LDV Pilot (96-05) - Review

The Pilot offers gross vehicle weights of 2.2 tonnes to 2.6 tonnes, so as not to overlap with its bigger brother the Convoy. Payloads range from 813kg to 1,406kg and load volume is 5.7 cubic metres. A side sliding door was offered as standard.

Safety depends very much on how good the driver is, as items such as airbags and ABS brakes did not feature on the lists. Security items such as immobilisers and alarms had to be paid extra for too.

The above may have presented a pretty dismal picture of the Pilot, but to be fair it was never meant to be anything but a basic offering. Its list price was bargain basement and not only are parts cheap and plentiful, but LDV’s hourly labour rates are lower than those of some other marques, so when things go wrong it won’t be the end of the world.

Rattly and old-fashioned does not necessarily mean unreliable. The Pilot sold by the shedload while it was in production and there are still thousands of them faithfully plugging away on the UK’s roads. Buyers who don’t expect too much from a vehicle won't be disappointed.