Spooner

I used one of my wife's hair ties to 'fix' it. That way it can flex away when you get in the van but keeps the trim against the seat.

Looks like Ford cancelled the diesel engine for the US.

Its a bit of both. My wife slams on her brakes constantly instead of anticipating traffic. While I do drive a ton on the highway I do get a bit of stop and go as I go through towns but I've always been easy on brakes by applying them earlier and lighter or just coasting to red lights.

This is what my fronts look like right now. It’s insane how good they look.

I have clear ceramic tint on the inside of mine and it makes a giant difference. Like everyone else here I have had a lot of bad luck with windshields too and I’m in need of another. Because they break so easily I am waiting longer between changing them because in Missouri there isn’t glass coverage so you pay your full deductible for a windshield.

All of our regular gas has up to 10% ethanol and it definitely gets worse mileage. I buy non-ethanol fuel every once and a while and it’s immediately noticeable that you have more power and the mpg readout is higher. It sucks it costs so much more. But I can also notice that randomly after I fill up it that it’s a similar difference but it’s not one brand that’s consistently better over another.

I previously did an update at 100k and 150k and I'm happy to say the van is still humming along great. I still change the oil every 5k miles and get the transmission service every year. Just put on my 4th set of tires but otherwise its been very inexpensive to own. The front is definitely getting pretty ate up with rock chips which is to be expected with this many miles and the fact I drive 95% of the time on the highway. Lifetime average MPG is 23.8 but its been improving as I finally learned to just slow down haha! I'm pretty regularly 25-27 with some 28's sprinkled in there. Where I buy the fuel seems to make a big difference too. I had planned on keeping it to 200 and then doing something else but I'll try to get another year or two out of it unless things start going downhill quickly. I'm still on the original brakes and the interior is holding up nicely. Most people are very surprised how many miles are on it when they see it but I keep it really clean so it always looks good. It still drives very tight and the suspension isn't showing signs of needing replaced either. Windshields seem to be a consumable item on these and I'm due for another one unfortunately. Anyways, just wanted to give an up date and post up if you guys have any questions.

Just seeing if anyone else has had this happen. When going slow and turning left over a curb (basically only when I pull in my driveway) I am hearing a clunking noise from the front right corner of the van. It almost sounds like something loose that is swinging back and forth in this situation. I've looked both under the hood and around the suspension and can't seem to track it down. I don't believe it's in the suspension as it all seems tight and I never hear it going straight. I thought my hood prop was loose when it first happened but its not. I'll pull the wheel off this weekend and see if I can track it down.

Wouldn’t be surprised at all. I bet wagons sell maybe 5% of the total of vans. Even worse on the full size transit.

Mine has 161k on it and its been flawless. That said I'd have a mechanic do a thorough inspection on it before buying. I am super easy on mine but I know not everyone drives like I do.

Personally I wish we got the transit custom in the US. Nice in between size from the TC to the transit but much better fuel economy I’d think than the transit.

Have these started getting to the dealers? Wondering how fuel mileage will compare and what kind of maintenance they will need.

True, I only use full synthetic oil. And I do think these super long intervals that manufacturers recommend are somewhat due to lowering the ‘cost of ownership’ and not because it’s fine for the engine to go that long. Still it’s only like $30 to do it myself so In the grand scheme of things it’s pretty cheap.

Yeah the second gen vans are 10k mile intervals. I do 5k personally. I’d rather ‘over service’ the van and not have failures as I obviously drive a ton and need to be able to count on my van running well and not having down time. I do it myself so it’s not expensive so it’s cheap piece of mind for me.

The newer second row is a split seat with about a foot between them which would be a perfect spot to put a removable wheel chock. Maybe you can find one salvage or something? I also use mine for racing but I use a hitch rack as my KTM dirt bike is several inches too tall to fit.