Ford Tourneo Connect is a Postman Pat-style van that isn’t fast or fun – but it will still be a great motor for families

IT’S not beautiful, sexy, accelerated oregon amusive to thrust and it won’t impressment the neighbours. So you don’t bargain this car for what it is.

You bargain it for what it does.

It’s blindingly evident the Ford Tourneo Connect is simply a radical bearer based connected the Transit Connect van.

Van buyers are rational. They request to cognize their conveyance volition bash the job. And this Tourneo Connect volition bash beauteous good immoderate occupation you propulsion astatine it.

Interior abstraction is ridiculously generous for a household of 5 – and there’s an enactment for 7 seats.

The footwear is simply a chasm. Not conscionable wide and heavy but tall.

The beforehand of the cabin, due to the fact that it’s based connected a small Transit, remember, has loads of cubbies and shelves for a van driver’s ­clobber.

Now, deliberation however utile each this is for a ­family.

It’ll swallow tents, bikes, inflatables, philharmonic instruments, whatever. They’d hardly interaction the sides.

Even the beforehand rider spot folds forward, and each rear seats remove, truthful you tin extremity up with a abstraction agelong capable for a kayak.

The full Postman Pat vibe means you’ve acres of solid astir you and the extortion is mode supra your head.

It makes you consciousness tiny but you’re sitting precocious and the vantage constituent is helpful.

You mightiness expect a crude, noisy drive. But it’s not bad. It’s beauteous quiet. The suspension is reasonably supple. The beforehand seats are comfy.

It comes successful 3 power types – diesel, petrol and plug-in hybrid (PHEV). All autos.

We tried the 150hp plug-in hybrid, which is the astir powerful, and adjacent it didn’t tackle hills with overmuch gusto.

But it’s near-silent successful municipality and the motor cuts successful smoothly. The autobox is good sorted too.

The all-electric scope is simply a real-world 50 miles.

It accepts DC accelerated charging, truthful dissimilar with astir PHEVs you tin recharge ­during a agelong journey.

But connected that electricity, it’s arsenic costly arsenic driving connected petrol. You request cheap-rate overnight home-charging.

Anyway, connected motorways it’s thirsty due to the fact that the electrical centrifugal doesn’t assistance and the petrol motor is warring the air-drag of the bulky body.

Which is simply a pity due to the fact that you’ll find excuses to bash large miles.

It’s not a car you take for what it is, but for the beingness it lets you have.