I had posted here a month or so ago. I'm getting ready to send my '85 E350 6.9 Diesel down the road and get a Transit Connect. But the more I read about them the more concerned I become about transmission issues. I won't be buying one new. My price range will probably put me at something in the 60-90k mile range. I just keep reading more and more stories about people having the trans go waaaay to early (anywhere from 20-80k miles). On the other hand I see tons of these things on the road as fleet vehicles...so they must be sort of reliable right? Whats the general consensus?

 

I haven't really heard much on early transmission failure. Not that it can't happen, it's an impressive payload, but people do overload them. I've also seen folks misidentify the transmission as being the same as in the Fiesta/Focus, which it is not related. Depending on what your price range is, there are likely going to be a flood of stupidly priced brand new 2015 and 2016 Transit Connects on the market in the next few months as the current recall gets parts and we look to unload this very old inventory. In theory that will also lower prices of used ones, so if not needed right this moment, I think a rare window will be open soon. Ford is telling us quarter 2 for parts.

 

whats the definition of "stupidly priced" for a 2015 or 2016. also when do you see that happening?

 

What recall are you referring to? Sorry if I overlooked it.

 

The recall referred to is for door latches that many not work well. The first priority is for those vehicles on the road. Much of the inventory in stock will not receive the parts until the 2nd quarter of 2017--that makes them used vehicles with lower prices. A great time to buy.


I have really liked the transmission in my 2015 van--smooth, optimal for power, sweet. Now if the sucker goes out at some near point I won't be as happy. But I doubt if it well. As noted, this is a commercial vehicle, it i9s supposed to last. that is my hope.


Also, in terms of looking for a used one, Enterprise car rental has used TCs with fairly low mileage at fairly good prices. Something to check out.

 

Well they are untitled new vehicles, but valued by the bank as used. Dealers still own them for invoice - holdback + overhead. But, the rebates will be peak or "final pay" (one time payment to dealership when Ford no longer will offer rebates). Additionally they should have a good amount of push - pull or other advertising cost. I have two on my lot with several thousand dollars extra. Mine are $27k XLTs, and I already have a list for them, however, if you found a base XL that stickered around $23k, you could get into the mid teens at least. Several factors, but there will be some stupid deals out there to liquidate them.

 

I'm considering one of these units for my chimney sweeping business. To replace my '03 f350 that currently does the job for me but the mileage is brutal. Thinking I can avoid repairs and make most of the payment with fuel savings alone. I think it could fit the bill for me. On occasion 4x4 has been handy but not nescessary really. I currently use a canopy with a bedslide and I imagine the TC would be superior for access to tooling and organizing.

Do you think Frantz that this same issues mention would affect Canadian TC's the same? I'm still a little unclear, so currently dealers have inventory that they can't sell because of door lock actuators? Up here I've seen '16s discounted about 6g but then you can't get the favourable interest rates so if you're financing about $5000 of those saving get lost to financing charges.

I'm just starting to kick this idea around and am in no rush. But I think between fuel and tax savings it could make sense.

 

Ford issued a stop sale on the affected Transit Connects, it was also some other models such as the Escape, but Escapes have a much faster turn around, so I don't know that more than a handful across the country wouldn't have been sold already. If you were in the market, you'd see many fewer CPO vehicles due to this recall. It affected some of the '16 models and those older. We happened to have a few XLTs, which are higher priced than I think the market generally wants, so they got stuck here as leftovers. I can't sell them until the door latches are fixed based on Ford's ruling as a stop sale.

I'll put real numbers to it for an example, I hope it's not construed as an attempt to sell them (which I can't anyway).

Normally I sell things at invoice minus rebates. So my TC has a window sticker of $26575, invoice is $25332, instant discount of $1243. Rebates are (generally) $4000, or $1000 AND 0%, lets assume the $4k option. Now on every unit we sell we take a little bit and put it on the oldest units for advertising to move them without actually losing money, we call it push pull. These probably have $4k on them, I haven't looked for a little bit because I can't sell them currently. They've been on the lot nearly 2 years though... Say I kept $1k of the push pull as profit (because frankly when they are thousands dollar less than the market, I can get someone to buy them), and gave you $3k of the money, you'd have $8243 discount off MSRP, sale price of $18332. Heck, I have considered trading my Fiesta in on one of these because I could keep the payment about the same and "upgrade" to a little van/truck.

