BUY, LEASE OR FINANCE A VAUXHALL MOVANO FROM OSV: bit.ly/2AYGpMZ
The Vauxhall Movano gets a package of well-chosen improvements that make it even better equipped to take on the big guns in the large panel van class. Jonathan Crouch reports.
We're asking an increasing amount of our commercial vehicles. Panel vans were once little more than wheeled shipping containers, tools for moving cargos from A to B with all the creature comforts of a single room in a Mongolian prison. Today, the driver is much closer to the heart of van design and Vauxhall's latest Movano panel van aims to set the class standard for installing smiles on the faces of the people behind the wheel.
Market and Model
Fleet managers have been reduced to gibbering wrecks in the past, trying to decipher panel van model ranges. The need to offer vehicles to suit a vast array of different customers usually gives rise to an astronomical number of different models and the Movano is no exception.
As the largest vehicle in Vauxhall's LCV portfolio, the it's offered in four different lengths and three heights. The smallest of these is a panel van with the base powertrain specification and is priced at just under £28,000 (excl. VAT), with a long-wheelbase option with added height priced at just under £32,000 (excl. VAT). A number of models with Euro VId (Heavy Duty Cycle) engines are priced from around £32,500 (excl. VAT), while the largest and most powerful of the panel van options is priced at around £40,000 (excl. VAT). This Movano is also available as a Doublecab, priced from around £33,500 (excl. VAT). In panel van specification, this Movano is available in its smallest 'L1H1' form with every variation, with sizes ranging through to 'L4H3'. sizing, while the Edition trim is consistent across the Movano range.
Having pinpointed the Movano that precisely fits your business (there'll be one in there somewhere), it'll be time to equip it to your specifications. A wide range of optional extras is available from satellite navigation to static cornering lights. Standard safety kit includes ABS brakes with EBD and front airbags. Side airbags are optional.
Practicalities & Costs
Access to the Movano's load area is sliding side doors and side hinged rear doors depending on the model chosen. Load volumes range from 8 cubic meters to 17 with load lengths of up to 4.4m. The gross vehicle weights for the Movano are 2.2, 3.3, 3.5 and 4.5 tonnes.
The engines have been designed to maximise efficiency as well as pulling power and regular combined cycle economy of over 30mpg should be possible from most models. Long service intervals and, ultimately, a 250,000-mile lifespan also should keep whole-life costs down.
Summary
It's tough to choose between the leading large panel vans as their big load carrying remit means they tend to follow a similar formula. Vauxhall's Movano aims to make the decision making process a little easier for businesses not by doing anything revolutionary but with solid improvements across the board.
With advanced engines, a sprawling model range and a focus on keeping drivers onside, it can't really go far wrong.
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