Test Car Specifications
Model: 2024 Ford Tourneo Courier Active 1.0 EcoBoost
Price: £28,140 as tested
Engine: 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol
Transmission: six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power: 125hp
Torque: 170Nm
Emissions: 153g/km
Economy: 42.2mpg
0-62mph: 13.0 seconds
Top speed: 109mph
Boot space: 570-2,162 litres
Styling
Given its roots in the commercial vehicle market, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the Tourneo Courier is boxy, but it’s boxy in a surprisingly attractive kind of way. Yes, the Active specification, with its chunky bumpers and so on, helps to give it a bit of SUV style, but the Tourneo’s basic shape has some of that about it anyway. The Active just accentuates it, and with the contrast roof, gives this the air of a baby Defender. Of course, it isn’t a baby Defender in any way — it doesn’t even have all-wheel drive — but it looks cool enough to threaten the bounds of desirability, and that’s quite something for an MPV that started life as a small van.
Interior
But while the van origins story may be disguised on the outside, it's less easy to hide in the cabin. But even that isn't the indictment it might once have been. The days of properly crummy commercial vehicle cabins, complete with plastic from a box of chocolates, are gone and the Transit Courier's dash is surprisingly smart. As a result, the Tourneo Courier's is, too.
Yes, some of the plastics feel a bit cheap in places, but the design is reasonably smart and you get two screens: a central touchscreen and a digital instrument display. While the latter is a bit small and lacking some configuration options, it's functional and easy enough to read, while the former uses Ford's latest touchscreen infotainment tech to good effect. It isn't expansive or impressive, but it works well enough and it's easy to navigate.
It's a shame the climate control (standard on the Titanium but not on the Active) had to be hidden away in there, but the screen is sharp enough to prevent this from being a disaster.
Practicality
What really averts disaster for the Tourneo, however, is the sheer space on offer. The car fills a relatively compact footprint — it’s barely larger than a VW Golf hatchback — but it has a huge amount of space inside. Sure, it’s only available in five-seat form, and that’ll be a disappointment to some, but there’s a huge amount of headroom and ample rear legroom, so four people really can occupy the car in complete comfort. And though the fifth seat is only really for occasional use, it’s more useful than in most hatchbacks.
But boot space is the big draw, and the Tourneo Courier has heaps of it. With all five seats upright, the boot measures a huge 570 litres, and that’s only with the luggage bay loaded to the window line. Fill it to the roof, and its boxy shape means it’s even more practical than that. And if you fold the back seats down, you’ll free up more than 2,100 litres of carrying space, which is frankly enormous. And that’s before you put anything on the roof or in the massive shelf above the windscreen. The storage opportunities in there are immense.
Performance
Ford is set to offer the Tourneo Courier in electric form, with the E-Tourneo Courier, but that will have to wait for its own review. For the time being, there's just one engine available in the more conventionally powered Courier model, and that's the 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine used to such great effect in other compact Fords. In the Tourneo, the three-cylinder, turbocharged engine sends 125hp to the front wheels, which is more sufficient than the 13-second 0-62mph might have you believe. The car feels quicker than that, even though it's never going to feel like a hot hatchback.
And anyway, economy is a greater consideration for customers than performance, and it's perfectly reasonable on that front, too. Officially, you're looking at economy of just over 40mpg, no matter whether you choose the six-speed manual gearbox or the optional automatic. We'd stick with the manual, which is light and slick (not to mention cheaper), and though the lack of all-wheel drive is a pity for something that looks this rugged, the decision to stick with a front-wheel-drive layout means the official economy is achievable on a long run.
Ride & Handling
Given the 125hp power output, the van underpinnings and the boxy shape, it's no surprise to find the Tourneo Courier's focus is not on performance. But that doesn't mean it can't give you a pleasant surprise on that front. The steering is straight from a Ford car, so it's brilliantly precise and smooth, and the body is better controlled than you might expect from something so tall. As a result, the Tourneo Courier is easy to place and more entertaining on a back road than it has any right to be. It's refined, too, because although there's a fair bit of wind noise, that EcoBoost petrol engine is pretty quiet and even when it's pushed it still makes quite a pleasant thrum.
That works with a supple, but far from perfect suspension set-up that betrays the car's lineage. The front suspension is brilliant, and it soaks up the bumps very well, but the rear is clearly designed to deal with large loads, so the Tourneo Courier feels a bit stiff when there's nothing in the back. Even so, the ride is comparable with family hatchbacks such as the Ford Focus and MPVs such as the Dacia Jogger, even if it isn't quite as comfortable as class leaders such as the Peugeot 308.
Value
To get something this roomy, you might expect to pay £40,000 or so, but the Tourneo Courier starts at just under £26,000 in Titanium form. That pays for touchscreen infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as heated seats, a heated steering wheel and climate control, not to mention Ford's brilliant heated windscreen and automatic lights and wipers. It's pretty comprehensive.
The Active model tested here, meanwhile, comes in at £27,220 and adds satellite navigation and the SUV styling to the Titanium equipment, but it goes without the climate control system. Given you get all that kit and all that space for less than you'd pay for a basic Focus, the value for money is beyond doubt.
Verdict
With heaps of space and equipment, the Tourneo Courier offers a lot of car for the money, and that will be enough to convince some customers immediately. Add in the surprisingly pleasant road manners and the pseudo-SUV styling and you’ve got something with bags of appeal. It probably won’t take sales away from the SUV hordes – it’s a bit too niche for that – but while it doesn’t quite tip the scales of cool, it does have something cool about it, and we rather admire that.
