Does anyone know when/if the e-series vans are going to be redesigned? they are getting aged, and ever since Chevy redesigned their vans I've see many more chevy/GMC vans around here, mostely driven by contractors but also a lot with the cab and a box truck back. Besides, the chevy vans look great, IMO, and have a great gas engine in them (6.0L V8). The Ford engines are dated (they still have the 2Valves) and the 6.0L diesel has been detuned because of a lack of airflow! Time for a redesign, IMO! Although the ford's still look tougher!

 

I have wondered the same thing. After the probs I had with my 03 POS/PSD I swore I would not own another Ford. Well, fell into a great deal on my van, but was looking at the GMs and agree with you.

I am wondering about the suspention. The F series has changed, and moved away from the I beams, but the E series still use them, at least on this 03. I also see that this 03 E150 is a full frame.

I wonder how much is/was shared with the F series parts wise. I know in the 70s/80s/, the suspention parts were differerant between them.

I am very impressed with how this 4.6 works out! Good mileage and does decent on the hiway as far as power. Lots of wind noise thru the door seals though. The older E series were not like this.

 

Just picked up a 05 E 250 last week! this is a work van! power windows, mirrors very nice! I beam suspension! Still! This replaced a 98 Chevy 3/4 ton van with a 135k, I do A/C work and dont carry overly heavy loads, but the miles are mostly in town stop and start! The G.M had more interior room up front! gas mileage G.M 9.9 mpg , Ford 4.6, 11.7, The 4.6 has NO power it is just one click above the 92 model 300ci Ford vans! The Company I work for does not buy a van for power or comfort! Its all about price and the shelf selection! It does seem to be very well built!

 

We have an '04 E150 with the 4.6, we get 16mpg pulling a trailer.... This thing is awesome. It will flat get it.... If it's not performing then I'd say a tune up is in order. There is no need to redesign the E series. It's been one of the best selling vans since the last redesign in '92. Chevy took almost 4 years to follow. The reason you see more chevys out there, is because they are die-hard chevy guys, that traded in there older ones. With the ford vans, the seem to last forever.

 

also the back doors of the Chevy vans are a bonus for loading because of how they are hinged.

 

Those Ch**y rear doors SEEM great until you get hit in the rear corner. You have to do major work to be able to use the doors afterwards.

 

Hmm... considering Ford apparently spent about $1 Billion developing the current model, I wouldn't hold my breath for a redesign for another... 10 years or so... It'll take that long to pay for its design investment and start really making money. Let's face it - vans are big boxes on wheels... not much to them... nor should there be... the current Dodge van (not the Sprinter) is basically unchanged since the early 70's. It's simple, cheap to build, and most importantly to D-C: profitable, which is why they still offer it in conjunction with the Sprinter.

And if you ask me, ALL of the GM trucks (pickups, vans, etc...) are some of the ugliest contraptions ever concieved...

 

Have you checked lately? The Dodge van (not the Sprinter) disappeared a couple of years ago.

 

As far as I know, there is nothing planned for the E-series van for awhile. The only thing that I've read, in Automotive News last fall, was that the E150 was going away. They will replace it with a re-badged E250. There was something about the E150 not meeting some kind of government regulation that is applied to lighter weight / load carrying vehicles. I don't know if it was fuel economy, crash standards, etc...

So, you guys out in the market for a E-150 better get one while they are still around. Otherwise, you will get a heavy duty E150 in the future....

I would bet that most of the tooling and development cost is paid for already with the e-series. The current van has basically been unchanged (except for powertrains and interiors and minor exterior mods) since 92. They sold 202,750 Econolines in 2004. GM sold 174,397 Express / Savana and Dodge sold 20,294 Ram vans in 2003 (0 in 2004 per Automotive News) and 10,948 Sprinters in 2004.

That gets me thinking...which is a bad thing. If we assume that Ford sold, on average, 200,000 E-Vans every year since 1992, that means that they sold 2.4 million vans in the post 92 body style. Assuming that they charge around 20,000 for each van (give or take a couple thousand), that means that their gross sales for these things was around 48 billion for the last 12 years. Thats a lotta dough. Even if we guess that their manufacturing cost remained constant at around 18,000 (which it doesn't since I'm sure that alot of the tooling cost for the suspension components and stamping presses for the bodies has long since been paid for), they made around 4.8 billion since 92. I think that they got their money's worth when they re-designed.

