CV TEST: TOYOTA PROACE CITY
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Its siblings may have beaten it to the market but the Toyota Proace City still has a few aces up its sleeve to compete with psa, says Andrew Walker
A CV that’s fun in the city! Toyota was a little late to the party with the launch of its latest small van, the Proace City, earlier this year. Like its larger sibling the Proace, the Proace City is virtually identical to the Citroen Berlingo Van, Peugeot Partner and Vauxhall Combo Cargo, being built on the same PSA Group platform, and all the above beat it to market. But Toyota was keeping something up its sleeve: slightly different specs and equipment, with the Proace City entry model better equipped than its siblings in a bold targeting of small businesses and SMEs. First and foremost, the Proace City is offered in two body lengths – L1 and L2 – and comes with cargo volumes of 3.3 and 3.9 cubic metres, with a single roof height. And, there are two trims as well, Active and Icon. Two engines are offered, both PSA 1.5 diesels, with either 75bhp or 100bhp and a 5-speed manual gearbox. There’s no auto 52 | October 2020 | Company Car & Van
version, and nor is Toyota offering the largest 130bhp PSA engine either. And there’s another caveat, in that the L2 van is only available in top-spec Icon trim. While choice is therefore a little limited, to be different, Toyota is offering twin-sliding side doors on both L1 and L2, while only the L2 versions of the Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall offer this, so that’s good news. Also standard on the range is a full steel bulkhead and if you order the entry level Active, you can add the twin passenger seat option, which includes the through load fold down back; that’s perfect for longer items, while the full steel bulkhead is a real safety must-have. Standard kit is impressive too, with air-con, a USB socket and Bluetooth on Active. We were testing the L1 Icon and this adds an excellent 8” touchscreen, with connected Apps for Apple Car Lay and Android Auto, front and rear
parking sensors, a red view camera, cruise control, a second USB, DAB and daytime running lights. Both models feature excellent safety kit. Active comes with driver and passenger airbags, an option on its PSA siblings, curtain airbags, hill start, downhill assist, stability control and brakeforce distribution. Icons adds a speed limiter, tyre pressure monitors and a supplemental restraint system (SRS) on the two airbags. Only Icon models can be fitted with an alarm with motion and tamper sensors, while the Toyota Safety Sense system, which adds road sign assist, lane departure warning and tiredness alert, is also only offered on Icon variants too. Service intervals are 25,000 miles or two years. Both models feature a 50-litre fuel tank and a 17-litre AdBlue tank. Proace City benefits from Toyota’s five-year/100,000-mile warranty, while the PSA Group versions only get three years of cover, albeit with the same 100,000mile limit. We were testing the Icon SWB powered by the larger 100 bhp engine. Top speed is 107 mph, with 0-62 mph reached in 11.5 seconds. CO2 emissions are 151g/km with combined fuel economy on the WLTP cycle between 46.31 and 50.44 MPG. Continued on page 54 www.companycarandvan.co.uk
