What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

First Drive: Peugeot Partner

Date: Friday, April 28, 2017   |   Author: James Dallas

Price (ex VAT) £16,665 Price range (ex VAT) £14,030-£22,180 Insurance 2E Warranty 3yrs/100,000mls Service intervals 25,000mls Load length 1,800mm Load width (min/max) 1,230/1,500mm Load bay height 1,250mm Load volume 3.3m3 Gross payload 854kg Engine size/power 1,560cc/100hp Combined fuel economy 65.7mpg CO2 112g/km

Professional trim is adorned with 15-inch trimmed wheels, but more usefully it also comes with rear parking sensors, which will otherwise set you back £200 as an add-on.
Other extras are a half-height bulkhead with a mesh grille, an alarm and a colour touchscreen with DAB radio, Bluetooth and USB socket, and TomTom semi-integrated satnav, which can be discreetly hidden in a compartment under the middle seat cushion when not in use.

Cruise control and a speed limiter are included from the mid-level SE trim. The price ladder for the Blue HDi 100 steps up from £15,120 in S to £15,500 in SE to £16,665 in Professional.

The 100hp drivetrain was the first to get Euro6 back at the start of 2016. We drove the five-speed manual but customers can also specify the van with the ETG6 six-speed automated manual ’box as an alternative.

The manual has official consumption of 65.7mpg and CO2 of 112g/km and requires the addition of AdBlue to meet the Euro6 standard, as does the VW Caddy Bluemotion, which manages 65.7mpg and 114g/km, officially. Ford claims the greenest Transit Connect, the 1.5-litre Econetic, achieves 70.6mpg and 105g/km. The Connect is also the only light van on the market that does not need AdBlue.

The Blue HDi wins when it comes to payload, being able to shoulder 854kg compared with the Connect Econetic’s 619g/km. The Caddy Bluemotion can lug a comparatively modest 549kg.

The 100hp Partner offers responsive performance, and the five-speed gearbox is slick enough, although an extra gear would come in handy for dual-carriageway and motorway journeys. Build quality is also respectable, but the doors do not slam shut with quite the satisfying clunk you get with a Caddy.

Access to the load area is by means of a sliding nearside door plus twin, opaque asymmetric rear doors. The twin doors can be swung through 90°, or through 180° if you undo the easy-to-release stays, and it was good to see ply-lining throughout the load area.
Fold down the outboard passenger seat then undo a catch and flip the section of steel bulkhead behind it backwards into the cargo bay and you can extend the load bed length by an impressive 1,200mm; handy if you happen to be carrying a ladder, pipes or planks.

Nominally, the cabin has three seats but in reality nobody could use the middle one on even the shortest trips. It is way too narrow and there is no legroom due to the gear stick and a pair of cup holders positioned on the floor. On the plus side, the middle seat back folds down to form a useful desk and there is plenty of storage space throughout the cabin, including an overhead shelf.