MS-RT Ford Transit Custom review: £33k sports-van driven

That’s an angry-looking Ford Transit...

True that, and not a redtop newspaper or vape-shrouded driver in sight. The MS-RT Transit is not your white van man’s tailgate chariot. This is a van for the van enthusiast. The van owner who would bring his or her workhorse inside with them at night, if they could, and let it sleep at the foot of the bed.

Do those people exist?

Well Light Commercial Vehicle Sales are booming in the UK, because you need your Amazon and Asos packages pronto, and just like the Fiesta and Focus always home in at the top of the car sales charts, Ford’s venerable Transit is a perennial favourite in the van fraternity. So there’s a rich seam of fans that want more of a flagship vibe, reckons MS-RT. Previous iterations of MS-RT van have found over 1,000 homes in the UK so far, and because their owners tend to customise them, they're almost never available used. So the residual values are bulletproof.

Sorry, who's MS-RT?

M Sport Road Technology. And yes, that’s the M Sport team who build, set-up and campaign Ford’s official World Rally Championship effort. Not anything to do with lightly warmed-up BMWs.

The back-story goes like this. Two and a half years ago, Ed Davies from van mods company Van Sport gave Andrew Whealtey from M Sport a call. I don’t have an actual transcript, but ‘fancy teaming up to do some cool Transits?’ seems to have been the pitch.

MS-RT commandeered and rejuvenated a dilapidated nylon factory in Pontypool, south Wales. Today, it’s home to twin spray-paint booths, multiple vehicle lifts and prepping stations, and a plastics lab where the company can manufacture its own bespoke bodykits on-site, rather than importing lower-quality ones in from China. The speed with which the operation has sprung up, and the meticulousness of the new facility, is really impressive.

The company looked at doing its new body panels in fibreglass, and even carbon-fibre, but settled on a quick-setting reaction-injection plastic that’s extremely robust but lightweight and accepts a glossy paint finish. All of MS-RT’s body mods are warrantied for three years and 100,000 miles – this isn’t your eBay papier-mâché boy kit.

And what’s the result?

This furious-looking hunk of utility. MS-RT junk the standard Transit Custom’s bumpers, and apply their own, complete with a bespoke grille and diffuser. And a roof spoiler. Then there’s wheelarch extensions, sill skirts, and 18-inch Ox Racing wheels with Hankook tyres. Or you can spec 20s as an option.

The van also rides lower than standard, but MS-RT’s had to be clever here. Simply chopping the suspension would diminish the Transit’s payload-carrying ability. Unacceptable.

So, MS-RT’s collaborated with Eibach to create a shorter, stiffer spring than standard, which drops the van closer to the road but maintains the strength needed to work for a living. M Sport’s Andrew Wheatley says they paid particular attention to making the van ride well while unladen – commercial vehicles often skip and skitter about when there’s no payload out back settling the rear axle down.

Has it worked?

Out on the roads of south Wales, yes, the, MS-RT’s Transit gets about the place with the best-damped ride of any van I’ve ever climbed aboard. Granted, that’s only a handful, but this thing’s more dexterous than most pick-up trucks too. And it looks cooler. Envious glances from fellow Transit drivers are as frequent as they are amusing.

Is it fast?

It could be… but only if you’re willing to bin your warranty. As standard, MS-RT’s vans all use a factory-spec 2.0-litre Ford turbodiesel engine developing 168bhp and 298lb ft of torque. That’s enough to make the Transit brisk, but not quite as punchy as the pedigree badge and thrusting looks suggest.

Now, MS-RT will remap your engine for you. That’ll boost it to 208bhp. And then there’s the optional performance intercooler, to take power even higher. More power than a Fiesta ST, and more torque than a Focus RS. And when you need to stop this turbocharged brick outhouse, MS-RT will supply an optional big brake kit too. Reassuring.

Thing is, all these engineering changes, tempting as they are, crumple your warranty into a paper ball and dropkick it into the waste paper bin. And as a result, MS-RT expects most punters who really want to amp up their van’s attitude will go for the British-built body panels, the twin-pipe sports exhaust, and the thoughtfully retrimmed nappa leather and suede interior – complete with the outrageously sculpted flat-bottomed steering wheel – but only a very select few will run the tuning/warranty gauntlet.

Where’s Ford’s sense of humour?

Ford’s got its own sporty van to sell, don’t forget. Imaginatively titled ‘Transit Sport’, it’s priced from £30,500. MS-RT’s creation is £32,995 for a manual, regular van, and upwards from there if you’d prefer an automatic gearbox, or a doublecab layout.

Ford’s effort wears a much more subtle makeover though – more like a Transit ‘ST-line’. The part-Welsh version looks like the homologation special of a one-make race series. Now there’s an idea...