Ford is no longer going to be making the E-Series van. I'm not sure if this year is the last year or if it was 2013. They are switching to the Transit model which doesn't work well for me. The good news is, if you were thinking of getting a new van in the next few years there are some very good deals out there. I was able to get a 2013 with very low mileage for a great price and most of the factory warranty is left.
You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!
Replies
As of 2014 Ford still sells the E350 van. I bought one back in May to replace my E150. I liked the E350 passenger van because of all the windows that help eliminate the blind spots I had with the cargo van. I had the windows tinted with Limousine tint and still have the good view but with the security of privacy. The heavier chassis on the E350 and the 5.4L engine sure ride nice.
I considered the Transit at the time but after a test drive it in April I decided it didn't appeal to me as much as the E350 did.
I ended up taking the seats and floor mounting brackets out and replaced the rear carpet with one that had no holes where the floor brackets mounted...
Over the years I have owned 6 different vans...2 Dodge vans, a Chevy van and 3 Ford vans... and the Fords have always been my favorite.
Ouch on those floor brackets. I can pull those seats out by myself, but only with a lot of sweating, cussing, and aggravation. It's far better to get some help on those. That rear bench is the worst :-( I had thought about removing the brackets, but decided not to. I laid four 2x4's on edge, placed a 4x7 sheet of plywood on top, screwed the plywood to the 2x4's, and put cheap vinyl tiles on top to make it easy to slide tubs in and out. The long legs of the 7' Propanels hang over the top of the second back seat on the left side, and I have way more room than the Grand Voyager and Dodges I used to have.
That false floor stays in from the end of April until the end of September/early October. The false floor has a benefit though; I can slide the Propanel adjustable support bars under there along with several painter poles I use for a rear awning, and there's enough room to slide a couple of 2x8x10 boards under there that I use when I know I've got badly sloping or irregular ground to set up on. It's a lot easier to shim the boards at one end rather than have to shim all the propanels. The boards go up underneath the bench seat behind the front seats and extend into the front a little.
Robert...it is definitely a lot of work for one person to pull the bench seats out. I didn't realize how heavy they were until I did it. Your method of being able to store stuff under the raised plywood floor is a good idea..!
I considered leaving the brackets in at first but I never have a need for carrying that many passengers...and we do have another vehicle for times when we need additional passenger space.
My van gets used a lot all during the year for trips to get lumber, tools and supplies.
Last night I went on the Ford website and noticed that they still list the passenger E series vehicle but not the E series cargo vans. I wonder if it is just the E series cargo vans that are being discontinued?
I don't know, but I can say that fleet sales are important for the van market. Try to rent one in the summers and it's almost impossible, and when you do find one the rental cost is staggering. The rental outfits make a mint off the passenger versions. I suspect they'll keep the production lines running a while longer with orders.
BTW, mine was a rental that was not quite two years old when I bought it with about 38K miles on it. List was $39K when new and it sold for $21K. Significant drop in price. I try to avoid driving mine around town for short hauls. The gas mileage drops way down in stop and go traffic. I do use E85 fuel where there's at least a 25% difference in price form regular 93 octane fuel. The difference in mileage is about 15-18%, so the price difference has to be enough to offset that. Right now around here, E85 is $2.57/Gal and regular is $3.27/Gal. That's a 25% difference, so I'll be ahead to use E85 this week.
Uh, where on earth are you finding 93 octane regular fuel? I thought mid-grade was 89 octane and 93 certainly premium. So if regular is $3.27, then premium would be at least 20 cents more per gallon. I'm confused, Robert.
I was confused, probably sniffing too many E85 fumes. That was the standard grade gas, not the premium or midgrade. It must have been a flashback to the days of leaded gas. Back then the only place with the 87 octane was Gulf with their Gulftane aka panther pee. Anytime you tried it, you got engine knocking until you put some premium in to raise it some.
$2.57 a gallon...! WoW, I want some of that..but that price doesn't seem to be available around here and the cheapest I see is about $3.25 for E85. With a 33 gallon tank the gas station loves it when I stop by...but when you need it the price is well worth it.
The Transits are pretty cool looking but looking at one I doubt the one with the conventional roof will fit as much as an E-250 and I refuse to go with the extended roof because it just makes life miserable for certain shows that have primarily garage parking. I hate to have to call around various hotels and ask how what the clearance is on their garage or pay a premium for a hotel 10 miles away because it has an open parking lot. My van was pretty old though. It was a 1999 and had been paid off for years. It probably has a lot of mileage left in it but it was developing issues like being hard to start and it was going to need some money invested soon.
I'm glad you got a good deal on a 2013. Usually the vehicles at the end of the model runs have the bugs worked out of them. FWIW, a friend who works at a commercial van and truck sales lot tells me those full size commercial vans will easily go 300K+ miles when taken care of with routine maintenance and says it's not unusual to see ones with 400K miles come in and they still sell quickly.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next