New 12 or 15 Passenger van

[ffg]

Last year at this time we were looking for a Ford E series.

2015 was the first year of it’s replacement - the Transit.

The E series being out of production had a significant increase in demand and thus price. Not sure if that is still the case.

We bought a 2015 Transit 12 seater at the time, for less than some of the older E series.

It was and is in fantastic shape.

Been running it a year now, put on 15k miles. Have our next road trip planned.

It seems they built the transit with the same body regardless of 12 / 15 as the back has significant room.

Other benefits - back doors swing completely open (I suppose 270 degrees) held open by magnets

Backup camera is nice, more for the warning beeps than the visual. Obviously, you can dress up the options if buying new, but we bought what was found.

Only downside, is that you can only remove the back row of seats. When I was a kid, my folks pulled the row right behind the driver, which kept the kids and the noise further away. It also let grocery trips and what not be a ‘load / unload from the side’, which was nice. Was hoping for the same.

 

[ffg]

Why so big? When we had 7 kids, we drove a Ford Expedition without a console, so it would seat 3 in the front seat. It worked out pretty well. The 8th kids was a little problem, but by that time the oldest was off to college. When he was home, we found ourselves taking two cars places. I found taking two cars was better than driving one of those behemoths. A cousin with 7 kids had one, I drove it once, I hated it. I suspect its cheaper to have two cars than one of those big jobs.

Ha!

We took 2 cars everywhere for 3 years until we bought the beast. I liked 2 cars as it didn’t limit everyone for every outing, but it is nice going to Church in 1 car again, time is not on our side with everyone in the same place much.

A lot of the choice between a van and say an expedition, is cost.

We ‘wanted’ a large SUV, but we also didn’t want to go into debt.

So basically a new car that comes with a small, short term debt was the winner.

As it turns out, it’s a wonderful car and we are able to help beyond our own family. It worked great for Track practice carpooling and shuttling ushers for the Men’s conference this year.

 

[May1980]

Safety wise do the best you can . Keep older kids boostered until at least 4 foot 9, so about 11 years old. Rear face the toddlers until at least 2, ideally 3 . Harness to 5 or 6. We don’t need the bigger van unless we had another, but they are large vehicles not known for safety. They have improved though. I would get the passenger Nissan NV. Makes sure you have a headrest for each passenger. We have 6 car seats in use currently