Let's face it, with Ford dominating the competition in the light duty van market, there is no need to re-design the E-Series.

 

6 million Ford vans sold, that's a few. Personally I don't care for the looks of the GM, the higher roof I'm sure gives more headroom inside, but it looks like it's going to tip over while sitting still. And those gawd-awful rear lights, yuk. The 6.0 liter gas engine in the GM van, is a small block, and way down on hp compared to some of the other applications it's in. The 8.1 isn't in the vans, so if you want a real motor, to pull a real load, the Ford is the only answer.

On the other side of the coin, I'm just p!ssed that Ford is denying any complicity in the suspension design of the E-250/350 that can make them unsafe in emergency manuvers. I know GM and Dodge were also accused of the same problem, but it seems Ford is the biggest culprit, and the biggest liar of it's true cause. The used values of ext length Ford vans is spit, nobody can buy or drive them now. Not churches, shuttle services, schools, nobody but private parties, like myself. I know there's lots of wild stories floating around the net over the E-series heavy duty problems, some true, some not, some questionable. But is Ford bucking up at all ? On anything ? NOT !!! Sounds kinda like the Firestone tire deal and the Chevy side mounted tank debacle, the Pinto exploding tank thing, and so on and so on. Profit, it's all about profit, which is fine, but not at the expense of peoples lives, Ken

 

Actually, I did... some time last year... and the "Ram Van" (old style) was listed on the website... now it's not. May have been leftovers...

It's been some time since I did research on this subject, so my number may be off an year or two, but it typically takes a few years for the tooling to pay for itself. I remember it being a big deal about how much Ford spent on the '92 van's design. It's a shame as I really don't think the styling itself is dated and I haven't really paid much attention to the legal actions. I tend to see such things and ignore them...

Trust me, nobody would rather me be wrong than me, but I just don't see it happening. Ford doesn't sell enough vans to justify a redesign compared to other vehicles that get mroe frequent updates. Right now, were I to buy a new van, it would be a Sprinter. Big interior with great fuel economy. And the balsted thing can't possibly be any harder to work on than my '90... (forgive if I'm a little bitter right now...).

 

171,000 in 2004, #6 behind the F-series, which sold almost a million units, the Explorer at 340,000, then the Taurus, Focus, etc. So even though it's a little less than 20% of the pick-up sales, it's ahead of the Expedition and other models that get regular changes to the models. The real reason there isn't a new model ? Why ? People that buy a full sized van with a large enough engine to haul a big trailer or load can buy a GM, or a Ford. Will a new model swing potential GM buyers ? Nope, probably not. The F-series is Ford's bread and butter, it's major profit maker, so it will always be the darling of the company. Like I said, 6 million vans worth of Econolines, if 170,000 is an average, that's 35 years, and what, 4 models ? Now THAT'S a return on investment, why change ? What else are you gonna buy ? I hate it too, but that's the truth. Ken

 

No, actually, they need to redesign the climate controls. 1) add a recirc. option available on any setting and 2)something that lets one blend the heat/cold in the back. The climate controls to the rear 13 persons are horrible.

Plus, in-floor fold down seats so I wouldn't have to lug out #80 benches

 

Oh man did you nail that one, the rear heat has 2 settings, kill and off. If you could heat the rear a/c vents, that would help, or control heat settings on the rear floor heat, but no. Even low, on 30 degree days, that rear heat will turn you into smoked salmon. And my 15 pass has 1 rear window that opens, and open is using the word loosely. It swings out an inch at the bottom, other than that, you get nothing. I don't mind so much, well not that I'll admit, but even if you do wrestle the rear seats out, there are those monstrous catches on the floor, which of course take a large star wrench to unscrew. Yea, it could have been designed better, but again, Chevy or Ford, that's the choice. Ford guys aint gonna buy no stinkin chebbie, right ? Ken

 

You should take a look at the difference between the frame of a 1975-1991 and 1992+
From my looking:
Similarityville with the exception of the design considerations for the relocated fuel tank, spare, and different bumper mountings.

Ford certainly spared much expense there.

-Jackson-