How does our Ford Transit Custom Sport handle the urban hustle?
With the Garden Route now a fading memory in my rear-view mirror, it was time to explore the Ford's capabilities in the confines of the urban jungle. Negotiating Cape Town's gridlocked streets is gruelling enough behind the wheel of a hatchback, so I was somewhat apprehensive about spearing through the CBD in this 5,050mm long, 2,275mm wide behemoth. Adding to these sizeable dimensions is a roof height of 1,990mm.
It's a substantial piece of kit, the Custom Sport, one that makes already large vehicles such as the Ford Everest or Toyota Fortuner seem almost compact in comparison. This was the first time I found myself being concerned about roof clearance in parkades and underground garages — of which there are many to negotiate in the Mother City.
Fortunately the most vertically challenged I have happened upon had a limit of 2,100mm and after much teeth gritting and seat squirming (one never knows how accurate these measurements are), I steered the Ford through it without any expensive roof damage.
Oh, and just as a cautionary side note, always make sure the van's three foldable roof racks aren't flipped up as they add on a few extra centimetres and could end up hooking on things such as fire sprinklers or ventilation pipes. Taking all this into consideration you shouldn't have any issues steering through most automotive labyrinths.
Travelling the roads between them, the Custom Sport is proving to be a relatively easy thing to thread through traffic thanks to its super elevated seating position (you sit higher up than in most SUVs I've driven) and lightweight yet direct electric power steering.
Though the Ford's inherent peripheral blind spots take some getting used — that solid metal bulkhead makes glancing over your shoulders nigh on impossible — there's a fair amount of technology on board to make your life a bit easier. The side mirrors, for example, feature separate concave lenses designed to give a much broader view of the space behind you. Each unit is further equipped with a blind spot monitor that illuminates should any object — moving or otherwise — fail to catch your eye and/or attention.
The real lifesaver here, however, is the standard rear-view camera. A comparative nice to have in most modern vehicles, its presence is essential for any drama-free aft manoeuvring in the Custom Sport. It's full-colour, reasonably crisp and even packs dynamic guidelines to help you better plan your retreat. Its pièce de résistance is the ability, with a quick push of an on-screen button, to display a 180° view of the area behind you, which makes backing out of driveways or perpendicular parking spaces on congested inner-city arterials such as Bree Street an absolute game changer.
If things are about to go pear-shaped, Ford's reverse brake assist will automatically intervene and apply the anchors if it thinks you're about to hit some roadside furniture.
Another string in this van's urban adventuring bow is its excellent turning circle of 11.2m, which just so happens to be 1.6m tighter than that offered by a Ranger double cab. This gives it a surprising amount of low speed manoeuvrability and also makes it a doddle to park once you get accustomed to its lengthy dimensions. Provided you have enough space, I think you will, as I have, have no issue parallel parking this Ford on a city street.
Elsewhere, I'm still loving the Custom Sport's 2.0 l four-cylinder turbodiesel engine that's punchy and responsive enough to help you nip through gaps in traffic all while returning wallet-friendly economy. Paired to a snappy automatic stop/start system, my overall fuel consumption hasn't risen much over 8.4 l /100km during bouts of city driving, which isn't bad for a vehicle in this segment.
The transmission — an eight-speed automatic actuated by a column shifter on the steering column — is also worthy of praise as it swaps cogs with a smooth sophistication in keeping with the rest of the van's polished persona.
Gripes? Well as much as I enjoy the Ford Sync 4 infotainment system, I have of late experienced some annoying gremlins when pairing it wirelessly to Apple CarPlay.
During some of my commutes the signal between my phone and the head unit starts breaking up until it loses connection completely. It then takes a few minutes to reconnect, after which play resumes as normal.
