The Parkers New Car Awards 2023 have revealed the best vehicles you can buy, so here is a closer look at the vans and pickups that picked up the honours in their respective categories.
We’ve named winners in six categories in all, ensuring that all the major sizes of van are covered, as well as pickup trucks and the best electric vans. From those winners, we then chose an overall Van of the Year winner.
Parkers Small Van of the Year 2023: Toyota Proace City
The first winner in this list has just chalked up a hat-trick, as the Toyota Proace City was named the best in its class in 2021 and 2022 as well. It shares much – platform, styling and engines etc – with the rest of its Stellantis siblings but it stands out thanks to its aftersales.
Even though it is not a vehicle that was originally conceived and built in a Toyota factory, it is still covered by the brand’s peerless 10-year warranty that goes far above and beyond compared to its rivals.
Even without this, the Proace City is a fantastic vehicle with loads of really strong attributes. It is great to drive, has strong engines and is capable of carrying up to tonne of payload. You can buy one for its abilities and run it knowing that Toyota’s warranty will keep looking after you for years to come.
In a closely fought category, the runners up in this sector were the Ford Transit Connect and the Proace City’s siblings, the Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Vauxhall Combo.
Parkers Medium Van of the Year 2023: Ford Transit Custom
The Ford Transit Custom is another repeat winner, having taken its category on multiple occasions and the overall Van of the Year win on two occasions.
It hasn’t taken the main win this time around, but nothing has managed to loosen its grip on the medium van category, both in terms of its award-winning status and its sales – it remains streets ahead of its rivals in the bestsellers’ chart.
There is an excellent breadth and depth to the Transit Custom’s range, with a version for almost everyone. There are multiple heights and lengths, a strong selection of engines and even a plug-in hybrid version. There isn’t an electric version yet, but this will come when the all-new model arrives next year.
Because of this new model on the horizon, this is set to be the last year you will be able get a Transit Custom in its current form. It speaks volumes that it is winning until the end.
The runners up in this class were the VW Transporter and the Toyota Proace.
Parkers Large Van of the Year 2023: Ford Transit
The large van category is one of the hardest fought, with the Ford Transit just holding off the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and the VW Crafter and MAN TGE pair.
The Transit has edged ahead of its rivals by virtue of its newest variant, the E-Transit. Spoiler alert, but we think the E-Transit is really rather good and its arrival has elevated the overall model range to take it to the top of its class. No other large van covers off so many needs and with such ability.
Add in Ford Pro, the brand’s aftersales backup proposition, and the excellent range of diesel engines and the Transit really does deserve its accolades.
That isn’t to say that the Crafter, Sprinter and TGE aren’t excellent vans and they are well deserved runners up in this close category.
Parkers Electric Van of the Year 2023: Ford E-Transit
The Ford E-Transit is a transformative vehicle, both in terms of how it is to live with and the numbers it boasts.
It has really moved the electric-van game on in a way that is truly transformative with a driving experience, range and payload combination that is unparalleled. Add in the fact that you can get a version with an incredibly powerful 269hp motor and this is a van that makes going electric fun. Even the lesser powered version is quite nippy.
Even though it is a conversion, as pretty much every other electric van is at the moment, it is the most seamlessly integrated of its type.
The Maxus eDeliver 9 is the runner up in this category and is an excellent proposition in many ways – had the E-Transit not yet arrived it would have been a worthy winner.
Parkers Van of the Year 2023: Ford E-Transit
Given what we’ve said about the Ford E-Transit above it is perhaps little surprise that it takes the overall win in the Parkers Van of the Year category. It is rare that a vehicle of any sort moves the game on so much in a class, but the E-Transit does just that.
Electric vans have historically felt miles behind their car equivalents, with technology shoehorned into outdated bodies in some cases. Ford makes it feel like a vehicle that has been on sale for the large part of a decade was originally designed to have an EV version, and it makes it fun and practical to live with.
Parkers Pickup of the Year 2023: Toyota Hilux
The Toyota Hilux has long been a bridesmaid in this category, but recent improvements have helped it elevate its game to the extent that it is the proud winner of the Pickup of the Year title in 2023.
Admittedly it is helped by the fact that it has fewer rivals this year – the replacement for the Volkswagen Amarok and Ford Ranger don’t arrive until the start of 2023 so we have not yet been able to drive them. You can still buy the outgoing Ranger until the end of this year, though, and it is still one of the best you can get so we have happily named it as a runner up, alongside the workhorse that is the Isuzu D-Max.
