Mid-size delivery vans are the lifeblood of many commercial enterprises, from owner/driver couriers and small business owners up to the major fleets like Australia Post, with all manner of businesses in between.
Vans with a GVM between 2500 and 3500kg also dominate the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market in this country.
According to official statistics, 15,522 such vehicles were sold in Australia last year, versus 3069 small LCVs (sub-2500kg GVM) and 6293 large LCVs (3501-8000kg GVM – van and cab/chassis models, excluding light trucks).
However, the range of choice available to new buyers can be bewildering, to say the least. Within many brands' LCV families lie a range of engines, transmissions and capacities, the latter spanning a variety of wheelbases and roof heights.
While the motoring.com.au team has attempted to match vehicles as evenly as we can, in this test, there could well be a different specification of any given model to better suit an individual requirement – check with the manufacturer's website for a more comprehensive picture of just what’s available.
Most of the involved manufacturers also offer a wide range of factory accessories, including a variety of load bay floorings, cargo barriers and roof racks, among others.
With those caveats in mind, we've assembled six of the seven major players in the mid-size delivery van market, and assessed each in terms of on-the-road performance, suitability of intended purpose, quality of construction, level of technology and overall value for money. We then tallied up our judges' scorecards to determine our overall 'white van champion'.
Unfortunately, Volkswagen was unable to provide us with an example of its Transporter, but we did obtain a Hyundai iLoad, Mercedes-Benz Vito, Ford Transit Custom, Renault Trafic, Fiat Scudo and Toyota HiAce.
The sales story
Toyota's HiAce has a heritage that stretches back to the 1960s and it dominates the sales chart, with 2684 HiAces sold to the end of May 2014 in Australia. That accounts for a massive 42.9 per cent share of the market.
Sitting in second-place is Hyundai's iLoad. Introduced locally in 2008, the iLoad has carved itself a nice chunk of the action with 1859 examples sold during the same period for a 29.7 per cent market share.
Next comes Renault's Trafic, which has been Europe's top-selling LCV brand for 15 years and is a rising star in Australia. The 501 Trafics sold to the end of May 2014 may only account for eight per cent market share but the figure also represents growth of 61.6 per cent on the previous year.
Mercedes-Benz introduced its Vito to Australia in 1998, and to the end of May 2014 had sold 374 examples, giving it market share of six per cent.
Ford sold 217 mid-size Transits but it didn't release its major revision, the Ford Transit Custom, until the end of February. The new model's influence should flow through as the months roll on but at present the medium-size Transit accounts for 3.5 per cent of the market.
That leaves Fiat's Scudo in sixth position on the sales chart, with 111 units sold for a market share of 1.8 per cent.
Safety First
At this stage there is no compulsion for the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) or the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) to offer safety ratings on light commercial vehicles, but each of the models on test here has been rated by one or the other in recent history.
The Ford Transit Custom has achieved a five-star EuroNCAP rating (ANCAP rating pending) and comes with antilock brakes, stability control, and six airbags.
The Mercedes-Benz Vito achieved a five-star ANCAP rating when tested in 2011 and comes with all of the Ford's safety features bar side airbags, which are an option.
Hyundai's iLoad and Toyota's HiAce both achieved four-star ANCAP ratings when last tested in 2009 and 2011 respectively. While side and curtain airbags aren't available for either, the iLoad does come with stability control as standard – it's not available on the HiAce. Both have antilock brakes and driver and passenger airbags.
Fiat's Scudo achieved a three-star EuroNCAP rating in 2012 and comes with antilock brakes, stability control, and a driver airbag (passenger airbag optional).
That leaves Renault's Trafic, which achieved a two-star EuroNCAP rating when tested in 2012. Our test vehicle was fitted with antilock brakes, stability control and driver and passenger airbags. Stability control is only offered on manual-transmission models.
All six models come with seatbelt pretensioners as standard while many have additional safety systems beyond the major ones listed here – refer to the manufacturers' websites for more information.
