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

The What Van? Road Test: Renault Trafic (2021)

Date: Thursday, May 26, 2022

Driving

The Trafic’s strongest on-the-road suit is its sharp handling. Instantly responding to steering input, it has a taut, confident feel to it, enabling you to corner briskly without worrying that you might start lurching off in an unwanted direction. With 150hp on tap this model accelerates strongly thorough the gears, which makes it all the more the pity that the quality of the gear change is adequate rather than outstanding.

However, there is no denying that today’s Trafic is much better built than its predecessors. 

The writer vividly remembers the first Trafic that was introduced some 40 years ago. If you took it up to anywhere near motorway speeds it shook and flexed so much that a gap appeared between the top of the door and the door frame that you could put your index finger through if you were brave (or foolish) enough to do so.

The current model is far more capable of tackling high-speed intercity runs than its predecessor of four decades back – though it would be surprising if it wasn’t. 

Unfortunately it has two drawbacks, which it shares with most panel vans. It rides poorly when lightly-laden and the cab interior suffers from excessively-high levels of noise.

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