Another odd phenomenon sometimes occurs when returning to the car after parking it for a brief period: a song will be playing on my phone, yet no sound will emit from the van's speakers. This silent playback continues until I turn the engine off and start it up again. It's a frustrating niggle and one Ford can hopefully fix with a software update when the van goes for its 15,000km service.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
20 hours ago
- IOL News
Model T of the electric era? Ford announces affordable EV family with 'revolutionary' assembly process
Big, heavy and expensive electric vehicles (EVs) have limited profit potential for Ford, its global CEO Jim Farley has previously stated. For that reason, the company is now shifting its focus towards smaller and more affordable EVs that better align with customer needs and cost structures. This new strategy will be underpinned by Ford's brand-new 'Universal EV Platform', designed to enable a family of affordable EVs that can be produced at scale. Instrumental in this plan is what it calls a more efficient assembly process. 'More than a century after the invention of the moving assembly line, Ford combines its industrial know-how with a start-up mentality to create the new Ford Universal EV Production System, radically simplifying vehicle assembly for safety, quality and speed,' Ford said at an event held at its Louisville plant in Kentucky on Tuesday. To achieve this, Ford transformed the traditional assembly line, which is essentially one long conveyor, into three sub-assemblies which run down their own lines simultaneously before joining together near the end. Large single-piece aluminium unicasings replace dozens of smaller parts, allowing the front and rear of the vehicle to be assembled separately. The battery forms the basis of the third sub-assembly, to which the seats, consoles and carpeting are assembled. Parts are moved down the assembly tree in a kit, which includes all the fasteners, scanners and power tools required by the operator, and in the correct orientation for use. Ford says the new platform reduces parts by 20%, with 25% fewer fasteners and 40% fewer workstations. Assembly time is also said to improve by 15%. See how it works in the video below:
The Herald
a day ago
- The Herald
Should you take a chance on a 2011 Ford Ranger with 300,000km on the clock?
Join the Ignition TV Buyer's Guide team as they discuss whether a viewer should trade in his Kia Cerato for a 2011 Ford Ranger 3.0l Super Cab with 300,000km on the odometer.
The Citizen
a day ago
- The Citizen
New Volkswagen Transporter range expanded with three models
Soon to arrive in South Africa as the replacement for the dated current T6.1, approval of the new variants hasn't been made. Seemingly still set to make its market debut before the end of the year, Volkswagen's Commercial division has introduced three additional versions of the new Transporter that could be availed for South Africa if confirmed. Now available in Germany, the new additions consist of a double cab dropside, the combination panel van called Panel Van Plus, and a panel van with a L-partition behind the steel bulkhead that separates the cabin from the cargo area. For the new double cab, the Transporter's loading area measures 4.2 m3 and the loadbin itself 2 169 mm long. The claimed payload is 1 073 kg and towing capacity 2 500 kg. As an option, the aluminium dropside bin can be done away for a chassis cab layout. Based on the same platform as the Ford Transit Custom/Toureno Custom, the double cab Transporter can be had with two versions of the Ford's 2.0-litre Panther turbodiesel engine; the 81 kW unit and the 110 kW. Connected to the former is a six-speed manual gearbox, with the latter solely paired to an eight-speed automatic, supplemented as an option with the 4Motion all-wheel-drive system. As an alternative, buyers can also opt for an electric version in three states of tune; 100 kW, 160 kW and 210 kW. In this instance, the battery is an 83-kWh module, though a smaller 64-kWh can also be specified. On the panel side, the Plus seats three instead of two on a newly incorporated bench seat, which has resulted in the steel partition having been dropped in favour of a plastic separator with an integrated window. As standard, the Panel Van Plus comes with a single sliding door on the passenger's side, however, a driver's side door can be fitted as a cost option. Finally, the L-shaped van seats four and sees the steel partition forming a box-type cradle behind the front passengers – being Germany, this means on the right-hand side instead of the left where the driver is seated. The result is the accommodation of longer items behind the driver, which slide underneath the seat using a special port hole at the lower section of the partition. Unlike the Panel Van Plus, the L-shape comes with the dual sliding doors as standard, the one on the passenger side with a window included. On the model front, both panel van models can be specified in PanAmericana trim level, with the Edition grade being an option for the Panel Van Plus. Up front, the same TDI and electric powertrains as the rest of the Transporter range applies, as does the plug-in hybrid not offered on the double cab. Using Ford's normally aspirated 2.5-litre petrol engine combined with an 11.8-kWh battery pack, the Transporter eHybrid develops 171 kW delivered to the front wheels through a uniquely configured eight-speed automatic 'box. Now on-sale in Germany priced from €38 525 for the Panel Van Plus, €39 990 for the L-shaped van and from €41 158 for the dropside double cab, Volkswagen South Africa is yet to make a formal announcement approving the new options for the local market. As it stands, only four variants have so far been given the go-ahead; the standard panel van, Crew Bus, Kombi and the Kombi Style which seemingly replaces the Caravelle. Exact pricing is expected to be announced soon. ALSO READ: No more hiding as Volkswagen sheds new Transporter's disguise
