On The Road
During its six months with CM the Vito has encountered a range of terrain, from the Lake District and Shap, via windy roads round the coast North of Newquay to the urban disaster zone which is West London with plenty of dual carriageways and motorways in between.
It certainly justified Mercedes’ “Versatile” tag, romping along win fine style through good weather and bad with plenty of weather to spare. The 1,600-2,400rpm torque band gives it plenty of grunt, so running fully laden holds no fears and our A20 hill climb didn’t really test it. And at our test track we clocked 13.4sx from 0-50mph – the only van to beat our 110 was another Vito: the 112 CDI made the run in 11.87sec.
The excellent gearbox certainly contributed to these figures. With a 3.76:1 final drive ratio the gap between gears is just about right and that wide spread of torque ensures that Gearchanges are hassle free, even when fully laden. At 30mph on the level the Vito is happy in fourth gear at the top of the peak torque band.
With all that power to play with we’re happy to report that the handling is well up to the job. It’s smooth through corners and refuses to be buffeted by cross winds (we have no way of knowing how handling would be affected if the standard 195/70R15 tyres were fitted instead of the optional Michelin 215/65R15Cs).
The braking has all the safety enhancements a driver could wish for. Disc brakes with ABS and ABD traction control give plenty of confidence; shame this doesn’t come as standard.
Cab Comfort
The Vito’s interior does not have the feel of a sleek motor produced by one of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers. Mercedes has clearly taken the functional route here and to be fair that’s probably the right choice, considering this vehicle’s likely operating environment. An array of fiddly switches, seat options and steering wheel heights might well confuse inexperienced drivers and would inflate the price.
The Vito can’t match the cabin space of a 3.5-tonner and it’s too upright to match the car-like feel of a CDV. What you end up with is a floor sloping away from the dash with minimal knee space, and an eye-line level with the sun visor (this is also true of the Citroën Dispatch).
It doesn’t take long to get used to the cab layout: the central dash houses all the heater controls, the radio and dash-mounted gearstick; the rest of the controls are on the two steering column stalks.
The ledge on the driver’s door offers is a comfy resting place for your arm but you’ll get plenty of exercise winding the window up and down to hurl advice during the Indian summer, and taller drivers have to lean uncomfortably to the right to use the winder.
The bulkhead restricts rearward seat movement and tall drivers will find that there’s insufficient legroom to shift the seat forward so bolt upright is really the only option for the seat back.
Storage space is minimal. There are two trays on the passenger’s side of the dash and good-sized door pockets. Any equipment will have to be crammed down between the seats, but at least the sloping floor will keep your bag tucked out of the way and against the bulkhead.
Central locking can be operated from any key lock and depressing the door-release handle locks all the doors for increased security in urban areas. The fuel cap cover is also integrated into the central locking system.
