A poorly designed workspace can ruin your day.
A van, truck or ute can have all the power in the world but if it takes too long to get in and out of, has nowhere to hold your paperwork, scanner or phone, or if loading takes an additional few sessions, time and money can be lost.
So in recent generations, vans have become more than just a box on wheels. New interior features have popped up to make work easier and more efficient.
European manufacturers have always been ahead in this area, and if our recent drive in its Trafic DCI 140 long wheel base van is anything to go by, Renault is up with the best.
This is one of the better vans to drive that you can buy, but our overall perception is that it’s a vehicle designed to work.
Let’s start in the cabin. A step, grab handles and relatively low seating height make entry easy.
The driving position is comfortable, with enough fore and aft seat adjustment and back angle on the seat. This can be missing on vehicles with a full bulkhead – Renault has shaped the safety device to allow for the additional cabin space.
The interior plastics feel sturdy and durable, and precisely shaped, clip-in floor mats are a nice touch.
A large digital speedometer, cruise control and speed limiter remove excuses for speed camera tickets from your team.
There are numerous touches that make life more comfortable in the Trafic. Virtually the entire dash top has been turned over to storage. Dividers mean bulky items cannot slide too far but there’s still plenty of space for large work logs and manuals.
A mobile phone holder sprouts from this area and is great for holding a reasonable size phone in both portrait or landscape modes. A place for arguably the most essential tool of all is too often overlooked in automotive design.
It even has its own USB port – secondary to the one on the CD player stereo – though it seems relatively restricted in its output and can’t keep up with powering a modern smartphone constantly using GPS.
The Trafic has a three-seat cabin, but knee space for the centre passenger is restricted by the dash-mounted shifter and cup holders.
It’s best folded down as an armrest, which exposes storage for a laptop computer, with straps, underneath. Its lid can be raised and clipped in place as a document board.
There are drinks holders here, along with bottle holders and two levels of storage in the doors.
Not enough for you? Lift the passenger seat and there is yet another storage zone. We used it as secure storage for a tool case. Its other purpose is as a pass-through from the rear for long items. It’s a brilliant touch and mitigates one of the downsides to the safety a bulkhead offers.
The load space of the Trafic is well thought out, with more than a dozen solid tie-down points, light-operating sliding doors on either side and barn doors at the rear.
At 552mm, the rear sill is low and makes for easy loading, and the $2000 glass package added to our test van provides plenty of light.
Cargo bay length is 2.937 metres – it is 1.662 metres wide, though there is wheel arch intrusion, and 1.387 metres from floor to ceiling.
An optional though cheap rubber mat is a handy extra as the floor is otherwise painted metal.
If we have an issue with the load space it is the fragile capping that runs around the inside of the ceiling – it feels hard and cheap and partially shook loose during our drive.
A 12-volt power point to the right of the rear door was handy for inflating an air mattress for a night away – a queen size just fits – though the engine does need to be running for this to operate.
Need to tow? The Trafic will pull 2000kg braked, 750kg unbraked. A total payload of 1274kg is permitted. Load adaptive control adjusts the standard electronic stability control to accommodate for weight carried.
The Trafic’s engine might be small at just 1.6-litres but the twin-turbocharged, intercooler unit is a gem. It outputs 103kW and 340Nm, competitive with larger engines on offer in the market.
Paired solely with an easy-shifting six-speed manual and light clutch, the engine is both responsive and tractable – around town, it will happily lug in fourth and it cruises well on the open road in sixth.
With fuel usage of 6.2 litres per 100km on a combined cycle, the accountant will be happy and we think that result is realistic. The 80-litre tank gives an exceptional range of more than 1200km.
The chassis is very good, offering a comfortable ride and flat, stable cornering habits. The steering is well weighted and does not require huge turns of lock to respond as some vans are known for. It is not as crisp and responsive as the updated Ford Transit we drove recently but still ranks highly in the van handling stakes.
Value levels are high as well. With a sticker of $49,990 it undercuts the entry-level Transit Custom by $2000 and a long wheelbase Volkswagen Transporter by $6500. The Transporter Runner is cheaper by $10,000 but doesn’t offer the power, features or space to match.
Lifestyle owners might find the others slightly superior, but for those looking for a tool of trade the Renault Trafic is right on the money.
