The Vauxhall Van Range – Combining Form and Function

Jan 20 2022 Published by under Uncategorized

Vans are never exciting vehicles to drive, usually sapping you of the will to live before you even get to third gear. They are heavy, slow and normally look like a large cardboard box with wheels attached. Devoid of personality or glamor, they clog our roads and motorways like cholesterol in a fat man’s arteries. The drivers of these automotive abominations are usually the most inconsiderate, loutish and pig-ignorant people to ever get behind the wheel and make it their business to annoy and irritate other road users at every turn. So as you can probably surmise, I am not the biggest fan of the light commercial vehicle, or those who drive them.

Perhaps I have started this article on the wrong foot; though it is hard to get excited or enthusiastic about vans. They are inventions of practicality, less form and more function, and therefore, very difficult to get passionate about. Think about the last time you got excitable about a bicycle pump…my point exactly. There is, however, at least one manufacturer whose engineers are trying desperately to revamp the public’s attitude towards light commercial vehicles and inject some much needed enthusiasm into the flagging imaginations of the public. The name of that manufacturer is Vauxhall.

The Vauxhall Van Range starts small with the Corsavan, basically a slightly elongated version of the popular car with no back seats and a bit of storage space. The Astravan is more of the same motif, but it is the Movano and Vivaro where things start to get a bit more interesting. The Movano is the daddy of the range, proving to be a rather large customer. Vauxhall have designed it to be the most practical light commercial vehicle on the market and with the sheer capacity beyond the neat panel door, they may just have managed it. Your average technician will easily be able to fit every possible tool they could need in the back of the Movano. But how does it perform?

Surprisingly well is the answer. The diesel engines are positively lithe for the mass that it’s pulling and Vauxhall [http://www.westend-vauxhall.co.uk/used-vans.shtml] offer 3 choices of wheelbase to ensure the handling is right for the kind of haulage the driver will be transporting. The looks are fairly muted, but that is precisely what we expect from vehicles of this ilk. The Movano’s little brother, the Vivaro, has slightly different ideas though. In vast contrast to virtually any van I have ever seen, the Vivaro seems to be committing the cardinal sin of attempting to look stylish. The long, sloping headlights and the rounded nose look like some kind of van of the future. It manages to retain some of its practical appeal by being as roomy as you would expect and is also efficient on fuel.

Quite how well van men up and down the country will respond to the Vivaro’s bold fashion statements remains to be seen over the long term, but having won industry awards in 2004 and 2005, it would appear that Vauxhall’s chic van can more than hold its own in the light commercial vehicle market.

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