Item: Toyota Proace City
Rating: 4
Author: What Car? Team

Citroen Berlingo Van

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Toyota Proace City

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Introduction

Performance & drive

Interior

Passenger & boot space

Costs & verdict

Toyota has a reputation for reliability, but the Proace City is technically not a Toyota product in the same way a <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/toyota/hilux/pick-up/review/n17270">Toyota Hilux</a> pick-up truck is. That doesn’t, however, stop the brand from putting an impressive five-year/100,000 miles warranty on the van.

That’s especially impressive given that the same van from Citroën, Peugeot and Vauxhall comes with a three-year/60,000 mile warranty. Clearly, Toyota backs both its partners and the quality of the product&nbsp;on offer.

Standard specification, even on the entry-level Active vans, is also very high, and in comparison to its siblings the two-tier trim range offers more value for your money, especially if you choose the more expensive Icon.

The Icon is definitely the version we would recommend due to its more modern infotainment screen, along with the more powerful 98bhp engine option it offers, which gives&nbsp;a more relaxed drive at higher speeds. The more powerful engine also performs marginally better on fuel economy, with a claimed consumption of just over 65mpg; the 74bhp unit falls just shy of that mark.

Safety features include the mandatory ABS and stability control as well as hill start assistance and an emergency calling function. A tyre pressure warning system is standard, which is upgraded to a more advanced monitoring system on the Icon trim. Other Icon specific additions include an adjustable speed limiter, cruise control and an electronic parking brake.

The Proace City also comes with the option of an additional Safety Sense pack, which includes a pre-collision system, road sign recognition, lane departure warning and a driver fatigue alert system.

However, the PSA Group vans are offered with a healthy amount of aditional options that include enhanced grip functions, blind spot detection and even an onboard weighing system. The Proace City’s list of extras is much more limited.

As a brand-new name in the light commercial vehicle segment, the Proace City has nothing to live up to, but it does have a lot of competition to compete against. Fortunately, the PSA Group van on which it is based on is a great place to start.

The small van was named International Van of the Year when it was launched and has gone on to receive a whole host of awards, thanks in part to how it's designed. It cleverly combines elements of&nbsp;recent Peugeot-Citroën passenger car models with a conventional, boxy&nbsp;van rear end, and this&nbsp;means&nbsp;you’ll find the front half to be comfortable, quiet and fun to drive, while the rear is as practical as a workman’s tool belt.

The 1.5-litre engine – also PSA-derived – may be small in capacity, but it is refined, quiet and eager in its performance. Of the two power ratings available for the Proace City, 74bhp or 98bhp, we’d recommend the higher&nbsp;output as it gives you more flexibility when carrying heavier loads. Both pull well, with early availability of torque, but it’s in the mid-to-high rev range where the more powerful unit performs better.

A five-speed manual gearbox is the only choice for both engines, its gearing being better matched with the more powerful engine, especially when travelling at higher speeds. It doesn’t have the nicest of shift actions, but it’s acceptable.

For a city van, though, the option of an automatic would be a welcome addition, especially as the eight-speed auto available on the Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Vauxhall Combo is one of the best examples of a two-pedal transmission in the small van segment, and is ideally suited to the vans that offer&nbsp;it.

The Proace City does stand out, however, for delivering a settled ride that is on the soft&nbsp;side in comparison with&nbsp;many vans, but that is matched with sharp handling that helps to confirm that this little city van shares DNA with some of Peugeot and Citroën’s best new vehicles.

Toyota&nbsp;vans aren't quite as ubiquitous as some,&nbsp;but you’d be foolish to let their relative rarity on the roads put you off putting the brand on your shortlist.

They're certainly well-proven; in fact, the Toyota Proace City shares almost everything with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whatcar.com/citroen/berlingo-cv/van/review/n18480">Citroen Berlingo</a>, <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/peugeot/partner/van/review/n20209">Peugeot Partner</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/vauxhall/combo-cargo/van/review/n18391">Vauxhall Combo Cargo</a>, which&nbsp;were jointly developed by the&nbsp;PSA Group.

It gets the same 1.5-litre diesel engine with either 74bhp or 98bhp outputs and is paired to a manual five-speed gearbox. It also meets Euro-6.2 emissions levels without the need for AdBlue.

However, whereas the PSA trio are available with petrol engines and an automatic gearbox, <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/make/toyota">Toyota</a> has decided to keep the Proace City range simple, pitching it towards businesses while underlining its working capabilities. (There is an&nbsp;electric version though&nbsp;– if that appeals to you, check out our full <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/toyota/proace-city-electric/van/review/n23710">Toyota Proace City Electric review</a>)

There are two trim levels, entry-level Active and&nbsp;more upmarket Icon. Equally simply, there are two body lengths – short or long – and just one roof height.

While parallels can easily be drawn between the Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall vans, the Proace City must also compete against the <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/ford/transit-connect/van/review/n18510">Ford Transit Connect</a>, <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/volkswagen/caddy/van/review/n18482">Volkswagen Caddy</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/renault/kangoo/van/review/n18460">Renault Kangoo</a>.

If you’re after some interior design originality, then look away; while the Peugeot Partner gets its own cabin design, the Vauxhall, Citroën and now Toyota share a broadly similar cab.

