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

1st Report

Vauxhall has long – and proudly – promoted its top selling van, the medium-sized Vivaro, as being ‘Made in Britain’ due to it being assembled at its historic plant in Luton.

The Vivaro, however, built its reputation as a rebadged take on the Renault Trafic over a period of almost two decades from 2001, and while the Union Jack stamp remains on the back of the Luton-built model, since 2019 the Vivaro has been based on the products of another French manufacturer, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, as Vauxhall’s version of the Peugeot Expert and Citroen Dispatch. The switch between Gallic parents became inevitable following PSA’s acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall in 2017. 

All three brands now belong to the enlarged Stellantis group, which has partnered with Toyota to enable the Japanese manufacturer to share its medium van blueprint for its Proace.

All four models share the same engines and all four are now available with electric drivetrains.

So that’s enough of the history lesson. Suffice to say that customers’ preference for one of these highly competent vans over the others is likely to come down to their relationship with the brand and the proximity of its dealerships and workshops to their businesses. With a nationwide retail network, including around 60 Van Business Centres, Vauxhall is well positioned in this regard.

Other considerations will be warranties, service intervals and residual values.

Vauxhall offers a warranty of three years/100,000 miles on the Vivaro with service intervals of 30,000 miles or two years – whichever comes sooner. Citroen and Peugeot offer the same warranty on the Dispatch and Expert but service intervals are 25,000 miles.

Toyota, meanwhile, provides a five year/100,000 mile warranty with gaps between services of 25,000 miles. The Proace also tends to deliver slightly higher residual values.

The third-generation Vivaro is available in two lengths – 4.95m and 5.30m – and three bodystyles – panel van, crew cab and platform chassis. It has a maximum cargo capacity of 6.6m³, and a payload of up to 1,400kg – 200kg more than the outgoing, Renault-based model.

The maximum trailer load has also increased, from 2,000kg to 2,500kg.

Engine options are 1.5l diesels with 100hp or 120hp, and 2.0l diesels with 120hp, 150hp and 180hp.

A driver head-up display is offered, as are driver assistance systems including lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, drowsiness alert, adaptive cruise control, forward collision alert and autonomous emergency braking. Blindspot sensors and a rear-view camera are also part of the package. A multimedia 7.0in touchscreen features phone integration with Apple Carplay and Android Auto, while the upgraded Multimedia Navi system features European navigation with 3D view, along with live traffic information, direct connection with roadside assistance and emergency call.

The latest addition to What Van?’s long-term test fleet is a Vivaro doublecab Elite 3100 L2H1 powered by the 2.0l engine with 150hp output.

The Vivaro range comes in four trim levels: Edition; Dynamic; Sportive; Elite and specification levels are high across the line-up. The entry-level grade, for example, gets cruise control with speed limiter, Bluetooth and near- and off-side sliding doors, which make life easier for passengers in a doublecab.

In addition to Sportive, the Elite gets features such as Multimedia Navi Pro satnav, lane departure warning, speed sign recognition with intelligent speed adaptation, side blind spot alert, semi-adaptive cruise control, a rear-view camera and 17in alloy wheels.