The Ford Transit Customized Sport is already a reasonably wild-looking van, with its racing stripes, physique package and darkened alloy wheels – however the Ford E-Transit Customized MS-RT nearly makes it look tame.
Sure, Ford has launched one more racy-looking van, a distinct segment different manufacturers don’t even trouble with.
The MS-RT therapy is accessible throughout all Transit Customized powertrains within the UK and Europe, however solely the MS-RT model of the electrical E-Transit Customized will get extra energy. That’s the one we just lately drove in Germany.
Sadly, the MS-RT isn’t coming to Australia, although Ford Australia says the Sport has been a “vital contributor” to Transit Customized gross sales.
MORE: 2025 Ford E-Transit Customized assessment
It’s possible you’ll be questioning: “Simply what does MS-RT imply? Producer’s prompt retail… thrice?”
MS-RT is an offshoot of Ford’s rally accomplice M-Sport, and relies within the UK. It specialises in “sport-inspired business autos”, and has labored over Rangers and Transit Customs.
You’ll have seen the Ranger MS-RT, a lowered “avenue truck” model of the turbo-diesel V6 Ranger. Sadly, it too is for UK and European audiences solely.
No matter what’s powering it, the MS-RT seems like a Focus RS pumped up with extra air.
There’s a brand new entrance bumper with an built-in spoiler; facet skirts; and a novel rear bumper with an built-in diffuser.
It rides on 19-inch anthracite-finish alloy wheels wrapped in 235/45 R19 Goodyear Eagle Sport tyres. Behind these wheels sit brake calipers completed in MS-RT’s signature blue.
It’s onerous to decorate up a field, however by some means the workforce at MS-RT have managed to provide this cargo hauler a convincing makeover.
The crowning contact is the big rear spoiler, which on vans with barn doorways is break up in two. In order for you, you possibly can even add some decals – you already know, when you discover the MS-RT too refined.
You possibly can specify the MS-RT within the regular Transit Customized colors: Frozen White, Gray Matter, Magnetic, Agate Black, Artisan Crimson, and Digital Aqua. However that might be bloody boring, wouldn’t it?
In case you’re shopping for this outlandish van, it’s good to correctly commit and purchase one of many following lurid shades:
- MS-RT Blue
- Yellow Inexperienced
- Cadmium Yellow
- TNT Tango Orange
- Ultramarine Blue
- ENW Purple
As soon as they roll off the manufacturing line in Turkey, Transit Customs are despatched to a brand new facility at Ford Dagenham Property within the UK to endure ultimate meeting and grow to be MS-RTs.
You cannot solely get the MS-RT therapy with each Transit Customized powertrain, you too can get it on panel van and double-cab configurations and in each lengths.
What’s the Ford E-Transit Customized MS-RT like on the within?
Ford has given the Transit Customized’s inside a makeover, too.
There are sportier-looking seats, with considerably extra bolstering for the driving force’s seat. It’s comfy and it hugs you in place, and there are plush armrests.
All seats are completed in leatherette and suede trim with blue distinction stitching. This blue stitching may also be discovered on the chunky, squared-off, leatherette-wrapped steering wheel which feels terrific.
In any other case, the inside is similar as all new Transit Customs – and that’s not a foul factor.
We have now one gripe: the column shifter feels far an excessive amount of like an indicator stalk, which is a recipe for the occasional awkward shift into impartial whereas driving.
Nevertheless, using a column shifter has allowed Ford designers to flatten the centre stack. That makes it simpler to slip throughout the entrance.
The brand new Transit Customized household additionally has a very flat ground up entrance, no matter powertrain.
Ford has moved the passenger-side airbag to the roof, liberating up area for an additional glove compartment. There’s storage atop the dashboard, deep bottle holders within the doorways, and a number of cupholders.
The corporate has ditched bodily local weather controls in favour of touchscreen-based adjustment, nevertheless it has fortuitously left these on-screen keys completely anchored.
Which means no matter what menu you’re in, you possibly can simply modify capabilities just like the cabin temperature.
