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

Over the past few years Toyota has missed a major opportunity in the van market. At one stage it looked as though it was going to mount a serious challenge to the existing players in the sector with the last incarnation of the Hiace. Designed to meet European tastes, it was shaping up to be a challenger to models such as VW’s Transporter and Mercedes-Benz's Vito.

Hiace’s European development was not taken any further, though, and it was allowed to die as a consequence of a lack of investment (see ‘The demise of the Hiace’, below). That left dealers with Hilux pick-up and the Dyna chassis cab: not a great platform to build big sales volumes on despite the Hilux's many fine qualities.

Toyota, however, has belatedly recognised its mistake and has decided to do something about it. The company has signed a deal with PSA – the group that owns Citroen and Peugeot – under which the two companies will collaborate in the light commercial sector until 2020. The first manifestation of this collaboration is the Proace, a rebadged version of Citroen and Peugeot's now rather-dated Dispatch/Expert vans.

As a consequence, Toyota dealers are able to sell a compact panel van with two wheelbases, two roof heights, three load cubes – 5.0, 6.0 or 7.0m3 – and a payload capacity that ranges from just north of 1000kg to a tad over 1200kg depending on the model selected. A crew van is available too.

Two engines are on offer, both diesels. Customers can pick from a 1.6-litre generating 90hp or a 2.0-litre pumping out either 128hp or 163hp. We opted to sample the L2H1 – long-wheelbase standard roof – version with 128hp on tap.

Cab

One of the oddest features of the Proace’s cab interior is the deep shelf on top of the dashboard in front of the van’s two passenger seats. It looks for all the world like a washbasin, but minus the plughole and taps.
But at least it delivers a decent amount of space for oddments.
More room is provided by a full-width shelf above the windscreen that’s split into three sections, a cubby-hole at each end of the fascia, a bin in both doors, each with a moulding to accommodate a flask or a bottle of water, and a lidded and lockable glove box. The inner face of the glove box lid features a couple of indents to hold cups plus a pen-holder. Flip the lid down, however, and you will find it comes to rest on the passengers knees.

The inboard passenger has to suffer a further inconvenience in the shape of a moulding that bulges out

of the front of the fascia and provides a home for the gear lever but severely restricts leg room as well as hampering cross-cab movement. Meanwhile, the handbrake lever is in an eccentric position. Mounted between the driver's seat and the door, it can give anybody entering and leaving the cab who happens to be wearing shorts in hot weather a nasty surprise.

On the plus side, at least the driver’s seat and the steering wheel are both height-adjustable.

Load area

Access to the cargo bay – the L2H1 offers 6.0m3 – is by means of a sliding door on each side plus twin, unglazed, back doors. The latter can be swung through 90°, then through 180° if so required if you undo the easy-to-release stays.

Eight load tie-down points are provided with a full-height unglazed steel bulkhead installed in our case to ensure that unsecured items do not slither forwards and end up in the cab. It costs an extra £125 (all prices quoted here exclude VAT).

While the doors and sides are partly protected by panelling, there is nothing to defend the wheel-boxes or the floor against the risk of being scratched and scraped.

aperture width is 1237mm with a height of 1272mm. Dimensions for the side door apertures are 924mm and 1301mm respectively.

Grossing at 2932kg, our demonstrator could handle a gross payload of 1212kg and haul a braked trailer grossing at 2000kg.

Powertrain

Our front-wheel drive test vehicle’s four-cylinder in-line common-rail direct-injection turbodiesel engine generates its maximum power output at 4000rpm. Top torque of 320Nm kicks in at a suitably low 2000rpm.

Opt for a 2.0-litre Toyota Proace and you get a six-speed gearbox; choose the 1.6-litre and you have to be content with five.

Chassis and steering

MacPherson-type struts are at the heart of the front suspension, with triangulated lower suspension arms and an anti-roll bar. At the back you will find an independent trailing arm set up with inclined hydraulic dampers.