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

Date: Thursday, May 26, 2022

Rear 3:4

Operating

The Trafic is protected by a three-year/100,000-mile warranty with no mileage limit in the first two years, and roadside assistance for the full duration. Service intervals are set at two years/24,000 miles.

LED headlights, daytime running lights, fog-lights and cab interior lights all help reduce running costs given how long LEDs last. They are used to illuminate the load area too, but as an option.

At a steady 40mpg, our fuel consumption was in line with the 40.4mpg WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) figure.

We achieved it without making too much use of the ECO button. Press it and you alter the Trafic’s rate of acceleration and torque settings among other functions, reducing its on-highway performance but hopefully cutting fuel usage by up to 10%.

If you are lightly-laden then its use makes little difference to your van’s on-highway performance. If you are running at maximum gross weight however then be warned; it will slow you down.

A full-size spare wheel is provided and secured in a theft-resistant cradle.

Renault uses the PRO+ branding to identify its van activities these days, and its car and light commercial dealers will soon need to redouble their efforts.

Renault’s sister brand Nissan already offers the Trafic under the Primastar banner, and Renault Trucks dealers will start marketing Trafic later this year. They already sell Master.

Truck dealer workshops regularly stay open round-the-clock, which may appeal to van owners looking for out-of-hours servicing. Renault Trucks is a completely separate business from Renault, and is owned by truck manufacturer Volvo Group.

Renault Trafic SL28 dCi 150 Sport

Price (ex VAT) £30,350

Price range (ex VAT) £26,450-£37,900

Gross payload 1,017kg

Load length 2,537mm

Load width (min/max) 1,268mm/1,662mm

Load bay height 1,387mm

Load volume 5.8m³

Loading height 552mm

Rear door aperture 1,320mm x 1,391mm

Side door aperture 1,284mm x 1,030mm

Gross vehicle weight 2,800kg

Braked trailer towing weight 2,500kg

Residual value 24.72%

Cost per mile 63.66p

Engine size/power 1,997cc/150hp @ 3,500rpm

Torque 350Nm @ 1,500rpm

Gearbox 6sp

Fuel economy 40.4mpg (combined WLTP)

Fuel tank 80l

CO2 184g/km (WLTP)

Warranty 3yrs/100,000 mls

Service intervals 2yrs/24,000 mls

Insurance group 41E

Price as tested £33,325

(Running costs after 48 months/20,000 miles p.a – source – KWIKcarcost)

Options

Metallic paint £500

Parking pack £525

Automatically-dipping headlight main beam £120

Blind spot warning system £100

Plywood load area side panels £455

Reinforced resin-coated plywood floor £275

Lane Departure Warning £500

Over-speed prevention £150

Wireless smartphone charger £100

LED loadspace lighting £250

Rivals

Ford Transit Custom

Price (ex VAT) £26,145-£55,955

Load volume 6.0-8.3m³

Gross payload 686-1459kg

Engines 105hp, 130hp, 170hp, 185hp 2.0 diesel, 92.9kW PHEV

Verdict: Ford’s successful Transit Custom continues to carry all before it, and it is not hard to see why. Its handling, ride and overall performance match and often exceed what is on offer from most of its rivals, secondhand values are invariably strong, and there are Ford dealers everywhere. It used to be said that no fleet manager ever got shot for buying a Transit. The same can now be said of the Transit Custom - although we’re still waiting on the arrival of the battery electric model.

Vauxhall Vivaro

Price (ex VAT) £26,013-£47,481

Load volume 5.3-6.1m³

Gross payload 975-1,458kg

Engines 100hp, 120hp 1.5 diesel, 145hp 2.0 diesel, 100kW electric motor

Verdict: Vauxhall is laying great stress on the availability of a battery-electric Vivaro as we all head towards a zero-emission future. The diesel models should not be dismissed yet awhile however and offer perfectly-acceptable fuel economy. Bear in mind that Vauxhall’s Vivaro is also sold by Citroen as the Dispatch, Peugeot as the Expert and Fiat Professional as the Scudo. What is more, the same model is marketed by Toyota as the Proace; so your choice of who to go with is ample.

Volkswagen Transporter

Price (ex VAT) £25,805-£49,525

Load volume 5.8-9.3m³

Gross payload 747-1,278kg

Engines 110hp, 150hp, 204hp diesel

Verdict: If you are after a van that seems to be built to last forever and boasts rock-solid residual values, then you’ve come to the right place. While innovative interior and exterior styling cannot be viewed as its strong suit, it is a drawback that is more than counterbalanced by a praiseworthy stress on safety, strong engines and a slick gearchange. Worth checking out is the Transporter 4Motion 4x4 variant if you need to stay mobile in all weathers.

The Final Verdict

Design 8/10 – No shortage of clever ideas, with the wide-angle blind-spot mirror one of them

Cabin 7/10 – One or two omissions - why no grab-handles? - and middle seat legroom is lacking

Ride 6/10 – It rides poorly when lightly-laden, although fine when you pile into the load area

Refinement 7/10 – Renault build quality has improved stratospherically since the launch of the original

Load area 9/10 – Accessible with a low loading height, a beefy bulkhead with a load-through facility,

Handling/performance 9/10 – Sharp and dependable, the former is the Trafic’s strongest on-the-road suit

Engine/transmission 7/10 – The impressive engine is alas let down by a mediocre manual gear-change.

Standard equipment 8/10 – Most of the basics and quite a few goodies are there, but not everything

Operating costs 8/10 – We’d prefer to see warranty extended to four or five years from three

What Van? subjective rating 7/10 – A worthy-enough package that seems unlikely to disappoint

Overall Rating = 76/100

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