As the Transit moves into its third year in the North American marketplace, this Euro-sourced work van gets a few revisions Ford says were conceived based on input from the company's fleet buyers.
There are now 64 ways to get your Transit, up from "just" 58 in 2016, created through a wider range of combinations of things like wheelbase length, roof height and engine choice. And inside, Ford has designed a new lower-profile centre console it says makes it easier to step directly from the driver's seat into the van's vast cargo hold.
Also new are optional heated front seats (hey, even working people want to be warm, right?!) in cloth or leather, and the optional 10-way power seats can now be had in cloth.
Ford says it moved electrical connections to a more convenient spot, a change it says was a response to feedback from upfitters, the folks who customize vans like these for contractors and fleet buyers.
And the Transit's base stereo is now a four-speaker system that includes a tweeter and woofer.
Powertrains are carried over from last year, the base engine being a 3.7L gasoline V6 making 275 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. It can be upgraded to either a 3.5L turbocharged EcoBoost V6 that makes 310 hp and 400 lb-ft, and a 3.2L turbodiesel five-cylinder makes 185 hp and 350 lb-ft. All power the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission.
Classified as a commercial vehicle, the Transit doesn't have to undergo Natural Resources Canada fuel consumption testing. So while we can't tell you what kind of efficiency to expect, the diesel engine will be the thriftiest of the three, followed by the base gasoline V6 and the EcoBoost engine. In vans that regularly see heavy payloads, the EcoBoost turbo might actually use a little less fuel, as it won't have to work as hard.
Working on the assumption many buyers will be fine with a pretty basic set of amenities, the Transit's standard feature list is on the short side. There are power windows, locks and mirrors, and air conditioning, but the cargo vans variant is otherwise pretty spartan: vinyl flooring and fabric headliner for the front seats, two-way manual front seats, variable intermittent wipers, tilt-and-telescopic steering, backup camera and 16-inch steel wheels.
Passenger models start with the XL trim, which adds a full headliner and vinyl flooring, 12-volt rear power outlet, six-speaker stereo, and eight-passenger seating that can be upgraded to 12 seats in long-wheelbase vans.
Finally, an XLT trim brings rear air conditioning, cruise control, eight-speaker sound system, 15-passenger seating (for LWB models), driver lumbar adjustment, inboard front-seat armrests, reclining rear seats, chrome grille and trim, and flip-open fourth-row windows.
Pricing hasn't been announced for 2017 models.
