ChronicIguana

This one should be simple. Can anyone recommend a compatible cargo net type thing for the LWB Connect that can be stretched from port to starboard where the rear seats temporarily aren't? Have discovered a gallon of milk and a few stray soup cans make pretty potent projectiles when you need to mash the brakes and there isn't anything between you and the groceries stashed in the back just inside the rear hatch.

Agreed. Commercial cargo versions of the van are also common here. But add windows, seats and a bright red paint job, and people don't seem to immediately grasp that the passenger van is the same utility vehicle the local plumber is driving. And yes, the three hatches that magically appear when the second row seats vanish do come in handy. As to "thong collector," you don't know how close you came to the truth - particularly when you live in a beach community. As I seldom have more than one passenger on board, I tend to keep the rear seats folded into the floor. I tell people I get better gas mileage this way. Less wind drag. And they buy it. Go figure. Which raises one of my few gripes. At speed, and with the driver's window down, those hatches create a semi-annoying but tolerable "thud" caused by the minor but pronounced flapping you get when the wind passes over them and is trapped inside the rear cavern with no ready way out. Am guessing Ford's engineers also noticed, but likely concluded the fix (Velcro?) wasn't worth the added hassle. The other issue is the airborne gallon of milk, the flying fresh produce and everything else that isn't bolted down that tend to come rocketing forward the moment the foot comes anywhere near the brake. To avoid further head trauma, am on the prowl for a compatible cargo net that would span the space where the rear seats aren't. Suggestions welcome.

Yes, actually. Guessing the check got lost in the mail.

After driving it around town for a few weeks, took it back to the dealership with a few questions. Mostly "how does all this stuff work?" Sales manager said people had apparently been seeing it on the road. After six months of nothing, and after all-but giving mine away, the dealership now found itself fielding phone calls from folks eager to know where and how to get one just like it. Go figure.

Purchased an off-lease, mint condition race red 2015 Ford Transit Connect XLT LWB passenger van with just over 20K miles in June, 2016. Drove by dealership, spotted it (wasn't hard) and made the manager an offer that was below repo value. Vehicle had been on lot for more than six months (battery was dead) and the used car manager was under the gun to convert it to cash. Thirty minutes later he had my 2004 Focus wagon and I was driving off the lot with his Connect. "What is that thing?" As a Connect owner, it's likely you've come to expect the question. Discovered you meet lots of new people in the supermarket parking lot when you drive a Transit Connect. A retired print journalist, have returned to my rock/keyboard roots. The Connect allows me to easily haul a very large Hammond Organ and its twin Leslie speakers - with room leftover for the bass player. Love it.