Ford Connect Grand Tourneo long term test: Do you really need an SUV?

The six-speed gearbox is a pleasure to use and the clutch is light and positive
Ford Connect Grand Tourneo: the six-speed gearbox is a pleasure to use and the clutch is light and positive - JEFF GILBERT

In recent weeks The Telegraph’s motoring writers have been much exercised by the take up of Sport-Utility Vehicles (SUVs) in the UK, where they occupy some 56 per cent of all new-car sales.

Opinions have been trenchant and robustly put on both sides of the argument. And while you might reasonably ask ‘just exactly what constitutes an SUV these days?’, it’s clear that the idea of a robust and capacious vehicle that’s capable in all weathers - perhaps even with tall tyres and four-wheel drive - is one close to the hearts of a large number of motorists, whether you stick an SUV sign on it or not.

Identity confusion

We used to have such vehicles in the form of the multi-purpose vehicle (MPVs) epitomised by the earliest introduction of the monospace (one-space) vehicle such as Fergus Pollock and Antonis Volanis’s design for the first 1984 Renault Espace.

Expensive, yes, but versatile and chic, the Espace spawned a series of vehicles, where state-of-the-art car interiors and sleek coachwork designs housed a practical cabin where seats could be removed to give more space, and sliding doors facilitated the disgorgement of children and dogs.

At the same time, the van-derived car (as opposed to the smaller car-derived van) started to gain credence, with vehicles such as the 1997 Renault Kangoo MPV and the 1996 Citroën Berlingo/Peugeot Partner and associated badge-engineered vehicles such as the Volkswagen Caddy, which was launched as a baby pick up from 1979, but became a van from the 1996 second-generation, which from the 2003 third generation begat a ‘civilian’ version with rear seats and sliding doors known as Caddy Life, or Kombi, Life Camper or the Tramper!

The design is based on a five- or seven-seat LWB Tourneo
The design is based on a five- or seven-seat LWB Tourneo - JEFF GILBERT

Clearly, a creative way with names is part and parcel of selling these vehicles, but even back then they were more than just a van with windows. In fact, they shared a lot of chassis, suspension and drive trains with similarly-sized passenger cars and the family vehicles that resulted were quickly dubbed Leisure Activity Vehicles (LAVs).

While the interiors were often those of the commercial van from whence they came, they often turned out to be better to drive than they had any right to be. More than that, they were popular; favoured by dog owners, small businesses looking for a dual-purpose van/family vehicle, and those requiring a wheelchair-accessible vehicle suitable for conversions.

Ford enters the fray

Ford’s Transit Connect was first produced as a Turkish-built compact panel van on a dedicated commercial chassis platform in 2002. We loved those vehicles, especially in Mk2 form, and mourned their demise - especially when we learned the 2020 fourth-generation would be another result of the tie up with the Volkswagen Group.

The Ford Connect Grand Toureo is 4.86 metres long, 1.86 metres wide and 1.8 metres tall
The Ford Connect Grand Toureo is 4.86 metres long, 1.86 metres wide and 1.8 metres tall - JEFF GILBERT

Gone was the old Ford connection, this new Tourneo would consist of a blue-oval badge stuck on the front of Polish-built, fourth-generation VW Caddy. Irony upon irony here is that the Caddy was based on the VW Group’s MQB platform, which also underpins its cars such as the Golf, Polo and Passat (though not the VW ID.3 EV-based ranges).

Yes, it’s jolly confusing, especially as the rivals are also more car-like these days, but that means they can’t have the twin sliding door options of the Tourneo, which is one of its great selling points to families.

Judge on its merits

Even so, we tested the £32,696 Grand Tourneo Connect automatic with seven seats recently, and loved it, so when Ford offered a long-term test of the 4x4 manual version of the same vehicle we jumped at the chance.

The Tourneo comes under the UK road traffic regulations as a ‘dual-purpose vehicle’
The Tourneo comes under the UK road traffic regulations as a ‘dual-purpose vehicle’ - JEFF GILBERT

While this £35,720 (plus £684 for the black paint) four-wheel drive version on the long wheelbase chassis “isn’t an advertised product” according to Ford, it is available if you ask nicely.

