Mercedes-Benz Vito 119 Sport Crew
Price £28,485
Power 190bhp
Payload 1,250kg
MPG 47.1
CO2 158g/km
It’s 5am on a blissful Saturday morning and in the van are two Kiwis, a Welshman, a Frenchman and a Scot. There are also five bikes (partially dismantled), sleeping bags, camping chairs, a stove, a tool box, a large kit bag each, lots of food, water and sweets, and a weird vibrating rubber massage tool which the Scot swears is not a bedroom aid. As a group we are driving to Biarritz from London to spend six days cycling across the Pyrenees, ending in Girona before schlepping home. Six hours earlier all this caboodle was on the pavement and we faced the Tetris-like challenge of getting it all in. The Welshman claimed to be a “packing genius”. But the real star of the show was the Mercedes-Benz Vito. It wolfed the lot then hunkered down and cruised the length of France in a single day – even coping with being battered by marble-sized hailstones at one point, which made such a roar on its tin roof we thought it might look as if we’d been sprayed in a drive-by.
Despite the fact we cycled the width of France and into Spain, passing through some of Europe’s most arresting scenery, there wasn’t a single day when we didn’t salute our support vehicle. The trip was an arduous test for us, but it was also a real work-out for the Vito. It spent 52 hours on the go and covered 2,074 miles. Its fuel consumption was 34.2mpg and average speed was 41mph. Its figures are all the more remarkable when you remember it was fully laden and much of the route was winding up mountain switchbacks with gradients of 14%.
Vans are often overlooked as no more than capable workhorses. But a growing number of owners now see their potential as all-round, everyday vehicles which can place a wheel in both ruts of your life – work and play. They are hard enough for commerce yet soft enough for leisure. There are more high-spec models to choose from than ever, from VW’s Transporter Sportline to Ford’s Transit Custom Sportvan.
The Vito is available in a bewildering variety of configurations. There are long and short versions. You can opt for two seats up front and a vast load area, or go for a crew van with up to nine seats – perfect for very large families or airport transfers. Either way, Mercedes wants to accentuate the contribution a Vito can make to your active life: it can be fitted with a ski and snowboard rack, a tailgate-mounted bike rack and a huge cool box.
Inside, despite its aspirations, the Vito is still fairly unadorned. Seats are fabric. Its switchgear is the same as that used in Merc’s passenger cars, which is good, but the infotainment console is small and dated. Powering all of this is a sturdy diesel. You have a choice of a 1.6-litre four-cylinder or a juicier 2.1-litre diesel. There’s plenty of safety kit to choose from. The options list is a riot of three-letter acronyms featuring everything from ESP and ABS to ASR, EBD, BAS, LAC and EUC, among others. The Vito is quiet, comfortable and dependable. It’s a vehicle aiming to be so much more than just a van.
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
