Ford Tourneo Courier

Ford aims to bring new design appeal to the value utility car segment The subject of this review – the Ford Tourneo Courier – is rather a rare thing, given the fact that its maker has lately hollowed out its range of more affordable cars.Ford's reasons for doing this will need little explaining to regular readers. Demands by European legislators for new cars to meet ever-stricter safety and emissions standards have made it very tough to make money out of affordable cars – especially for companies like Ford that depend on volume to do so. Because when cheap cars suddenly aren’t so cheap, they don’t sell in the same numbers, and so the destructive cycle goes on.The demise of the Blue Oval’s perennial sales hero, the Fiesta, was much lamented in 2023, but in the same year Ford also axed the Ecosport compact SUV, leaving only the Puma to represent the company in the supermini segment.Now, Ford is redressing the balance at least a little. Having recently joined the Puma at its Romanian production base, the Tourneo Courier was tipped to become Ford’s new cheapest model. In fact, it has missed that status – if only by a few hundred pounds. But it is certainly here to return Ford into buying conversations centred on value, as well as practicality and versatility, and to suit busy and active family lifestyles better than any small Ford has done before.It sounds like quite a grand billing for a vehicle that, not very long ago, might have been content as a niche player: the passenger version of the smallest of four Ford Commercial vans, the Transit Courier. So let’s see if it can be lived up to.