Fiat Scudo crewvan review – lets your business turn two vans into one

There’s a bulkhead at the back of the passenger area in the Fiat Scudo, which means a quieter ride than you sometimes get with a crewvan

What’s hot

• The obvious hot topic is this van’s raison d’etre – the fact that you can carry five people on board and still have 3.6 cubic metres of cargo in the back. As we stated earlier, it could mean that you could run one vehicle instead of two, in which case you would save a whole packet of money.
• Unlike some of its rivals, you don’t have to step up into the vehicle as it sits lower than, say, the Vauxhall Vivaro. If you do lots of deliveries, that can mean a whole lot less strain on the body of the driver. Meanwhile the seat and steering wheel adjust in all directions so every driver should be able to find a comfortable position.
• We like this van’s combined fuel economy figure of 40.4mpg. Even with a full load – and with a bit of careful driving – you should see a fuel economy figure in the mid-30s, and that’s not bad for a van this size.
• We also love Fiat’s MultiJet turbodiesel engine which gives sure, smooth power right up the rev range. The Scudo is quiet and refined on the road and while not exactly the best in class at cornering, its performance here is worthy enough for everyday usage.

Some crewvans, like Fiat’s Kombi, let you take out the back seats to create more loadspace. That’s not possible with the Fiat Scudo. There’s still a decent amount of room though

What’s not

• There isn’t an awful lot of legroom for the rear seat passengers. I’m over 6ft tall and I couldn’t sit with my legs straight ahead of me. That might be a big problem if you want to use this van to transport people over any distance.
• There was also a small but annoying rattle emanating from the bulkhead whenever I went over a bump. As this is a brand new vehicle, we can only assume that the noise will get worse over time. It shoudn’t be there at all on a modern van.
• Now the big Business Vans bugbear. Electronic Stability Program (ESP), that wonderful little device which stops sideways skids, is still on the options list at £370. Fiat has just made ESP standard on Ducato and we’d like to see Fiat  filtering this down through its range. It’s going to be a legal requirement on all vans after September 2014 after all, so we don’t think this request is unreasonable.
• And talking of extras, the reversing sensors on our test van turned out to be a £150 option. It’s an essential item in our book as it will stop drivers backing into inanimate objects or even passers-by. Once you get used to having it, you really don’t feel safe without. Come on Fiat – show your safety colours and bung in on as a standard fitment!