White or otherwise, vans are everywhere on UK roads. For a flavour of what’s out there and what they can do, here’s a look at two class-leading 1t versions in crew cab configuration
A 1t pick-up is the default choice for farming, mainly because it does the job and not much else is on offer. But dotted around the car parks at Cereals and such you’ll see vans from businesses, from farms or from self-employed fitters. Clearly a modern van works for some — so what’s the score? To find out we take a look at 1.0t samples from the bewilderingly wide ranges of Ford and Mercedes-Benz: a Transit Custom and Vito 119 Sport. Both are five-/six-seat crew cabs, so could suit a farm or contracting business with staff to move around. But as today’s vans are so highly configurable in terms of load space, engine size, wheelbase and seating, you can specify practically any set-up you want. Apart, of course, from four-wheel drive — though that still can be had from the aftermarket. Only Mercedes offers rear-wheel drive alongside class-standard front-end traction, so that’s the Vito version we have here.