The expansive 13-inch infotainment touchscreen additionally options wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and is helpfully angled in direction of the driving force. It sits subsequent to a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, which is obvious and straightforward to learn.
Ford’s Professional Energy Onboard, which permits as much as 2.3kW of energy to be delivered from the battery to energy home equipment and instruments, can be out there. The outlet for that is on the D-pillar.
We drove a L1H1 van, code for the shortest size and the bottom roof top. Load quantity with the bulkhead is 5.8m3; you don’t lose any load area by choosing the electrical van over its diesel or plug-in hybrid fashions.
Payload is 968kg, whereas the most important payload determine within the E-Transit Customized vary is 1011kg. Braked towing capability stays the identical as the opposite E-Transit Customs, nevertheless, at 2300kg.
| Dimensions | E-Transit Customized L1H1 | E-Transit Customized L2H1 |
|---|---|---|
| Most load top | 1433mm | 1433mm |
| Load size (to bulkhead) | 2602mm (van) 1604mm (double cab) |
3002mm (van) 2004mm (double cab) |
| Most load width | 1777mm (1392mm between arches) | 1777mm (1392mm between arches) |
| Load quantity | 5.8m3 (van) 3.3m3 (double cab) |
6.8m3 (van) 4.3m3 (double cab) |
| Aspect door aperture width | 1030mm | 1030mm |
| Aspect door aperture top | 1301mm | 1301mm |
| Aspect door step top | 393mm-435mm | 393mm-435mm |
| Rear door aperture width | 1400mm | 1400mm |
| Rear door aperture top | 1316mm | 1316mm |
What’s below the bonnet?
Whereas the MS-RT therapy may be had with each diesel and plug-in hybrid energy, we examined the E-Transit Customized MS-RT.
That is the one powertrain that will get extra grunt over non-MS-RT fashions, with an additional 50kW on faucet. That makes this probably the most highly effective Transit Customized mannequin ever.
You lose a little bit of vary with the MS-RT. Ford claims 275km of WLTP vary with the E-Transit Customized MS-RT L1H1, however a Sport with the identical physique and the 160kW electrical motor has 308km of vary.
| Technical Specs | Ford E-Transit Customized MS-RT |
|---|---|
| Drivetrain | Single-motor rear-wheel drive |
| Energy | 210kW |
| Torque | 415Nm |
| Battery | 65kWh nickel manganese cobalt |
| Vary (WLTP) | 275km |
| DC charging fee | 125kW |
| AC charging fee | 11kW |
| DC cost time (10-80 per cent) | Approx. 39 minutes |
| AC cost time (0-100 per cent) | Approx. 6.7 hours (11kW) |
| Payload | 968kg |
| Braked towing capability | 2300kg |
| Gross automobile mass (GVM) | 3225kg |
How does the Ford E-Transit Customized MS-RT drive?
It’d look wilder, however the MS-RT doesn’t drive appreciably completely different from the common E-Transit Customized. Ford hasn’t detailed any mechanical modifications aside from the additional energy and a 50mm enhance to trace width.
We solely had a quick drive of the sportier electrical van, with slightly below 30km of suburban driving with a little bit of motorway thrown in.
Driving it again to again with a 160kW E-Transit Customized, we might really feel the additional energy of the MS-RT however it’s hardly transformative. In spite of everything, the 160kW E-Transit Customized feels loads highly effective already, notably off the road.
Torque can be unchanged from all different E-Transit Customized fashions, at 415Nm.
Even in Sport mode, all 210kW of the MS-RT’s electrical motor is delivered easily. All E-Transit Customs for now are rear-wheel drive, not like their diesel and plug-in hybrid counterparts that are supplied with front- and all-wheel drive, and have a single electrical motor on the rear axle.
We’re glad Ford went down this route, because it means there’s no annoying entrance wheelspin to cope with, one thing that possible would have been the case had Ford employed a front-mounted electrical motor.
The MS-RT feels good and secure at freeway speeds, and isn’t fazed by crosswinds. The steering is gentle, making manoeuvring by way of slender alleyways and tight parking heaps simple, and the wheel itself is a tactile delight.
