Road Tests: Mercedes-Benz Vario 814D

It’s not often that one of our test vehicles can justly claim to be unique. But if you need a 7.5-tonner, and want it to have factory-built integral van bodywork then, in the words of a certain female politician, “there is no alternative” to the Mercedes-Benz Vario. Since Iveco quietly let its Zeta, the only real competitor during the Vario’s lifetime, slip away in 1991, the German has had the market to itself. Not that it’s a huge market – in 2002, just 515 were sold in the UK. In fact, whenever people have heard that we were about to test a Vario, the frequent response was “do they still make it, then?” But if the market is small, it is also loyal.

The name Vario has only been around since 1997, but the van behind the badge has been around for quite a bit longer. As the plain 814 T2, the basic product has been with us since 1988, and even that hadn’t changed much from its forebears. Today’s Vario commercial vehicle range basically consists of panel vans, with a choice of two roof heights, and single or double-cab chassis cabs. All have wheelbase choices, and all can be had in 5,990 or 7,490kg GVW versions. There are also off-the-shelf 4x4 models, together with specific van and chassis-cowl models for passenger-carrying conversions. Despite all this choice in the body and chassis departments, there is none under the bonnet. Although other countries can specify a 148hp power unit, the UK has Hobson’s choice of 134ho 4.25-litre four-pot. Don’t worry about Mercedes only building 500 engines a year, though, as it is effectively the same engine fitted in considerably larger numbers to the Atego range, complete with electronically-controlled unit injection. Although the engine is bang up-to-date, much of the rest of the spec is most kindly descried as “traditional” – Mercedes would say well-proven – with cart-sprung axles and a ZF five-speed gearbox driving the rear wheels. Those 515 units sold each year reach a varied clientele. As well as traditional buyers of the van, such as Snap-On Tools and Bishop’s Move removals, the chassis-cab versions are also widely used by car recovery specialists and the like. Continental Europe tends to use the Vario much more like a general haulage vehicle, but the UK seems to prefer the ‘small lorry’ 7.5-tonner for such work. While prices start on the far side of thirty grand the Vario may look expensive compared with the other options, but remember there are no extra body costs. Also, the limited numbers, the carefully-managed used market and the tendency for first owners to hang on to the Varios, all help to maintain healthy residuals. Used Varios are soon snapped up, with motorcycle racers having a particular fondness for the breed. The version tested is the biggest available, a 7,490kg GVW high-roof van running the longest 4,250mm wheelbase. The Vario option list runs to some 40 items, including exhaust brake, Allison auto ‘box, assorted PTOs and a host of lesser items. Despite all of these possibilities, ours only had a driver’s suspension seat from the menu. Some of its panel gaps were larger than would be tolerated on a brand new design, and the outside door catches needed a firm effort to operate. The Vario definitely shows its age in some ways, but none that would stop it from doing its job.

Considering our test took us into Wales in the middle of January, we encountered almost perfect weather, with clear blue skies and the limpest flags at the side of the Sea of Tranquillity. But even that didn’t prepare us for the Vario’s fuel consumption. An overall figure, running at the full 7,490kg GVW, of a hair’s breadth under 22mpg is exceptionally good – in fact it’s the first time we can recall the 20mpg barrier being passed, and it’s not far off the figures for the thirstiest 3.5 tonners on the road. On A-roads, where its 70mph-plus capability is not explored, it just cracked 24mpg. For the record, our last test of a Vario was in 2998, when its Euro-3 engine propelled it around the same route at an overall 19.9mpg, and the best ‘conventional’ 7.5 tonner, the Daf LF45, managed 19.5mpg. Which all goes to demonstrate the aerodynamic limitations inherent in even the best box-bodied truck. Performance doesn’t suffer unduly either, with the Vario’s 74.4km/h overall average speed around our Welsh distribution vehicle route being higher than its higher-powered, but also higher-bodied, Sprinter 616 stablemate which operates a tonne-and-a-half lighter. We need to be careful when discussing payload relative to competitors with chassis-cab and separate bodies, as the Vicaro obviously doesn’t need to have extra weight to its ex-factory kerbweight. So the Vario’s 3.885kg kerbweight is actually considerably better than an Atego 818 chassis-cab’s 3,882kg. Where the Vario possibly loses out is in outright volume. Its 17.4m3 of space is your lot, and compares unfavourable with the 28m3 or so that would be possible in a box body on a ‘normal’ 7.5-tonner. Access to that still-cavernous boot is via suitably large doors. The single nearside slider is a pallet-friendly 1,095mm wide which, thanks to the intrusion of the twin-rear wheels, is actually wider than the 1,042mm space between the wheelarches. The unglazed rear doors open to a full 270o with a simple stay at 90o. A small offset step helps to negotiate the 840mm floor height, and no less than five pairs of lashing rings are available to secure roads to the resin ply floor. There aren’t many vans with room to stand upright in the cab, but the Vario is one. The extra headroom could perhaps be more utilised as a ‘Luton’ storage area. The Vario is unique in more ways than one. One is that it is just about the Mercedes product not to be on the ‘Assyst’ variable maintenance interval programme, having fixed 45,000km intervals instead. However, the company says that Vario will get with the programme when it becomes Eruo-4 compliant. The warranty is also different to other Mercs, being two years or 200,000km duration.