There are several hundred Transit Custom derivatives from which to choose, with most being centred around the Panel Van bodystyle. Adding people to the packaging mix means you might want to look at the Double-Cab-in-Van bodystyle with its extra rearward seats in front of the load bay. Or, if you want to give the whole space over to the carriage of people, there's a 9-seater Kombi minibus. If you want something even more luxurious than that, there's a smarter, more luxurious 8 or 9-seater Tourneo passenger bodystyle, but Ford really now considers this as a passenger car product and a decent alternative to really large MPVs for bigger families.
Here though, our main focus is on Transit Custom Panel Vans. Price-wise, most models will be sold in the £25,000 to £30,000 (ex-VAT) bracket that's common to the medium range van class. In rough terms, you need to be looking at adding around £700 to the cost of any given short wheelbase variant if you want to upgrade it to beefier long wheelbase spec. You can also talk to your dealer about the higher roof bodystyle also developed for this van which will only cost a few hundred pounds more.
Optional advanced driver assist technology includes the 'Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection emergency braking system', 'Lane Keeping Alert', 'Side Wind Stabilisation' and 'Adaptive Cruise Control'. Plus you can also have an 'Intelligent Speed Limiter', a 'Traffic Sign Recognition' system and 'Rear Cross Traffic Alert' to help you when reversing out of spaces.
As for rivals, well they're many and varied of course. Short and long wheelbase Transit Custom models compete mainly with Medium-sized vans like Vauxhall's Vivaro, Renault's Traffic, VW's Transporter, Mercedes' Vito, Peugeot's Expert and Citroen's Dispatch. You'll need the fully fledged model just known as 'Transit' (or in Ford-speak as the '2 Tonner') if you want the next class up from this.
