THE FIRST TIME I SAW A TRANSIT CONNECT used as full-time living space was at the 2014 Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. A guy named Randy had done an attractive and very functional conversion. I’ve seen many nomad Transit Connects since then. They’ve become a popular choice, especially as they became more plentiful on the used car market.
After this model year, the used car market will be the only place to buy a Transit Connect, because Ford has announced it will stop selling the compact van in North America. The Ram Promaster City, Nissan NV200/Chevrolet City Express, and Mercedes-Benz Metris have already been discontinued here because of declining sales, the move to electrification, and so on.
This isn’t totally tragic news, because few of us nomads could afford a showroom-new Transit Connect anyway. But it means these small commercial vans will become harder to find in the future — the same way healthy low mileage Astros and Safaris are today. It can complicate your plans for launching your nomad life. The selection gets smaller while you’re saving up to buy one.
You could go with one of the other compact vans, but the Transit Connect is in that sweet spot of having a better reliability record than the Ram, more room than the Nissan and Chevy, and a lower price than the Mercedes. Or you might go with a different type of vehicle, like a crossover.
So here’s a toast to the Transit Connect. May the remaining ones live long enough for all the nomads who want one to acquire their own.
Volkswagen will start selling their 100 percent electric minibus in the US market at the end of this year. The VW minibus is what allowed the 1960s flower revolution to occur when a large number of young people moved into the VW minibus.
Take away the nostalgia and the VW ID.Buzz is just an electric minivan. Other minivan makers will have EV versions as well. But the big thing about buying a used EV (because very few nomads can afford a new one) is the condition of the batteries, which degrade over time — faster than internal combustion engines. A used EV buyer could be faced with a big battery replacement expenditure. This is from an article on the subject:
Battery health: The battery is the most expensive part of an EV, and its health and remaining capacity can vary depending on usage, charging patterns, and maintenance. Be sure to check the battery’s health and remaining capacity before making a purchase.
cost me 3200 for battery replacement on daughters used prius
That new Volkswagen is prohibitive in price for most. Not to mention the lack of power stations out in the middle of nowhere, which is where many of us nomads like to wander.
Alexa, exactly, shall U run out of battery charge in the boonies…YOU ARE STUCK BIG TIME !!?
Quite surprised all the minivans are going away. I see so many here in Illinois. I know the postal service is using alot of Metris vans. I’ve been looking into courier work, and those little vans would be much more nimble in traffic than my Express 2500.