You can get two Euro pallets in a new Ford Transit Connect, but you’ll need the long wheelbase version to load them through the side door
Under the bonnet goes a 1.6-litre TDCi common rail engine offering 75PS, 95PS or 115PS and there is also a three-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol engine with 110PS, although this is not expected to be a big seller.
Fuel economy is little short of amazing. ECOnetic versions, which feature fuel-saving devices such as a speed limited at 62mph, stop-start, a grille shutter which improves aerodynamics at higher speeds and smart regenerative charging, increase this van’s official MPG combined figure to 70.6 mpg, making it market leader.
And if you want to carry longer stuff than this, there’s that clever hatch in the bulkhead behind the passenger seat that lets even the short wheelbase Ford Transit Connect take up to 3 metres
Ford reckons that fuel savings over a typical four-year/80,000 lifecycle against the rival Volkswagen Caddy are anything up to £1633.
Three versions of the Ford Transit Connect are available – base, Trend and Limited – and even the bottom level features such items as Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), which helps prevent sideways skids, ABS brakes, side sliding door, driver’s airbag, DAB radio, rake and reach steering wheel, overhead stowage, and remote central locking.
Trend adds foglamps, body-coloured bumpers, a heated windscreen and plastic cargo liner while Limited also has alloy wheels, chrome flashings, a heated driver’s seat, cruise control, adjustable speed limiter and leather steering wheel.
There are also loads of extra such as reversing cameras, Active City Stop, which slams on the brakes if a rear-end shunt with a vehicle ahead is imminent, static cornering lamps and Hill Launch Assist.
Meanwhile service intervals have been extended to 20,000 miles.
To label the changes between the old and the new as akin to chalk and cheese is putting it mildly. And we’ve been to Munich to drive left-hand versions, so here’s what we think.
Leave A Comment