Ford Transit van with3.5L Ecoboost

[s219]

Looks great, I really like those vans. So much better than the ancient Ford vans which are the standard around here for most building subs.

 

[Garandman]

Looks great, I really like those vans. So much better than the ancient Ford vans which are the standard around here for most building subs.

Ride, handling and performance are big upgrades compared to Econoline/Express.

 

[Stimw]

So how about fuel mileage?

 

[Garandman]

We are still on the first tank. We log all fuel use and my experience is the first two tanks are terrible, thn mpg slowly improves for the first 10,000 miles or so. And trip computers are always optimistic compared to measured consumption.

There is a lengthy thread with mpg postings on Transitforum but they are all over the map. Most are mid to high teens, some people are down around 12 and some have logged an occasional 20mpg tank. You have seven bodies and two axle ratios so that makes it even harder.

You can cruise very easily at 80mph, I'm told.

 

[aczlan]

You can cruise very easily at 80mph, I'm told.

The guy in the transit behind me on the interstate today REALLY wanted to be cruising at 80 (and was once I got past the slow trucks in the right lane).

Aaron Z

 

[Garandman]

We topped off after 340 miles. First tank MPG was 15.3 (trip computer said 16.3). Don't consider that particularly meaningful. Engine monitor shows 11 hours run time and two hours idling.

We are leaving the Trip B meter set to the odometer so it will log lifetime mpg, although in my experience those things always show mileage 0.5 to 1.1 mpg better than calculated from consumption.

Engine turns 2,000rpm at 70mph.

 

[Renze]

Ride, handling and performance are big upgrades compared to Econoline/Express.

Econolines (As well as the other US built vans) are dinosaurs. Clumsy, inefficiently engineered vehicles with chassis technology of the 70's, which carry more dead weight around than cargo. Chicken tax excluded the US market from more efficient, more competitive vehicle designs for decades... So much for free market capitalism

Funny to see how first the European Sprinter, then the Transit and then the ProMaster, changed the North American market... Even though the, in Europe scarcely sold gas V6 engines, are way more popular in the US. GM is even adopting boxed frames under their pickups (to which the Sprinter owed its premium ride for over two decades)

Well it isnt the first time that invasion of a foreign automotive species (coming from a more competitive environment) forced US automakers to rethink their strategy...

 

[Ford850]

Ford's made these transit vans in other countries for decades, but they started building them here with this recent redesign. I see them everywhere now, in all shapes and forms. Contractors seem to love them.
Last night we were watching an old movie and just as I noticed the car styles from back in the 70's/80's, an Econoline pulls into the picture. Sort of odd looking, since the cars looked decades old and the Econoline looked like last year's model.

 

[HHR]

We topped off after 340 miles. First tank MPG was 15.3 (trip computer said 16.3). Don't consider that particularly meaningful. Engine monitor shows 11 hours run time and two hours idling. We are leaving the Trip B meter set to the odometer so it will log lifetime mpg, although in my experience those things always show mileage 0.5 to 1.1 mpg better than calculated from consumption. Engine turns 2,000rpm at 70mph.

Does a pallet fit between the wheel wells? I heard that the dual wheeled version is too narrow for a standard pallet to fit but had not looked at the SRW version.

 

[Garandman]

Does a pallet fit between the wheel wells? I heard that the dual wheeled version is too narrow for a standard pallet to fit but had not looked at the SRW version.

2015 Ford Transit Commercial Full-Size Van | Interior Specs | Ford.com

Single wheel is 54.8" between wheel wells, wider than our Express.
DRW is 45.4".