Chicago Auto Show: Ford Transit 250

by Alex L. Dykes

Published: February 7th, 2013

Ford’s commercial booth is very quiet at the Chicago Auto Show despite having on display the biggest news in commercial vehicles at the show. OK, so a new cargo van isn’t that exciting, I’ll give you that. While Ford had their cargo hauler locked, I was able to get a few impressions.

First off, my GOD the Transit looks like a hungy animal from the front. Second impression? This thing is huge. A quick look at the frame display Ford had on the show floor appears to dash any hopes of finding a V8 under the hood of the transit for a while at least, there just isn’t any room. On the bright side it looks like engine serviceability will improve somewhat thanks to the smaller and shorter engines.

The new Transit appears to have a very low load floor for an (as labeled) 3/4 ton van. In side it also appears that Ford ripped the shifter and gauge cluster out of the current generation Focus while the infotainment options appear to come from the new Fiesta. By the looks of the screen you can bet MyFord Touch will be on offer instead of the cumbersome and awkward mini-computer system that Ford was selling in the Transit Connect for a while. Size wise the Transit appears to compete head on with the likes of the Sprinter and forthcoming RAM van.

#2013ChicagoAutoShow #ChicagoAutoShow #Ford #FordTransit

Alex L. Dykes

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2 of 42 comments

Bimmer on Feb 07, 2013

Wow, you leave a van for 5 min unattended and it's picked clean, no wonder they locked next one!

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Type57SC on Feb 07, 2013

While it's not spartan and that's a good thing, the Focus IP in a commercial van is weird and gives me an impression of flimsiness. Also, it's weird that this was locked up. I sat in the one they had in Detroit.

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