10 November 2025

Just before you buy that Kia Carnival, Ford's first people-mover is worth a look

10 November 2025 | By James Coleman

The Ford Tourneo is the first people mover Ford has ever sold in Australia – and it wants a piece of the Kia Carnival. Photo: James Coleman.

In the right car, the road to Twin Falls in Queensland’s Springbrook National Park would be motoring nirvana.

Leafy trees huddling over tight hairpins, breaking every so often for views down the valley before dropping away entirely as the horizon turns into the sea.

But I’m in very much not the right car. I’m in a van – about as van as it gets. Still, when you’re hauling two kids and the in-laws on a Gold Coast holiday, needs must.

And honestly? There’s something about embracing family life with open arms – the way a van says you do – that feels like a declaration of unbashful confidence.

This is Ford’s first-ever people mover in Australia, the Tourneo. It’s basically the eight-seater version of the Transit – yes, the one your plumber uses. And yes, you can tell.

There are eight seats. The interior plastics make that light hollow sound when tapped. The 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine sounds like it’s gargling gravel. The suspension is a bit rough. And the boot seal doesn’t quite fit properly.

The Kia Carnival is still the prettier, more luxurious people mover – and accordingly makes up four-fifths of all sub-$70K people-mover sales here in Australia.

However, and in much the same way that high heels are not as comfortable as shoes from the chemist (don’t ask how I know, I just do) – style comes with a drawback. Because, as a Transit with six extra seats, the Tourneo wins in terms of sheer space.

The boot is deep. Headroom? You could wear a top hat and not brush the roof. And with the middle-row seats facing each other, you could almost install a banquet table between them – hence the top hat.

Two models are available: the $68,490 Active and this, the $71,990 Titanium X, which is surprisingly plush too.

There are leather seats (heated in front and in the outer middle row), a 360-degree camera, wireless charging, phone ports everywhere, rollout blinds, and a glass roof stretching two-thirds of the way back.

Photos: James Coleman.

The air-conditioning is mighty, and sounds it, too. The touchscreen can be laggy, and the 360-camera refuses to pop up unless you hit reverse or press the button yourself (smarter cars do that as soon as the parking sensors start beeping).

A powered boot would also be helpful – it’s a large slab of glass and metal to hoist. Then again, the typical Tourneo buyer probably has John Cena forearms from wrestling small humans daily and then installing concrete water tanks.

The side doors are powered. But the boot? Less so. Photo: James Coleman.

Storage? Endless. Drawers under seats, bins in doors, and a deep shelf on the dash that can fit up to 20 McDonald’s cheeseburgers (or maybe more).

Performance-wise, the Tourneo is livelier than expected. With four adults, two kids and luggage aboard, it still pulls up the hills around Tweed Heads briskly. If not for the gravelly soundtrack, you’d almost forget it’s a diesel.

The steering wheel – a Ford strong suit – feels just right in your hands, and the turning circle is surprisingly good too.

But physics is physics. Hustle it along the Springbrook corners, and it feels like the top is continuing past the bottom. This is not the modified Transit Sabine Schmitz flung around Germany’s Nürburgring racetrack on Top Gear, nor the F1 version of the Renault Espace (look it up).

Happily, the rest of the time – or rather, the bulk of the time, because it’s the Gold Coast and the M1 highway is perpetually either under construction or clogged with traffic – the Tourneo feels very stable and comfortable.

Photos: James Coleman.

But the best was yet to come.

The gauge read 800 kilometres at pickup, and after a week of sightseeing – including a return run to Brisbane – there was still about 150 left in the fuel tank. No servo visits required.

For the family man, that’s its own kind of high.