DD Motoring: Does Van of the Year 2016 deserve the title…

This week our DD Motoring correspondant Brian McDaid reviews the Mercedes Vito and discovers why it has been crowned Van of the Year 2016

You would think there is only so much you can do when developing a new commercial vehicle. Not the case if it’s Mercedes that are doing the developing. Over the years Mercedes have produced real work horses in the range of big comericial vans, not that great to look at but would go on for ever. Then the 2016 Van of the year winner comes along in the shape of the new Vito and it doesn’t look half bad. It has a big front grille which is class just like the road-car range.

 

Flaws

One of biggest faults that Mercedes have made with their Vito is that they made it far too good-looking, as well as making it to much like their cars. This is a major problem for anyone on a dead line in business, who is ever going to let a good-looking van like this out of a junction, or give you the road. That green monster of envy will make other road users make you sit at the junction as they let on they didn’t see you in the first place.

That said, it’s a great starting point for you to get noticed (or not) and your business. The van is well designed inside and out. When you sit behind the wheel of this van you could be forgiven for thinking you were running around in a C Class or E Class. The dash looks as if it was cut out of a block of black marble, it has that solid feel to it.

The no fuss layout of the dash has a feel of high-class comfort to it. Anyone that ever drove a Mercedes car will remember the key pad at the side of the radio that look great until you realised it was a costly extra to get your mobile phone connected up to it. Not a problem anymore, smart phones even operated by not so smart boys like myself end up with a connection to the bluetooth with ease.

 

The Coffee Cup

On a serious note, one of the greatest additions to any van that is going to be on the road for long hours at a time is the new safety system called “Driver Assist,”. This, in my view is a must, as I suffer greatly from getting tired when I am driving. The system considers the time the driver has spent behind the wheel, small things like making small corrections on the steering, and any changes in patterns that may indicate that the drivers concentration is fading. A small coffee cup shows that its monitoring and it will come up bigger in the centre of the dash with a bleep , so the driver knows he needs to stop at take a break.

There are three wheelbases for the Vito, all of which are 140mm longer than an equivalent preceding model. Overall length runs from 4,895- to 5,370mm, while maximum height is 1,910mm depending on model. This latter figure is important because it allows the Vito to get into multi-storey/underground car parks and automatic car washes.

The Vito can be either front or rear-wheel drive, depending on which model and wheelbase you go for, which is something that is first-in-class for this size of commercial vehicle. The front-wheel drive vans are lighter and for less demanding loads, with the rear-wheel drive the tougher workhorse. The front wheel drives come with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, with either 88hp (109 CDI) or 114hp (111 CDI). The rear-wheel-drive get a larger, 2.15-litre four-cylinder diesel in three power trims: the 114 CDI with 136hp; the 116 CDI with 163hp; and the range-topping 119 BlueTec with 190hp. The last of these is the first Euro 6-compliant engine in class.

A six-speed manual gearbox drives all models bar the 119 as standard, while a 7G-Tronic Plus automatic is optional on the 114 and 116 models, and standard on the 119 BlueTec. Again another first, as this is the only auto transmission with a torque converter and seven gears in the van world. Mercedes talks about the suspension being enhanced to make the Vito more pleasant to travel in, whether laden or not, with new spring and damper tuning and a semi-trailing arm rear axle with coil springs. While they’re designed for heavy loads, the Crew and Tourer models can be fitted with optional ‘comfort’ suspension, given they will more often be carrying people rather than goods. The Vito also has disc brakes all round and Adaptive ESP stability control as standard.

 

Easy on Juice

Mercedes does say the Vito should be cheap to run. This is because the engineers designed it for maximum fuel efficiency. In conjunction with its slippery coefficient of drag figure, the electromechanical power steering, the transmissions, the low-friction rear axle and BlueEfficiency tech on the rear-wheel drive models all help to improve the Vito’s consumption by 20 per cent over the old model; as an example, the 116 CDI BlueEfficiency can return 49.6mpg, unmatched in this category. Furthermore, the Vito has long service intervals of either 40,000 kilometres or two years, whichever is sooner.

In summing up the all New Vito will have a Vito to suit everyone, ever need is considered and what better way to promote your business with a smart looking van like the Vito is.

 

The late Bishop Daly

In my journeys around Co. Donegal as a photographer I have fond memories of meeting the late Bishop Edward Daly. He was asked to open a school in Quigley’s Point. A reporter and myself were dispatched to cover the event. Everything went great to when we were having a cup of tea after in the school. Lovely freshly made sandwiches with beautiful Grant’s Ham that would just melt in your mouth, if it got that far!

My starving reporter loaded up a plate of sandwiches and proceeded to find somewhere to sit. Then as we were settling down, Bishop Daly sat down beside us. My reporter was so proud that were were having tea with the Bishop of Derry, that was until he noticed that his lordship had helped himself to one of the ham sandwiches.

The reporter then moved that plate to make it clear they weren’t for sharing, which give me a chance to nick another sandwich off his plate, which the reporter thought the bishop had lifted again. In a moment of rage the reporter said in a very low voice, “that boy will need more than a white hankie if he lifts another one of my sandwiches”.

Happy Memories of a great great humble man.

 

Happy Motoring Folks.

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