All-wheel drive vans have always been fairly specialist and rare finds – offering a combination of load-carrying and off-road driving functionality that simply isn’t required by many people.

One of the longest-running all-wheel drive vans is the Volkswagen Transporter 4Motion (previous called the Transporter Synchro). Other contenders have included the AWD Mercedes Sprinter (a rare but impressive beast) and, I think, a 4-wheel drive version of the original Fiat Ducato. More recently, Citroen have created a 4WD Berlingo – the Berlingo XTR. There is also a 4×4 version of the Iveco Daily.

Ford has not joined the party until now (as far as I know) but it appears to be making up for lost time with the newly-released the All-Wheel Drive version of the current Mk7 Transit. In this review on the Fleet News website, Fleet Van Editor Trevor Gelken found that the new Transit AWD is surprisingly capable off-road but will automatically switch back to RWD when on-road to save fuel.

The new Ford Transit AWD is also available in minibus and chassis cab formats and the AWD technology only adds 50kg to the weight of the vehicle – meaning that payloads are not significantly affected.

For all the (muddy) details, click here.