Bye bye E-450

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

Bye 450 hello Transit

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Bye 450 hello Transit

That's too bad

[BouncingTiggers 98]

There will be some sad carpenters & pipefitters at my company when that happens.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

First they killed off the Excursion several years back, and now the E-series?

I know that I am not normal (in many many ways), but what is a guy supposed to drive that has a large family and wants to pull a heavy trailer? My E-350 fits the bill...12 passenger van, 1 ton configuration, beefy V-10 engine. It does the job quite well. '

Pickups don't work for me...not enough seating. I had a 2500 Burb, but when you load 'em up with 7 people plus the trailer tongue weight, even they are overloaded.

Guess I'll be keeping my van until the kids are grown up.

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

First they killed off the Excursion several years back, and now the E-series?

I know that I am not normal (in many many ways), but what is a guy supposed to drive that has a large family and wants to pull a heavy trailer? My E-350 fits the bill...12 passenger van, 1 ton configuration, beefy V-10 engine. It does the job quite well. '

Pickups don't work for me...not enough seating. I had a 2500 Burb, but when you load 'em up with 7 people plus the trailer tongue weight, even they are overloaded.

Guess I'll be keeping my van until the kids are grown up.

Room for 1 more! :rofl2:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Room for 1 more! :rofl2:

Uh, no thank you!

And that seating configuration to me is no better than a large SUV. And I could be wrong, but I don't think the Transit vans have anywhere near the payload and towing capacity of the E-series. Like the Sprinter, I guess they are all about moving people or delivering packages more efficiently. Which fits the needs of probably 70% or more of E-series customers. But not all.

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

Uh, no thank you!

And that seating configuration to me is no better than a large SUV. And I could be wrong, but I don't think the Transit vans have anywhere near the payload and towing capacity of the E-series. Like the Sprinter, I guess they are all about moving people or delivering packages more efficiently. Which fits the needs of probably 70% or more of E-series customers. But not all.

Maybe they'll beef it up and add a Powerstroke.

[LONE-STAR 370]

Dave ther are always options it's just how deep are your pockets. These people can put you in a truck http://www.customautosbytim.com/

[ftwildernessguy 778]

Just throw some pillows in the bed of a pickup and the girls will be fine.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Just throw some pillows in the bed of a pickup and the girls will be fine.

My first trip to the Fort, for Christmas 1978, we rode in the back of my Dad's pickup from Silver Creek, NY to Florida. It had a cap on it, and my dad layed down shag carpet and beanbag chairs, and rigged a 12volt tv up so we could play our Pong game.

I'm not positive, but I don't think the beanbag chairs had seatbelts. :rofl2:

Hey, it was a different world then.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Dave ther are always options it's just how deep are your pockets. These people can put you in a truck http://www.customautosbytim.com/

I've looked at their builds before. Nice stuff, but I haven't hit the lottery yet.

[LONE-STAR 370]

I've looked at their builds before. Nice stuff, but I haven't hit the lottery yet.

I always wanted to call them and find out what they would charge to add a extended cab to my crew cab. But man my truck would be long. I am sure it's not cheap.

[wak648...Bill 94]

I think that Ford is just trying to play catch up here. They are losing in leaps and bounds to the Dodge/Mercedes Sprinters in the utility van market. While the Sprinters are ugly, thhey very versatile in how they can be modified and still get an average of 20 mph in their deisel chasis.

[polkadotsuitcase 12]

My first trip to the Fort, for Christmas 1978, we rode in the back of my Dad's pickup from Silver Creek, NY to Florida. It had a cap on it, and my dad layed down shag carpet and beanbag chairs, and rigged a 12volt tv up so we could play our Pong game.

I'm not positive, but I don't think the beanbag chairs had seatbelts. :rofl2:

Hey, it was a different world then.

Love this!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I think that Ford is just trying to play catch up here. They are losing in leaps and bounds to the Dodge/Mercedes Sprinters in the utility van market. While the Sprinters are ugly, thhey very versatile in how they can be modified and still get an average of 20 mph in their deisel chasis.

