What is it
IT’S the workhorse of the Ford commercial vehicle range, the epitome of white van man and the Transit has been around seemingly as long as anyone can remember.
The Transit Custom is Ford’s medium-sized van and while the Tranny has been around for so long, constant revisions and updates down the years have kept it fresh and at the forefront of the sector.
A measure of its success is the fact that it is Ford’s third best selling vehicle in the UK behind the Fiesta and Focus.
The latest update has added a sparkle at the front and a nose more akin to Ford’s passenger cars to give the van a more upmarket look.
A big boost for the cabin as well, more comfortable seats, plenty of storage cubbys while top spec versions get a lot of bells and whistles such as Ford’s latest multimedia and Sync 3 voice control.
The Transit Custom comes in L1 and L2 wheelbases, both offered with H1 and H2 roof heights. All versions have double sliding side doors and 50:50 split rear doors.
As well as the standard three-seat cab, there’s the five-seat Double Cab In-Van, also available in L1 and L2 body lengths. For those who want to carry passengers, there’s the eight-seater Tourneo Custom. More on that one soon as we have one coming in on long term test.
All versions are front-wheel drive and are powered by a 2.0-litre diesel or a 1-litre, three cylinder petrol-electric set-up in the PHEV which has an-all electric driving range of 33 miles.
The diesel comes in 104bhp, 128bhp, 168bhp and 182bhp forms all mated to a six-speed manual gearbox as standard. A six-speed Powershift auto is available with the three most powerful engines.
There’s a bunch of trim levels to choose from – six in fact starting with Leader, Trend, Trail, Limited, Active and Sport.
What do we think?
We trialed the Transit Custom Limited 2.0L EcoBlue mild hybrid in L2 and H1 spec. Starting with the really important bit – the cargo area – there is 6.8 cubic metres of load volume, very competitive against its mid-size panel van rivals.
A full-width steel bulkhead is standard on all models which goes a long way to suppressing noise in the cab as well as providing protection for the occupants against shifting loads.
There is a load-through facility for longer items to slide under the front passenger seat, accommodating items up to 3m long.
The cargo area has an easy-clean hard rubber load floor liner with tie-down rings set in the floor and the lower walls. Our test model also came with an integrated roof rack, £350 option.
The 2-litre diesel drives the front wheels and auto stop-start is standard across the range. The official combined WLTP-best economy figure for this 48v mild hybrid is around 55mpg and we managed an average 47.3mpg on mainly stop-start motoring.
Inside the cab, plenty of room for three front passenger-seat passengers and the middle cushion can be flipped up to reveal a hidden storage compartment.
Remote control central door locking as standard while it’s possible to open one door individually without automatically unlocking the others.
Despite its size, the Transit Custom is very easy to drive and there’s plenty of adjustment to be found in the driver’s seat and the steering column.
There’s good visibility thanks to the high seating position and the door mirrors feature secondary, wide-angle blind spot lenses. Particularly useful is the rear view camera which, again, is on the options list at £300.
There’s a large tablet-style screen that sits on top of the dashboard. The multifunction steering wheel on our test vehicle has controls for Bluetooth, cruise control and audio.
Air-conditioning standard on Limited trim and above, there are two 12V charging points and a passenger seat storage compartment.
The Transit Custom takes a lot of tech from Ford’s passenger cars and has tweaked it to suit LCVs. For example the
electronic stability programme has been designed specifically for Ford’s larger vans, with Side Wind Mitigation technology to help keep you on track in windy conditions. There’s also rollover mitigation and load adaptive control which work in conjunction with the ESP. Traction control and emergency brake assist complete the standard line-up.
Options include Lane Keeping Alert, Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection.
Ford has the largest chain of dealers in the UK, and it has dedicated Transit Centres across the country, too. These offer tailor-made servicing for van users while sales representatives will be able to offer specialist knowledge to make the most of Transit ownership.
All diesel vans feature an AdBlue tank, which needs refilling every 6,000 miles and the van’s trip computer will let you know when this is due.
Service intervals are set at a market-leading two years or 36,000 miles, and the vehicle is covered by a three-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Standard on the road price of the model we tested is £39,194.81 including VAT. Aside from those already mentioned, options included Enhanced Park Assist, ICE pack and power converter which all helped to bump the price up to £43,130.81.
Also included in that price was optional metallic black paintwork – the look, therefore, is not white van man, more ‘private ambulance’!
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