Ford Tourneo Connect: Connect and Conquer

The Ford Tourneo Custrom is a minibus that seats nine people. This car was created for commercial transportation. It also serves well on the roads of the world, as a “personal transport” and as a car for a large family. Its main advantage lies in the excellent combination of a unique and trendy design with a spacious and functional interior. All this is complemented by reliable technical components and a rich level of equipment.

The first presentation of the car took place back in 2012, as part of the automobile exhibition taking place at the Geneva Motor Show. Then the minibus was shown to the public only as a concept. But the production version did not take long to arrive; its debut took place a month later in Birmingham. A year later, the minibus was sold at official dealers in Russia, which were produced at the Ford Söllers plant.

In June 2020, the Ford Torneo Custom has seriously changed. A planned restyling was carried out, which gave the car a swift and modern look, the interior was seriously redesigned, but the technical part was not affected. The updated model has also been sold in Russia since 2020.

Design

Appearance is definitely his strongest point. It carries the “kinetic” style of the American company. Compared to its competitors, Ford looks very modern and unique.

In the front of the car you can see modern large rectangular optics with a slight rise in the upper rear corner. The optics of the Ford Tourneo Custom are “pumped up” with cosmic LED inserts. And two sections of irregular shape for low and high beam. A hexagonal false radiator grille extends from the front inner parts of the headlights, which has six horizontal crossbars. It vaguely resembles an Aston Martin. It is embraced by a huge front bumper, in the lower part of which there is a continuation of the grille, and at the corners of the bumper there are massive rectangular niches, decorated with plastic, in which fog lights of the same shape are hidden. The hood has a large negative angle and two pronounced ribs at the corners.

The car also looks unique and stylish in profile. What is most surprising, and often not typical of minibuses, are the huge wheel arches. The arches have an additional plastic trim coming from under the very front bumper. In general, the profile is full of lines and stampings, one of which is located near the threshold.

Under the door handles, from the front optics to the rear of the car there is a “rough” and wide line with a sharp edge, and it ends, rushing upward at an acute angle. The rising window sill line also adds a highlight. Of course, it would not be possible here without rails for the minibus door. The dynamic style is set by a short hood and a steep stern with straight forwards. It is also worth paying attention to the stylish Ford Tourneo Custom 2017-2018 wheels and huge vertically oriented side mirrors.

At the back, everything is much more modest; minimalism is clearly visible here: simple exaggerated shapes and a couple of horizontal lines, the lower corners of the glass are beveled, and white and red vertically positioned rear optics flaunt on the sides.

Dimensions:

• The minibus is available in different modifications, so the length can be either 4972 mm or 5339 mm;
• The width, including side mirrors, is 2290 mm;
• Height – 1972 mm;
• Weight – 2061-2174 kg;
• But you can load a little less than a ton into the Ford - 964 kg.

Opinion

Yuri Stenkin, head of the transport service of Wirtgen-International-Service LLC

— We use Ford Transit Connect vehicles as technicians when servicing and repairing road construction equipment in the field. The choice of brand was dictated by the existing experience in operating Ford Focus passenger cars, as well as larger Ford Transit vans. Today we have 11 Transit Connect vans from 2006 to 2010 in our fleet. Four cars from the first batch have gasoline engines, the rest are diesel. All are short-wheelbase with bodies of the simplest configuration, there are no windows or sliding doors - only rear hinged ones. Each van has a small workshop: a workbench, tool boxes, a closet with work clothes, a washstand and other equipment. The load on the chassis is stable and significantly lower than the nominal one - within 400 kg, taking into account the weight of the set of spare parts. The fleet is distributed among our branches in different cities of Russia, including regions beyond the Urals, where vehicles are operated in difficult climatic and road conditions. However, the presence of autonomous heaters allows you to start the engine in severe frost without problems after parking it overnight on the street. In addition, some vehicles in the vans are equipped with additional air heaters. The mileage of most cars exceeded 40 thousand km, with the oldest six-year-olds having about 70 thousand km. There were practically no serious repairs, only on one car the gasoline engine failed (to replace the “short block”) - this is clearly an atypical case, and the reason has not yet been clarified. Otherwise, no problems, only the “consumables” were changed during routine maintenance and the wheel bearings a couple of times. We have never changed clutches, suspension or steering parts - apparently, with our relatively short mileage, repairing these components is a distant prospect.

Salon Ford Torneo Custom

The interior is no less impressive than its exterior, and to say that elements of a commercial vehicle are not visible here is to say nothing. All features are unique to passenger cars with the same logo. In front of the driver is a nice three-spoke steering wheel with a huge set of keys. Immediately behind it is a stylish instrument panel, which is equipped with two huge analogue dials and a small on-board computer display.

Turning your gaze to the center console, all attention is immediately drawn to the “sticking out” 8-inch screen of the multimedia system. Several more keys are integrated into its rim. Just below is the classic climate system unit of the Ford Tourneo Custom. On the sides of all this there are huge rectangular air ducts built into the panel.

There was a place on the center console for the gearshift knob, and the floor between the driver and passenger turned out to be almost flat. It is also worth noting the brilliant ergonomics of the interior, the high level of functionality and, which is not at all typical of commercial vehicles - high-quality interior materials.

