The Mercedes-Benz Citan wasn’t an obvious match for Adam Hetherington, who’s a director of Starlight Dance Floors, an Ipswich-based dance floor hire firm.

Prior to his first drive in a Citan, Mr Hetherington’s view on small vans was that “every small van I’ve ever driven has been rubbish”.

However, a spell driving a Citan while one of his firm’s Sprinters was in for service changed his view, with the result that Mr Hetherington has now added a Citan Sport to his firm’s fleet, which he uses for site visits and customer meetings.

The Citan Sport is based on the long-bodied variant of the small van and is specified to provide a premium feel. Standard features include colour-coded bumpers and door mirrors, daytime driving lights, a chrome front-grille, sidebars and tailgate trim, and 16-inch, multi-spoke alloy wheels.

Inside, Citan Sport customers enjoy standard air-conditioning and also get a leather-trimmed steering wheel, along with Sports mats and badging.

Like so many Mercedes owners, Adam Hetherington is a firm fan of the Sprinter:

“The Sprinters have proved exceptionally reliable, which is crucial in our business – you can’t fail to show up for someone’s wedding – while at the same time helping to reinforce the image of quality that we have built up over the last five years.”

His firm, Starlight Dance Floors, serves a upmarket corporate clients such as the Savoy Hotel as well as private customers planning parties and balls. The 3.5t Sprinters often need to shift a fair amount of kit, but Mr Hetherington says the long-bodied Citan Sport is big enough for smaller hires, freeing up a larger vehicle and cutting transport costs.