Rod Chapman•21 Jul 2017

REVIEW

Ford Transit Custom v Renault Trafic 2017: Comparison Review

Name: Ford Transit Custom v Renault Trafic 2017: Comparison Review
Brand: Renault

Renault's Trafic has made solid progress since its 2015 update, but Ford's latest Transit Custom – now with optional auto – is spoiling for a fight…

Sitting in the middle of Australia's hard-fought medium van segment, Renault's Trafic currently enjoys a decent sales lead on Ford's Transit Custom. The manual-only Trafic has made significant in-roads since its 2015 update, but Ford's revised Transit Custom now has an ace up its sleeve – an automatic transmission. Both powered by four-cylinder turbo-diesels – a 1.6-litre twin-turbo for the Trafic (103kW/340Nm) and a new 2.0-litre single-turbo-diesel for the Transit Custom (96kW/385Nm) – the Trafic and Transit Custom ranges are priced from $34,990 and $39,690 plus on-roads respectively.

Garish promo wraps aside, at first glance there appears to be little separating Ford's Transit Custom from Renault's Trafic.

Both are medium vans and both are powered by four-cylinder turbo-diesels. They're also both designed to shift a tonne or more with maximum efficiency, yet also with more than a passing nod to driver comfort and safety.

They're also both produced in Europe; the Trafic in France and the Transit Custom in Turkey (a bona fide member of the EU), while both adopt a front-drive format.

Dig deeper, however, and differences emerge. This Trafic is powered by Renault's 1.6-litre twin-turbo Euro 5 engine, while the Transit Custom now sports Ford's 'EcoBlue' 2.0-litre single-turbo-diesel – a Euro 6 engine with SCR (selective catalytic reduction), requiring AdBlue.

The Ford is also notable for its six-speed automatic, which only appeared this year. At the recent launch of the revised model Ford said its previous lack of an auto had locked it out of 85 per cent of the market.

The Transit Custom accrued 606 registrations for the first half of 2017 (FCAI VFACTS data), although it didn't stop Renault's manual-only Trafic from achieving 953 in the same period.

The two models sit fourth and fifth respectively in the medium van segment, behind Toyota's top-selling HiAce (3711 units), Hyundai's iLoad (3359), and Volkswagen's T6 Transporter (1050).

The test vehicles

Trucksales spent a week with the Transit Custom and Trafic, running around town largely empty but also loading each up with 650 kilograms to test them out with a load.

Our Trafic is a short-wheelbase, twin-turbo model (103kW/340Nm) with six-speed manual transmission.

Our Transit Custom, meanwhile, is the 290S short-wheelbase model with new EcoBlue engine (96kW/385Nm) and six-speed automatic transmission.

While the $4450 price difference between these two models initially seems large, the gap shrinks to $1700 when you compare the manual Trafic to a manual Transit Custom.

Functional load bays

Shifting goods between locations is these vehicles' prime focus, so that's where we'll start our comparison – in the load bay.

The Renault boasts the bigger payload (1237kg versus 1035kg), but the Ford's load bay comes with full-height protection (mid-height for the Trafic), a sturdy floor liner (bare steel in the Trafic) and side and rear grab rails (none in the Trafic).

Both score two load bay lights, a 12-volt power outlet and a full-steel bulkhead with window, with low load-through flaps to accommodate longer items.

Both have rear 50/50 barn doors that open to 180 degrees. Our Ford is fitted with a second side sliding door ($1000) while top-hinge tailgates are available for both, as is a second side door for the Trafic.

The Ford's load bay is 2555mm long and there's nearly an extra metre available through the load extension. We measured the distance between its wheel arches at 1330mm so it will easily accept a standard Australian pallet but you won't fit one through the side aperture, which is 980mm wide at its narrowest point.

The load space ceiling height is 1406mm and the load floor height, when empty, is 550mm at the rear, and you get eight sturdy tie-point points.

The Renault's load bay measures 2537mm long but has an extra 1213mm available via its load-through flap. It's significantly narrower between its wheel arches – by 70mm – but it will still take a standard pallet. Again, measuring 990mm at its narrowest point at the side door, you won't be able to fit one through the side. The cargo bay has a height of 1387mm and the load floor height at the rear is 10mm higher than the Ford.

The Renault comes with 16 tie-down anchor points, but they're smaller and appear to be less robust.

