But then a funny thing happened in 2009 — Ford introduced the Euro-flavored Transit Connect and suddenly a small cargo van in the United States started to make a lot of sense. Fast-forward to modern day and Chevrolet, Nissan and even Mercedes-Benz are getting in on the action.
Not wanting to be left on the outside looking in, Chrysler’s Ram division is now throwing its hat into the ring with the Fiat Doblo-based Ram ProMaster City. Curious to check out the latest big thing in small vans, we packed our work gloves and boots and headed to Austin, Texas, to put the ProMaster City through its paces.
Italian roots
Despite its Americanized badge, the Ram ProMaster City is little more than a lightly re-worked version of the Fiat Doblo. But that badge engineering isn’t such a bad thing in the case of the ProMaster City. That’s because the Doblo on which it’s based has been named European Van of the Year twice and has sold more than 1.3 million copies since being introduced in 2000.
Moreover, the Doblo, like the Ford Transit Connect, was designed in Europe with tiny European villages and roads in mind. That means the ProMaster City is perfectly suited for zipping in and out of the heavy traffic and tight parking spots that are typical in our congested city centers.
Building a better box
Features like eye-catching exterior styling and the latest in-car electronics need not apply here — with commercial vehicles, it’s all about utility.
To that end, the Ram ProMaster has been graced with a fairly generic mug, with form taking a back seat to function. The van’s lights were placed high and slightly inboard so that any accidental bumps with a loading dock wouldn’t result in the replacement of an entire light cluster. And although it’s plain, the ProMaster City’s front end has been fitted with some wind-cheating cues to helping it to achieve 29 mpg on the highway.
As with all commercial vehicles, the business end of the ProMaster City is its cargo area. In this case, the ProMaster City has been engineered with nearly vertical walls and a large rear opening, providing enough space for a fully-loaded pallet. Payload capacity is a class-leading 1,883 pounds.
The cargo version of the ProMaster City ships with little more than a floor, some walls and a ceiling, but there are a number of different storage solutions available via the aftermarket.
One nice touch that you’ll only find on the ProMaster City is a sliding door locking mechanism. Standard on both sliding doors of the ProMaster City, the system latches the door open so that it won’t come sliding back on you if you open the door with too much force or happen to be parked on a steep hill. The latch disengages when the handle is pulled to close the door.
The ProMaster City can’t match its bigger brothers in terms of towing prowess, but it’s still capable of hauling a respectable 2,000 pounds.
Office on wheels
As you might expect, the interior of the ProMaster City isn’t lavishly equipped, but it is comfortable and highly functional.
The ProMaster City’s high seating position and large windows gives the driver a commanding view of the road ahead. Those attributes combined with tight proportions make the little van surprisingly easy to drive.
Seats are comfortable with good thigh support, ensuring that the ProMaster City can double as an all-day office on wheels. A durable cloth is the only seating material available.
Storage is ample throughout the ProMaster City’s cabin, including a large space overhead for notebooks and the like. As an added extra, that overhead compartment also includes a storage net so its contents don’t come crashing down on your head.
Fitting of the class, most of the ProMaster City’s interior is made from hard plastics, but the armrest areas have been graced with soft-touch material for added comfort.
Instrumentation is basic but straightforward. Controls for cruise control and Bluetooth hands-free are located on the steering wheel.
A basic radio comes standard, but a miniaturized 5-inch version of Chrysler’s UConnect infotainment system with navigation can be ordered.
And although it may be from the land of manual transmissions, the ProMaster City is available exclusively with an automatic gearbox. In this case it’s a nine-speed unit driving the front-wheels.
Familiar to the Chrysler lineup, the ProMaster City uses a 178 horsepower, 174 lb-ft of torque version of the company’s 2.4L Tigershark four-cylinder engine. Performance is just fine, but more importantly the four-cylinder delivers good economy — 21 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway, netting a combined rating of 24 mpg.
Chrysler says a diesel is under consideration, but there are no plans to offer an oil-burner at this time.
The Ram ProMaster City is available in several different configurations, but the choices basically boil down to how many windows and seats you want.
Leftlane’s bottom line
With a host of innovative features and class-leading payload, the Ram ProMaster City should have no problem carving out a niche in the small but growing compact van segment. We doubt many families will take the plunge of the five-passenger Wagon version of the ProMaster City, but the Cargo model promises broad appeal across many different industries.
2015 Ram ProMaster City, priced from $23,130. Destination, $995.
Photos by Drew Johnson.
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