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

5th Report

It was not so long ago that when it came to choosing the trim level of their new van (or fleet of vans) or when leafing through the list of extra cost options available, operators would be quick to tick the box marked ‘satellite navigation’. More often than not it would be the second-most important item to select once they had ensured air conditioning was part of the package.

I must admit I still find the presence of an in-built satnav system reassuring but it is not the priority it once was. This is largely due to the increased provision of smartphone integration, such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, in the newest light commercial vehicles, which enables you to display the route-finding device on your smartphone, Google Maps or Apple Maps, for example, on the vehicle’s touchscreen.

My Trafic Passenger is endowed with both smartphone integration and factory-fitted Easylink Navigation with an 8in touchscreen replete with DAB radio, Bluetooth and USB ports, so I have been able to compare and contrast both ways of finding my way around the UK’s highways and byways.

The Easylink system is simple enough to use and can generally be relied upon to get you from A to B without too much drama. It does though, have its quirks. A plus point is that it is quick to spot hold ups in traffic, such as recently installed road works and suggest alternative routes to avoid them, but this does not always work out.

On a recent journey trying to extricate ourselves from gridlocked west London and reach the A4, it directed us down a series of back streets that would have brought us back onto the dual carriageway further along the route. Unfortunately access back onto the main road from all of these streets was denied by road blocks, which had presumably been put in place during the last couple of years, during which many London authorities have closed access to motor traffic on residential streets to increase safety and lower pollution. While this is a laudable plan it is mysterious how the satnav can identify recent temporary developments such as lane closures but not more long-standing issues like permanently closed roads. This is not a problem I have encountered with smartphone map guidance or apps, such as the driver-focused Waze Navigation. Another glitch with Easylink is that while it likes finding destinations from postcodes it is not so keen on names of districts or street names, often stating they cannot be located, which again has led me to resort to my phone. 

If your phone’s battery runs out of juice while you’re on the road and you have forgotten to bring a charging wire you can resort to the wireless charging pad set in the dashboard. A word of warning though, this makes the handset very hot if left there for an hour or so.

Generally, the cabin in the Trafic Sport is well-equipped, comfortable and driver-friendly. The driver’s position is high enough to afford a good view of surroundings and there is plenty of information given on the dashboard menu about economy, power use and torque. If the stop/start system does not engage when you stop at the lights a message tells you why; a particular favourite of mine when the aircon was on during the heatwave was ‘Prioritising thermal comfort’; more common is: ‘Prioritising running engine’.

Report card: Cabin functionality = 3/5

The interior is well specified and comfortable but the satnav is beginning to feel anachronistic

Renault Trafic Passenger SL28 Blue dCi 150 Sport 

Mileage 4,796mls