As for rates, commercial rates are always higher than retail rates, and I don't think either will be lowering in the near future. You should be under 5%, and on a vehicle in this price range, the finance charge shouldn't be too horrible.

I got a set of 6 ply open shoulder truck tires for my Fiesta and it made a great difference in traction. Tires are your friend, and if you hardly ever needed 4x4 on a pick up, you should do just fine with front wheel drive.

 

Very interesting. Thanks for the info. I may have to stop in to the local dealer and see what actual out the door numbers look like. Like most I think I am finding it frustrating to search fords inventory in Canada. In their site I can only search through my local dealer or have to start inventing postal codes or something. I can only find one 16 and many 17s. The 16 is much nicer equipped and quite a bit cheaper but shows financing at 4.99% whereas the 17's are offered at 0%. So the payment is virtually the same. Are there any differences whatsoever between a 16 and 17?

I've been reading through a bunch of the threads here. I really appreciate all the info you share.

 

Also I'm wondering I guess if some dealers have 16's or maybe even 15's that can't be sold if there would be any way of searching that myself? I'm guessing not and that I'd have to involve a salesman. I'm leery of salespeople(not you though Frantz lol) just anytime I've been into the local dealer they have been fairly high pressure. Just looking to make the sale today. I could easily wait a few months or longer if it meant a substantial savings on one of these units that was held back.

 

Well if you search for a '15, I promise you it's a recall unit. Now, that doesn't mean for sure it has push pull, but it certainly raises the chances, and they will be willing to work with you. If I weren't in my position, but knowing what I know, I would want to work with a dealership that has a dedicated commercial person. Generally we're less pressure and for myself, more focused on building long term sales relationships. I love my repeat customers, they get quick fair pricing, and don't have to waste their time or mine getting the right truck for a fair price that we should both be happy with.

I'm not sure how it works in the great white north, but you can enter a US vin at https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/ and see the open recall.

 

I thought this thread was about Ford Transit Connect transmissions not so much selling them..

On the transmission I believe on the 2012 there was a TSB for transmission. I bought a 2012 with 106K miles that has gone through I beleive 2 transmission and is on it third a ford supplies reman unit that was installed free by local mech shop.

in reading on carcomplains.com it seems the first couple years the transmission were CRAP for the most part.. some breaking at 65K miles or just past warranty, some breaking within warrenty. (guess ford will not do a 5 yr 100k mile warranty on drive train vs the 5 yr 60K miles)

If you are looking at a used model be sure to test drive adn pay attention to transmission shift, noise and read all the complains on them to get a better handle on it.

another issue is the windows. Switch in between seats by shiftier, when you drive with the windows down their is a lot of pressure due to the stupid design on windows. The small front part of window does not open so you get a lot of air pressure which make it tough on your ears. I found if i put passenger down about 1/4 way adn driver down all way it not too bad.

another issue is the rear door does not unlock when you open door like the passenger and both side doors do .. LAME if no way to fix that.

you will not have to worry about getting speeding tickets as they are not that fast or quick like my other van.

I was pissed when chev quit making the astro van.. geat van, good mpg, lots of space and tough engine.. stupid chev..

 

My BIL's son is a contractor service tech for Fords, he's one of those guys who dealers call when an issue comes up they cannot figure out. He has all the reacalls and repair orders at his fingertips, all the time. I asked him about the TC's transmission as far as recalls or service bulletins are concerned. he told me the only documented failures were from commercial users overloading the little vans and expecting them to run 80 per in the summer overloaded and it was roasting the transmissions.

The do have a very minimal transmission cooler (like a single loop of steel tubing in the lower grille), not much. I replaced that on my wife's with a 3 pass DeRale cooler just because.

TC's transmissions are also very fluid level critical. A slight drop in synthetic fluid will cause the box to hunt between direct and lock up for some reason and the level marks on the dip stick are vague. I keep my wife's about 1/16" over the full mark (hot idle) all the time and have no issues. Trans fluid for them is super expensive. I'm used to the old Dexron-Mercon stuff. I has sticker shock on the synthetic fluid.