Function over form was the name of the game for the second-gen Ford Transit. While it certainly wasn’t winning any beauty contests, it made up for it in the practicality department – but leave it to classic Top Gear to find a way to have some fun with the massive box on wheels and then some. The crew put three light cargo vehicles (LCV) – the Transit, a Suzuki Super Carry, and an LVV box van – on track for a set of contests to find out which one was the best of the rest.
First aired way back on July 30th, 2006, the Top Gear crew first undertook a quarter-mile drag race in their vans. Clarkson acquired the Ford Transit, which appears to be a pre-facelift model from the second generation, which means it’s a 1986 – 1991 model year van. He says he’s not expecting much from the hulking LCV, and he doesn’t get much. The Super Carry leaves the Transit and the box van in the dust as they battle it out for second place with P2 going to Clarkson.
Next, they test out how the vans perform in terms of tailgating. Whoever gets closest to the bait car wins. The Super Carry’s flat front end gives it an advantage, with a 10.3 mm gap between its nose and the bait car. The Ford Transit poses a bit of a challenge, and Clarkson remarks that he can’t see the front end quite clearly – and he rear-ends the car.
The next challenge examines how easy each LCV is to work on. The crew is challenged with removing and replacing the doors. The Ford Transit proves difficult to work on, losing that challenge. The Transit is, however, the easiest to break into, provided the offending party has a hammer on hand to pound out the lock cylinder.
To top things off, Top Gear plays a game of cops and robbers to see which van can outrun a cop car. After shedding some weight – the hastily applied door – the Ford Transit fails to outrun The Stig and their cop car, losing out.
Other classic Top Gear episodes have picked on other Blue Oval products. The team tested the Shelby GT500 and the 2005 Ford Mustang, while the Ford GT was pitted against a Zonda and a Ferrari to find out which one was the best all-around ride and the Ford Fiesta was thrown into a series of bizarre circumstances.
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