Mercedes-Benz is now offering the petrol version of its small panel van, the Citan, with a six-speed automatic transmission.
The Mercedes-Benz Citan dual-clutch automatic has been developed with urban delivery drivers in mind, and will be on sale from June 2016.
Effortless and efficient
The new six-speed dual clutch transmission is a shared component between Mercedes-Benz and its alliance partner, Renault-Nissan. However, it doesn’t currently feature in either of those firms’ small panel vans, the Renault Kangoo or Nissan NV200.
Dual clutch transmissions, as the name suggests, have an extra sub-transmission, which pre-selects the next gear while the other is transmitting drive to the wheels. When it’s time to move up a gear, the ‘spare’ clutch engages almost instantly with the pre-selected gear, and providing a smooth and effortless change without the loss of tractive power.
But the quick change of the dual clutch also offers other advantages. The flow of power from the engine to the transmission isn’t interrupted to the same degree as the traditional single-clutch, and therefore not as much fuel is burned bringing the engine revolutions back up to speed.
On the combined cycle, the Mercedes-Benz Citan 112 achieves 44.1mpg on the combined cycle, although is still doesn’t quite beat its manual counterpart at 46.3mpg.
Pricing and availability
Prices start from £15,820 plus VAT for the Mercedes-Benz Citan 112 6G-DCT (dual clutch transmission) Long, which is around £1,500 more than the manual equivalent. This extends up to £17,900 for the Tourer version. The new models will be arriving into Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle dealerships in June 2016.
Mercedes-Benz Citan
The Citan is the small panel van from Mercedes-Benz, and is heavily based on the Renault Kangoo, with which it shares a production line in France. There are two engines (a 1.2-litre petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel), three load lengths (2.4 cubic metres Compact, 3.1 cubic metre Long and 3.8 cubic metre Extra-Long) and two trim levels (standard and Sport).
Click here to read the full Mercedes-Benz Citan review.
