Bethlehem, N.H.
IN Europe, the Ford Transit Connect is common enough to blend into the landscape. But in a small town in the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire, this compact commercial van stops traffic.
Since 2003 Ford has sold more than 625,000 Transit Connects in 58 countries, but its proportions — it is a tall but relatively short and narrow utility vehicle — are startlingly new to Americans. It also heralds a big shift in Ford’s approach to business customers, who in the past have been steered toward large vans and pickup trucks.
Ford’s plans for the Transit Connect do not seem to be limited to hauling the tools and supplies of tradesmen, either. A design study for a Transit Connect taxi has been displayed on the auto show circuit, and a battery-electric version of the van is about a year away.
And the company has at least toyed with the idea of the Transit Connect for noncommercial uses. It showed a concept called the Transit Connect Family One at the New York auto show last spring, configured to help a family carry all of its recreational gear and outfitted to keep the gear organized. It had twin scooters mounted on the rear doors, a storage area beneath the rear floor big enough to hold a stroller and came with a radio frequency identification system to help track all of a family’s stuff.
Len Deluca, director for commercial trucks at Ford, hinted that the unfamiliar shape might be headed for the suburbs. “Down the road it could be in your driveway as a family vehicle,” he said.
Parked next to a Dodge Sprinter, another high-roof van marketed primarily to business customers, Ford’s little immigrant looks like a cute offspring. But the main shared characteristic is their trans-Atlantic heritage; in Europe, the Sprinter is sold as a Mercedes-Benz.
While the Transit Connects coming to the United States are built in Turkey, they could become naturalized citizens. Automotive News, a trade publication, has reported that the van will be built in the United States by summer 2012. A Ford spokeswoman, Anne Marie Gattari, dismissed the report as speculation.
Whatever its manufacturing source, Ford is optimistic about sales. In August, its first full month of sales in the United States, 2,200 Transit Connects were sold. They are selling within 10 days of arriving on dealer lots, which Ford said is significantly quicker than current industry norms.
Americans are more familiar with Ford’s larger van, the E-Series, built outside Cleveland. That full-size van, commonly known by its former name of Econoline, can be equipped to handle a payload so large that it could, in theory, carry the 3,470-pound Transit Connect, said Rob Stevens, Ford’s chief engineer for commercial vehicles. The E-Series is very capable, he said, but people are looking for something lighter.”
While the E-Series comes with V-8 and V-10 engines and rear-wheel drive, the Transit Connect relies on a 4-cylinder motor that puts its power to the road through the front wheels. The result is more space-efficient and more fuel-efficient.
Ford calls the Transit Connect a billboard on wheels that provides a more professional image for a small business than it would get with a minivan, which is stamped in the minds of some Americans as uncool family transportation. My bright red test model was a rolling advertisement for itself, emblazoned with self-congratulatory messages that boasted about its mileage (22 miles a gallon in city driving and 25 m.p.g. on the highway), payload capacity (1,600 pounds), cargo volume (135 cubic feet) and a low load floor.
The Transit Connect comes in several cargo van models that have just two seats, at base prices from $21,475 to $22,945. The Wagon XL, with a second row that seats two, starts at $21,830.
The model I tested was the top-of-the line Wagon XLT. It had a second row that seated three, more standard features than the XL and a base price of $23,045.
The window sticker of the test van totaled $26,170. Of that, $1,395 was for Ford Work Solutions, a navigation system with an in-dash computer that can be linked to a business owner’s office or home computer. Using it, a document from the office or home can be opened, modified and printed on a Bluetooth-linked printer.
Although the cargo area of the van I tested was bare, Ford has contracted with three suppliers who offer various cargo-management systems.
The second row seats, which are split 60/40, flip and fold forward against the front seats. Unfortunately, they don’t fold flat into the floor and cannot be removed without tools, limiting the utility of the cargo area.
In models without second-row seats, the cargo floor is just over 6 feet long. With the second row of seats in place, the floor is 3 feet 8 inches long. With the seats folded forward and out of the way, it is 4 feet 8 inches. Surprisingly, the Transit Connect cannot carry a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood inside, a task that has become a basic measure of a vehicle’s utility — and one that can be accomplished by most minivans.
The powertrain uses a 2-liter 4-cylinder Duratec engine with 136 horsepower and 128 pound-feet of torque and a 4-speed automatic transmission.
It is the same powertrain used in the Ford Focus but is calibrated to handle the additional 1,000 pounds of the Transit Connect.
Some people who looked over my test vehicle had qualms about the engine’s ability to handle heavy loads, especially on the mountain roads of New Hampshire. Although I never loaded it down as a business owner would, there were times when I felt I could have used more power. Worse yet, at highway speeds the transmission can also be slow to downshift for quick lane changes.
But realistically, the Transit Connect is best adapted for getting around in cities and suburbs. For urban errands and deliveries, the power seemed adequate. Too, city dwellers are likely to appreciate how easily the van makes a U-turn.
On a highway drive from Bethlehem to New York City, a bit more than 300 miles, the lightly loaded Transit Connect got almost 28 m.p.g. Early on, in the mountains on Interstate 91 at speeds of 65 to 70 miles an hour, the engine was working its heart out at around 4,000 r.p.m. Farther south, on level terrain, the engine was less stressed, but hardly relaxed.
Although the Transit Connect looks like a tall tippy box, it handles pretty much like a car. It has a MacPherson strut front-suspension, while the rear suspension uses leaf springs in the time-honored truck tradition. The chassis feels solid and the ride is comfortable even on bumpy roads, which would be pretty much every street in New York City.
Oddly, for a utilitarian vehicle there is not a lot of storage space in front, not even a cargo bin. And to call the lever that adjusts the steering wheel balky would be a gross understatement.
Visibility can be limited. Unlike a typical minivan, the rear cargo area does not have windows, and there is a blind spot at the center of the back end where the cargo doors meet.
Another way in which the Transit Connect differs from minivans: I never parked it in our garage, which has standard-height doors. I stopped just short because there appeared to be insufficient clearance.
That is an outstanding question in my mind, because one of the draws of minivans when they first came out was their ability to fit into the garage, unlike some full-sized vans.
Still, the Transit Connect has a lot to offer a group of new customers. By being first in the American market with such a sensible vehicle, Ford has shown a degree of innovation and boldness that has often been missing in Detroit.
•
INSIDE TRACK: For businesses, this may be the minivan 2.0.
By CHERYL JENSEN
Published: September 24, 2009
Article found http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/automobiles/autoreviews/27ford-transit.html?hpw
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