The What Van? Road Test: Citroen Relay 35 review

With strong diesel engines, a respectable payload capacity and long service intervals, it has some advantages, however, and operators might consider putting it on their shopping lists.

Both produced by the PSA Group, the Relay and Peugeot’s Boxer are identical apart from their badges. They share their basic design with Fiat Professional’s Ducato thanks to a long-standing joint-venture agreement between PSA and Fiat.

We’ve been taking a look at the latest, Euro6 version of the Relay van. The old 2.2-litre diesel has gone. Power now comes courtesy of a 2.0-litre BlueHDi diesel at 110hp, 130hp or 160hp depending on which version you pick, with gross weights of 3,000kg, 3,300kg, 3,500kg or 4,005kg. Load cubes are at 8m3, 10m3, 11.5m3, 13m3, 15m3 or 17m3 while payload capacities run from 1,140kg to 1,995kg.

The Relay is also produced as a chassis cab and as a chassis crew cab, and marketed with tipper, dropside, Luton, car transporter and plant bodies under Citroen’s Ready to Run programme. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard across the range and you can pick from two levels of trim – entry-level and Enterprise.

We got to grips with a 130hp 13m3 3.5t Enterprise van – the sort of workhorse that is regularly acquired by businesses all over the UK, and with more frills than most.

LOAD AREA

Access to the cargo bay is by means of a sliding nearside door plus twin rear doors that can be swung through 90°. Press a couple of buttons – one for each door – and they can be pushed through 180°.

A step set into the back bumper aids rear access. All the doors are opaque and open to reveal a proliferation of load tie-down points.

Our test van featured six mounted on the floor, two at waist height on the nearside, three at waist height on the offside and two at the base of the solid-steel bulkhead.

Its presence will help protect the occupants of the cab should something unsecured hurtle forwards under heavy braking. Look above the bulkhead and you will see a large shelf – just the place to put your load lashing straps.

The cargo bed is protected by a tailored cover and it’s good to see too that the protection is extended to encompass the vulnerable wheel boxes, and that panels protect the sides from minor scratches and scrapes.

With an unglazed bulkhead and rear doors we were pleased to see that Citroen had provided reversing sensors. And if you are contemplating carrying a ladder on the roof, then it is worth noting that integral roof rack mounting points are installed.

CAB AND EQUIPMENT

Even the most critical reviewer would not be able to complain about a lack of  storage space in the three-seater cab. Drivers have so many places to put all the bits and bobs they need to carry around with them that the only danger they face is forgetting where they put what.
Admittedly the glove box isn’t huge but there are two big shelves above it plus a shallow lidded compartment on top of the fascia. Next to it is a pop-up clipboard that can be used to hold delivery instructions.

There are shelves either side of the clipboard, a full-width shelf above the windscreen and a shelf in the console that sticks out from the middle of the dashboard and also plays host to a couple of cup-holders. Unfortunately, the console restricts the middle passenger’s legroom. Flip down the centre section of the back of the middle passenger seat and it turns into a desk complete with a pen tray, a clip to keep your paperwork tidy and two more cup-holders – one big, one small.

You will find two bins in each of the doors.  In each case the lower of the pair is remarkably deep, so much so that it can be difficult to reach items lying in the bottom from the driver’s or the outboard passenger’s seat. Look under the driver’s seat and you will find a tray – something we only discovered after several days with Relay – and there is yet another shelf to the right of the steering wheel.

The quality of the plastic trim leaves something to be desired and one aspect of the cab that really irks us is the way in which the steering wheel is slightly offset to the left so the driver is not sitting directly in front of it. One assumes it is a quirk of the conversion from left- to right-hand drive and it is one we could do without. At least the wheel is height- and reach-adjustable. So is the height of the driver’s seat cushion, and the seat back comes with an adjustable lumbar support.

Another mild annoyance is the positioning of the handbrake lever familiar from previous Relays, which sits between the driver’s door and seat. If you are wearing a jacket then you can pretty much guarantee that it will become entangled with the lever every time you climb out. Nor does it always fully release the parking brake first time round.

Electric windows and electrically adjustable and heated exterior mirrors with a fixed lower wide-angle section all form part of the deal. Other standard features include a multi-function trip computer, a 12V power socket – you will find another in the load area – and a driver’s airbag.

Teletrac Smartnav satellite navigation is standard too – a praiseworthy initiative that includes stolen vehicle tracking – and employs a detachable colour screen mounted on top of the dashboard close to the A-pillar on the driver’s side. It seems a little old-fashioned given that most manufacturer-installed satnavs employ a built-in screen positioned in the centre of the dashboard these days.

