MOTORS: Ford's Connect Grand Tourneo Active is ultra-practical – but is it best in class?
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Describing a car as practical hardly inspires a sense of excitement or fun.
However I make no apology for describing the Connect Grand Tourneo Active from Ford as exactly that. I would say it’s one of the most practical vehicles on the market today and all it needs is four-wheel-drive to come top of the list.
If you are an outdoors type who likes to get off the beaten track and explore our great countryside with the family in tow, then this is one for you.
With seven seats, sliding side doors, loads of interior space, a reasonable price tag and impressive efficiency you’d be hard-pushed to find anything else that ticks so many boxes, except the one marked performance and exhilaration.
It’s the result of a partnership between the blue oval brand and the German giant Volkswagen and under the surface it is effectively a re-badged VW Caddy. They have an agreement where Ford adopt some of VW’s passenger-carrying models while the Germans will do their own thing with Ford’s commercial vehicles, like the popular and successful Ranger pick-up.
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The long wheelbase Connect Grand Tourneo offers a sensible alternative to a more expensive SUV and in the Active spec of the test car comes with loads of equipment, including a 10-inch touchscreen with voice and gesture control and sat-nav, although I found it a bit fiddly and got annoyed with the complexity of relatively simple tasks like switching off the start/stop and lane departure.
Even the climate and entertainment controls are buried in the depths of the screen which makes simple everyday tasks something of a challenge while on the move.
The sharp-eyed will see the similarities with the VW version on the outside and inside there’s an interesting merger of the conventional Ford dashboard with the rather utilitarian VW style.
It’s comfortable, with heated front seats and auto air-con, rear tinted glass, heated windscreen and folding door mirrors and plenty of power points in the cabin.
I can’t say I was taken with the Boundless Blue metallic paint job on the test car, especially when it added £600 to the vehicle’s asking price but the benefit is that you wouldn’t lose it in the car park or out in the wilds.
There’s a choice of engines from a 112 bhp 1.5 litre petrol or the 120 bhp two-litre turbodiesel which was in the test car with a smooth seven-speed auto box. It’s not the most exciting power unit, but is extremely efficient and I was easily able to squeeze around 60 miles out of every gallon.
On the road it handles well, considering it is pretty much a big box and that has a lot to do with the underpinnings.
The previous version was based on the Transit van and while it was also sturdy and secure, the VW platform gives it more of a car-like feel with a comfortable ride, good road manners and positive steering.
The interior feels spacious with tall windows and high roofline and access is first-class through the sliding side doors, although I found them a little sticky at times but that may have been down to my technique rather than the design.
The middle row of seats tips forward by pulling on a strap to make it easy to get to the third row of seats.
If you need a lot of equipment for your outdoor pursuits the seats can be taken out completely, to turn the vehicle into a big van which could easily take several bikes.
Leave all the seats in place though and there’s only a small boot space available.
There’s not much in the way of alternatives, as most of them from Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall have gone electric-only but if you want a real value-for-money, practical MPV, look no further than the Jogger from Dacia.
It is just as practical as Ford’s offer... and you’ll save at least £10,000.
