{"id":10399,"date":"2017-12-04T17:57:21","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T17:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=10399"},"modified":"2017-12-04T17:57:21","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T17:57:21","slug":"ford-will-release-new-transit-connect-and-transit-courier-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/10399","title":{"rendered":"Ford will release new Transit Connect and Transit Courier in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10400\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10400\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-10-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Ford Transit Connect\" width=\"650\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-10-sm.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-10-sm-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-10-sm-624x468.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-10-sm-50x38.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10400\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new Ford Transit Connect will go on sale in mid-2018<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ford will release updated versions of the Transit Connect and Transit Courier vans in mid-2018. The updated models will follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/10365\">the new Transit Custom<\/a> onto the market.<\/p>\n<p>These models don&#8217;t sell quite as many as their larger sibling, but they&#8217;re important for Ford. In the UK, both have been the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/10189\">best-selling models<\/a> in their respective segments so-far in 2017, with more than 20,000 sales &#8212; a quarter of Transit nameplate sales.<\/p>\n<p>As expected, the majority of changes are in three areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An updated front end<\/li>\n<li>Improved choice of more efficient petrol and diesel engines<\/li>\n<li>New cabin interior<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ford Transit Connect<\/h2>\n<p>I won&#8217;t waffle on about the new front end design, as you can see from the picture above, it adopts the distinctive three-bar Transit grill and includes a modified headlight design. But what&#8217;s more interesting are the technical and interior changes.<\/p>\n<h3>Engines<\/h3>\n<p>Buyers of the updated Transit Connect will be able to choose from Ford&#8217;s new 1.5-litre EcoBlue diesel engine or the latest version of its widely-used and popular 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine.<\/p>\n<p>The EcoBlue diesel will achieve Euro 6.2 emissions standards and will also be available with a new eight-speed automatic transmission &#8212; a rarity in vans. The petrol engine will include sophisticated features such as cylinder deactivation to run on two cylinders at low loads.<\/p>\n<p>All engines get a six-speed manual transmission as standard.<\/p>\n<p>Service intervals have also been extended in a bid to cut ownership costs. The manual diesel models will now offer\u00a0<em>&#8220;best-in-class variable intervals of up to two years\/25,000 miles&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Personally I&#8217;m not keen on this. It doesn&#8217;t seem right to me that any vehicle can run on the same oil and without an inspection for such long periods.\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Long service intervals may not cause problems for a vehicle&#8217;s first owners, but I suspect that they are likely to increase wear-and-tear and age-related problems for later owners. Still, that&#8217;s probably not Ford&#8217;s primary concern.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>New interior<\/h3>\n<p>Rant over, here&#8217;s a picture of the new interior which will be fitted to Transit Connects. The design language will be familiar to drivers of other small and mid-sized Ford cars and vans, and looks likely to be comfortable and highly functional:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10401\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10401\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10401\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-11-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Ford Transit Connect cabin\" width=\"650\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-11-sm.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-11-sm-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-11-sm-624x468.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-connect-11-sm-50x37.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">When the updated Ford Transit Connect goes on sale in mid-2018, it will have an attractive new cabin.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Ford Transit Courier<\/h2>\n<p>Changes to the new Transit Courier &#8212; Ford&#8217;s smallest van &#8212; are very similar.<\/p>\n<p>An updated front-end design is combined with a new cabin to provide a fresh and improved feel for this popular small van.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10402\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10402\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-courier-5-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Ford Transit Courier\" width=\"650\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-courier-5-sm.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-courier-5-sm-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-courier-5-sm-624x470.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/ford-transit-courier-5-sm-50x38.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10402\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The updated Ford Transit Courier will be available from mid-2018.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The <strong>engine line-up<\/strong> will be similar to the updated Transit Connect. Buyers will be able to choose between an older-generation 1.5-litres TDCi diesel (apparently not the new EcoBlue engine) and Ford&#8217;s 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol. All will get a six-speed manual in place of the outgoing five-speed manual. This should help to improve real-world fuel efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>A new fuel efficiency package will be offered as standard on diesel models, including Ford&#8217;s Active Grille Shutter. This is used to closed the radiator grill when the engine is cold in order to retain heat and reduce the engine&#8217;s warm-up time &#8212; diesels generate less heat than petrol engines and traditionally take longer to warm up, reducing fuel efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>The Transit Courier will be available in a choice of van and kombi styles, with payload capacity from 500-590kg. Drivers wanting a little extra will now be able to choose between the range-topping Sport model or a more luxury-oriented Limited variant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ford has released the first details of new versions of its Transit Connect and Transit Courier vans. Both are due for release in mid-2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[1694,2109,548],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10405,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10399\/revisions\/10405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}