Mercedes Viano Estate 2004 - Present

The Viano is Mercedes equivalent of the A-Team van.  No it’s not a combat vehicle but it’s got room aplenty and decent equipment, as well as four wheel drive.  As you look to get in the Viano you can barely avoid looking towards the back to see if the rest of the school rugby team are in the back.  It seats eight without any trouble, with the head and leg room ample throughout the cabin.  The front seats are adequate but the rows behind them are pretty Spartan, adding to the ‘school mini bus’ feel.  Longer journeys may require the passengers to play twister rather than Eye spy to relieve the posture. 

Unlike almost any of the other models in the Mercedes range the Viano has an underperforming engine as standard.  The 2.0 CDI may be frugal but it’s at a cost of performance.  The best performer is the 3.5 petrol unit, but it’s prohibitively expensive to run with figures of 23 mpg.  The 3.0L diesel offers the best performance to fuel ratio with vital stats of 9.4 seconds for the sprint and a top speed of 122 mph, all at 30 mpg.

The Viano offers it’s driver a surprisingly sharp and easy steering performance.  The suspension manages to offer a reasonable blend of comfort and handling, with little body roll and the ability to soak up the bumps and maintain good poise on the road.  It’s a good cruiser as long as you have a potent enough engine.

The Viano is a vehicle with a niche, or maybe two niches; the first is for people who need room to transport a lot of people but don’t want to compromise on their badge and the other is for high class shops that need to be able to offer delivery for their goods.  Other than that it’s probably a bit cumbersome for many people’s drives.

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