New Vauxhall Combo Cargo review

The Vauxhall Combo Cargo is in a market position that sounds like the start of a joke: "There was an English van, two French vans and an Italian van..."

You see, the Combo Cargo is one of four near-identical small van models from the Stellantis group – and sadly for Vauxhall, the Citroën Berlingo Van and Peugeot Partner outsell it (although not the Fiat Doblo Cargo). So are French manufacturers doing something special with their commercial vehicles?

In this review, we're taking a look at the newly updated Combo Cargo compact panel van, with its fresh gloss-black "razor" grille and slim LED headlights dominating the front end. It’s got a new bumper, and some other bits have been moved around and fiddled with slightly, but apart from the grille and lights, it’s much the same van as it’s been since 2018.

Inside, updates include a larger infotainment screen and a new digital driver's display on some models, and a four-spoke, slightly squared-off steering wheel.

Is that enough to propel the Vauxhall Combo Cargo to the top of the best small vans league – or are its rivals better? Read on to find out how we rate it against rivals, which also include the closely related Toyota Proace City plus the Ford Transit Connect, the Renault Kangoo and the VW Caddy Cargo…

Read more: How we test vans

Power options are kept to a minimum in the Vauxhall Combo Cargo: a 1.5-litre diesel engine is the only option. You can, however, choose to have it with either 98bhp or 128bhp.

The lower-powered engine will be the best seller, and that’s no bad thing — the four-cylinder unit is pleasantly smooth and packs enough power to keep up with all but the most enthusiastic drivers. The 98bhp is backed up by 184lb/ft of torque, all going through a rather notchy six-speed manual gearbox to the front wheels.

That's enough for it to feel very lively in town, whizzing from delivery to delivery. Vauxhall doesn’t publish performance figures for its vans, but the passenger car variant – the Combo Life – covers the 0-62mph sprint in 12.7 seconds. Without getting scientific about it, that feels about right for the van.

The surge of power, such that it is, runs out as speeds increase until it starts feeling a little strained. Once you’ve got it to motorway cruising speed, it settles down and remains a distant rumble in the background, behind the road noise and Heart FM playing on the radio.

Opting for the 128bhp model not only gets you more power but also more torque, topping out at 221lb/ft. There’s a smooth eight-speed automatic gearbox — apart from, inexplicably, a single trim level where you can choose a manual. You’ll get to 62mph a couple of seconds quicker and have a more relaxing drive, but you’ll pay the price at both the dealership (there’s a £2,400 premium) and the diesel pumps as efficiency drops by about 10%.

To keep running costs as low as possible – including avoiding any current ULEZ fees – there’s an electric van version. For more on that see our Vauxhall Combo Electric review.

At six years old, you might expect the Combo Cargo to start falling a little behind its rivals on the road, but the car-based chassis that underpins it means it's been endowed with strong road-holding, decent ride and predictable handling.

The Mercedes Citan offers a more engaging drive but has stiffer suspension so comfort isn't as good, while the Nissan Townstar and Renault Kangoo shift the balance the other way. The VW Caddy Cargo edges ahead, with a well-controlled chassis that the next-generation Ford Transit Connect will share, so the days of the Combo being best in class are behind it, but only just.

An optional Worksite pack can be added to the entry-level Prime trim vans. While not converting the Combo to a go-anywhere four-wheel-drive van, it does add underbody protection, all-terrain mud and snow tyres, a 30mm rise to the ride height, and a fancy traction control system to enable it to traverse a messy site compound without breaking a sweat.

While the updated Vauxhall Combo Cargo looks quite different from the outside, the changes inside are less significant. From the driver's seat, you might notice the new squared-off steering wheel but that’s about the extent of the changes, at least for the entry-level Prime model.

It remains a perfectly usable space (if an unexciting one) that’s well built and should prove hard-wearing. The scratchy plastics that cover most surfaces might not be the most pleasant to see or feel — and you’ll definitely feel them on your right elbow if you use the hard-topped door frame to rest your arm. The Combo Cargo, especially in Prime trim, is likely to be more of a work tool than a mobile office, so that's not unexpected.

Prime models are equipped with more than just the basics, but only just. You’ll get air conditioning, cruise control, heated door mirrors, parking sensors, automatic lights and a load of safety tech.

What you don’t get is an infotainment screen. Instead you’ll find a solid mobile phone mount bolted to the dashboard, in which you can place your smartphone and load up the Vauxhall app for navigation and audio, as well as monitor distance, fuel consumption, and driving efficiency for each journey. Or, of course, just your phone's music and sat-nav apps.

Upgrading your Combo Cargo to the Pro model makes a significant difference. You’ll gain a 10in touchscreen with navigation, a 10in digital driver's display, voice control, FlexCargo seating with a folding table and load-through panel and automatic wipers. It also adds a dynamic surround view, which uses cameras on the outside to display what’s happening on a digital rearview mirror in the traditional top centre of the windscreen.

