Ford Tourneo Courier Review (2023-present)

What is the Ford Tourneo Courier?

The Ford Tourneo Courier is a refreshing dose of old-school MPV in a market saturated by SUVs.

Since the family car world became obsessed with high-riding hatchbacks masquerading as off-roaders, MPVs have had to take a back seat with buyers. Ironic, really, because an MPV will provide more back-seat space than any SUV ever could.

This drop-off in popularity - and thus, profitability - means that most manufacturers don’t tend to bother developing MPVs as standalone models any more, so instead, most people carriers are based on that company’s van offerings instead, as these vehicles already have the boxy dimensions needed. The Ford Tourneo Courier is based on the Transit Courier, the smallest of Ford’s all-conquering panel van line-up, but instead of bulkheads and lashing hooks, it’s fitted with windows, carpets and five seats. In truth, it’s not much smaller than the Ford Tourneo Connect, but it is a lot smaller than the Ford Tourneo Custom.

Plenty of firms have offered this recipe in the past, and many still do. The Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Rifter, Vauxhall Combo Life and Volkswagen Caddy will all count themselves among competitors. However, while these vehicles are all rather van-like in the way they drive, the Ford has a bit of extra sparkle. Yes, it’s based on the Transit Courier, but those underpinnings are also shared with the smart-handling Puma crossover, which itself is related to the now-sadly-defunct Ford Fiesta hatchback. For more options in this class, don't miss our guide to the best van-based MPVs.

How practical is it?

The Courier is based on the same platform as the Puma small SUV, but it’s a good bit bigger. At just over 4.3 metres long, it occupies a similar amount of space on the road as a Ford Focus hatchback, but the more high-rise design means bags of interior space.

Sit up front, and you have bags of space, plus a whole heap of storage. You have massive door bins, a big glovebox, large storage shelves above the windscreen, and pretty much everywhere you look, you’ll find yet another nook or cranny for storing odds and ends. Supportive seats with plenty of manual seat adjustment help you to get comfortable, and the massive glass area surrounding you means that visibility is clear in every direction.

Move to the back seats - which is very simple thanks the the wide-opening sliding rear doors that make access really easy, especially in tight parking spots - and you’ll find very reasonable legroom that’s generous enough for a six-footer to sit behind a driver of similar proportions without their knees touching the seats in front. Headroom, meanwhile, is super-generous: you’ll only go short of that if you happen to live at the top of a beanstalk.

Granted, the rear seats aren’t as clever as they are in some rivals: they’re split 60/40 rather than being three individual chairs, and they don’t slide back and forth to allow you to prioritise boot space or passenger space according to your prevailing needs. However, there is enough width in the cabin to travel three-abreast in the back, and the middle seat is comfier than most as it’s softer and less perched up than normal. There’s very decent foot space for the middle passenger, too.

Perhaps the best bit, though, is the boot, which is huge. You get 570 litres of space underneath the load cover, which is bigger than in many estate cars, and if you keep piling stuff on top of that load cover (which you can, because it’s both solid and substantial) and load up to the ceiling, you can cram in a whopping 1,188 litres behind the rear seats. Fold and tumble those rear seats (it’s easily done, and they lock into place, handily) to travel in two-seat mode, and you have 2,162 litres of loadspace. The sides on the boot also have various compartments for oddment storage, helping make this an even more versatile car.

What’s it like to drive?

There’s an all-electric version of the Courier on the way (that’ll be known as the e-Tourneo Courier), but until it arrives, there’s just one engine available, and that’s a 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol Ecoboost engine with 123bhp (the Transit Courier van is also offered with diesel engine options, but not so in the passenger version). It can be paired either with the standard six-speed manual gearbox, or with a seven-speed twin-clutch automatic. We’ve tried the former.

It’s fair to say that the Courier isn’t exactly a rocket-ship in this form - in fact, you might well look at the 13.0-second 0-62mph time and wonder whether it’s a little bit generous - but of course that’s not really the point of a car like this. The powertrain has the same willing character that it does in the other Ford models that use it, and it’s fine for bimbling around town and will keep pace with motorway traffic. However, it can’t help but eventually get overcome by the size and weight of the car’s body, and you can feel it running out of puff when you hit an uphill section of road, so a downshift or two will be needed to maintain your progress. And that’s when travelling on your lonesome: load it up with people and luggage, as you most likely will, and you’ll find yourself in those doldrums for more of the time.

