Here’s what Pieter Crous, our towing expert, has to say.

You can’t complain about all the storage space for cooldrinks at each of the front seats. There’s space in the door, at the end of the panel and in the centre section in front of the gear lever.

The side mirrors are nice and big, and, what’s more, there is a smaller wide-angle mirror under the top one in which you can keep an eye on your blind spot. It works well: you almost don’t have to specifically check the blind spot, and even if all three of the rear seats’ headrests are on the highest setting, you can still see through the rear window.

Because there were only two of us in the Torneo, I could feel the back of the car give way through some dips. This is obviously includes the weight of the Oryx’s nose weight on the ball of the towbar. You should feel it less when the vehicle is carrying a load.

You’ll also need to get used to the steering wheel, as I could detect some understeer. I’m obviously used to my own vehicle’s steering wheel, but this one I had to turn further if I wanted to turn at the same angle. But the Torneo can turn on a dime. If you’re on the left shoulder of the road, you can make a U-turn in one movement – and that’s while towing a caravan. It is impressive and convenient.

The automatic gearbox changes smoothly, even with the load we were towing, and it also doesn’t search among the gears. When it selects a gear, it sticks to it until it’s really time to change.

On the open road, the engine pulls well up the hills, but you can feel it won’t be the same when the Torneo is fully loaded. It accelerates comfortably to 120 km/h and stays there on a level road. I know the towing load is limited to just under a tonne, and I can also feel it won’t be comfortable with anything over 1,2 tonne.

If you buy the Torneo as a towing vehicle, you will be limited by to the towing weight. I think matters would improve if Ford uses its new

2 ℓ twin-turbo engine in the Torneo. The vehicle itself is heavy enough for an Exclusive, but the engine can’t keep up.

It is as clear as daylight: this Torneo isn’t primarily for towing.