The Ford Transit has long been a symbol of working life in the UK, and its claim to be the 'Backbone of Britain' is not too preposterous at all. Indeed, FN50's recent van reliability survey had the Transit as the country's most dependable van, as voted for by leading contract hire and leasing companies. Second position is held by Ford too, with the Transit Connect.
Some will say that beating off competition from Mercedes Benz's Sprinter and Volkswagen's Transporter and Caddy (occupying the 3rd, 4th and 5th spots respectively) is the swan song of the Southampton factory that builds the Transit. The plant is being shut down as part of a huge savings drive by Ford, which will see thousands of redundancies not only in the UK but Belgium too.
To many automotive commentators it will seem odd that such a success story is resulting in the closure of the factory that made it possible. Any factory that can build such a reliable van must be doing something right, especially if it is deemed more dependable than vehicles from that powerhouse of reliable engineering, Germany. While having to buy van breakdown cover will always be deemed a necessary purchase, it seems Transit owners depend on theirs less than most.
But despite the demise of all UK-based Ford manufacturing, important design units will continue to operate, as mentioned in comments made by Mark Ovenden, managing director of Ford of Britain: 'Ford is extremely proud that the Transit and Transit Connect have taken the top two spots in this reliability survey which is based on hard facts. This is a tribute to the passion and dedication of our designers and engineers at Dunton who make quality the highest priority, and which has kept Ford at the top of the UK Commercial Vehicle market for over 46 years.'
The top 10 vans in the survey are as follows, with last years' positions in brackets.
1.Ford Transit (4)
2.Ford Transit Connect (2)
3.Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (1)
4.Volkswagen Transporter (5)
5.Volkswagen Caddy (3)
6.Mercedes-Benz Vito
7.Vauxhall Vivaro
8.Renault Trafic
9.Vauxhall Movano
10.Citroen Berlingo
Breakdown Cover from 
