Se 2.5l Belt-minder Safety Belt Reminder Child Safety Rear Door Locks Fog Lights on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2015 Ford Transit Connect Wagon

The last time I tested a Ford Transit Connect, I needed to drive a group of friends to Boyne, MI, for a long weekend of skiing, snowboarding, and shenanigans. At roughly three hours, the trip is just long enough that my friends asked for something comfortable. A Range Rover would've been ideal. Perhaps a Mercedes-Benz GL or Cadillac Escalade. But no, I chose Transit Connect, to put Ford's small van formula to the test. The tiny van was near the end of its lifecycle in 2012, having debuted in Europe in 2003. Its age was reflected in its loud, underpowered, inefficient engine; noisy, harsh ride; and uncomfortable seats. It was so uncomfortable that we had to stop every hour just to stretch our legs. I didn't have such elaborate plans when this 2015 Transit Connect Wagon arrived in my driveway. But after a week behind the wheel, I can tell that road tripping in this van would be a far, far better experience. The most obvious change for the second-generation model is the styling. It's much better looking than the old TC, looking like the high-roofed spawn of a Focus and Escape. There are a few anomalies, though. First, note the word "Wagon" – that implies passenger van, while the cargo/work-minded Transit Connect is called "Van." Next, this Titanium model is only available on the longer-wheelbase, three-row Wagon. With the LWB configuration, the only tailgate option is a single-piece, lift-up hatch. If you want barn-style doors, get cozy with the short-wheelbase, two-row Transit Connect XLT. Regardless of body style, the Transit Connect Wagon's best styling feature is its enormous greenhouse that guarantees excellent visibility from any angle. The interior adopts a dash layout similar to the Focus. The heated leather seats – standard on the Titanium – are nice enough, but better still is that the chairs are actually comfortable now. The plastics on the dash and doors are still hard and scratchy, but fit and finish is solid. And with major contact points and switchgear that have been pilfered from other Ford products, including the steering wheel, the occasional bad bits in the cabin are easy enough to ignore. With room for three folks in the second row and two more in the back, the Transit Connect Wagon fills a role that is more utilitarian and spartan, but not much less versatile than traditional minivans. The middle row seats feature stadium-style raised seating, and both rows can slide forward and back or fold.

Barrett-Jackson rundown: 2024 GMC Hummer EV, Colin Powell's Corvette and more

The echoes of the last hammer fall at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale Auction have disappeared into the Arizona night, as have the record crowds and the traffic jams. During the Super Saturday charity auctions, three main attractions drove onto the dais for bidding: Late U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State General Colin Powell’s 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the hammer price benefitting AmericaÂ’s Promise Alliance, the nonprofit Powell founded to support kids; The first production 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 with VIN 001, proceeds going to Tread Lightly!, which educates people on how to enjoy the outdoors in a motorized vehicle and simultaneously protect the outdoors; And the first production 2024 Ford Mustang GT Fastback VIN 001, its hammer price benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Before the Saturday showcase, charity auctions on Friday took Barrett-Jackson past a huge milestone. When an 800-horsepower 2021 Shelby Super Snake Count's Kustoms Edition hammered for $350,000 to support the veteran's charity Camp Freedom, the auction house officially surpassed the $150 million mark for charity auction proceeds. Piling on before the clock struck midnight, a 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning 4x4 Super Crew sold for $275,000, those funds donated to Fighter Country Foundation. Then came Saturday. Powell's Gunmetal Gray on black Stingray was said to be a daily driver, but with just 15,600 miles on the odometer, Powell — who died in 2021 — apparently had a very short commute. Equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission and chrome wheels, it sold for $200,000. The first production 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV Edition 1 ran the bidding up to $500,000. That's quite a ways down on the $2,500,000 that the bedded 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 garnered at the charity auction in 2021, and not a bad price all things considered. The owner gets the first one off the line instead of getting lost in the 90,000-order backlog, and the markup goes to a good cause instead of a flipper and eBay fees. The first production 2024 Mustang GT Fastback brought in both less and more than the Hummer EV. The Ford's hammer price came to $490,000. However, two additional philanthropic donations for this lot in the amounts of $50,000 and $25,000 took the final price to $565,000. The big movers on the day were outside the charity sphere, four cars breaking the million-dollar mark.

Question of the Day: Most degraded car name?

When Ford came up with a not-so-sporty version of the Pinto and slapped Mustang badges on it in 1974, that was a low point for the Mustang name. When Chrysler applied the venerable Town & Country name on perfectly functional but unglamorous minivans, it saddened many of us. But perhaps the biggest demotion for a once-proud model came when, in 1988, General Motors imported a misery-enhancing Daewoo from Korea and called it the Pontiac LeMans. The original Pontiac LeMans was a great-looking midsize car with fairly advanced (for the time) suspension design and engine options including potent V8s and a screaming overhead-cam straight-six. The Daewoo-based Pontiac LeMans was a cramped, shoddy hooptie that served only to ruin the LeMans name forever, while stealing sales from the Suzuki-based Chevrolet Sprint. Sure, using the once-respected Monterey name on the Mercurized Ford Freestar was bad, but Mercury didn't have long to live at that point. I say the downward spiral of the LeMans name was the most agonizing in automotive history. What do you think? Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Auto News Ford Mercury Pontiac Automotive History Classics questions ford pinto names