As it happens, a five-inch colour touchscreen with Bluetooth compatibility, audio streaming and SMS was fitted along with a MP3-compatible CD player and a DAB radio with steering wheel-mounted buttons. So was air-conditioning, and it is pleasing to be able to use nice, chunky, heating and ventilation controls rather than little fiddly ones.

POWERTRAIN

The Relay’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine comes with high-pressure common-rail direct fuel injection. Maximum power makes its presence felt at 3,750rpm while top torque of 350Nm bites at 1,750rpm.

CHASSIS AND STEERING

The Relay comes with independent front suspension with MacPherson-type struts while trailing arm suspension helps support the rear. Our demonstrator’s 15-inch steel wheels were shod with Bridgestone Duravis 215/70 R15C tyres. Power-assisted steering delivers a 14.14m turning circle between kerbs. Disc brakes are fitted all round and the safety systems installed include ABS, electronic stability control and emergency brake assist.

PERFORMANCE

The Relay handles surprisingly well and you can push it hard through bends without having to worry that you will come unstuck – unless, of course, you do something really foolish. Our demonstrator nipped away sharply from rest, accelerated strongly through the
gears and cruised the motorways quite happily at the maximum permitted speed limit.
It did so reasonably frugally too.

We averaged around 44mpg over a mixture of routes running either half-laden or empty. Unusually – and perhaps recognising the degree to which official fuel returns have been discredited – Citroen quotes minimum and maximum combined-cycle mpg figures. They are 42.8mpg and 47.1mpg, respectively.

Unfortunately, the gear change was notchy and clonky, which impeded our progress, and the ride turned out to be adequate rather than outstanding. It was the level of in-cab noise that really concerned us, however – especially under acceleration – and we were obliged to turn up the radio on more than one occasion because the broadcast was being drowned out by the din.

With tougher penalties promised for speeding offences it is perhaps just as well that cruise control with a variable speed limiter was provided. It should help to keep you legal.

BUYING AND RUNNING

The Citroen Relay is covered by a three-year/100,000-mile warranty with no mileage limit in the first two years. Roadside assistance is included for the first year.

A five-year anti-perforation corrosion warranty and a two-year paintwork warranty form part of the deal too.

Service intervals are set at two years/30,000 miles.

As well as the usual immobiliser, our Relay was protected by a perimetric anti-theft alarm plus a Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking system, which is standard – an excellent move implemented some time ago.

All the doors lock automatically once the vehicle is in motion.

Finally, rubbing strips are fitted to the sides and rear doors to protect them from minor damage and the use of a three-piece front bumper means it will not have to be replaced in its entirety if only one section happens to come to grief.

Citroen Relay 35 L3H2 BlueHDi 130 Enterprise Van

Added Extras: Hardtop (£1,774)

RIVALS

Ford Transit

• Price (ex VAT) £23,120-£39,270

• Load volume 9.5-15.1m3

• Gross payload 872-2,169kg

• Engine 105hp, 130hp, 170hp 2.0 diesel

Not as British as some people seem to think it is, the Transit nonetheless still occupies a special place in the UK van market. Responsive engines and a slick gear change help, as do sharp handling, a sensibly-designed cab and a well-judged package of safety measures. Used values are exemplary while running costs remain competitive.

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

• Price (ex VAT) £22,860-£46,930

• Load volume 7.5-17m3

• Gross payload 714-2,510kg

• Engine 112hp, 140hp, 163hp 2.1 diesel, 190hp 3.0 diesel, 156hp 1.8 petrol/cng

It’s no accident that supermarket home delivery fleets and parcels companies acquire Sprinters in such large numbers. They recognise that the vehicle’s robust construction means that it will stand up to the hammering it will receive in service. To that can be added first-class engines, a high standard of safety and exemplary aftermarket support.

Vauxhall Movano

• Price (ex VAT) £23,345-£38,765

• Load volume 7.8-17.0m³

• Gross payload 920-2,200kg

• Engine 110hp, 130hp, 145hp, 163hp, 170hp 2.3 diesel

For your money you get decent engines, plenty of cargo space, respectable payload capacity and one or two neat design ideas to make the driver’s life a bit easier. Bear in mind that although there are some styling differences it shares the same basic design as that of Renault’s Master and Nissan’s NV400 which may give you some scope to play the three makes off against one another to secure the best deal.