No, it’s not a van, although it is based on a van, the Citroen Dispatch.
This is the Citroen Spacetourer, a huge MPV, not a van, that offers up to nine seats.
And primarily the Spacetourer is aimed at the likes of taxi companies, shepherding people
to the airport or transporting a gang of rowdy drinkers home after a night out.
And it competes with other large passenger vehicles like the Peugeot Traveller and the
Toyota Proace Verso.
So, what do we make of this MPV?
“Van”.
It’s not a van.
Starship Enterprise much.
These electric sidling doors are part of the Easy entry pack and will cost you £1,400.
Pricey, but very useful.
Anyway, like I said you can specify nine seats in the Spacetourer but we’ve got eight today.
Two up-front, three here and three there.
Seven seats are actually standard, it costs another £1,000 or so for that third seat
we’ve got in the rear.
And all of these seats slide and recline, so you should be able to find a compromise
that works for everyone when it comes to leg room.
Head room on the other hand is brilliant all-round.
There’s loads of convenient cubbies and features dotted around too – and you can
operate those electric doors in here with the click of this button.
Now there’s not much of a boot per say, but these seats do fold so although it’s
not a van, you can use it as a van if need be.
I mean there’s storage for objects of over two metres long and 1.2 metres wide.
Plus there’s up to 1.3 metres in load height.
And there’s actually multiple Spacetourer lengths to choose from, ranging from this
4.6m model to 5.3m.
Aside to the whole taxi appeal though, I think this would be perfect if you and your friends
went camping or to a music festival.
You could have your deck chairs under this boot lid awning, fold the seats down and have
a sleep, and there’s even a removeable torch if you need the toilet in the night.
Not having a seat in the middle here means you can easily walk through, which is handy
– and once you’re up front, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
It certainly is more MPV, or car, than van.
The layout doesn’t look dated, it’s actually quite nice, and there’s loads of kit to
play around with.
DAB radio, automatic air-con, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, parking sensors.
There’s a few handy options too, like a head-up display, sat-nav and a 180 degree
reversing camera.
There’s loads of convenience features that give it that proper practical MPV feel, like
the little mirror here to keep your eyes on passengers, arm rests, a switch to open those
rear doors and a shed load of handy storage compartments too, although you do need to
dig your way down to the door bins.
So, I’ll start by saying that the Spacetourer does drive like a van, there’s no avoiding
it.
But, and it’s a big but, it drives like a much more composed and settled van, and
that’s due to those seats being in the back, as opposed to an empty load bed.
A bit of extra weight really does wonders for the ride, it is very comfortable.
And when you start totting up passengers, it rides even better.
The steering is pretty lifeless though and it will lean like a minecart in the corners,
but it does feel more grown up than your bog-standard van.
The seating position is nice and commanding too, and there’s a nice place to rest your
arm on long journeys.
I would like a bit more support in these seats though and visibility is a bit of a mixed
bag.
There’s multiple diesel derivatives to choose from, but this 113bhp 1.6-litre unit we’ve
got is spot on, I actually thought it was going to feel really lethargic, but it doesn’t.
300Nm of torque, plenty of get-up and go, it’s great.
And the throw in this six-speed manual isn’t too long either.
Now on paper this 1.6-litre claims to return an average of 55mpg.
We’ve been getting around 48mpg, which isn’t bad at all.
And, just for the record, CO2 stands at 133g/km.
So, what will the Spacetourer cost you.
Well, it’s quite expensive to be honest, anything from £30,000 upwards.
Or if it’s like our model, with a few options, around £35,000.
That’s not ludicrously more expensive than rivals by no means, it’s just a lot more
than seven seat MPVs like the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso or the Ford Galaxy.
So if you are thinking about buying Spacetourer, make sure you’re really going to use those
nine seats.
And if you’d like to watch a video review of other large passenger cars like this one,
then click on the link at the top of the screen etc.