For the front passenger and driver, two separate seats with optimal adjustments and a developed profile are available as standard. Optionally, a double sofa can be installed in place of the passenger seat. The remaining six seats can move on a slide, and the middle row can even be turned against the traffic. The backrests can be adjusted for tilt. The standard version of the luggage compartment can accommodate 1180 liters of luggage, and the maximum can accommodate 3690 liters.

Specifications

For the Russian market, the car is supplied with only one power unit. This is a four-cylinder diesel engine with a displacement of 2.2 liters. It is complemented by turbocharging and a common rail fuel injection system. This engine is capable of developing 125 horsepower and 350 Nm of torque, available already at 1450 rpm. All traction is transmitted to the front axle of the Ford Tourneo Custom 2017-2018 using a six-speed manual gearbox.

The maximum speed is 157 km/h, and the consumption of a large minibus is 6.5 liters per 100 km in the combined cycle. In the short wheelbase version this figure is slightly lower, in the long wheelbase version it is higher.

The front part of the minibus is equipped with an independent suspension, represented by MacPherson struts. There is also a stabilizer bar. At the rear, the car has a dependent architecture, which is suspended using longitudinal springs.

Ford Transit (Tourneo) Connect (Euro 4) offers on the European aftermarket

Offers Ford Transit (Tourneo) Connect (Euro 4) on the European aftermarket
Offers Ford Transit (Tourneo) Connect (Euro 4) on the aftermarket in Europe

An unpleasant feature of the engines of cars produced in 2006–2009 that meet Euro-4 standards is the presence of an EGR recirculation valve that is not supplied separately as spare parts; it can only be replaced together with the intake manifold. Priced at almost 800 euros. On first-generation cars (2002–2006), the range of engines was different: diesel only in 75- and 90-horsepower versions, plus a gasoline engine of the same volume with a capacity of 115 hp, which is widespread in our market. With. The truck was lucky with the gearbox - it was always equipped with only a reinforced 5-speed unit of the MTX-75 model with a reverse gear synchronizer - these are used on the most high-torque versions of Mondeo and Focus with 2.0-liter gasoline engines and diesel engines. All vehicles of the Transit Connect/Tourneo Connect family officially imported into Russia are assembled at the Turkish Ford Otosan plant in Kocaeli province, as can be seen from the letters TT in the seventh and eighth positions of the VIN number. If the letters ER are there, it means that the car was brought privately from Europe, and it was assembled in the Romanian city of Craiova, where Ford Motor launched a new plant in September 2009. Both of these enterprises also assemble versions of trucks for the American market, so don’t be too surprised if somewhere at a car market in Mytishchi they offer you a Transit Connect with a 2-liter 136-horsepower gasoline engine and a 4-speed automatic - that means a small miracle has happened...

Price

Official dealers in Russia Tourneo Custrom 2017-2018 are sold in two versions: with a short and long wheelbase. In each version, two configurations are available - “Trend” and “Titanium”. With a short wheelbase and the “Trend” package, the cost of the Ford will be 2,345,000 rubles, and the version with a long wheelbase and the “Titanium” package will cost 2,495,000 rubles.

Commercial vehicles have been on the market for many decades. They are in great demand and in most cases bring good money to their owners. These cars are developing in step with the times and are in no way inferior to passenger cars. What do minibus manufacturers want to achieve? The same thing that passenger car manufacturers want: increase comfort, introduce modern systems, increase the level of dynamic performance and reduce fuel consumption. And in the case of commercial transport, special attention is also paid to such aspects as carrying capacity and passenger capacity. Success will come if engineers are able to put it all together at a high level, as specialists from the American company Ford managed to do.

Modifications

Transit Connect has been produced since 2002. With a carrying capacity of 625 to 902 kg, it occupies an intermediate position in the range of Ford delivery trucks between the ultra-compact Ford Fiesta Van van (1m3, 443 kg, not officially presented in Russia) and the standard Transit light-duty truck, which takes on board from 990 to 2382 kg. Structurally, the vehicle is based on the units of the Ford Focus and Ford Mondeo passenger models, having many common components and parts with them, but it is created on a special V227 cargo platform, which is significantly different from the “global” C170 and C1. It is based on a durable monocoque body with powerful cross-shaped reinforcements for the floor and sidewalls. There are two base options: 2664 and 2912 mm with the corresponding overall length of the machine - 4275 and 4525 mm. The short wheelbase version comes only with a low roof (1815 mm) and has a loading volume of 2.8 m3, and the long wheelbase version only comes with a high roof (1980 mm) with 3.7 m3.

The main idea of ​​the developers is the convenient placement in the back of even a short-wheelbase version of two standard Euro pallets with goods - the 1145 mm height of the doorway at the stern allows them to be transported into the van with a forklift without any problems. Another proprietary feature is an additional increase in the loading volume of each version by 0.6 and 0.7 cubic meters, respectively, thanks to the folding of the passenger seat. At the same time, lengths up to 2467 mm with a short base, and up to 2714 mm with a long one, fit inside. Depending on the order of the first buyer, the car can have almost any body configuration: with sliding doors on one and both sides, or without them, with aft doors that open 180 or 270 degrees, with glazing in one or more doors, glass in the partition behind seats or without them, etc.