According to the seller, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Transit Connect “Looks and smells showroom new.” Let’s decide if its price passes the stink test as well.
No one likes a tease. That is abundantly true. It’s just totally unfair to tempt us with something only to leave us crestfallen with the discovery that we can’t have it. That was much the case with our last outing, which featured a 2005 Subaru Baja with a turbo engine and a manual shifter. That car had been outfitted as an overlander and was shown in the ad with a literal cherry on top in the form of a roof rack tent. That pop-top was not offered in the sale, which made the Baja’s $12,750 wholly unpalatable for the vast majority of you once the car’s other flaws were considered. The result was an 80 percent No Dice loss.
I’m curious: how many of you never considered “living in a van, down by the river” until Chris Farley brought a newfound appeal to such a prospect with his Matt Foley character on SNL? Today, we’re going to look at a 2012 Ford Transit Connect XLT Premium Wagon, which is clean enough and sufficiently new-looking that it might actually live up to the posh demands of river-view living.
How Ford avoided the Chicken Tax on the Transit Connect
Ford’s modern minivan has an interesting history here in America. Introduced here in 2010 after eight years as a Europe-only model, the vans left their Gölcük, Turkey factory as passenger vans with windows and a back seat. Once hitting the docks in Baltimore, Maryland, those elements were stripped out and handed off to the recyclers, replaced by metal walls and no back seat. This was all an attempt to circumvent the 25 percent import tariff (the infamous “Chicken Tax”) that had long been levied on light commercial vehicles.
Ford spent years in court trying to defend this practice, eventually having its hand forced when declining sales for all sorts of small vans here in the States ended Transit Connect imports entirely. Another interesting bit of Transit Connect history is that the current one, rebadged as the Toureno Connect and still sold outside the U.S., isn’t even a Ford at all, but is a re-badged version of VW’s entrant in the category, the Caddy van.
That’s all water under the bridge, or by the river, as it were, since this Transit Connect was first sold. It also didn’t suffer the ignominy of having its innards ripped out and its windows boarded over as this model—the XLT Premium Wagon—was sold here as a passenger vehicle and hence avoided the 25 percent tariff from the get-go. Ford’s intent with this model was to target taxi services and ride-shares. The model has five seats and seatbelts along with windows all around, but trades the typical minivan third row for a cavernous load area. Those rear seats can be removed to make the cargo space even bigger.
Not a single flaw
Ford only sold the XLT in high-roof, long wheelbase form, so there’s plenty of room to spread out and even wear a hat in here. You might want to doff that chapeau in honor of this 30,000-mile XLT’s condition, which the ad touts as having “Not a single flaw.” This is also a bit more posh than the van versions, having been outfitted with larger alloy wheels, cruise control, and standard AirCon.
On the outside, the silver paint appears to be in excellent condition and is nicely complimented by the standard black plastic trim on the wheel arches and rub strips. Sliding doors on both sides provide excellent access to the rear seats—or to remove them. Those seats, along with the front buckets, are upholstered in a funky-patterned cloth fabric. That, and all the interior plastics, show absolutely zero signs of wear.
There was only one drivetrain available in these, a 2.0-liter, 236 horsepower Duratec four and four-speed automatic driving the front wheels. It’s nothing exciting, but does offer combined mileage in the mid-20s. Per the ad, the van’s mechanicals are up to snuff as well, as both engine and gearbox have recently received a full fluid and filter service. Other incentives include a clean title and current registration.
Would you buy it?
The seller calls this an “unusual 2012 Transit Connect,” which seems accurate seeing as very few non-commercial versions were sold here and fewer than that have been kept in museum-quality condition as this one seemingly has. Could that make its $16,500 asking price a workable deal
What do you say? Is this rare but kinda weird Transit Connect worth that kind of cash? Or is that way too much, even just to honor Chris Farley’s memory?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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