I'm sure you're right. And now Nissan has also entered that market...with just about the ugliest van in history IMO.

But no diesel option yet for the Nissan, so it will be interesting to see if Ford offers that in the US like they do in Europe and pretty much everywhere else. If not, both Ford and Nissan will have a hard time overtaking the Sprinter.

Either way, I don't think any of those vans will match the payload capacities of my E-350. At least GM is still building their big vans for now, as far as I know. And they again are offering a diesel in theirs.

[Keylime359 2]

I'm sure you're right. And now Nissan has also entered that market...with just about the ugliest van in history IMO.

But no diesel option yet for the Nissan, so it will be interesting to see if Ford offers that in the US like they do in Europe and pretty much everywhere else. If not, both Ford and Nissan will have a hard time overtaking the Sprinter.

Either way, I don't think any of those vans will match the payload capacities of my E-350. At least GM is still building their big vans for now, as far as I know. And they again are offering a diesel in theirs.

It's like they took a Nissan cube and a Honda element and had a baby. Then they beat it with an ugly stick. IMHO

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

I think that Ford is just trying to play catch up here. They are losing in leaps and bounds to the Dodge/Mercedes Sprinters in the utility van market. While the Sprinters are ugly, thhey very versatile in how they can be modified and still get an average of 20 mph in their deisel chasis.

A lot of it has to do with World-Wide markets. The Transit is a big seller in Europe; the E-450 only sells in the US - and not very well; the solution is to convert the US to the Transit and simplify production by making the same models World-Wide ... at least that seems to be the way Ford is thinking.

[LONE-STAR 370]

I wish we got all the diesel options like Europe.

[bigdisneydaddy 9]

we have 6 of them at work all 2009 models, I wont miss them at all. They are very hard to work on and even the basic maintenance like fuel filters requires that you remove several parts to have an extremely difficult access.

[bigdisneydaddy 9]

I wish we got all the diesel options like Europe.

I already have my salesman watching for the availability of the Chevy Cruze diesel.

[LONE-STAR 370]

I already have my salesman watching for the availability of the Chevy Cruze diesel.

I want a diesel jeep wrangler

[LONE-STAR 370]

we have 6 of them at work all 2009 models, I wont miss them at all. They are very hard to work on and even the basic maintenance like fuel filters requires that you remove several parts to have an extremely difficult access.

I love ford trucks but when it comes to vans GM is the way to go.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

we have 6 of them at work all 2009 models, I wont miss them at all. They are very hard to work on and even the basic maintenance like fuel filters requires that you remove several parts to have an extremely difficult access.

That was always my complaint with my GMC van. Maintenance costs were outrageous due to the labor involved. I had a leaky freeze out plug once and it cost me over 100 dollars to replace a 75 cent part. Anytime anything was done, it involved tearing apart the inside of the van to remove the cowl since access through the hood was non existant. In the case of the plug, the engine had to be pulled because the plug was behind a mount.

[bigdisneydaddy 9]

That was always my complaint with my GMC van. Maintenance costs were outrageous due to the labor involved. I had a leaky freeze out plug once and it cost me over 100 dollars to replace a 75 cent part. Anytime anything was done, it involved tearing apart the inside of the van to remove the cowl since access through the hood was non existant. In the case of the plug, the engine had to be pulled because the plug was behind a mount.

I dread the time when we have to start replacing alternators, belts and idlers, I dont have a clue how we are ever going to get to them.

I notice the techs at the Ford dealer dont exactly run out and give you a hug when you bring in an E series truck, the more likely scenario is that the low seniority guy gets stuck with it.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I saw some awesome small diesels in Russia, including the new generation of Ford Rangers. That was a great looking little truck. We saw diesel powered minivans, small cars, small SUVs, you name it. None of them available here except for a handful of VW's.

Oh, and quit dissing my van. Keep it up and me and Larry will run you over.