The What Van? Road Test: Peugeot Boxer

Date: Monday, March 19, 2018 | Author: Steve Banner

Ford’s all-conquering Transit has the status of an icon, Mercedes-Benz’s Sprinter has got a fat slice of the supermarket home-delivery market, and Volkswagen’s new Crafter has spirited away What Van?’s Light Commercial Vehicle of the Year award for 2018. But don’t forget the humble Peugeot Boxer.

Unglamorous it may be, but it helped make the French manufacturer the number three player in the UK van business in 2017, placing it behind Ford and Volkswagen but ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Vauxhall.

Launched in 2014 and equipped with 2.0-litre BlueHDi Euro6 diesels in 2016, the current Boxer shares the same basic design as the Citroen Relay. Both Peugeot and Citroen are part of the PSA Group, which also owns Vauxhall.

Fiat Professional’s Ducato also uses the same template but employs different engines.

The Boxer van is on offer with four different lengths and three different heights.

Load cubes range from 8m³ to 17m³, gross weights extend from 3.0t to just over 4.0t while payloads run from 1,115kg to 1,900kg.

The aforementioned 2.0-litre diesel – the only engine on offer – is available at 109hp, 131hp or 161hp. The two most powerful options are up for grabs with stop/start.

Specification levels are either entry-level Standard or the more upmarket Professional.

The Peugeot Boxer is also produced as a window van, a chassis cab, a chassis crew cab, and as a platform cab. In addition, Peugeot makes the cab, engine, transmission and front wheels available as a package for special conversions minus the chassis.

We elected to tackle an L2H2 335 3.5-tonner with 131hp on tap and in Professional trim.

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