Since the USA Transit was introduced and it signaled the end of the E-Series my interest has been increasing simply because at some point I'll most likely be gently forced into considering one for my work needs. They have a lot of benefits over the E-Series, at this point in time their new price is the only hurdle I'm not yet willing to jump.

All that being said I found a promo video by Utilimaster touting their new Velocity parcel delivery van incorporating the Transit cutaway body/chassis. Its not for most of us but the video does show how well the Transit can be and is being adapted into the marketplace.

Here 'tis:
Once the Transit's have a few years operational experience and used prices stabilize I have little doubt one will follow me home someday.

 

The low roof transit really starts right in line with where the E series was. They can get expensive quick (and even cheap is expensive these days), but don't get discouraged by the price of a loaded up one. Though at least the end of the month there is an additional $500 rebate on all Transits ('15 leftovers and '16s) as well as the commercial upfit rebates that could help the cost of the systems shown here. You have to have proof of business though, but that shouldn't be a problem. Plus you still get the general rebates.

 

Frantz I love your enthusiasm for the new Transit---nice to know someone is so committed to getting the word out.

Honestly though price is a major consideration along with the longer term experience this new type vehicle--I want to see what sort of problems become common if any at all. Issues with engines, transmissions and body all tend to start showing up a few years after introduction.

Buying brand new is totally out of the question since in 5-6 years these will start hitting the used market, most likely for half of their new selling prices. I'm not willing to absorb that much depreciation.

We'll see how this new to us van works out over time---I'm hopeful it is a great replacement for the E-Series.

 

Goodness, you don't have to wait 5 or 6 years for 50% deprecation on a van. It's not hard to find a 10 year old van for under $1000 privately available. I just picked up a customer who will be trading in every 2 years with 100k burnt up on them. I'll probably just sell at auction when they trade in, but lots of companies go through these van pretty quick. I'd avoid the rental ones myself, but a single company used van will be a nice rig.

Vans are an interesting market. Some guys don't need anything nice, and then a used empty van is the cheapest way to go as they deprecate much quicker than other trucks since they are almost entirely a commercial market. For other folks, seems like mostly residential, they need new or near to. When you factor in the Ford commercial rebates it's hard to go with one a year or two old for low miles versions.

As for issues, the only one I've seen came out with a recall recently. We had issues I reported both to Ford and on this forum about our air cleaners on some getting saturated with water. Ford eventually gave a TSB and then last week issued a recall to change the water channels. Some might suggest the sliding door is a pain to close, but you just have to not pull on it but rather push and it closes every time. Generally speaking, Transit is new to us, but the components have been used for many years both internationally and domestically (3.7 and 3.5 EB both used in the F150).

I'm excited to get my first rusted out POS trade in so I can use it on the farm.

 

Frantz I like your thinking---we're similar there I believe.

The only issues of concern I've read about so far is parts of the body affecting steering geometry incorrectly installed during manufacture, making a proper alignment impossible---and Ford dealerships not acknowledging this. Knowing a bit about unit body construction such things are a huge concern.

No much of the Transit might not be brand new cutting edge technology, the parts being somewhat familiar to us, they being built in the USA inside a former E-Series plant but as a whole they'll have a bit of a learning curve before I'm totally comfortable with them generally.

When its time to look seriously the single use former owner would be my only choice, rental fleets not of interest at all.

I will admit having purposely avoided looking at new vehicles and/or declining offers to test drive one---yes I'm that weak!

 

My post office rented a standard roof Transit from November 2015 to March 2016. This van was used every day for extensive mail delivery experiencing numerous drivers daily in all weather conditions. The van wore well inside and out and the only defect that I was was a rear door stop was coming off.

 

That's another option I've considered TSeekins---short term rental though, one day only, 150 miles round trip hauling crated windshields---maybe 900 pounds total.

That'd cost about $150 total which isn't a bad price to test drive something under consideration. Best part is I'd be free to explore it by myself instead of a salesman riding along.

 

Interesting comment about rental vans Frantz. I've been looking in the used market for the last few weeks and have found a LOT of nice-looking Transits. We're looking for a low-roof LWB passenger model, and the majority of them are former rentals. Lots of them with 30,000 miles for $20-25K in decent shape.

Rental use doesn't really frighten me, but I'd be looking at engine hours if the cluster supports that.

 

For used, it's all about risk mitigation, and the value of that risk. I wouldn't really be scared of a rental, but I would want to pay quite a bit less. For me I'd want a bigger discount than the general market supports, so that's why I personally would avoid em. The more pieces of the story I have to a vehicle the less risk I take, so the higher the value.

There was just a stop sale recall on some of the '15 Wagons for the seatbelts. It's a pretty dumb recall from how I read it. Something about a cover maybe getting smashed and then interfering with the seatbelt retracting/locking. I spoke to service this morning and Ford still doesn't have parts to fix them. I don't know if that will affect your hunt or not on a used wagon. I have a few '15 MR wagons that will have to sit on our lot a few more weeks until the fix is out.

 

Yeah, and that makes sense. I can handle a rental history when it's going for 43% below sticker price for a year-old van with 35,000 miles on it.

My wife and I test drove a Nissan NV3500 SL a week ago and really liked it. Techincally sold as a commercial vehicle, but this baby had heated leather seats, dual zone climate control, and a Titan-sourced powertrain that's rated to tow 8,700 lbs. We liked it better than the Transit, but they're quite rare on the used market.

The Transit makes more sense overall, with better fuel economy and significantly lower sale prices on the used market. Sadly www.cars.com only shows 32 of them nationwide, as opposed to over 1,000 Transits.

 

The NV is a truck with a van body on the back. For most van purposes it's not a great vehicle, however, there are some niche markets it excels at, such as towing. You can get leather seats in the Transit as well, from the factory its only the front two. I've yet too see it in person myself.

 

Yep, that long nose is a HUGE compromise. It's longer than the 15-passenger length vans from everyone else, but only has the interior length for 12-passenger seating. That engine access is great though, just like a pickup truck. Was pretty impressed when looking under the hood of the Transit though, looks like pretty decent engine access from the front.

 

Yeah, I show everyone the under-hood of the Transit. No more taking the interior apart just to change spark plugs.

 

On advantage of the Transit is the full floating rear axle. Kind of an odd design, you have to remove the axle shafts to take off the brake rotors. The NV is the only vehicle I've ever seen with a semi-floating axle rated for 6,000 lbs GAWR.

 

Well if this ain't a selling point to us old E-Series fans I don't know what could be!

Speaking of risk management I'm now curious of the cluster or the ECM does support engine hours? Given that my work vans sometime need to idle for 3-4 hours at a time mileage alone isn't the best indication of what the engine has endured during its life up to some point like being sold to another owner.

I've had to re-think my original idea of renting and hauling a small load---logistics of the load contents makes this pretty much impossible. I'll conjure up another "reason" (excuse) to rent a cargo version--spending $200 or less for an extended test drive by myself still seems fair and worth it.