Based on a five- or seven-seat LWB Tourneo, it’s quite a beast: 4.86 metres long, (the short wheelbase is 4.5 metres long), 1.86 metres wide and 1.8 metres tall. Rival Citroën’s LWB Berlingo is 4.753 metres long and the Vauxhall Combo Life XL is 4,753mm long.

Don’t think that this 4x4 is any substitute for a ‘proper’ off-road SUV if you’re planning on climbing and scrambling over hill and dale, but if you are looking for something that will get you off a muddy field after a deluge on the camp site, you’re in the right area.

The GitiSynergy H2 215/55/17-inch tyres on painted alloy wheels don’t look the last word in mud crawling either, but the sidewalls are a promising start to what turns out to be quite sophisticated ride quality.

The van corners reasonably flat with a nice precise turn-in to corners
The Grand Tourneo weighs about 1.8 tonnes, meaning it inhibits driving like a loon - JEFF GILBERT

While the top weight and the size of the Tourneo inhibits driving it like a loon (though that never seems to deter most van drivers on the road), it corners reasonably flat with a nice precise turn-in to corners, which is a hallmark of VW’s MQB underpinnings.

Since the unladen weight is well under 2,040kg (it weighs about 1.8 tonnes), this Tourneo comes under the UK road traffic regulations as a ‘dual-purpose vehicle’, so you are allowed to whizz along at passenger-car speed limits rather than the van limits, which restrict single carriageway speeds to 50mph and non-motorway dual carriageways to 60mph.

Those dual-purpose-vehicle regs also require rear side windows and, while the Tourneo twin sliding doors are a unique feature of the Ford, they also mean the rear side windows don’t open, which makes the three rear seats feel a bit pokey.

Ford’s Transit Connect was first produced as a Turkish-built compact panel van
Ford’s Transit Connect was first produced as a Turkish-built compact panel van - JEFF GILBERT

That would be fine if the air conditioning was a bit more powerful and sophisticated, but the bad news is that the Tourneo inherits VW’s Cariad software and touchscreen, which means you have to prod about (at least three pushes) to access the heater screen and pretty much everything else.

It’s slightly less frustrating than the same system in a Golf Mark 8 as it has a lot less to do, but this is one of the great drawbacks of the Ford/VW sharing arrangement; you don’t always get the best bits.

Again, VW roots show themselves, with the Volkswagen 2.0-litre 120bhp/236lb ft turbodiesel engine giving a lovely gentle cruising gait and a solid plus-50mpg when warmed-up and at ease on the motorway. The six-speed gearbox is a pleasure to use and the clutch is light and positive. The brakes, too, are strong and progressive.

'The load bed is simply enormous, 1,529 litres with all five seats up'
'The load bed is simply enormous - 1,529 litres with all five seats up' - JEFF GILBERT

A policeman friend recently recounted escorting a German counterpart around a sizable London multi-storey car park filled with stolen and recovered vehicles. The German policeman was dumbfounded at the high specification of quite ordinary cars.

“I have never seen one of these,” he said, pointing at an Audi A3 with every conceivable optional extra fitted. “Why do you British buy such expensive vehicles?”

I’ve never really understood it either, though our obsession with having everything on top also means that’s also what buyers expect on the used market. As a result, strong demand further down the line means the initial cost of such over-equipped vehicles on personal contract plans (PCP) finance aren’t quite as exorbitant as it might seem.

All the same, you might ask why we’re so badge- and specification-obsessed when you could have a vehicle like this: for £35,720 you get five seats, a huge luggage space, four-wheel drive and a powerful but economical diesel engine with a manual gearbox. After nearly 10,000 miles, the Volkswagen 2.0-litre 120bhp/236lb ft turbodiesel is still giving a lovely gentle cruising gait and a solid plus-50mpg.

So who, honestly, needs an SUV?

Van or MPV?

There is, of course, a cadre of buyers who value these vans with windows; countless Citroën Berlingos and Renault Kangoos have seen sterling service, along with their Peugeot and Fiat counterparts.

