Review
I get to drive many different vehicles for Fleet News thanks to my involvement in bringing you the most authoritative road test reports around.
I get used to being spoiled by driving the best-specified cars for a week and then slipping back behind the wheel of my faithful long-term test vehicle.
But occasionally the fickle finger of fleet fate points in my direction and when my grandmother announced she was moving home, I was called into action to take our long-term Ford Transit home for the weekend.
Normally, the thought of being assigned to house-moving duties fills me with dread, but I was secretly looking forward to it as I had never driven a van before.
After exchanging keys with regular driver, courier Sal Haj, I faced my first problem - reversing round a corner.
In long wheelbase format, our Transit is lengthy and it took me some time to get used to its dimensions, but once on the move it was easy to manouevre. Luckily, gran hasn't a huge amount of stuff to move and the Transit nearly swallowed a flat's worth of furniture in one go.
A second trip was needed for the sofa and cooker.
Apart from being impressed with the load-lugging capability of the Transit, all Kirk family members involved in the move grudgingly admitted they liked it.
I found the Transit in 90PS (89bhp) format underpowered - it needs plenty of throttle to make progress, something my colleague (and LCV expert) Trevor Gelken found when he drove the van at its international launch in Spain earlier this year.
A 120bhp version would be much better.
That criticism aside, the gearbox and pedals are light and easy to use and the Transit boasts a tight turning circle, making manoeuvring quite easy.
Julian Kirk
