{"id":5943,"date":"2014-03-10T14:53:55","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T14:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=5943"},"modified":"2014-03-11T15:48:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T15:48:47","slug":"ford-rivals-feel-chill-as-blue-oval-bags-double-win-in-arctic-van-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/5943","title":{"rendered":"Ford rivals feel chill as blue oval bags double win in Arctic Van Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5944\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5944\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5944\" alt=\"The new Ford Transit was the class winner in this year's Arctic Van Test\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ford-transit-arctic-sm.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ford-transit-arctic-sm.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ford-transit-arctic-sm-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5944\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new Ford Transit was the class winner in this year&#8217;s Arctic Van Test.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ford&#8217;s new Transit and Transit Connect vans have earned an unprecedented double win in this year&#8217;s Arctic Van Test, which pits production models of all popular vans against each other in the Arctic conditions of winter in northern Finland.<\/p>\n<p>The all-new Ford Transit and the all-new Ford Transit Connect finished first in their respective classes after competing in the punishing five-day ordeal that subjects vehicles and drivers to extreme challenges in ice, cold and snow, in the frozen north of Finland \u2013 where temperatures can drop as low as -50 C.<\/p>\n<p>Expert drivers from six European commercial vehicle magazines drove all the vans taking part in the Arctic Van Test and rated the two Transits winners to deliver Ford\u2019s first double victory in the event\u2019s 23-year history.\u00a0From slaloming across a frozen airfield, to tackling a torturous 700 kilometre route of icy, rutted roads, the Ford Transit vans won for their overall performance across categories that included fuel efficiency, load carrying, and handling.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge also tests engine starting, and heating and demister operation, after vehicles have been left outside overnight in sub-freezing conditions. To see the vans in action, take a look at this video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/VMdG-v-hfhg\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The all-new Ford Transit was rated top or joint-top in nine out of 13 categories against rival vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, Vauxhall and Volkswagen. The smaller all-new Ford Transit Connect was ranked top or joint-top in seven categories, and particularly impressed for its handling and stability in icy conditions, against rivals from Citroen, Renault and Volkswagen.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe Ford vans were clear winners in very slippery conditions \u2013 a great advantage when frozen roads can be found anywhere, and not just found on the test track,\u201d said Heikki Laurell of Auto Tekniikka ja Kuljetus magazine in Finland, which organises the annual event. \u201cOur tests push vans to the limit, and can be quite a shock if you are not used to a Scandinavian winter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The all-new Ford Transit is on sale now with over 7,500 orders already taken in the UK, suggesting that it will beat the opening-year total of more than 10,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/5620\">logged by its smaller brother, the Transit Custom, in 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The all-new Ford Transit and Ford Transit Connect took an unprecedented double win in this year&#8217;s Arctic Van Test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[1841,1694,548],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5943"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5954,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5943\/revisions\/5954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}