With the need for frequent gear changes, it’s positive that the manual gearbox has a pleasantly oily precision in the way it operates. The refinement of the car is really impressive in other areas, too. The engine stays distant and muted in all situations, even with a bunch of revs on the dial, and road- and wind noise are really well isolated at motorway speed, the latter being especially impressive given that the Courier has all the aerodynamic slipperiness of a cathedral. In fact, the most overbearing noise you’ll hear will be from the car’s own safety systems, which get on your case with bongs and beeps far too frequently.

It’s a cheerful little car to drive in a number of other ways, though. It has an eagerness to change direction that it inherits from its Puma stablemate, with strong grip, quick steering and surprisingly decent body control, albeit in a rather more top-heavy way. The ride does have a firmness that you might not be expecting, but overall it's still comfortable easily that neither you or your passengers should have cause for complaint.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

Two versions of the Tourneo Courier are offered: Titanium and Active. Both get a fairly reasonable level of kit provided as standard, with some slightly odd differences. The Titanium is the cheaper car of the pair, and comes with a standard roster including alloy wheels, automatic high beam headlights, automatic wipers, power adjusting door mirrors, four powered windows, climate control, heated front seats, heated windscreen, heated steering wheel, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, and cruise control. Both cars also get a SYNC 4 infotainment system with 8.0-inch central touchscreen display, six speakers, Bluetooth, DAB, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

You pay more for the Active, meanwhile, and your extra money gets you a variety of extra exterior styling goodies to give it more of an SUV vibe, stuff like front and rear skid plates, and wheel arch cladding. However, the odd bit is that the climate control is downgraded to manual air-conditioning, while the infotainment is upgraded to include satnav. With the Titanium, you only get nav by paying extra for an additional option pack that also includes adaptive cruise control (this comes with a stop and go function when specified with the automatic gearbox).

As touchscreens go, the Courier’s isn’t bad at all. The graphics are crisp and slick, the screen is sensitive, and the system is generally pretty easy to find your way around. We find it slightly irritating that the climate control system has to be operated through the screen, but it’s not difficult and there’s a shortcut button that gives you immediate access to that function.

Ford Tourneo Courier running costs

In the scheme of things, the Ford Tourneo Courier is not a very expensive car. You’ll pay about the same for one brand new as you will a mid-range Vauxhall Corsa supermini, and with the amount of space and practicality you’re getting, on top of the reasonably generous level of standard equipment, it starts to look like cracking value.

You could consider it quite disappointing that the Courier’s petrol engine doesn’t get the same mild-hybrid assistance that the Puma has, which would not only haul the car’s heavy body around with a bit more purpose, but would also trim fuel consumption. The official figure when paired with the manual gearbox is 42.2mpg, but the engine might often have to be worked hard to maintain your progress, so expect a bit less in the real world. The same should apply if you specify your car with the seven-speed automatic gearbox, in which case the official figure falls to 40.9 mpg.

Insurance groupings sit between 10 and 13 (out of 50, 50 being the most expensive) depending on spec, so premiums shouldn’t be too expensive for most.

Ford Tourneo Courier reliability

Reliability is always a tough thing to judge unless you have hard data to go on, and at present, we don’t where the Tourneo Courier is concerned. You can hopefully take comfort from the fact that the car is basically a version of the Ford Transit Courier van with windows and seats, and vans are designed to handle constant relentless use without missing a beat, because with vans, every minute spent off the road is a minute spent not earning.

The Courier also shares a platform and parts with the Puma SUV, which doesn’t appear to disgrace itself in the reliability surveys we usually look at. The car placed 17th out of 22 entrants in the Small SUV class of the 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey, which isn’t a stellar showing perhaps, but Ford did better in the overall manufacturer standings, placing 17th out of the 32 carmakers considered.