Ford has expanded the Transit range with this: the 5.0-tonne. Ford says it’s the most capable model in its commercial car range, which provides competition for the man TGE and the largest Mercedes Sprinter. It’ll go on sale this November, with first deliveries expected to arrive before the end of the year.
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Like its name suggests, the Ford Transit 5.0-tonne has a gross car weight of 5,000kg. It can support a maximum payload of 2,383kg, which is 300kg much more than the conventional van. Ford also says the new model lends itself particularly well to conversions, such as tippers, police vans, ambulances and 19-seat minibuses.
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To cope with the extra carrying capacity, Ford has beefed up the Transit’s mechanicals, adding uprated rear brakes, stronger hub assemblies, heavy-duty ancillaries and larger wheels and tyres. The van’s upper body has also been reinforced, to offer better support for greater cargo weights.
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There’s also an uprated rear axle and differential, which was lifted from the North American Transit and is rated for 3,500kg. This is paired with a stronger front axle, which provides an extra 225kg-worth of carrying capacity over the conventional van alone.
Ford only provides one engine on the Transit 5.0-tonne. It’s a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel unit which has an output of 168bhp and, much more importantly, 390Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, although buyers can have a ten-speed automatic gearbox as an optional extra.
When paired with the automatic gearbox, the engine provides a claimed WLTP fuel economy figure of 24.3mpg, while emissions figures stand at 305g/km of CO2. buyers ought to also bear in mind that, due to the size and weight of the Transit 5.0-tonne, they’ll have to sit an additional driving test before they can legally drive the van on UK roads.
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