RUST magazine: RUST#32

Mercedes Vito Sport 119 CDI LWB
AN S-CLASS VAN?!
Mercedes Vito Sport 119 CDI LWB
You may travel coach, my friend. But I, I demand business class. Mercedes
are putting more luxury than ever into the humble van. And yes, we like…
words: Alex Waters images: Jon Bentman
ith RUST’s trusty but
sporty Ford Transit otherwise
engaged, we needed
another set of wheels
to transport two bikes and
gear from distributor to
location for the Scrambler feature in
this issue. Mercedes were our knights in
shining gunmetal-armour, kindly agreeing
to lend us their latest Vito Sport. We
requested the LWB version as we needed
to get two medium sized bikes and
associated kit stashed inside.
In recent years there seems to be a whole
new level of car-like refinement filtering
down (or is it up?) to vans. Each van range
now has its top of the line fancy option, be
it a Transporter Sportline with VW, the
Custom Sportvan with Ford Transit or
the Vito Sport here with Mercedes. These
vans are pumping out serious horsepower,
a fair 190hp with this van, so they can haul
ass when needed, but are also offering the
creature comforts of a high-end saloon. And
they’re becoming increasingly economic with
fuel economy that beats that of family cars of
only recent history. We love them!
Our Sport version, here, accordingly
has Mercedes’ ‘7G-TRONIC’ seven-speed
automatic transmission complete with
paddle shifts (very Lewis Hamilton), stop/
start technology (a nod to the greens there),
driver assist (not a Cornish Pasty holder but
a sensor that detects and alerts to driver fatigue),
cruise control, ESP (no, it doesn’t read
your mind, but a computer micro-manages
the van’s load and performance to ensure
maximum safety) and a host of exterior
styling touches like colour-coded bumpers,
not to mention the 17” alloys (gotta have
alloys). You can even choose between front
or rear wheel drive and the 2017 range offers
w
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