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There is now an embarrassment of riches in the heavy van world and Citroën hopes its Relay will take the company's reputation forward in this hotly-contested sector.
With the heavy van sector in its best shape ever in terms of choice and ability, it is increasingly difficult to find a real turkey. They do exist, but you would have to be either pretty hard up or just plain bonkers to purposely end up with one.
And with such strong ability from all the main players, it is becoming harder to separate them in terms of overall standing. The Sevel project (incorporating Citroën, Fiat and Peugeot) is among the most important of the new breed due to the involvement of not two but three marques and the overall size of the range.
Of the three, Citroën is the UK's market leader in terms of sales so we have decided to put a 3.5-tonne version of its Relay to the test.
Available in four GVWs - 3.0,3.3,3.5 and, new to the range, 4.0 tonnes - there is an equally wide range of payloads, starting at 1,155kg and topping out at 2,295kg.
Power comes from two common-rail turbo-diesels: a 2.2-litre producing either 100hp or 120hp and a 3.0-litre unit with 160hp.
Standard equipment has taken a step forward with the most significant new inclusion being Trafficmaster's Smartnav, complete with its Trackstar stolen-vehicle tracking system: subscription to both services is three years.
There is also ABS with EBD (electronic brake distribution), remote central locking, electric windows and heated door mirrors and CD player.
Prices start at £13,750 for the 30 L1 SWB 2.2100 and reach £24,850 for the 40 L4H3 3.0 160. We've gone for one of the most popular configurations in the range - a 35 L3H2120 coming in at a basic list price of £20,950.
Options on this example include metallic paint (£300), ESP/traction control (£310), air-con (£700) and rear parking assist (£200).
Warranty is three years/100,000 miles and servicing is now up to 25,000 miles depending on usage.
Productivity
While its fuel consumption was not outstanding, the Relay did enough to keep it in the race. A laden...