Commercial Vans & Heavy-Duty Trucks

Work vehicles are bought on capability and paid for on downtime, which is why the decision deserves more than a spec-sheet comparison. The eleven models here — seven cargo vans and four heavy-duty pickups, spanning 2018 to 2024 — cover most of what a small business or a trade actually puts on the road.

• Cargo van if your load is weather-sensitive, bulky, or needs to stay secure and organised. Height inside and a low load floor matter more than peak payload for most trades, and shelving turns volume into usable storage.
• Heavy-duty pickup if you tow trailers, carry palletised loads, need ground clearance or work off sealed roads. The bed is open, which is an advantage for equipment and a liability for anything that must stay dry.
• Both is the honest answer for some businesses, and it is worth costing properly rather than compromising one vehicle to cover two jobs.

Six of the seven vans here are gasoline: the Ford Transit, Transit Connect, Chevrolet Express 2500, GMC Savana 2500 and Ram ProMaster 2500, plus the Ford E-Transit, which is the only electric van in the group. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500/3500 is the sole diesel van. Among the heavy-duty pickups the position reverses — the Ram 2500, Ram 3500, Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty are all diesel. That split reflects real duty cycles: a van on short urban routes suits gasoline or electric power, while a pickup pulling heavy trailers on the highway is where diesel torque and range earn their premium.

The payload figure you are quoted is the difference between the vehicle's GVWR and its own weight — before you add shelving, a ladder rack, a compressor, a refrigeration unit or a heavy driver. Every one of those reduces what you can legally carry. Add up the upfit first, subtract it from the payload figure, and only then decide whether the vehicle is actually big enough. This is the single most common way a work vehicle ends up overloaded on paper and on the road.

Downtime usually costs more than fuel. For a business, a day off the road is revenue that never comes back, which is why service intervals, parts availability and dealer network density deserve real weight in the decision — not just purchase price and miles per gallon. Beyond that, diesel adds exhaust-fluid and emissions maintenance to the budget, heavy-duty tyres are a significant recurring cost, and commercial insurance is priced on use and driver records rather than on the vehicle alone. Run your expected annual mileage and duty cycle through the total cost of ownership sheet to see which lines actually carry the money.

• Service records above mileage. A high-mileage highway van with a complete history usually beats a low-mileage one with gaps, because work vehicles live or die on scheduled maintenance rather than on distance alone.
• How it was loaded. A van that carried shelving and tools all its life has a different kind of wear from one that pulled a trailer — check rear springs, brakes and the hitch area accordingly.
• Whether the upfit comes with it. Shelving, racks and partitions are expensive new and near-free second-hand, so a van sold with its fit-out is often better value than a cheaper empty one.
• Diesel emissions equipment. On a modern diesel, the after-treatment system is the expensive thing to inherit — ask what has been replaced and when.
• Open safety recalls. Commercial fleets are better than private owners at completing recall work, but a VIN recall check before purchase costs nothing.

Cards labelled Ownership cost open a pre-filled cost calculator built on published EPA data where it exists; cards labelled Fault guide open a model page with owner-reported reliability notes, common faults and specifications. Both are useful before a purchase and during ownership.