However he eventually sees the 115bhp engine taking on the mantle of the most popular. He said: ‘We see this becoming the engine of choice at 3.5 tonnes.’

The 115bhp engine carries a £600 premium over the 90bhp, while the 135bhp, complete with its new six-speed gearbox, costs £1,350 more than the 90bhp base model.

Fleet managers will have to closely examine the needs of their companies to decide where to spend their money.

One thing to be aware of though, come resale time the higher horsepower models do tend to retain much of the additional entry cost in terms of residual values.

We took the 135bhp Transit out on the autobahn and up into the hills around Munich for a day-long drive.

The first impression was instantly how quiet and refined the new engine was.

From tick-over right up to the higher reaches of the rev range, the motor was smooth and the noise subdued.

In the past, when Transit engines have become more refined, the focus of attention has turned to the somewhat rattly gear-lever.

But this was not the case with the Getrag six-speeder.

It was fingertip light and very direct, slipping easily across the double gate.

Reverse gear is forward and to the left of the first-second plane.

This wasn’t a problem though as you have to push quite hard to get the lever across enough to drop into reverse, so there should be few cases of inadvertently choosing the wrong direction.

If this did happen though, Ford has fitted the box with an audible alarm that bleeps at you when you select reverse.

On the motorway, the Transit is a flyer.

Fleet managers concerned about speeding tickets should take note, the 135bhp van, even with a 70% load, simply picked up and went from any speed.

Even well beyond our domestic speed limit, the van was happy to pull out and accelerate further.

The real joy of the engine though was, as Ford suggests, in its torque.

Despite having one more ratio to play with, it was easy to become lazy and just let that engine pull from virtually any revs.

On the hillier sections of the route it was a real pleasure to just surge up steep grades, with little need to change down at all.

The 135bhp engine, along with its six-speed box, finally puts Ford on a par with some of the more highly-powered vans on the market, in terms of torque at least.

The engine is smooth, quiet and refined, offering perhaps the most car-like driving experience yet available in a Transit.