Judging Criteria
The motoring.com.au team aims to make its road testing process as fair as possible. To this end, the assessment criteria used on our multi-vehicle comparison tests focus on several specific criteria:
Execution of intended purpose
Passenger accommodation and comfort, driver ergonomics, cargo capacity and flexibility, and overall amenity are all important qualities. But which one of these LCVs delivers the best overall mix of these vital virtues?
Fit, finish and finesse
Here parts, panels and paraphernalia are put under the microscope. We look for flaws in design that could lead to issues down the track, and check how well the vehicle is screwed together.
Suitable integration of technology
It’s really annoying when technology doesn’t work the way we want it to. In this section we evaluate how successfully infotainment and driver assistance technologies are applied and integrated.
The test loop covered a bit of everything: congested industrial estate, motorways, winding country roads and some decent gradients. Each vehicle was fuelled up before completing the loop twice – once unladen and once laden and unladen – and then refuelled at the end of the day to give a comparative fuel figure.
We took to each vehicle with a measuring tape to ascertain dimensions and obtained a range of performance data using Racelogic's GPS-based 'VBOX' technology. A sound meter was used to record cabin noise at 80km/h.
The results were surprising, with each vehicle bringing its own strengths (and weaknesses) to the table. So grab your delivery run sheet, throw in the thermos and let's hit those congested city streets…
2014 Medium LCV Comparison
>> Fiat Scudo
>> Ford Transit
>> Hyundai iLoad
>> Mercedes-Benz Vito
>> Renault Trafic
>> Toyota HiAce
Dimensional measurements and payload (as tested):
Fiat Scudo | Hyundai iLoad |
Toyota HiAce |
|
Cargo bay length (max.) | 2580mm | 2730mm | 2830mm |
Cargo bay width (max.) | 1540mm | 1660mm | 1600mm |
Width between w/arches | 1250mm | 1270mm | 1130mm |
Cargo bay height (max.) | 1400mm | 1340mm | 1330mm |
Load area height (rear) | 600mm | 590mm | 630mm |
No. of tie-down points | 8 | 10 | 6 |
Rear door type | Barn (50/50) | Top-hinged | Top-hinged |
Rear door aperture height | 1250mm | 1210mm | 1260mm |
Rear door aperture width | 1260mm | 1340mm | 1320mm |
Side door no. / type | 2 x sliding | 2 x sliding | 1 x sliding |
Side door aperture height | 1280mm | 1180mm | 1170mm |
Side door aperture width | 920mm | 970mm | 1170mm |
Bulkhead fitted | Yes | No | No |
Payload (as tested) | 600kg | 600kg | 600kg |
Payload (max. rated) | 1200kg | 1098kg | 965kg |
Payload (cubic metres) | 6 | 5.2 | 6 |
MB Vito |
Ford Transit |
Renault Trafic |
|
Cargo bay length (max.) | 2370mm | 2470mm | 2840mm |
Cargo bay width (max.) | 1700mm | 1800mm | 1840mm |
Width between w/arches | 1260mm | 1350mm | 1260mm |
Cargo bay height (max.) | 1360mm | 1450mm | 1420mm |
Load area height (rear) | 570mm | 570mm | 560mm |
No. of tie-down points | 6 | 8 | 10 + 6 |
Rear door type | Top-hinged | Barn (50/50) | Barn (50/50) |
Rear door aperture height | 1220mm | 1320mm | 1300mm |
Rear door aperture width | 1330mm | 1380mm | 1380mm |
Side door no. / type | 2 x sliding | 1 x sliding | 1 x sliding |
Side door aperture height | 1220mm | 1310mm | 1300mm |
Side door aperture width | 990mm | 1000mm | 100mm |
Bulkhead fitted | No | Yes | No |
Payload (as tested) | 600kg | 600kg | 600kg |
Payload (max. rated) | 1135kg | 1032kg | 1230kg |
Payload (cubic metres) | 5.2 | 5.9 | 5.9 |