Because life isn’t all flashy motors, hot hatches or dream super cars, sometimes it’s nice to get behind the wheel of something more… well, ordinary?

I’ve reviewed a lot of amazing cars, and I’ve reviewed a lot of ‘everyday’ cars. The key thing it not to compare apples with oranges. Something I thought I’d have to remember for this month’s review.

Back in the summer, my daughter turned seven, and the extended family were going to Cotswold Water Park in Cirencester (side note: I have no idea why we’d not been before, it’s amazing!). As the entry fee is per vehicle, we thought taking something massive would be wise.

Enter the Ford Tourneo Custom Active. AKA a Transit van with sliding doors, eight comfortable seats and a decent boot space. AKA the Birthday Bus.

As I said, it’s important to remember this is in effect a van, converted to a car, so the driving experience was bound to be somewhat cargo like, right?

Ford have (once again) pulled a blinder

Nope. I’ve no idea how, but Ford have (once again) pulled a blinder in making this converted Transit feel like a massive (yet easy to drive) car. I guess, to be fair, I’ve not driven the Transit that this is based on, but in all honesty, it was a godsend for the birthday, and worked perfectly well as a car too. I took it to Tesco, hockey practice, literally to anywhere I went, and I didn’t feel like I was in a van (until I got out).

Good visibility, easy to manoeuvre and even relatively easy to park, I was blown away by how this thing handled; no wonder Top Gear’s late, great Sabine Schmitz chose a transit when she attempted to lap the Nürburgrung in under ten minutes – this thing is simply brilliant.
So where’s the downside? The looks?

Another no. Okay, it’s based on a van, but Ford do seem to have the ability to make any vehicle they make look good. I think it’s because the styling doesn’t try to hide anything. It’s big, it’s box-like, but that doesn’t mean it is devoid of personality or soul – far from it. I had this for seven days and was genuinely disappointed to see it go.

If you’re in the market for something big, and need at least seven seats and decent storage, then I urge you to consider this. It would be all too easy to dismiss it because it looks like a Transit, but again, consider that Ford’s iconic van looks good… it really does!

The tendency would be to look at the better-known VW options

There aren’t many options at this end of the seating capacity, and the tendency would be to look at the better-known VW options. While these are amazing, I suspect once you’d customised to your heart’s desire, the Ford would come out considerably cheaper.

The model I tested was around £50k, but a VW California starts at £60k, give or take. I’d love a California, but it would be hard to justify the extra spend. I think many will though, purely because of the badge, which is a shame.