Mercedes Vito van aimed at motorcycle transport

Mercedes are aiming their new 204bhp, 3.0-litre V6 turbo Vito Sport X Special Edition diesel van at bikers, as the ultimate way to transport a bike around.

They also reckon it’s the fastest van money can buy, getting from 0-60mph in eight seconds and a top whack of 122mph, which is hot-hatch territory.

We used the Vito X Sport to get a Kawasaki ZX-10R and Yamaha R1 to a recent test at Brands Hatch and to take a Suzuki RM250 to Suzuki’s new off-road centre in Devon and van gobbled them with room to spare.

If you’re going to carry two bikes you’ll need to panel the inside of the van though, to stop handlebars from digging into the bulkheads.

From the outside the Brabus spoilers, skirts and 18-inch alloy wheels look like Tim Westwood has been at it, but inside it’s much more tasteful.

It’s luxurious and car-like to drive. You get leather seats, cruise and climate control, a decent stereo and sat nav.

Unfortunately you can’t turn the traction control off enough to have fun with all that power, a shame since it’s rear-wheel drive drive. The only other downside is limited legroom for drivers with long legs.

All this speed and luxury doesn’t come cheap, with the Mercedes Vito Sport X van coming in at £25,240. Fuel consumption is on the heavy side at 30mpg on motorways too.

The Vito Sport X is easily good enough to substitute for your family car, and if you go for the Dualiner version (which costs £27,140), you get rear windows and a row of removable seats in the back too, which also gives you more legroom in the front.