Nonetheless, whereas the steering is car-like and the electrical motor highly effective, this nonetheless appears like a van to drive. A pleasant van, sure, however not some quasi-Focus RS-type tremendous van because the styling would recommend.
As we famous in our E-Transit Customized assessment, the experience is a contact agency and lumpy at instances even on smoother German pavement, though it stops in need of being uncomfortable. We’re eager to see the way it feels in additional intensive testing on our usually worse roads right here in Australia.
Ford developed unbiased rear suspension for the E-Transit Customized, and ended up rolling it out throughout your complete second-generation Transit Customized vary, so it feels good and tied down on the rear.
It’s price noting Ford loaded every cargo van on the Transit Customized launch occasion with a pallet weighing roughly half the automobile’s payload. Which means we had been hauling round roughly 500kg of ballast.
The electrical motor is quiet, making for a way more nice soundtrack than the clattery diesel.
The van will get a bit noisy at larger speeds because of the wind whipping across the giant mirrors, and reveals the everyday boominess you get with vans.
There’s a one-pedal drive mode, activated through the touchscreen, that may deliver the automobile to an entire cease.
There’s no lane-centring, however the lane-keep help will easily intervene to maintain you inside your lane, even on winding roads.
The visitors signal recognition additionally works effectively, and there’s clever pace restrict help which is able to mechanically modify the automobile’s pace when you have got adaptive cruise management on and the posted restrict modifications.
We noticed common vitality consumption of 23kWh/100km, greater than the 20kWh/100km determine we recorded throughout an analogous drive loop in a 160kW E-Transit Customized. Nevertheless, we had been driving the MS-RT in Sport mode.
What do you get?
Commonplace gear on MS-RT fashions consists of:
- 12-inch instrument cluster that includes 7.0-inch display
- 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- 5G modem
- Heated entrance sports activities seats
- 6-way energy driver’s seat
- Leatherette and suede upholstery with blue distinction stitching
- Heated sports activities steering wheel
- Blue 12 o’clock marker
- Blue distinction stitching
- Twin-zone local weather management
- Digital rear-view mirror
- Keyless entry and begin
- Automated LED headlights
- Automated high-beam
- Rain-sensing wipers
- 19-inch alloy wheels
- 235/45 R19 Goodyear Eagle Sport tyres
Our tester additionally had non-compulsory satellite tv for pc navigation and a powered facet load door.
Is the Ford E-Transit Customized MS-RT secure?
The E-Transit Customized hasn’t been crash-tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP, though the associated diesel model obtained a Platinum ranking from Euro NCAP in testing of its lively security know-how.
Commonplace security gear on the MS-RT consists of:
- Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
- Lane maintain help
- Reversing digital camera
- Entrance, rear parking sensors
- Site visitors signal recognition
It’s additionally out there with:
- Adaptive cruise management with cease/go
- AEB with intersection help, bicycle owner detection
- Reverse AEB
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Rear cross-traffic alert
CarExpert’s Tackle the Ford E-Transit Customized MS-RT
We bemoan Ford Australia’s lack of ability to deliver any variety of superior abroad merchandise right here, together with the Maverick, Bronco, up to date Puma and Escape, F-150 Lightning and hybrid… [deep breath]… petrol Explorer, electrical Explorer… effectively, you get the image.
Whereas the E-Transit Customized MS-RT is an enthralling automobile, we’re not all that unhappy to listen to it’s not coming right here as a result of it’s such a distinct segment product.
In ute-mad Australia, we will’t think about there are a lot of patrons for a be-spoilered, body-kitted mid-sized van.
The additional energy within the electrical MS-RT is sweet, however it’s not as if the common E-Transit Customized was left wanting for grunt. And the tradeoff with this added efficiency is lowered vary.
Whether or not you discover the MS-RT to be a cool-looking little bit of package or the automotive equal of your dorky uncle dressing up as Lil Nas X, nevertheless, you possibly can’t argue with this: this racy-looking Ford helps make the automotive panorama and the relatively boring van market simply that little bit extra fascinating.
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