Fortunately, that means Proace City vans get a&nbsp;spacious interior, with 15 storage compartments ranging from places to put coins through to compartments large enough to store a bulky item like a laptop. There’s an under-seat pull-out tray, as well as a fold-down table on the three-seater versions. Both trim levels&nbsp;come with overhead storage as standard along with an air-cooled glovebox. However, it is worth noting that entry-level Active vans get open storage compartments in the dash, while the Icon gets covered storage.

Other standard items include air-conditioning, automatic headlights, heated electric door mirrors, one-touch windows, twin sliding side doors and 180 degree opening rear doors. There’s also a DAB radio with USB and Bluetooth, a rubber-lining for the load bay floor and a full-metal bulkhead – rather than a metal grate or half height bulkhead and mesh found in many small vans.

It’s a generous specification for the standard van but there is one noticeable difference between the two trim levels that is worth considering; only Icon gets an 8in colour display with <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/advice/owning/what-is-apple-carplay/n1193">Apple CarPlay</a> and <a href="https://www.whatcar.com/advice/owning/what-is-android-auto/n1194">Android Auto</a>, with Active vans instead getting a basic monochrome display, as well as missing out on the steering wheel-mounted controls.

We’d certainly recommend Icon: it delivers&nbsp;more usability and a much better interior look and will be a much more desirable model when it comes to resale.

Toyota is a company undergoing a quiet revolution, as it works hard to replace its sensible but somewhat bland reputation with one for being a bit more daring, in areas such as the styling of its cars and its enthusiastic leadership of cutting-edge technology, such as hybrid systems.

That process seems to be working for buyers, with the hugely popular and striking-looking C-HR SUV in particular attracting a great deal of interest. The latest version of the hybrid Prius is also rated highly by What Car?; it’s the first Prius to go on sale that our testers have felt can truly compete all round with existing petrol or diesel rivals.

However, it’s worth noting that this period of transition is also a work in progress, and that many of the firm’s cars are still rated as being no more than average among class rivals by our testers.

TOYOTA

ProAce City

The Toyota Proace City is based on a van developed and built by Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall, but it comes with a longer warranty and some interesting tech as standard

The part-car, part-van design of the Toyota Proace City means that it is exceptionally adept at combining the comfortable with the practical.

There are two body lengths Short and Long. Optional is a Smart Cargo system that provides a hatch in the bulkhead and enables the front passenger seat to be folded downwards, allowing&nbsp;certain kinds of load&nbsp;to run nearly the entire length of the van.

The overall length of the Toyota Proace City&nbsp;is 4403mm for the Short van and 4753mm for the Long models, providing a floor load length of 1817mm and 2167mm, respectively. The Smart Cargo system increases that to 3090mm for the Short van and 3440mm for the Long van. Load volume width is 1527mm at its widest and 1229mm between the wheel arches, with a load&nbsp;height of&nbsp;1270mm.

This means the Proace City has a maximum load volume of 3.3m3 for the Short van and 3.9m3 for the Long van, allowing space for two Euro pallets in the rear. Rear loading height for the Proace City ranges from 547mm to 625mm depending on specification, while the side doors have a 1072mm height aperture and a 641mm width at the narrowest point due to the slight incursion of the bulkhead.

Payloads range from 650kg to 1000kg depending on the gross vehicle weight that you choose; there are&nbsp;2-tonne and 2.4-tonne options available.

There are six load lashing points in the rear, and all vans come with a rubber floor covering as standard. Ply-lining for the sides and doors is available as an option.

It might be a Toyota in name only, but the Proace City is backed up by an impressive warranty and built on one of the best small vans in the segment. It’s comfortable and practical, but Citroën, Peugeot and Vauxhall equivalents do offer more in the way of choices.


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Read review covering Toyota Proace City boot space, size and dimensions, front and rear seat comfort by the expert What Car? test team.

The part-car, part-van design of the Toyota Proace City means that it is exceptionally adept at combining the comfortable with the practical.,There are two body lengths Short and Long. Optional is a Smart Cargo system that provides a hatch in the bulkhead and enables the front passenger seat to be folded downwards, allowing certain kinds of load to run nearly the entire length of the van.,The overall length of the Toyota Proace City is 4403mm for the Short van and 4753mm for the Long models, providing a floor load length of 1817mm and 2167mm, respectively. The Smart Cargo system increases that to 3090mm for the Short van and 3440mm for the Long van. Load volume width is 1527mm at its widest and 1229mm between the wheel arches, with a load height of 1270mm.This means the Proace City has a maximum load volume of 3.3m3 for the Short van and 3.9m3 for the Long van, allowing space for two Euro pallets in the rear. Rear loading height for the Proace City ranges from 547mm to 625mm depending on specification, while the side doors have a 1072mm height aperture and a 641mm width at the narrowest point due to the slight incursion of the bulkhead.,Payloads range from 650kg to 1000kg depending on the gross vehicle weight that you choose; there are 2-tonne and 2.4-tonne options available.,There are six load lashing points in the rear, and all vans come with a rubber floor covering as standard. Ply-lining for the sides and doors is available as an option.

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