previously encountered in a panel van but there it is, glinting back at you from the Transit’s gear lever, steering wheel spokes and stereo controls. More important than the cosmetics of it all is the sturdiness that’s common to the switches, dials and other controls. There’s a slightly modular feel to the dash with the dark grey plastic of the stereo console not quite tallying with the lower grade black material that constitutes the rest of the facia. Anyone who’s driven Ford passenger cars will quickly form the suspicion that the Transit interior has been made more car-like by the liberal inclusion of bits of cars within it. That stereo, the stubby gear shifter and the steering wheel all look like they’ve seen service elsewhere in the Ford range. Of course, this is no bad thing.

The designers have included some tidy storage solutions around the cabin with specific slots for 2-litre drinks containers and one for your mobile phone. There are cup holders in abundance and even a flip-up table on top of the facia to help drivers scale that mountain of paperwork. The dash mounted gear lever is a first for the Transit but it’s one of the last panel vans to get with the programme in this respect. Long floor-mounted shifters are so 1990s with operators having taken a particular liking to their drivers being able to clamber across the cab and emerge on the pavement side of their vehicle rather than running the gauntlet of on-coming traffic. It makes some sense but the pencil-thin shaft and bauble end of the old-style gear levers never presented a serious obstacle to a committed van driver in any case. Luckily, on top of this perceived practical advantage, the dash-mounted shift in the Transit has a neat, direct feel while its cable-actuated configuration means there’s less vibration than with a floor-mounted lever connected directly to the gearbox.

The Transit range, you’ll be happy to learn, is as big and complicated as ever. The body variations alone offer over 60 different choices to businesses. Then you must look at the engine range which is comprised of advanced 2.2-litre, 2.4-litre and 3.2-litre Duratorq TDCi common-rail diesels with various power ratings. It’s not even as straightforward as that, however, because the 2.2-litre powerplants are exclusively offered with the front wheel drive Transit models, meaning that the 2.4s and 3.2s take on the heavier-duty work in the rear-wheel drive variants.

Whether it’s businesses looking to restock their van fleet or private buyers who’ll be at the wheel themselves, safety will be a top priority for most Transit customers. Ford have endowed this model with a whole array of features including ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution, a brake traction control system and their electronic stability programme. Perhaps more important than any of these, however, is the inclusion of disc brakes all round instead of the rear drum brakes that did the stopping on the previous Transit. Ford’s panel van has always been very strong on security and measures like a Thatcham alarm, hood lock and the PATS Passive Anti-Theft System mean nothing has changed. The Transit remains a real turn-off for the criminal element.

Ford were never about to drop a major clanger where the Transit was concerned. Updating Britain’s favourite panel van in a manner that rendered it singularly repugnant to the entire van buying community would have been an astonishing feat. As it is, today’s Transit looks to be merely more of the same - the same being pretty darn good.