Work and racy return as Ford prices new Transit Custom Sport

Announced for South Africa at its 100th anniversary celebration event last year, Ford has officially confirmed pricing of the new Transit Custom Sport.

SWB vs LWB

Joining the long wheelbase introduced in June, the Sport also marks the return of the short wheelbase bodystyle with its overall length being 400 mm shorter than its siblings at 5 050 mm.

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Retaining the 5.8 m³ loading volume and space for three Euro palettes behind the steel bulkhead though, the Sport has a claimed payload of 1 023 kg – 246 kg less than the long wheelbase – a tow rating of 2 500 kg for a braked trailer and, unlike its sibling, a pair of sliding side doors as standard.

Go faster appearance

Still with the dual barn-style rear doors capable of opening 180-degrees, the Sport’s easy-to-spot exterior differences over the regular Transit Custom, besides its length, includes LED headlights, colour coded bumpers and door handles, LED daytime running lights and matte black multi-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels.

Along with extended door sills, model specific bumpers and a rear spoiler integrated into the roof, the grille gains a matte black honeycomb pattern that extends to the lower air intake, and the dual black racing stripes across the roof and bonnet a blue outer surround.

A Sport badge on the doors rounds the exterior off, together with black-and-blue decals at the base of the front doors and the outer edges of the front bumper.

Inside

Inside, the additions are equally small, but not discreet as the seats receive blue accents and striping, while a piano-key black finish adorns the rim of the 13-inch touchscreen infotainment system as well as the 12-inch digital instrument cluster.

Unsurprisingly, Ford has ramped the Sport’s specification level up considerably by equipping it as standard with a wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control, a pair of type-C USB ports, electric adjustability for the driver’s seat and a cooled upper glovebox.

The seats themselves are also heated – only the outer chair in the case of the passenger – with the final inclusions being the illuminated loading area LED light and six tie-down hooks integrated into the loading area floor, both carried over from the long wheelbase.

On the safety side, the Transit Custom Sport gets six airbags as standard, one dropping down from the roof, as well as front and rear parking sensors, a 180-degree reverse camera, Adaptive Cruise Control and a tyre pressure monitor.

Additional items include;

• Reverse Brake Assist;
• Hill Start Assist;
• Blind Spot Monitoring;
• Driver Attention Alert;
• Pre-Collision Assist;
• Autonomous Emergency Braking;
• Lane Keep Assist;
• Evasive Steer Assist;
• Collision Mitigation Assist;
• Traffic Sign Recognition;
• Rollover Mitigation

More power

On the power front, the Sport is again motivated by the single turbo 2.0-litre Panther diesel engine, but with 25kW/30Nm more than the short wheelbase for a total of 125kW/390Nm.

Sending the amount of twist to the front wheels now falls to a steering column-mounted eight-speed automatic gearbox instead of the former’s six-speed manual.

While also carried over, the drive mode selector receives a Sport setting to go with the existing Eco, Slippery, Normal and Tow/Haul, with the 20-litre AdBlue solution also standard.

Price

Now available, the Transit Custom Sport’s price tag includes a four-year/120 000 km warranty with a six-year/90 000 km service plan a cost option as per the Right to Repair stipulations.

• Transit Custom 2.0 SiT LWB – R756 500
• Transit Custom 2.0 SiT Sport SWB AT – R932 500

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