Wordless Outtake: Costco Parking Lot
– Posted on March 26, 2022
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American Brands: GM 
American Brands: Ford 
American Brands: Chrysler 
American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others 
Automotive Histories and Misc. 
Asian Brands 
UK Brands 
Australian Brands 
European Brands 
Cars Of A Lifetime & Auto-Biography 
Buses 
Trucks, Pickups and Vans 
Design 
Trains, Planes & Ships 
Motorcycles, Trikes, Bicycles 
Engines, Transmissions and other Tech 
Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment 
RVs, Motorhomes, Trailers, Campers
The Transporter seems to fit in the Transit.
When a Hummer H1 isn’t the one blocking the sightlines…I do appreciate how it seems to be carrying its own barrel of raw fuel stock…”Straight Outta ‘raq”
What ever you do, don’t get behind the guy in the Transit at the checkout line.
Haha! That’s my own Transit. But I didn’t buy much this time. Just don’t get behind me at the gas pump. 31 gallon tank takes a while to fill, and even though I squeeze in close, getting around my towing mirrors to get between the Costco fueling islands requires some skill that not all drivers have.
You think the Transit looks small? Try this!
Well one thing is sure, Ford won’t outdone the 2022 Toyota Tundra about who got a front end design close to the 1958 Buick. 😉 https://www.indieauto.org/2022/03/25/could-the-2022-toyota-tundras-excesses-doom-it-like-the-1958-buick
The Tundra pictured there is just the base model. The high-end Capstone version is even more ’58 Buick-ish with its chrome grille, though the standard grille with the chrome surround on the off-road 1794 model (1794?) looks even more ostentatious. Both of these manage to make a ’58 Buick look subdued by comparison.
They also pick up on another recent trend in pickup trucks – giving each trim level its own grille. I swear the current Ford and Ram full-size trucks are available with eight different grilles.
Oops! Meant to say the Vanagon looks small….d’oh!
Different bug-out strategies in evidence.
I see what you did there!
Weird thing is that when I see a Transit ahead of me in real life, it always looks narrower to me than the old Econolines. Maybe it’s the added height, or the straighter sides, or the narrower taillights playing visual tricks on me, or stereotypes of European-designed vehicles being narrower than American ones. A trip to their specifications pages shows the Transit body is actually about two inches wider.
Between the slowdown in all automotive production, Amazon, et al, and #vanlife, I’ve got to imagine a high-roof Transit and/or RAM PM van has to be tough to find these days.
Having worked for a Fedex contractor last year, I can defintely say without a doubt the Ford Transit is the best van you can buy bar none. They drive/handle like a much smaller car. Brakes are excellent. They feel a lot tighter screwed together than the junky aas diesel sprinters I also drove. Also they are dead nuts reliable vs those junky diesel ben sprinters which have all kinds of downtime, Benz service sucks ass, parts were never in stock, this was pre pandemic,
I’ll try to do a COAL update soon, with our Transit experiences after nearly two years and 22K miles from new. But I will say that there have been zero issues in this period, whereas our 2016 Toyota had a handful of minor issues either addressed by warranty or Service Bulletin, and a few I’ve just come to live with. The Transit is also far and away the most comfortable long distance vehicle that either my wife or I have driven. And we were lucky to buy in 2020; they are pretty much unobtainium now unless your name is Jeff Bezos.
dman, funny you should say that – a Toyota was my least reliable new car, bar none. The Jeep Grand Cherokee we had (and still miss), which every “expert” warned me would be totally unreliable was a great drive and gave no problems whatsoever…And my little VW has been absolutely dependable. I’m hoping the latest family truckster, a Levante, (yep, wife gets the “nice” vehicles) will also confound expectations!