New heavy-duty Ford Transit 5.0-tonne revealed

Ford has expanded the Transit range with this: the 5.0-tonne. Ford says it’s the most capable model in its commercial vehicle range, which offers competition for the MAN TGE and the largest Mercedes Sprinter. It’ll go on sale this November, with first deliveries expected to arrive before the end of the year.

Like its name suggests, the Ford Transit 5.0-tonne has a gross vehicle weight of 5,000kg. It can support a maximum payload of 2,383kg, which is 300kg more than the standard van. Ford also says the new model lends itself particularly well to conversions, such as tippers, police vans, ambulances and 19-seat minibuses.

To cope with the extra carrying capacity, Ford has beefed up the Transit’s mechanicals, adding uprated rear brakes, stronger hub assemblies, heavy-duty ancillaries and wider wheels and tyres. The van’s upper body has also been reinforced, to provide better support for greater cargo weights.

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There’s also an uprated rear axle and differential, which was lifted from the North American Transit and is rated for 3,500kg. This is paired with a stronger front axle, which offers an extra 225kg-worth of carrying capacity over the standard van alone.

Ford only offers one engine on the Transit 5.0-tonne. It’s a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel unit which has an output of 168bhp and, more importantly, 390Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, although buyers can have a ten-speed automatic gearbox as an optional extra.

When paired with the automatic gearbox, the engine offers a claimed WLTP fuel economy figure of 24.3mpg, while emissions figures stand at 305g/km of CO2. Buyers should also bear in mind that, due to the size and weight of the Transit 5.0-tonne, they’ll have to sit an additional driving test before they can legally drive the van on UK roads.

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