On The Road
The first thing you notice when starting the Transit is the brief delay when the ignition switch is turned, presumably while the electronics have a quick look around.# The pedals are well placed, and the fly-by-wire throttle no longer needs to make an appointment with the engine – response is near enough instantaneous. The gear change is excellent, described by one of our drivers as the best change of any light commercial ever.
The new Transit still isn’t the quietest of vans but at least the new engine produces a better quality of noise than the old one. More disconcerting is the tendency, at motorway speeds in some wind directions, for the top edges of the cab doors to accidentally get sucked away from their seals momentarily…this does nothing to help the already noticeable wind noise.
When we first drove a new Transit, around Ford’s challenging test track at Lommel, in Belgium, we were impressed by the Chassis’ behaviour. Having driven it on UK roads that view has not changed. The steering feels a little dead around town but is transformed at high speeds to be very sharp and precise. Handling is generally neutral and it’s difficult to provoke any untoward reaction in normal driving conditions.
If you try hard enough when empty, traction can be compromised, but it’s generally good, and pushing too hard on slippery surfaces will eventually lead to nothing more than a little safe understeer.
Although reasonable on most surfaces, the ride is no magic carpet and the suspension does tend to crash out on rougher surfaces. It also displays some nervousness in motorway crosswinds.
Most of our driving of the Transit was carried out at around 2,500kg, and performance at this weight was quite adequate. But add the final tonne and things don’t look so good. Power delivery from the new DuraTorq engine is certainly smooth, with no hint of turbo lag or surge, but there just doesn’t seem to be 118hp worth of it. Maybe we were unlucky in having a particularly tight engine, but on our M20 test hill the fully laden Transit was unable to maintain 70mph, dropping back to 63mph, where it stabilised.
At the proving ground, acceleration figures were also off the pace and it only just managed to restart on the 25% (1-in-4) hill thanks to more clutch slipping than any reasonable driver would use in real life. And this was with the 5.13:1 ratio – goodness knows how it would manage with the “Economy” 4.63:1 diff. There was also a strange lack of grunt at tickover, leading to a tendency to stall rather too easily when trying to manoeuvre gently. Fortunately the handbrake coped better on the hills, holding easily on the 33% (1-in-3) slope in both directions.
The service brakes (vented discs at the front with drums at the rear) were hugely impressive, producing the best emergency stop figures we can recall, and they were just as good in real life.
We would heartily recommend the ABS option, however: with the standard tyres its presence was felt surprisingly frequently, even in the dry.
Cab Comfort
With the mirrors being mounted on the body and not the doors, door opening is restricted to not much more than 45o, limiting cab access to the extent that a large driver on multi-drop deliveries would probably be glad to see the last parcel of the day.
The mirrors themselves manage to improve on the old Transit’s excellent items, although the one on the left is partially obscured by the dash and A-pillar.
Outside observers would expect fantastic visibility; sadly much of the glass area, particularly around the A-pillars, is a stylists’ illusion. But, styling tricks notwithstanding, visibility is pretty good, assisted by the deep front side windows which almost allow you to see the right front wheel!
The curious reverse-angle rear edge to the side window, apparently inspired by the late and unlamented Anglia, also aids visibility, even if it does contribute to a something of a stylistic mess at the top rear corner of the cab doors, with body seams apparently coming from all directions.
We can easily believe Ford’s claim that many professional drivers were invited to help with the cab design – there is very little to criticise.
Compared with the first (left-hand-drive) Transit we drove, the driving seat of this UK model has a much more supportive cushion. The seat is extremely comfortable, with the cushion being adjustable for height front and rear, and thus overall height and the backrest adjustable by a hand wheel. The seat also has a folding armrest on the left, but its non-adjustable angle is a bit steep for comfort.
The passenger seats are also well shaped and comfortable; all three occupants get proper lap and diagonal seat belts which are height adjustable on the outer seats. Our van came with the optional passenger airbag; a driver’s bag comes as standard. The seats are trimmed in a pleasant grey cloth while the rest of the cabin is a harder grade plastic and contains more visible painted metal than you might expect of an all-new design.
The plinth-mounted handbrake is within easy reach, while the gear lever is reminiscent of the old Sprinter in length, if not in shape, making cross-cab access an athletic event.
An excellent heater has three simple controls, which will be familiar to Mondeo owners. The heat distribution knob has a rather coarse feel, while the control for the three-speed fan turns left for recirculated air, right for fresh air and pushes in for air-conditioning. One criticism we do have concerns the central air vents which are offset to the left, a long way from the driver who ends up with one side cooler than the other.
Facing the driver is an instrument panel containing large, clearly marked dials including temperature and fuel gauges and, in this case, the optional rev counter. To the right of the dash is the simple rotary head-lamp switch and levelling control, together with the electric mirror adjustment. Below the heater controls, an auxiliary switch panel includes controls for mirror heating and the excellent optional “Quickclear” heated windscreen.
A non-adjustable steering column carries sturdy-feeling stalks that control lights, wipers and indicators. The wipers leave an annoying unswept patch around 75mm wide next to the driver’s side A-pillar. The fact that the intermittent wipe starts with a pause is also irritating, and while driving on dipped beam, giving a quick flash all too easily results in selecting the main beam.
The hazard warning switch is on the dashboard within an easy finger’s reach of the wheel. The central dash is angled slightly towards the driver and is topped by a large pocket with room for a clipboard or A4 folder. There’s a digital clock in the top centre of the dash, with a mobile phone bin to its left.
Lower down is the audio housing, in this case home to the optional Ford 6000 RDS radio/single-disc CD unit, with smoking facilities and a drop-down drinks holder at the bottom. Unfortunately use of the drinks holder is incompatible with triple occupancy of the cab.
Storage includes large bins in both doors, each more than capable of housing a large collection of atlases and a two-litre drinks bottle. There’s a small amount of storage space under the driver’s seat, while the wheel-changing kit lives behind a plate in the driver’s step well.
On the dash top in front of the passenger is a deep tray; lower down you’ll find a reasonably sized drop-down glove box. However none of the storage spaces has any non-slip surfacing, leading to a bit of relocation during enthusiastic manoeuvres.
Unlike Ford’s Mondeo-driving rep clients, Transit drivers don’t get a pen holder and the better-dressed Transit driver will be disappointed to find no coat hooks: not all van drivers wear Tommy Haflinger shirts and back-to-front baseball hats.
Both sun visors are large, with a screen printed panel between to fill the gap. They include document holders but no vanity mirrors, so you’ll just have to apply your make-up before leaving home. There are two interior lights in the cab and two more in the load space. The electric windows feature one-touch down, but not one up, and retract fully despite their considerable height.
