BY BRIAN BYRNE
IN the last few years I haven’t reviewed that many vans, easing back on a bit of my workload and opting out of the Irish Van of the Year jury on which I have served for decades. But I always liked vans, and still do.
A panel van is an honest vehicle, with a specific purpose that nevertheless spans everything the world needs in delivering our daily needs. It’s a shifter of goods of every kind. It can be in passenger form as an economical small bus, or a luxury car for small groups touring or hotel transfers. It can be a mobile fridge, or a travelling holiday residence (I’m thinking here of a VW pop-top we drove once from Liverpool to Land’s End and back with our then small two eldest children. Even though it was an undeniably fun trip, it kind of cured me early on of the ‘romance’ of the camper van open road).
The Mercedes-Benz Vito has been around as a panel van since 1996. It’s in its third generation, and my reason for looking at it now is a refresh that took place in 2024. The changes helped win the light commercial vehicle the Irish Van of the Year 2025.
Most vans have an inevitable boxy look at the business end, the space that carries boxes of various shapes and sizes. Vito stands out because it has this gently swooping profile. Its distinctiveness has helped to make it an owner-operator favourite van. Not a mass-market LCV in fleet terms, the buyer profile is very much the one-man van. This is reflected in the fact that seven out of ten owners opt for the automatic transmission which my review vehicle had, a much higher ratio than normal fleet vans in the medium segment. When you’re spending your day in a mobile place of work and you’re paying for it yourself, you’ll spend that bit extra for things that will make your life easier.
External changes in last year’s facelift included a bigger grille with a revised bumper and fascia, as well as an upgraded headlights system. The small M-B badge mounted on the bonnet is another tell-tale for the design nerds. Two sliding side doors are standard. My version was the long wheelbase, a hauler of stuff up to the 675kg payload that would make it either a good small packages delivery vehicle or a craftsman’s mobile workshop.
More significant changes in the cabin are notably in the infotainment and driving information areas, now fully up to scratch with the MBUX systems which Mercedes provide in their passenger cars. The centre screen is large, housed in a glossy premium look, and there are no-nonsense manual buttons and switches for climate and volume. The driving instruments are analogue in style and bright, with some nice colour in the variable information screen between the dials. Trim was up to car standard throughout and while there were just two seats (cheaper versions have three), they were upgraded ones which included heating for both driver and co-driver.
The driving position in Vito has always been good, with a high view down over the front. A reversing camera was part of the review car’s spec, which I have always said should be mandatory for all vans. All the latest driver-assist systems are present.
Apart from a small number of electrics, all the Vitos sold here are powered by a 2-litre 190hp diesel that has been in the van since the 2020 generation change. But it has been around longer than that in the passenger cars, so it is well understood. With the nine-speed automatic that debuted in the E-Class not too many years ago, it makes for a really smooth powertrain in the Vito.
I gave it a few good drives while in my charge, including taking advantage of its capacity to shift long overdue stuff from home to my local environmental facility. On my more normal trips on both motorway and town driving, I decided the Vito in this format is a space where I’d be very comfortable in all-day working.
