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

You’ve got to opt for a pick-up if you need a 4x4 light commercial, right? Okay, you’ll have to deal with the fact that models such as Toyota’s Hilux 4x4 double cab are bulky and may not be the easiest of vehicles to park on a domestic drive or manoeuvre down a narrow country lane, but that’s life.

Actually, an off-roading pick-up is not the only solution if you need to stay mobile in the ice and snow or scramble up a muddy farm track. Models such as Volkswagen’s Transporter and Mercedes-Benz’s Sprinter can be acquired in 4x4 guise while Nissan’s Pathfinder 4x4 car is available as a van too, albeit only to special order.

The Mitsubishi Outlander 4x4 is yet another option if you want to keep rolling in conditions that might defeat a 4x2. The latest model was launched in the UK earlier this year, and though marketed primarily as a passenger car, it is also available as a five-door van under the 4Work banner, with the rear seats removed and replaced by a properly designed and equipped cargo area.

Cab

Nobody is likely to be inspired by the Outlander’s cab interior – it lacks style, and the quality of the materials used could stand to be improved a little – but all the basics are there. Storage facilities include a deep, lidded box between the two seats with a separate tray just under the lid, and bins in each of the doors with a moulding that can grasp a soft drink can. A capacious glove box is provided, there is a roomy cubby-hole at the bottom of the dashboard, and two cup-holders are present, with each one big enough to hold a proper mug of coffee, a feat that most cup-holders in other vans cannot manage.

The driver’s seat is height-adjustable as is the telescopic steering column, and the optional leather trim, priced at £921, is pleasant enough. All prices quoted here exclude VAT but include fitting by the dealer where relevant.

Load area

Access to the cargo bay is by means of a side-hinged door on both the nearside and the offside and via a rear hatch with a heated window and a wash/wipe system. Both the hinged doors are opaque as are the cargo bay’s sides.

Our demonstrator had a metal grille on the inside of the glass in order to frustrate thieves. It will set you back an extra £228.

Four load-tie down points are provided, while a half-height steel bulkhead topped off with a mesh grille (£272) should hopefully prevent anything that has not been lashed down from sliding forwards and finishing up in the cab.

Bigger than it appears to be at first sight, the 1.6m3 load area is protected against minor dings by a mixture of carpet and plastic mouldings. The protection extends to the wheel boxes, and the solidly constructed purpose-built cargo bed is carpeted for almost its entire length apart from an exposed steel plate at the bulkhead end. That carpet is likely to get very tatty very quickly if you carry the sort of item a typical builder transports, however, and may need replacing by some sort of lining.

A 12V socket is provided, and if you have a power tool or two to conceal then it is worth noting that there is a hidden compartment under the load floor. You can access it by opening either one of the side doors. Each door has a bin in it, a legacy of the van’s passenger car heritage.

Maximum load length is 1780mm. Maximum width is 1320mm, narrowing to 930mm between the wheel boxes, while maximum height is 1040mm. The rear loading height is 740mm, and in some ways it is a shame that the old horizontally-split rear door set-up has been replaced by a one-piece hatch because the previous Outlander’s tailboard gave you something to balance heavy items on prior to shoving them aboard. The rear door aperture is 1041mm wide and 863mm high. The dimensions for the side doors are 740mm and 1110mm respectively, but the bulkhead intrudes a little way into the apertures in both cases.

Gross weight is 2260kg, gross payload is 705kg – a big improvement on the previous offering – and a braked trailer grossing at up to 2000kg can be towed. A tow bar with 13-pin electrics was fitted for an extra £410, and a tachograph can be installed if required.

Powertrain

Power comes courtesy of a 16-valve, four-cylinder 2.2-litre common rail direct-injection Euro5 turbodiesel producing 150hp at 3500rpm. Top torque of 380Nm makes its presence felt across a 1750rpm to 2500rpm plateau. Although less powerful than its 177hp predecessor, the current engine offers the same amount of torque across a wider rev band, while it is worth noting that the new model is 100kg lighter than the old one.

The 4Work model comes with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard but does not have a low-ratio set of gears. That imposes a limit on its capabilities in the rough.

Chassis and steering

The suspension employs MacPherson struts at the front with top mounts that have been redesigned with an eye to reducing noise, vibration and harshness. A twin sub-frame has been installed with the aim of improving handling and stability as well as crash performance. It forms part of a safety package called RISE – Reinforced Impact Safety Evolution – designed to disperse energy loads during collisions.

A multilink system with newly designed trailing arms helps support the vehicle at the back and provides a far better ride than the leaf springs fitted to some 4x4 light commercials.