Piaggio Porter Van Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance VAN: Piaggio Porter range
Prices: From £6,495 – £8,995 ENGINES: 1.3-Litre 16-valve Petrol, 1.4 SOHC diesel, 96v Electric PAYLOAD: 560-1,100kg
Dimensions: (panel van) length/width/heightmm 3370/1395/1870mm

MICRO MACHINE

Our Rating: 3.7 / 10

Steve Walker Looks At Piaggio’s Pocket-Sized Commercial Vehicle

Microvans are a strange breed. Where most commercial vehicles at the diminutive end of the spectrum are based on supermini passenger cars, these dinky models borrow their design themes from large panel vans - then miniaturise them. If you ever caught sight of a Piaggio Porter microvan being driven through a Bonsai tree forest full of Shetland ponies by Ronnie Corbett, you could easily mistake it for a far larger vehicle than it actually is.

The Porter has been around for a good few years and for much of its life it existed in the modest shadow of the Daihatsu Hijet. The Hijet was a rebadged version of the Porter built by Piaggio themselves in Italy and it always enjoyed a higher profile than the model it shared a production line with. Part of the reason for this was the Porter’s UK distribution through the Reliant dealer network with its limited capacity and three-wheeler connotations, while the Hijet was sold directly through the more respectable face of Daihatsu franchised showrooms.

This microvan status quo shifted when Daihatsu took the interesting step of replacing the Hijet with the Extol - a more modern microvan with styling that can best be described as challenging. Faced with the Extol’s oversize flimsy plastic bumpers, Piaggio saw their chance. The deal with Reliant had ended in 2003 and they began importing the Porter to the UK themselves. Some slight alterations for the 2005 model year and today’s Porter was on the scene, ready to do battle for leadership of the microvan sector.

The UK microvan sector is extremely small in terms of total sales. It will barely register on the marketing radars of the big light commercial vehicle producers but the very fact that Microvans continue to be offered in this country shows that it’s a market that can sustain itself. Buyers choose from the Piaggio Porter, the Daihatsu Extol or Suzuki’s Carry and in this company, the Porter makes a strong case for itself.

The little Piaggio displays all the key microvan attributes. Most importantly, it’s small. At just 1,395mm wide and 3,370mm long, the panel van derivative is nearly 550mm shorter and 29mm narrower than a Ford Fiesta van. Despite these tiny dimensions, it can cope with a surprising payload of between 560 and 575kg - that’s over 80kg more than the Fiesta van. The tall, narrow shape of the Porter, along with the twin sliding side doors and rear tailgate, helps make the 3m3 load area easily accessible without the need for much bending or stretching. The space is uniformly shaped with only slight intrusion by the wheelarches and the engine, which sits under the floor behind the seats. You can also get a surprising amount inside, certainly much more than the average supermini derived van can manage - the load volume of our friend the Fiesta van is a mere 1m3.

Aside from the loadbay, manoeuvrability is the Porter’s other key strength. If you had a 7.4-metre wide scale replica of a sixpence, this microvan could turn on it. This ultra-compact turning circle and the Porter’s negligible dimensions tell you a lot about its potential for nipping through gaps in traffic, manoeuvring in tight situations and claiming apparently impossible parking spaces. The driver sits smack bang on top of the front axel, which is ahead of the engine, so there’s a great view out of the front to see exactly how much space there is to play with. Large side mirrors help with visibility down the flanks. All of these good points are compromised somewhat by the unassisted rack and pinion steering set-up which is much heavier than you’d expect, given the Porter’s size.

Seated behind the wheel you’re left in no doubt that this would be the ideal commercial vehicle to cure Gulliver of any homesickness on his return from Lilliput. You’re faced with a basic and unremarkable panel van interior but shrunken. The flatly-mounted wheel would resemble that of an HGV were it not half the size, while the dinky ven