Jumbo Combo

GreenFleet’s larger than life reporter Roland Rendell squeezes in to Vauxhall’s new face-lifted Combo and is mightily impressed with its size as the biggest van in its class.

While writing this piece, England are about to kick-off their Euro 2012 campaign against France. As ‘Proud Sponsors of Home Nations Football’, Vauxhall can be also be rightly proud of the latest addition to its commercial vehicle line-up.

The second generation Combo, launched back in 2001, won countless industry awards and sold 21,000 units at its peak in 2003. The latest incarnation is available in two gross vehicle weights with two trim levels and four engine choices. I was handed the keys to a Base L1H1 2300 1.3CDTi (90PS) ecoFLEX S/S, in what can only be described as post office red. I immediately wondered if I needed a black and white cat to complete the look.

A quick once-over and you immediately notice that this is quite a big van in some ways, yet small at the same time. It sits below its larger stablemates, the Vivaro and the Movano, but what the Combo can boast is the longest wheelbase in its segment at 3,105mm, combined with the highest payload (up to 1,000kg with the driver – but probably a bit less than that with myself on-board) and highest rear axle capacity (1,450kg).

At the rear are the asymmetrical doors which enable an impressive loading height of 545mm. Move around to the side for a sliding door that gives you 700mm of access behind the cab, so you really can maximise the 3.4m³ bay inside.

The crew cab sports two seats and as usual, I need to put the driver’s seat back as far as I can, and although not as far back as I’d have liked, I am getting used to a slightly different driving position in smaller commercials. Load capacity first, long legs second.

All the controls and buttons are nice and big, making the ergonomic cabin very user-friendly. It features central locking with deadlocks, electric power steering, electric windows, a full steel bulkhead and ABS with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD). A full size spare tyre is also a free of charge option.

We thought a good test of the van would be to laden it with boxes full of paper brochures and set it off on a journey that will take in to account A and B roads, dual carriageways and a motorway as well. So, a trip to the GreenFleet Arrive’n’Drive at Rockingham was a good test, giving us a 90-odd mile journey on these different road types.

This particular model is about economy, not speed, and the 1.3 CDTi (90PS) ecoFLEX diesel engine does the job here. It comes with a 5-speed manual transmission, and the gear change is nice and smooth. We ease through a few country lanes, heading for the motorway, and it performs admirably. At a junction when coming to a halt, the Start/Stop function comes in to play, which although becoming more and more common on cars is still a great touch on a commercial.

On to the motorway, and its all eyes on the mpg. Official figures say the ecoFLEX version is capable of 58.9mpg. Well, I never managed to quite achieve that, but sticking to around 60mph, with about 500kg of weight on board, I did get it up to just over the 54mpg mark. Changing lanes is also made easier thanks to another little feature I liked, which was the split-definition wing mirrors.

Overall, a success - even more so for a company that has vehicles driving in the city or town centres, as opposed to long-haul stuff. And with CO² emissions of 126g/km, depending on the body version, trim and roof height, it becomes apparent where Vauxhall are going with this little beauty.

If your requirements include long haul journeys on a daily basis, then you might want to consider the 1.6CDTi (105PS) variants, which come with different wheel bases and roof heights, and all feature Stop/Start technology.

The UK is GM’s biggest commercial vehicle market, with sales more than double that of the next biggest country, and last year Vauxhall Commercial Vehicles was number one at retail in the UK, selling an impressive 11,436 vehicles to small businesses. The way I see it is that the new Combo could well make another jumbo-sized dent in this market segment.