THIS BUS IS THE BUSINESS
The minibus is as much part of our South African DNA as the double-cab bakkie, but it’s not always top of mind when people think of buying a new family car. The Ford Tourneo Custom might just change a few minds…
This new model changes from the past one-piece bezel to a bezel moulded using two layers of different colours.
The design concept of this model was to create a lineup of practical and utilitarian colours that go well with street fashions. The DW-5610SUS comes with a urethane replacement band that can be used as desired in place of its cloth band.
Case/bezel material: resin Accompanied attached band Cloth band
Shock resistant
200-metre water resistance
Soldiers, surgeons, firefighters and airline pilots are supposed to have some of the most stressful jobs on earth. Your life – and somebody else’s – is always on the line! I’d like to add another: bus driver.
As a youngster in Cape Town,
I’d occasionally catch a ride in a double-decker City Tramways bus. The ungainly and painfully slow Leyland would wallow its way through the narrow streets of the city, the sweating driver manipulating the huge steering wheel like a helmsman on a stormy sea. It didn’t look like fun.
I decided two things at that young age: There must be an easier way to make a living; and I don’t ever want to drive a bus. Regarding point one: My first real job was that of a crime reporter – so much for “easy” ways to making a living! And it turns out that I needn’t have worried about point two either, because driving a bus – at least a modern van like the Ford Tourneo – is both simple and remarkably stress-free. This is good news for a small business owner like a tour operator, who needs to transport up to seven passengers in comfort over long distances. It’s even better if you’ve got a big family or you need a lot of space for an outdoor lifestyle: camping gear, surfboards, bicycles and the like.
The Tourneo has been around for a while, but it has just been updated with a new six-speed automatic transmission and the same punchy 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine you’ll find in the Ford Ranger and the Everest.
My wife and I recently drove the top-of-the-range 136 kW Limited to Paternoster for a long weekend. The six rear passenger seats can be configured in a multitude of ways, with two rows of seats that can face forwards or towards each other. Seatbacks can be folded down, or seats stacked upright or removed completely to create more luggage space. We kept all the seats in and could still fit our bicycles, gear and cooler boxes inside with plenty of space to spare. Complete overkill for two people.
I had no reason to fear driving the Tourneo. It drives like a big car, with all the luxury features you’d associate with more run-of-the-mill passenger vehicles. In the Limited model, this includes Ford’s SYNC3 operating system that utilises a touch screen infotainment system, which works seamlessly with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The rear passengers aren’t left
to fend for themselves on the long road either. Air conditioning at the back, lots of leg- and headroom, and a total of eight USB ports make life more than bearable.
It cruises comfortably at
120 km/h on the open road and even has some power to spare if you need to overtake. You wouldn’t want to chuck it into corners going up Piekenierskloof Pass (it’s still a van, after all), but it rewards a civilised driver with a fuss-free trip. Our fuel consumption remained under 9 ℓ/100 km for the trip.
The Tourneo is the first Ford derivative in the country with AdBlue technology, which uses an additive in conjunction with low-sulphur diesel to convert nitrogen oxide exhaust emissions into cleaner nitrogen and water. It does mean you might have to carry a canister of the urea-water solution to add to a special 21-litre tank, since the car won’t start if the AdBlue tank is empty, but you should be able to drive up to 10 000 km between top-ups.
If you have a big family and the youngest members are especially vocal about being squashed into the tiny back seats of your SUV, a van like the Tourneo makes more than a tonne of sense.