Americans with well worn passports often amaze their less-traveled friends with miraculous tales of a land full of tiny, fuel-efficient vehicles, expensive gasoline and miniature cans of Coke. (Really, those Coke cans are awesome.) The story inevitably ends with, “I wish I could buy X here”. Ford has so far been the most receptive to these cries, with the tasty Euro Focus, Fiesta (and soon the Fusion/Mondeo) to our shores. But what about some fuel-efficient love for the man-in-the-van? That’s where the Transit Connect fits in according to Ford. TTAC is no stranger to the Transit Connect with our own Sajeev Meta taking a spin in 2009. However in this review, we’ll attempt to compare the Connect to the other commercial options on the market while channeling our inner Joe-six-pack.
The Connect is off to a good start, with sales climbing from 8,834 in 2009 to 31,914 in 2011 proving there is a market for a mini-bread-van. The small hauler even accounted for 21.4% of Ford’s US van sales in 2011. Meanwhile, sales of the ancient and thirsty E-Series increased from 85,735 units to 116,874 from 2010 to 2011. By comparison, GM shifted just 89,211 vans in 2011. The reason behind the sales jump is obvious: high gas prices and no efficient cargo haulers to compete with it. But does that mean you should own one?
Tagged as Alex L. Dykes, cargo, cargo capacity, cargo van, Commercial, Ford, ford transit, FWD, Minivan, Review, Transit, Transit Connect, Van, wagon, worksolutions
Recent Comments
jmo - How does the ride compare to a X5M, Cayenne Turbo or ML63?
FJ60LandCruiser - Two years to this date my wife took delivery of a Magenta 5door Fiesta with the Powershift transmission she got as a...
noxioux - Great story. Thanks, TK. You just made my day.
Derek Kreindler - It costs more than the competition and doesn’t do anything appreciably better.
John Rosevear - To be fair, Ford can’t increase sales of the Fusion at the moment because its factory is totally maxed out. They’re adding a...
I've got a Jaaaaag - Self Service Junkyard = Automotive Organ Donation Automotive Hoarder’s Back 40 = Automotive Mass Grave
Onus - It will stay anyway. Ford doesn’t have any spare plants us plants to tool up to make these anyway. All in all ford has the smallest Canadian...
KixStart - I think you’re right and this utterly baffles me. At some point, Range Rover became a status concept in and of itself, sort of like the...
mnm4ever - SO basically, you don’t like the Range Rover because it’s a luxury brand. All of your arguments can apply to any “luxury”...
kosmo - I was once told — but never verified this — that Range Rover buyers do the least amount of cross-shopping in the automotive world....