The thing to look out for is the taxation class “dual purpose vehicle”, since it means that you can travel at passenger-car speed limits rather than the van limits, which restrict single carriageway speeds to 50mph and non-motorway dual carriageways to 60mph. As the Ford has an unladen weight well below 2,040kg (it’s about 1.8 tonnes), it qualifies in this class.

Ford Tourneo van
As with its van-based rivals, the Tourneo's commercial vehicle (CV) origins are clear - Jeff Gilbert

Fact is, these small vans with windows are passenger cars and should be taxed as such. They are enjoyable, practical, economical and mostly comfortable. And yes, in black with a long wheelbase like the Ford, they can bear an unfortunate resemblance to a hearse, although when I’m in it I can’t see that. I get a cosseting seat, a satnav and decent stereo, huge door pockets and a large, practical centre console. The ride is supple and comfortable and the luggage space is simply huge: 1,529 litres with all five seats up, 2,761 with the second row folded. And nor do you sacrifice one jot of safety in choosing one, either, as I discovered.

Unquestionable faith

Just before Christmas I was travelling at 40mph on a dark, wet road in the rain when a car pulled out from a T-junction ahead. It happened as fast as a slammed door and there was virtually nowhere to go to avoid a side impact that its driver wouldn’t have walked away from. I’d like to claim lightning reflexes and stunning car control in the act of swinging the wheel one way then the other, missing the miscreant car and then the concrete central barrier by no more than a couple of inches, but it was done on pure instinct. There was no time even for the Ford’s stability control to act and we just relied on its basic good steering, decent grip and assured body control.

And the other car had driven smartly away, its driver little knowing how close he or she had been from at least a night in casualty. Since then my faith in this Ford has been without question.

Not so the little details, however.

Ford or Volkswagen?

As I explained earlier, this generation of Tourneo consists of a Ford badge stuck on the front of a Polish-built, fourth-generation VW Caddy. It’s part of Ford’s deal with Volkswagen announced in 2019 in which the companies will share development of commercials and passenger cars (though we’re still waiting for Ford’s Explorer based on the VW ID.3 – and actually Ford is rapidly backing away from the deal saying it can go its own way in future).

The Caddy is based on VW’s MQB platform, which also underpins its cars such as the Golf, Polo and Passat, though not the electric ranges.

This van would set you back £35,720 (plus £684 for the black paint)
This version of the Grand Tourneo costs £35,720 (plus £684 for the black paint) - JEFF GILBERT

So while Ford buyers get the unexpected bonus of VW’s excellent diesel engine, lovely gearbox and the MEB platform’s fine driving qualities, they also get the much-maligned Cariad software for the centre console (though thankfully with a much restricted range of options, the Tourneo’s touchscreen is relatively simple to master). And they might also grumble that things are simply not where they expect them to be on a Ford,such as the seat adjustment, bonnet release or the heater controls (which are also a bit rubbish).

Then there’s the squeaky windscreen wipers which six months of fettling and cleaning have failed to cure, the dirt build-up on the side of the rear doors which is difficult to spray off without filling the interior and the weight and poor lock-back of the sliding rear doors – on a slope they can slam shut like a vertical version of Madame Guillotine.

One final job

There is one job I haven’t managed to perform with the Ford. Work on rebuilding the engine for my Triumph GT6 took longer than imagined. It’s now finished so the Tourneo will have the honour of collecting the lump before it goes back to Ford.

The facts

On test: Ford Connect Grand Tourneo Active 2.0L 6spd manual 4x4

Body style: five-door van-based MPV

On sale: now

How much? £35,720 on the road (range from £28,409.20)

How fast? 116mph, 0-62mph in 11.8sec

How economical? 52.9mpg (WLTP Combined), 50mpg on test

Engine & gearbox: 1,968cc four-cylinder turbodiesel, six-speed manual gearbox, four-wheel drive

Maximum power/torque: 120bhp/236lb ft

CO2 emissions: 131g/km

VED: £320 flat rate

Warranty: 3 years / 60,000 miles


Are you a fan of the multi-purpose vehicle? Let us know in the comments