TESTED 20.5.24, FRANKFURT, GERMANY ON SALE NOW - FORD TOURNEO CUSTOM

New Transit sprouts seats and windows, gets a PHEV system that works differently

- GEORGE BARROW

If you're someone who shuttles executives around for work or has a family numbering more than five, your choice of new cars has greatly diminished over the past decade or so. And as MPVs like the Renault Espace and Chrysler Grand Voyager have succumbed to fashion, van-derived people carriers such as the Ford Tourneo Custom have naturally become ever more relevant.

Now in its second generation, the Tourneo Custom mirrors the changes made to the Transit Custom (as road-tested in our 8 May issue), because it's effectively a posh version of Britain's favourite panel van fitted with seats and windows.

So far, we've driven the diesel and electric version of the Transit Custom, so for our first go in the Tourneo Custom, we're trying the plug-in hybrid, which has been totally reconfigured compared with the previous generation.

It used to have an Ecoboost three-cylinder 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine that operated purely as a range-extender, meaning it ran at a near-constant rev rate while the wheels were driven by the electric motor - and suffered from abysmal fuel consumption.