Of these vans, the Renault has a braked towing capacity of 2000kg, 200kg more than the Ford, while Renault quotes a load bay capacity of 5.2 cubic metres, compared to 5.4 cubic metres for the Ford.

Performance and economy

We loaded each up with 650kg in the back before heading off on a run taking in industrial estates, motorway and country roads – a bit of everything.

On paper, we expected the Ford to triumph in terms of grunt – 45Nm is a fair advantage – but the reality was quite different. While the Ford went about its business with little fuss, and took the load in its stride, the Renault felt more sprightly on the road – it has 7kW of power over the Ford – whether accelerating from a standing start or carrying out a highway overtaking move.

The Ford's automatic likely robs some of the van's grunt compared to the Renault's manual – lining up Ford's manual against the Renault could well reveal a different outcome.

The Ford's auto shifts as smoothly and quickly as you'd expect of an LCV. As mentioned in our launch review, we're not a fan of the fact 'Drive' is located one position up from the bottom of the pattern – we found ourselves pulling the shifter all the way down to the bottom and then pushing it up a notch to ensure we'd selected Drive, lest we select Manual mode by mistake.

The Renault only comes with a manual transmission but what a sweet shifter it is. Light, smooth and precise, this has to be one of the best manual LCV transmissions we've sampled.

After a day of mixed roads and with the 650kg load, the Renault came out on top for fuel economy, sipping 7.7L/100km compared to a relatively thirsty 10.9L/100km for the Ford.

Again, comparing a manual to an auto isn't comparing apples with apples, but even considering the difference in Ford's official combined-cycle figures between its own auto and manual models (0.6L/100km), the Renault still appears well in front.

With the Ford's 72-litre tank and the Renault's 80-litre equivalent, those fuel figures give safe working ranges of around 600km and 950km respectively.

Handling and braking

While both vans offer reasonably precise steering and acceptable body roll, the Renault was just that little bit better when it came to soaking up the bumps.

The Renault was marginally more composed than the Ford, which seemed a little under-damped – the Ford was more likely to oscillate after a decent impact and was a little more 'fussy' over smaller road imperfections, while the Renault recovered from bumps faster.

The Renault's suspension was just a little more compliant and composed. Both vans offered a surprisingly comfortable ride when empty, and the ride only improved with a load.

Both vehicles excelled in terms of braking, offering good power and excellent feel – no complaints there.

The Renault has an 11.8-metre turning circle while the Ford comes in at a touch tighter, at 10.9 metres. Both are low enough to access typical multi-storey carparks, with the Renault measuring 1971mm high and the Ford 2007mm (with its roof racks – a handy standard feature – folded).

Cabin comfort and features

While the Renault is certainly comfortable, its driver's seat with all the usual adjustment plus lumbar support, an armrest and heating, the armrest couldn't be adjusted. The leather-wrapped steering wheel is adjustable for reach and tilt, but there's no dead pedal.

The Ford has all the same adjustment but the armrest is adjustable, while the passenger seat also has heating (not the case in the Trafic). There is a dead pedal for the driver but the brake pedal seemed just a touch too high for comfort (for this scribe, anyway).

The dreaded NVH (noise/vibration/harshness) is all but absent in these two vans. Granted, there's still a bit more engine/road/wind noise in the cabs underway than in a standard passenger car, but not much more. Both vans were on a par with respect to noise, and it was easy to listen to the stereo or talk on the phone in each.

Both cabs have durable flooring and a mix of plastics of different textures and hues. The Ford's dash is rather more angular than the flowing lines of the Trafic, but the latter's plastics have the odd sharp edge here and there.

The Ford wins for storage, with large, twin-deck door side pockets, an overhead cubby hole for a CB radio, a large concealed dash-top area with 12-volt and USB outlets and a good array of cup and bottle holders. Both vans have cavernous storage areas underneath their passenger seat units.

The Renault has a large dash-top tray and another tray on the passenger's side with a lid. However, the USB and 12-volt outlets are on the front of the dash, meaning a mess of wires leading to them. We appreciated the smartphone dock ($49).

The Renault's middle seat folds forward to reveal a handy workstation with concealed laptop/tablet storage and a bracket that allows you to angle a tablet towards driver or passenger.

