1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176 
B efore we began the test procedure, we invited each of
Page 36
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
our guests to anonymously rank the seven vehicles in order of how they felt they would impress, and we repeated the exorcise at the end of the day. Although an unscientific process, it does at least give the marketing people an idea of how their products are perceived.
The rankings (see box, previous page) before and after driving were remarkably similar, the only changes being the Citroen and Toyota swapping places in the middle ground, and Nissan dropping below Isuzu for the next spot.
What soon became apparent to all concerned was the clear division between European and Orientals. Of the away team, the Toyota had a clear and decisive advantage, and was only a whisker behind breaking up the home pack. The honest but workmanlike nature of the lsuzu gave it the next spot, while there was little doubt that Nissan and Mitsubishi earned their places at the bottom of the heap.
Ranking system
The primary reason for the resistance to the Japanese-origin trucks was their cramped accommodation and came with the acceptance that any one of these would be adequate for driving men and tools to a site with the occasional trip to pick up materials. Any one of our teeters would have been prepared to use them on this basis, but no-one fancied driving one too far.
The Europeans were much more closely bunched. While the Citroen may come third in our simple ranking sys
tem, it is not just a good product by the standards of its predecessors, it can hold its head up high in any company. It just didn't seem to quite have that final bit of development that marks out the next two. Factor in the Citroen's bargain front-end price ticket, and you might reach another conclusion.
The battle for top spot was extremely close, and only came out as it did because one of our testing group couldn't make a clear decision. Both the Sprinter and Transit are highly developed products and capable of doing a fair day's work on site while being equally at home as transport for longer journeys.
The decision to only offer the Sprinter in low power form is questionable, and you can of course specify it with a lot more power at the expense of the benefits of availability and cost that a 'one-stop' product has. At the end of the day, the Sprinter's slightly better perceived quality, coupled with the still disappointingly high noise levels of the Transit, gave the decision to the German by a short nose,