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Ford’s evergreen Transit* range has been around for close to 50 years. Twice in the past six months and for a third time this past weekend right here in Cape Town, a turbodiesel-powered Transit has once again done sterling service while tasked with the job of moving my family’s goods and chattels.
A three-week Christmas visit to the UK proved anything but a holiday – my granddaughter, with her new addition to the family (our first great-granddaughter) and partner had decided to ‘upsticks’ from their home in Basingstoke just a couple of days before Christmas to a village nearby.
DONE DOUBLE-QUICK
"Wouldn’t you like to help us move? You don’t have to lift anything just give us some moral support – you can cuddle baby Caylin.” What grandma is going to refuse an offer like that?
I’ll say this much about kids today: they have lots of energy, but most of it is misdirected. Matthew Smith parked himself on the electric lift-up tail door of the Transit, trying to convince me the "girls" could unload the van while we checked out the "cosy-looking little pub" he had just seen near the village green.
Trust me, I’ve been married too long to fall for that one. Suffice it to say we all got stuck in and the job was done in double-quick time - the Transit was a by-the-hour rental, had about 300 000km on the clock and apart from wear and tear was obviously still sound enough to pass the UK's annual roadworthy test.
Christmas passed pleasantly then one of my brother’s boys had a job offer he couldn’t refuse and needed to move quickly - another rented Transit.
Now London to Bradford in northern Engalnd and back in a day (575km), including time out to load up, hit the nation's spinal M1 motorway; empty the Transit into a lock-up and get back to London in the early hours was no mean feat – my brother and I sharing the easy-to-drive ‘white van’.
“At last count there are more than 40 Transit variants,” my brother told me.
SLIDING DOOR - EACH SIDE!
This past weekend, back home in Muizenberg, Cape Town, I managed to complete my own move from Tokai to Muizenberg beachfront and shift just about everything bar the fridge, bed and washing machine. This time around the ‘Transit’ used was the deluxe eight-seater Tourneo but no matter, the rear seats were easily removed and stowed in my garage, leaving more than enough space to move my cargo.
With a sliding door each side and a large, single, lift-up rear door, access and loadability proved ideal. Incidentally, cargo volume ranges from 7249 to more than 15 574 litres, seats removed.
*The Ford Transit Tourneo range, shown for the first time in South Africa at the 2013 Johannesburg auto show, has four derivatives powered up either a 74kW 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine (310Nm) or the more-powerful 92kW/340Nm version. They are available in two body lengths, two wheelbases, two roof heights and as van, bus or chassis cab.
Prices from R404 500,
A three-week Christmas visit to the UK proved anything but a holiday – my granddaughter, with her new addition to the family (our first great-granddaughter) and partner had decided to ‘upsticks’ from their home in Basingstoke just a couple of days before Christmas to a village nearby.
DONE DOUBLE-QUICK
"Wouldn’t you like to help us move? You don’t have to lift anything just give us some moral support – you can cuddle baby Caylin.” What grandma is going to refuse an offer like that?
I’ll say this much about kids today: they have lots of energy, but most of it is misdirected. Matthew Smith parked himself on the electric lift-up tail door of the Transit, trying to convince me the "girls" could unload the van while we checked out the "cosy-looking little pub" he had just seen near the village green.
Trust me, I’ve been married too long to fall for that one. Suffice it to say we all got stuck in and the job was done in double-quick time - the Transit was a by-the-hour rental, had about 300 000km on the clock and apart from wear and tear was obviously still sound enough to pass the UK's annual roadworthy test.
Christmas passed pleasantly then one of my brother’s boys had a job offer he couldn’t refuse and needed to move quickly - another rented Transit.
Now London to Bradford in northern Engalnd and back in a day (575km), including time out to load up, hit the nation's spinal M1 motorway; empty the Transit into a lock-up and get back to London in the early hours was no mean feat – my brother and I sharing the easy-to-drive ‘white van’.
“At last count there are more than 40 Transit variants,” my brother told me.
SLIDING DOOR - EACH SIDE!
This past weekend, back home in Muizenberg, Cape Town, I managed to complete my own move from Tokai to Muizenberg beachfront and shift just about everything bar the fridge, bed and washing machine. This time around the ‘Transit’ used was the deluxe eight-seater Tourneo but no matter, the rear seats were easily removed and stowed in my garage, leaving more than enough space to move my cargo.
With a sliding door each side and a large, single, lift-up rear door, access and loadability proved ideal. Incidentally, cargo volume ranges from 7249 to more than 15 574 litres, seats removed.
*The Ford Transit Tourneo range, shown for the first time in South Africa at the 2013 Johannesburg auto show, has four derivatives powered up either a 74kW 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine (310Nm) or the more-powerful 92kW/340Nm version. They are available in two body lengths, two wheelbases, two roof heights and as van, bus or chassis cab.
Prices from R404 500,
