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Nissan's Townstar compact van has an advanced feel and a class-leading warranty. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.
Operators of small vans don't usually care about the provenance of the designs they're presented with: only whether they're competitively priced, practically-shaped, capable of carrying stout loads and come supported by a peace of mind warranty. Nissan's Townstar seems to tick quite a few of those boxes. It combines Renault technology, sharp looks and strong after-sales support to create the Townstar, probably the best small van you've never heard of.
Nissan has all the right technology to produce sales-leading small van, but somehow never has. Models like the Kubistar and the NV250 were rare on British fleets. The NV200 did a little better, latterly in e-NV200 full-electric form, but it wasn't the breakthrough product Nissan's commercial vehicle arm had hoped for. This Townstar though, just might be. It shares an awful lot with its close cousins, the Renault Kangoo and the Mercedes Citan and, like those two small LCVs, can be had in both combustion and full-electric forms. Which means that the Townstar can replace the diesel NV250 and the electric e-NV200 models in one hit. Obvious Stellantis Group rivals like the Peugeot Partner, the Citroen Berlingo and the Vauxhall Combo Cargo can offer similar powerplant flexibility. But they can't match this Nissan's long 5 year warranty. Nor can combustion segment rivals like the Volkswagen Caddy Cargo and the Ford Transit Connect. So this Townstar is worth a second look.
The Townstar shares both its powertrains with its Renault Kangoo and Mercedes Citan donor models. For the first time in a small Nissan van of this sort, there is no diesel engine option. Instead, if you want a combustion-powered Townstar, you will need the 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol unit that puts out 130PS and 240Nm of torque. The alternative is the full-electric Townstar, which has a 44kWh battery powered by an electric motor producing 122PS and 245Nm of torque. When fully charged, this variant can offer up to 177 miles of range (269 miles on the city cycle). That's around 50% more than the old eNV200. The electric Townstar combines intelligent energy management and effective battery thermal cooling in one package. On the road, the longer wheelbase of the L2 variant helps it provide a more composed ride and handling package than the shorter L1 option, which bounces around a little more. On the downside, the turning circle increases with the extra length but most drivers will hardly notice, the Townstar always feeling manoeuvrable for its size. All models have great forward visibility courtesy of the extensive windscreen and truncated bonnet, while the well-weighted steering and positive gear change should also impress.
Downtown, this little Nissan should fit right in, its sharp front end looks reflecting the aesthetic cues of the company's Ariya full-electric car. The full-electric Townstar looks a little different to the petrol Townstar variant because it requires a radiator grille to admit cooling air to the 1.3-litre petrol engine. The full-battery-powered model merely has a front end blanking plate. Either way, this appendage is flanked by signature LED headlamps and an aerodynamic front shield incorporating a smart 'Kumiko' pattern and a restyled version of Nissan's usual 'V-Motion' front-end theme, along with daytime running lights. Inside, it's all a lot more futuristic than you might expect an affordable van to be, with a 10-inch digital dashboard and an 8-inch central infotainment screen, both borrowed from Nissan's Qashqai. The latter monitor has 'Apple CarPlay' and 'Android Auto' connectivity and you can add a smartphone charging pad if you want it. The basic dashboard design is user-friendly, though has lots of hard plastics, broken up by a faux-aluminium dashboard panel. There are physical switches for the climate controls and you get a lower dash-mounted gear lever. The upright driving position facilitates easy entries and exits. Plus a good quota of storage options are provided, including large door pockets.
There are two Townstar panel van body lengths - L1 and L2. The 1.3-litre petrol-powered Townstar is priced from around £20,000 excluding VAT. You'll obviously need more if you want the full-electric Townstar model - expect to pay around £31,000 excluding VAT for that (excluding the £2,500 government grant), quite a bit more than the outgoing e-NV200. That's due to this new model's more sophisticated battery, motor and charging capabilities, as well as all its technological improvements. There are four trim levewls - 'Visia', 'Acenta', 'Tekna' and 'Tekna+'. Even base 'Visia' spec gives you LED headlights, air conditioning., heated mirrors and remote central locking. The Townstar is slightly more expensive than some of its obvious rivals, but you do get the potential for a lot more safety kit, including features like Blind Spot Monitoring, Lane Keeping Assistance and the option of a 360-degree camera view system. This is also one of the first vans to be available with any kind of autonomous driving capability, the optional ProPILOT advanced driver assistance system, which is able to control the van's speed and road placement during highway driving and can allow the vehicle to autonomously slow to a stop and accelerate off again following the vehicle ahead.
There are two Townstar body lengths, short L1 and long wheelbase L2. The L1 can carry up to 3.9m3 (a little less than the 4.2m3 of its NV200 predecessor), but if you stretch to the L2 Townstar model, you can boost that to 4.3m3 of load space, enough for the carriage of two euro pallets. The payload is up to 600Kg (SWB) and up to 800kg (LWB) - which is more than an entry-level Ford Transit Connect can manage: expect the full-electric Townstar to be around 50kg down on that. You get the same carriage capacity with either of the two powertrains. And both will tow up to 1,500kg. The loading bay offers a swivelling bulkhead, has various stowage cubbies for office equipment and can be accessed via sliding side doors. At the back, there's the usual choice of either 60:40-split vertical doors or a tailgate. If running costs are key, you're likely to want to look at the full-electric version. We gave you the range figure for that in our 'Driving' section - 177 miles - which is over twice as much as was possible from previous e-NV200 model. Electric versions of the Townstar come with an 11kW (Visia grade) or 22kW AC (Acenta grade) on-board charging system. As with this model's e-NV200 predecessor, a DC rapid charging connector is standard from Acenta grade, which can recharge the battery from 0% to 80% in a little over 40 minutes.
Nissan is going to have to work hard to get this Townstar on to business choice lists but if it can - and companies can be persuaded to try it - the sales proposition here looks strong. Payload, carriage capacity and, in the electric model, driving range, all look very class competitive and that long 5 year warranty is a clever additional incentive for the Japanese brand to throw into the mix. On top of that, the Townstar looks quite sharp and is backed by a dealer network more eager than most competitor brands to make a good impression on the van buying community. It all adds up to a proposition that might reward those prepared to look beyond the obvious segment candidates in their search for a small LCV.
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