As the Prime model doesn’t have a touchscreen to rely on, there are physical controls for heating and ventilation, as well as audio controls on the steering wheel – a bonus for usability.

Prime models get more space, although that comes with a catch. There’s only one passenger seat rather than a two-person bench, so while more free room is created you’re limited to carrying out two-person jobs at best.

There’s little difference in actually space between the Combo Cargo and a two-seater Mercedes Citan or Nissan Townstar but it feels more roomy because the dashboard protrudes less.

Narrower seats are the penalty for picking the three-seat Pro van, and the middle passenger won’t appreciate the gear selector's bulky housing near their knee. Even the automatic model keeps the bulge in place, which seems like a missed opportunity when it houses little more than an electronic rocker switch.

Storage for all is fine, if not class-leading. There’s a small glove box, big door pockets and a useful overhead storage shelf.

The Vauxhall Combo Cargo is available in regular or long – XL – body lengths. The XL is 350mm longer and adds 20% to the load volume, taking it from 3.3m³ to 3.9m³, making it the largest small van available, other than long-wheelbase versions of the Mercedes Citan, Nissan Townstar and Renault Kangoo.

The shorter Combo Cargo outdoes all of its rivals, although the margins are tiny — the Combo’s load bay, at 1,817mm, is less than a centimetre longer than the rivals above, two centimetres longer than a VW Caddy Cargo and just over three centimetres longer than a Ford Transit Connect. If your purchasing decisions are that marginal, a medium van might be better.

Extended loads can be slotted through a panel in the bulkhead on Pro models. The passenger seat flips up and allows thin objects — think lengths of timber or poles of more than 3m — to poke safely into the cab, although one of your passengers will have to walk.

As well as having the largest cargo volume in the class, at least for short-wheelbase models, the Cargo also has some of the best-in-class payload limits. Pick the right model, which happens to be the regular length Pro panel van with the 128bhp engine and a manual gearbox, and you can load up to 1,065kg in the back, which is 100kg more than you’ll get in a Transit Connect, 200kg more than a Kangoo and a huge amount more than a Caddy can cope with.

The highest rated XL van manages 953kg, but that still edges ahead of the Caddy and Transit Connect, although it’s narrowly beaten by the extended Kangoo van and its 987kg limit.

Every Combo can take two Euro pallets in the back (as can each of its rivals) with rear doors that swing open to 180 degrees, allowing a forklift driver to slide them in quickly. A single sliding door on the passenger side gives access to the load area of the standard-length van, but the XL gains a second sliding door on the other side, which boosts practicality.

There’s just one roof height, so you can’t go up as well as out. That means the Combo Cargo is only 1,860mm tall, so parking garages and other height-restricted areas shouldn’t be a problem.

Vauxhall also makes a basic crew van available on XL Prime models, which moves the bulkhead back and adds a row of three seats. The six-seater can take more passengers of course but sacrifices cargo space, which drops to just 1.8m³.

Getting into a Vauxhall Combo Cargo costs slightly more than getting into a Citroën Berlingo Van, Fiat Doblo Cargo or Peugeot Partner – which might explain why sales lag slightly behind its Citroën and Peugeot relations.

It’s also a little dearer than the Renault Kangoo and within a rounding error of the Ford Transit Connect, the Mercedes Citan and the Nissan Townstar. Only the VW Caddy Cargo and Toyota Proace City are outliers, with a noticeable uplift in price to have the Volkswagen badge on the bonnet or Toyota’s service-activated 10-year warranty.

Opting for the entry-level Prime model might not be the best advice. Upgrading to the Pro brings a huge list of extra equipment, both for practicality and comfort, and resale values tend to be slightly higher, which means you’ll get much of that back in a few years.

You’ll also have to tick fewer extras in the options list, narrowing the gap a little between the two models. You can add a wooden floor in the cargo bay and extra lighting and lashing hooks, but that’s about the sum total of extras. And there’s paint of course, with white included and other colours — including three almost indistinguishable reds — adding to the total price.

Both diesel engines are economical, with the 98bhp unit with a manual gearbox promising as much as 54.4mpg under WLTP testing. The more powerful model with an automatic gearbox falls slightly behind, at a best of 51.9mpg. Neither can match the 58.8mpg the Transit Connect offers, while the other rivals fall within the Combo’s range.

Vauxhall covers the Combo with a warranty for three years or 100,000 miles (although the latest price list says just 60,000 miles), which is the same as the Berlingo and Partner, but the Doblo makes do with a 62,000-mile limit.

The Proace City gets the same 100,000-mile limit, but thanks to a unique service-activated warranty, it can run for as long as 10 years, which is great for small businesses or owner-operators covering fewer miles. The Kangoo gets a three-year/100,000-mile package, the Citan gets three years with no mileage limit and the Townstar gets five years and 100,000 miles.

For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here