Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance VAN: Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Range ENGINES: 2,977cc 125bhp turbo diesel / 3,908cc 143bhp turbo diesel GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT: 3.5, 6.5 or 7.5 tonne

TRUCK IT AND SEE

Our Rating: 5.1 / 10

Need A Truck For A Punishing Workload? The Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Should Be Tough Enough. Steve Walker Reports…

Anyone rolling up to their local Mitsubishi dealership, striding past the gleaming Shoguns and Colts in the showroom, plonking a briefcase full of cash on the counter and demanding the keys to a Mitsubishi Fuso Canter light truck will be making themselves look a bit of a twerp. The same behaviour would seem just as arrogant at a Mercedes-Benz dealership but at least the customer would have some chance of their request being granted. For complicated reasons that we’ll neatly sidestep here, the Mitsubishi Fuso Canter is sold through Mercedes-Benz van centres but, provided buyers bear that in mind when they rock-up with the readies, it shouldn’t detract from the vehicle’s suitability for purpose.

The Fuso Canter is a chassis cab successor to the Canter that’s available in a dizzying array of different forms. Having chosen their preferred wheelbase, bodystyle, gross vehicle weight and engine, the customer must then decide on an aftermarket body to go on the back. Whether it’s a tipper, flatbed truck, delivery lorry, refrigerated van or some other load-carrying configuration, the Fuso Canter is designed to deliver rugged, dependable service to its operators.

Discussing the styling on a vehicle with this no-nonsense working remit is a little like analysing the ballroom dancing technique of an Olympic shot putt champion: it’s sort of beside the point. That hasn’t stopped the Fuso Canter’s designers from giving it a natty set of wraparound headlights with clear lens indicators and a grille that’s a good deal smarter than the one on Canters of old. The vehicle still looks pretty much like any other light truck but at least some effort has been made.

Single or crew cab models are available, with the single cab offering the theoretical potential to seat three people thanks to its two-berth passenger bench. I say theoretical because, although the Fuso Canter’s cab is noticeably more spacious than that of its Canter predecessor, that bench still isn’t particularly capacious. If it is going to accommodate two persons, they’d better be of small to medium build and good friends. If you want real passenger carrying options, it’s got to be the crew cab, which adds a full-width bench seat behind driver and passenger. There’s reasonable space for three adults back there, giving the crew cab the capacity to seat five or six in an emergency. Break out the tape measure and you’ll discover that the Canter Fuso single cab is 100mm longer, and 20mm taller than the equivalent old Canter model. It’s also 35mm wider but only in the upper width, as lower down that dimension remains unchanged.

There are 3.5t, 6.5t and 7.5t gross vehicle weight models in the Range with each being offered in various wheelbase lengths. Availability of the crew cab bodystyle is restricted to one or two wheelbase sizes within each weight category but that still leaves a vast array of choice ranging from the 2,500mm wheelbase 3.5t model right up to the substantial 4,470mm wheelbase 7.5-tonner. The naming policy for the Range does little to simplify the selection process. The 3.5t model is known as the 3C13 and the 6.5t derivative as the 6C14. That leaves the 7.5t as the 7C14 and customers trying to make sense of the brochure none the wiser. Adding a D onto the end of any of these names denotes that you’re dealing with a crew cab. The payload capacities are extremely generous with the 3.5t model able to handle up to 1,525kg and the 7.5t having a massive 4,890kg within its remit.

In the engine bay, it’s a case of as your were. The old Canter’s powerplants were carried over to the Canter Fuso unaltered. The 3.5t derivatives are powered by a 3.0-litre dies