WHEN my daughter decided to move house the biggest van I could lay my hands on was Vauxhall’s Movano but it was more than up to the task.
With my son packing stuff into every nook and cranny of its cavernous loadbay we even had space to get a couple of bikes just inside the rear doors.
The Movano comes is both front and rear wheel drive formats with a maximum payload of 4.5 tonnes.
I drove the front wheel drive 3.5 tonne model, which has a lower floor for easier loading.
The 2.3-litre 100bhp diesel was man enough for easy motorway cruising fully laden, and returned just under 30mpg, which has to be very good.
The load bay has a non-slip floor for safety and twin side doors to make access to that load easier – wherever you have to park.
The rear doors will open to 270 degrees, and the high top has a maximum of 10.8 cubic metres capacity with enough room to stand upright.
Interior
The cab has three comfortable seats and good design with everything to hand. There are some very neat touches – like the centre seat back that doubles as a swivelling laptop stand, big screen sat nav and a fold away clipboard.
It comes with electric windows and the all-important central locking, but the stereo is FM only, which is a bit stingy. If you’re looking for a big van that should be easy to live with every day, don’t buy anything else until you’ve tried it.
FAST FACTS
Vauxhall Movano
Price: £25,431
Mechanical: 100bhp, 2,298cc, 4cyl diesel engine driving front wheels via 6-speed manual gearbox
Max speed: 90mph
0-62mph: 15 seconds
Combined mpg: 35
Insurance group: N/A
CO2 emissions: 211g/km
BIK rating: 28%
Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles
Marks: 9/10
Main rival: Renault Trafic