Nice little camper

[Wagion]

I can't help it I always look at a vehicle and wonder can I sleep in there at 6'2" and 300lbs the answer is often no but I think with a few mods and the seats pushed forward at night this would make a nice little camper not great head room but better than most. Think about this I converted the inside of a Geo Tracker so that with the passenger seat folder forwards there was a flat sleeping space 6'6" no I don't have pictures but it was funny as hell when the highway patrol knocked on the window in the middle of the night and my German Shepherd and I crawled out the rear he was more curious about my sleeping bench fab then telling me I couldn't sleep there. FYI http://www.fordvehicles.com/transitconnect/

[IB Adrian]

I think it would be sufficient to sleep in.

[less]

Originally Posted by IB Adrian

I think it would be sufficient to sleep in.

It would be tight for a large man or two...not much room left to store your camping stuff. The highway mileage is surprisingly poor for a small vehicle with a 4 cylinder engine, think it might have something to do with what apppears to be significant drag with the raised roof, that makes it hard on the little 4 banger to overcome.

I've had a lot of experience with vans...Econolines, Chevy full size, Chevy mid size..etc.

There is a market for very light duty vans like the HHR or the small Transit.

I don't want to sound continually negative about the Transit, but from the first time I saw one, I felt Ford made a bit of an error importing this Transit version, considering they haven't brought over the larger Transit, which is a very useful vehicle.

Also the Transit price for what it is...seems awfully pricey, compared to a basic commercial Econoline.

Sorry to not be a fan of this light delivery vehicle, but Ford needs to knock down the price and look at using a small turbo diesel rather than the hard working, not particularly fuel efficient gas 4 cylinder for today's market.

[IB Adrian]

Originally Posted by less

It would be tight for a large man or two...not much room left to store your camping stuff. The highway mileage is surprisingly poor for a small vehicle with a 4 cylinder engine, think it might have something to do with what apppears to be significant drag with the raised roof, that makes it hard on the little 4 banger to overcome.

It has a lot to do with the higher rpms it has to spin the highway - the milage differential around town between the Connect and an E-150 I would expect to be quite large.

I don't want to sound continually negative about the Transit, but from the first time I saw one, I felt Ford made a bit of an error importing this Transit version, considering they haven't brought over the larger Transit, which is a very useful vehicle.

I agree, the Transit is good (in fact very good), but it would be out of the price range for most US buyers, not to mention it would be even more gutless than the Connect with a gas engine (there is no gas engine currently engineered for the Transit, and Fords current range of V8's don't fit under the hood).

Also the Transit price for what it is...seems awfully pricey, compared to a basic commercial Econoline.

Thats in part to many things.

1. The Econoline platform really hasn't changed since the 70's, no development costs to recoup. Transit gets a major re-engineering every 5 years or so
2. Diesel engines in the Transit (option in a PSD in an Econoline for a good comparison)
3. For sale in Europe (i.e start including lots of taxes)

Having driven both - the Transit is a much MUCH better vehicle too.

Sorry to not be a fan of this light delivery vehicle, but Ford needs to knock down the price and look at using a small turbo diesel rather than the hard working, not particularly fuel efficient gas 4 cylinder for today's market.

As much as I think it would be a better vehicle, I don't think the market would buy that (look at sales of the Sprinter for example).