Ford Tourneo Connect Review 2024

Some MPVs carry off their duties with a good deal of style, but that’s a secondary consideration for the Ford Tourneo Connect. Where its S-Max sister is a sleek and almost sporty MPV, the Tourneo Connect is all about practicality. For those who need as much cabin space as possible for up to seven people plus luggage, not a lot will get the better of the Tourneo Connect. Just don’t buy it and expect an exciting drive.

As well as the Ford Tourneo Connect, other van-based MPVs are offered by Volkswagen with its almost identical Caddy or there is the Citroen Berlingo. The French car has a smoother ride than the Ford or VW, but it’s not as well fitted out. Another very worthwhile MPV to consider is the Dacia Jogger that delivers strong value with seven seats and a surprisingly enjoyable drive.

The van origins of the Ford Tourneo Connect are most obvious in the materials used for much of the cabin. They favour durability and easy cleaning over more attractive materials and finishes.

The only soft-touch material you’re going to find inside the Ford is on the armrests. A Dacia Jogger makes a much better fist of this type of thing and looks a more attractive place to sit as a result.

However, there is no doubting that Ford and VW have screwed the Tourneo Connect together very well as the large cabin is free from rattles. All of the seats can also be moved easily, which shows a good deal of thought has gone into this, even if they are quite heavy.

If there is one area of the Tourneo Connect where we wish Ford had prevailed over Volkswagen, it’s the infotainment system. Rather than the usual, and excellent, SYNC 4 set-up found in most Fords, the Tourneo Connect has VW’s downright poor screen.

Ford tries to redeem this to some extent by fitting the larger 10-inch touchscreen as standard to all Tourneo Connects, but it cannot hide a system that is just not very easy to use.

The worst offenders here are the heating and stereo volume controls that might have worked brilliantly in a laboratory, but are very tricky to use while driving. We’d go as far as to say it’s too distracting to use these as the driver on the move, so best to ask the front seat passenger to deal with them.

However, you do get DABN radio, sat-nav, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Bluetooth.

Thanks to its high roof and square-rigged styling, the Ford Tourneo Connect can carry vast amounts of luggage and puts even large SUVs to shame in this respect.

The short wheelbase model in five-seat form can swallow 1213-litres of cargo and by tipping the rear seats down you can free up a massive 2556-litres. Only if you choose this Tourneo Connect as a seven-seater will you feel luggage space is in short supply.

Opt for the long wheelbase Grand Tourneo Connect and things get even bigger. It can hold from 1720-litres of bags as a five-seater all the way to a gargantuan 3105-litres with the rear seats all stowed flat.

The seats themselves are quite heavy to move, and the tailgate’s length when opening means you need a bit of space behind the Ford to do this safely. However, with it raised, there’s a low load sill and the tailgate works as a useful cover from the rain when packing in bags.

There is a straight choice between petrol and diesel in the Ford Tourneo Connect, with one of each available.

The smaller capacity engine of the two is the 1.5-litre Ecoboost turbo petrol engine that offers up 114PS. It’s no rocket-propelled sporting machine, but it works well in town where the motor burbles away.

You can have this engine with the six-speed manual transmission or seven-speed automatic gearbox, and neither is brisk when it comes to acceleration at higher speeds. This is compounded if you have a full complement of people and luggage onboard.

For this reason, the 122PS 2.0-litre turbodiesel is the better bet in almost every situation. It has more pull at any revs, does a much better job on the motorway while feeling much less stressed, and it combines very well with either transmission choice. The best pairing is this diesel engine with the automatic gearbox.

There’s a little tell-tale diesel rumble from the 2.0-litre engine in the Ford Tourneo Connect, though not as much as we had originally expected in such a boxy body. Once on the move and cruising, the engine noise settles into the background.

With the 1.5-litre petrol motor, it’s fine and quiet when started up, but on the move it has to be revved quite a lot to make any sort of worthwhile progress. This in turn leads to more noise from under the bonnet than we’d like.

At higher speeds and regardless of which engine is fitted, the Tourneo Connect pays for its set-square styling with a lot of wind whistle from around the front screen and the large door mirrors. However, there’s not much tyre rumble to be heard, luckily.

Ford doesn’t hold back when it comes to how much safety kit it supplies as standard with the Tourneo Connect. You get three-point seat belts for every person in the car, plus twin front, side and rear airbags, though not for the third row of seats. There are also Isofix child seat mounts for the middle row chairs.

More help comes from traction control, ABS anti-lock brakes, hill start assist, all-round parkin sensors, and lane keep assist.

On top of that, the Tourneo Connect comes with automatic emergency braking.

In the most recent HonestJohn Satisfaction Survey, Volkswagen and Ford sat in 21st and 23rd spots out of 29 makers listed. That’s a below par showing for both.

On a cheerier note, the engines in the Tourneo Connect are well regarded for their durability and should be easy to maintain.

The Ford comes with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty as standard, which can be extended up to five years and 100,000 miles for an additional cost.

Servicing for the Tourneo Connect is scheduled at two year or 20,000 miles, based on which comes round soonest.

At first glance, the Volkswagen Caddy appears cheaper to insure than the Ford Tourneo Connect, but this is because VW offers a less powerful base engine than Ford.

The result is the Tourneo Connect’s insurance groups start at Group 11 for the 1.5 Ecoboost model and stretch up to Group 13 for the Grand Tourneo Active with the 2.0-litre turbodiesel motor.

If you want to keep your outgoings as low as possible, the Tourneo Connect with the 2.0-litre diesel engine and manual gearbox is the one for you. It emits 128g/km of carbon dioxide, which means you pay £210 for the first year of Vehicle Excise Duty.

The rest of the range falls into the bracket above this, so you’ll pay £255 for the initial 12 months of road tax before all models of the Ford pay the standard £180 for a year’s road tax.

Ford offers the Tourneo Connect, and the larger Grand version, in two trim levels – Titanium and Active.

The Titanium model comes with a chrome insert in the front bumper, along with colour-coded door handles, tailgate handle, door mirror caps. You also have heated and power fold door mirrors, as well as automatic wipers, rear privacy glass, and silver-pained roof rails.

On the inside of the Titanium, you’ll find the 10-inch infotainment touchscreen, air conditioning, heated front seats, and a stereo with six speakers. On top of this, there’s a front seat tray table, underseat storage beneath the passenger chair, and a gear knob finished in manmade leather. The seat upholstery is cloth.

Move to the Active model and it has 17-inch alloy wheels, a front bumper with skid plate to impart an SUV-style appearance, plus plastic wheel arch trims. This trim also brings a honeycomb front grille in satin black.

For the interior of the Active, Ford provides seats trimmed with Nordic Blue stitching, and this is also used on the steering wheel, gear lever, and floor mats.

Ford has a number of options for the Tourneo Connect such as a panoramic glass roof, power operated tailgate, heated steering wheel, and detachable tow bar. You could also add the X Pack with LED headlights and automatic high beam adjust, rear view camera, and dual zone climate control.