New 19 owner from Ireland... not impressed.

[DeanDunphy]

Hey folks bought a new transit connect 1.5 ecoblue back in April.. lovely van but after owning vw caddy’s previous my ford ownership has not got off to a great start. Anyway hopefully ye guys might be able to shed some light on my issues.

[Brett]

So, It's hard for U.S. TC owners to offer up any comparison.  We no longer have that little Ecoboost engine.  When we did, it was only available on limited models.  If you had a long wheel base version, It wasn't an option.  My current 2019 XLT has the "Premium" trim package with upgraded everything.  I couldn't be happier.  My last engine was zippier, But I'm ok with this new 2.0 i4.

 

Happy motoring,

Brett

[Double Nickels]

It's hard for most of us to compare ownership experience between the VW and Ford.  You will get more opinions than facts.

[Eddy Kilowatt]

Ecoblue, that's the new(ish) line of Ford small diesels, right?

 

We were slated to get that engine here in The Colonies but Ford axed it.  But folks here would likely be interested to hear of your experiences with it... hopefully it's not the source of whatever issues you've been having.

 

 

[mrtn]

If it's the same engine, which I suspect, It's been great so far in our Berlingo, 8700 km on it now.

Edited August 14, 2019 by mrtn

[Fifty150]

Diesel is a hard sell in The USA.  It's hard even to purchase diesel fuel.  A lot of gas stations just don't sell diesel.  All the talk of bio-diesel, and that's even harder to find.  We have diesel trucks in our work fleet.  And I can tell you it's frustrating to drive around looking for diesel, if you are in a hurry to leave in the morning and did not start the day with a full tank.

[mrtn]

That's weird. Diesel is dominant in Europe.

[Fifty150]

Retail gasoline sales dominate the market.  Every other type of fuel can't compete with distribution.  Imagine that you invented the next miracle fuel. More power, clean, and less expensive.  Will work in every engine.   Made from never ending supply of seawater.   If you have a better product, you will not be able to get it sold.  No gas station operator will sell your product.  You won't be able to develop a retail system.  Gasoline sellers will block you politically from obtaining license to produce, store, transport.... Unions will not allow anyone to work for you.... You won't even be able to build a factory without union labor and construction permits..... Then oil companies and auto manufactures will conspire to program the car's so that your fuel won't work..... None of the gas pump manufacturers will sell you nozzles... 

 

 

For economic reasons..... profits.....USA market is locked into gasoline sales.  Otherwise, overnight, we could all use alternative fuels.  The entire nation could phase out gasoline with conversions for existing cars....All new cars could be built for other fuel....LPG, CNG, ethanol, hydrogen.....but not with gasoline industry lobbying lawmakers to protect their profits.  

[mrtn]

Our local gas producer (Alexela) is spitting out CNG/LPG/LNG stations everywhere they can. I buy my gasoline from them as well as I get the real one without ethanol junk as long as they can supply it. It seems that competitor lobby has gotten a new law for the next year screwing up their gas based fuel business.

[Double Nickels]

It's all greed.  That's business. That's why e85 is on the market.  It was never meant to be sold as an alternative to gasoline.  It was only meant to subsidize corn farmers and meet CAFE requirements.