It's far better than the small workspace that folds out of the middle Ford seat, and folding it forward delivers improved rear vision in the Renault – because the headrest no longer blocks said vision, and the Renault's bulkhead window is wider than the smaller Ford equivalent.

Speaking of vision, the Ford's side mirrors are far superior – larger and with more effective spot (convex) mirrors.

Fitted accessories and features

Our Ford was fitted with the optional City Nav Pack ($2100), which comprises a reversing camera, a (now larger) 5.0-inch TFT colour display, plus satellite navigation, fog lights, and parking sensors.

The Ford still makes do with the first-generation SYNC multimedia system but it has all the usual conveniences, plus digital radio – a feature absent in the Trafic.

Our Trafic was fitted with the Lifestyle Pack, comprising the 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with satellite navigation, premium cloth upholstery, colour-coded front bumper, climate control (standard air-conditioning in the Ford), pushbutton starting, LED strip lighting in the load bay and more.

Annoyingly, the Renault's reversing camera display is limited to a cramped window within the rear-view mirror. It has fixed guides too, unlike the predictive guides of the Ford's camera, but at least it's a standard feature in twin-turbo models (unlike the Ford, where the camera is only available as part of the City Nav Pack).

Fitted with their accessory packs as they are, both vehicles benefit from parking sensors front and rear.

The Renault's touchscreen was a bit more intuitive than the Ford setup with its large array of buttons, but it doesn't take long to get used to the Ford's menu system either. Pairing a mobile phone is easy in each van and the voice command systems work well.

Both have hill hold assist, cruise control and speed limiters, but the Renault also scores auto lights and rain-sensing wipers, plus daytime running lights. Both feature idle-stop technology to lower fuel consumption and the Renault has an Eco mode.

Safety

The Ford leads the way for safety with a five-star ANCAP rating. It comes standard with six airbags plus stability control with anti-lock brakes, traction control, electronic brake force distribution, rollover mitigation, load adaptive control, trailer sway control and – new for 2017 – side wind stabilisation.

The Trafic gets most of those features but misses out on the cross-wind assist and trailer sway control, and comes with four airbags. It can't match the Ford, but it's still a comprehensive package and well ahead of vans of not so long ago.

Options and accessories

The Renault wins hands down for accessories and options; there are Premium Packs for both single-turbo and twin-turbo models, plus a Lifestyle Pack (as tested here) and a Crew Lifestyle Pack (with double side doors, among other upgrades). It also has a long list of accessories available separately.

For the Ford there's the City Nav Pack plus the second side door, the rear tailgate, the auto transmission and non-standard paint. Both prestige and SVO (Special Vehicle Options, $1150) paint are available – over 100 hues of the latter are available direct from the factory, and within the standard lead time.

Warranty and backup

Ah, the all-important TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). While the Renault wins on purchase price, there are many more issues to consider.

With the Ford now powered by the 2.0-litre EcoBlue engine, its warranty and service intervals have both received a boost. Now both the Ford and the Renault are covered by three-year, 200,000km warranties, and both have 12-month, 30,000km service intervals.

The Euro 6 also has an AdBlue tank to consider, but Ford says the Transit Custom should be right for between 9000 to 11,000km between top-ups.

Renault owners have the option of extending their warranty coverage to four or five years, while both brands offer complementary roadside assistance (Ford for 12 months, Renault for the duration of the warranty).

Of particular note, Renault offers three years of capped-price servicing on its Trafic (Ford offers no such scheme) and has the backing of its Pro+ network of LCV specialist dealers.

Summing up

Choosing a winner here is no easy task. Both these vans will get the job done in comfort, safety and even style (not a word regularly applied to this segment!). Ford should be applauded for its proactive stance with regards to safety – it really is setting a standard for others to follow – and its Transit Custom is certainly very comfortable and feature-packed.

However, here we're handing the victory by a nose to Renault's Trafic. While its lack of an automatic transmission will deter some, the Trafic has triumphed here for its fuel economy, payload, extensive accessories list and more comprehensive, LCV-focussed backup.

2017 Ford Transit Custom 290S pricing and specifications:

Price: $42,440 (plus on-road costs)

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel

Output: 96kW/385Nm

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

Fuel: 7.2L/100km (ADR Combined)

CO2: 186g/km (ADR Combined)

Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

What we liked:

>> Optional six-speed auto

>> Five-star safety

>> Passenger-car comfort