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PRIDE AND
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PROFIT
The f\i-B Vito Sport combines value for money and an appetite for hard graft with an upmarket image and some highly desirable goodies. Go on, spoil yourself.
1,, ime was when the only time the words 'sport' and 'van' would appear together would have involved an old Transit with mattress in the back. Now, however, even ose most businesslike van manufacturers — acl,Vauxhall, Mercedes-Benz and ilkswagen— have high-performance, gh-image models in their ranges, especially the 3,000kg sector.
Mercedes' offering is the Vito Sport (and e Sport-X), available as the Il5CDI, with 148cc and four cylinders, or the 2,987ce V6 OCD I. Bodywise, the Sport has the choice of impact or Long, the difference being an extra 5mm of rear overhang on the same wheelse. Only the low roof height is available (what ppened to the medium-height version praised for 2005 at the Vito launch in 2003?). The final choice is between the regular van d the Dualiner with a second row of seats d glazed side doors.
The four-pot common-rail engine has been riund long enough to have become an I ustry standard; its only significant recent ange being the adoption of faster-acting zo-electric injectors giving improved mbustion efficiency.
The Vito Sport brings a host of goodies, :luding alloy wheels,air-con,metallic paint and much more. However, subtlety is maintained by small Sport badges on the front doors that provide the only positive ID.
At £17,955. the 115DCI Sport Long van tested here costs £1,755 more than a regular 115CDI, but a trawl through the options price list saw the Sport's 'standard extras' pass the .£3,000 mark, making it good value if you can identify the need.lbe benefits include more driver appeal, especially for owner-drivers, and improved image for style-conscious operators.
Productivity No one is going to buy a 2,770kg GVW van for its outright payload, but the lightest Vitos get close to one tonne gross. With a fair complement of kit on board this long example. with a full tank but no driver, tipped the weighbridge at 1,890kg.With our notional 75kg driver, net payload works out at 805kg.
That load is easy to handle: wide sliding doors on each side and a top-hinged tailgate ensure easy access to every part of the box without any undue stretching, and an elegant sufficiency of tic-down rings means you can keep your cargo in place.A handy recess beneath the seats is ideal for storing your straps and nets.
The usual M-B electronic key has separate unlocking buttons for cab and loadspace, with a dash button also providing locking control.
At 32.1/39.3mpg, running ladeniun laden, fuel economy is well within the norms for this sector.
Mercedes has abandoned the concept of variable servicing for its similarly engined passenger car range,settling instead on fixed intervals of about 15,000 miles, but the Assyst flexible servicing regime stays in place for vans. Providing not too many cold starts and short trips are made, intervals in excess of 18,000 miles can reasonably be expected. The prospect of spending £1,420 extra to upgrade from alll CD I to a 1.15CDI may cause some hesitation when filling in the order form, although CAP Monitor predicts a third of that figure will be retained after three years. Given the extra performance without significant fuel penalty,you may feel it is worth it.
On the road
Our Vito Sport had rather more extensive testing than usual, concluding with a run from Sussex to Devon via Bristol for another project that you can read about in a few weeks. For some unknown reason we found it rather too easy to stall the Vito's 148hp on take-off, but once rollina, the good spread of torque, levelling off at 330Nm at I ,800-2,400rpm, means it could probably get away with one gear less than the six provided. Both timed acceleration runs were carried out in third gear.The tall gearing (about 30mph/1,00Orpm) makes it easy to forget yoc have six gears when you can bust the motorway limit in fourth. Despite the tall gea it's flexible, being happy to pull from 1,000rpi in top.We don't normally consider top speed
but the proving ground suggests that 110mph-plus is within easy reach for operation in its homeland. Even half laden on the hills below Exeter, the only thing holding it at the speed limit in top gear was discipline.The speedometer is commendably accurate, by the way, reading within 2mph of true at any speed.
The handily located gearshift to the left of the steering wheel has a light and precise action, although the clutch pedal is heavy to use.
By contrast, its all too easy to overdo the brake pedal effort.The service brakes are .xceptionally effective, producing stopping iistances that even the Mercedes McLaren SLR supercar that we were sharing the moving ground with would have been proud 40-0mph in less than 18m is serious braking any measure —we can't find better from any .7,V in our test records.
If only we could be as complimentary about he parking brake. Although it performs well nough, holding easily on the 1-in-3 test slope in ither directi on, the left-foot-on.right-hand-off )peration will never meet with our approval, )articularly with a manual transmission.And vhile it's bad enough in a passenger Merc, the oarser ratchet fitted to the Vito just rubs salt in.
Mercedes offers Take-off Assist. or hill hold, s an option for £100, so we suggest you tick option box E07 until it's provided as standard.
Park brake notwithstanding. the Vito is extremely good at hill starts— a greasy I -in-3 slope was surmountable where a front-driver would hang with wheel spin.
The Vito chassis is extravagantly engineered, showing the benefits of the economies of scale in Mercedes' huge parts bin.
With a tolerably firm ride, handling is as good as you would expect from rear-wheel drive with a sophisticated suspension layout and full electronic support.
There's plenty of primary grip from the 225/55 R17 Continental tyres, although they generate a bit of noise on some surfaces.That's the only real noise intrusion, the engine only being audible under hard acceleration.At less than 10m, the turning circle can only be described as excellent.
Cab comfort The Sport element of this van is less obvious inside the cab than outside.The cloth trim is the same grade as regular Vito's and there's no unnecessary bling.The instrument panel has a clear and simple arrangement of matching circular engine and road speed dials. Everything else is indicated via the kaleidoscope of warning lights or on the central information display, including the digital bar graph fuel gauge.
Other functions of the display include trip meter, time of day, speed in km/h and outside
temp, seen by cycling through thehuttim on the panel and zeroed by the '0 button. There's no fuel economy data on this medium resolution grade of display, however.
The switchgear is familiar, with a rotary light switch on the right of the dash and the chunky lighting and wiping stalk on the left of the col um n,joined by another stalk for the cruise controllspeed limiter.The gear lever gaiter and steering wheel feature a modest helping of leather, hut the Sound .5 radio/single disc CD player is bottom of the range with a lack of functions; it looks out of place in a premium vs The steering column and driving seat have comprehensive adjustment: the seat also sport a nearside armrest. Only the driver gets an air bag as standard—the passenger has to make di with a small Vito badge.
The hazard warning light button is easily reached at the top centre of the dash, flanked by switches for traction control override, loadbay light, central locking and load light. Comprehensive rotary heater controls with four-speed fan are handily located on top of Le dash, assisted by switches for the air-con. Lsidual heat function and recirculation. A Lparate top vent keeps the windscreen clear. The cabin has a decent amount of storage.At Le top,a large semi-open tray will easily commodate an A4 clipboard and there's iother bin in the lower half of the doubleIN audio housing. Underneath is a pop-out Lhtray/cup-holder, a 12V socket and small bin. ft of the dash is another pop-out cup-holder id on the right,beneath the master light switch, a phone-sized cubby,although all the bins ould benefit from non-slip rubber.There are )od-sized door pockets, a large glovebox and Den-holder in the middle of the dash. the screen is ahead of the driver in MPV shion,and the dash top reflects distractingly ,en in relatively low light conditions.
!though the front of the bonnet is out of sight out nearer than you'd think), forward visibility good, apart from the heavy A-pillar with its iangulated lower section and little windows, lap-hand wipers give good coverage right up e screen edges.The generously sized mirrors. ith electric heating and adjustment, have ide-angle sections on their outer edges. •