The Ford Tourneo Connect is one of a growing breed of cars derived from vans and designed for maximum space, carrying capacity – five or seven seats is the usual choice – and fun, in a utilitarian sort of way. You may remember the days when they used to make vans out of Ford Escorts, say, but now the manufacturers have had to put the ever more demanding commercial vehicle side of things first, maximising space and adding extra conveniences for delivery drivers and the like.
The “civilianised” Renault Kangoo and Citroen Berlingo were a couple of early entrants, and the class has become more accomplished and, frankly, the “cars” bigger and bigger over the years. The industry calls them “leisure activity vehicles” or LAVs (I kid you not), but for obvious reasons that abbreviation doesn’t figure much in the marketing literature.
