Have you ever been to a party where the hosts thought of everything? From the hot dogs and popsicles for the kids, to the tofu for the vegans. The Folks at Ford are a lot like the hosts who planned the perfect party, they thought of everything. The Transit starts with a proven platform that has logged millions of miles through more than 600,000 sales since its introduction in Europe in 2002. While built with the small business professional in mind, when spec’d with the optional second row seating, there is room for five full size persons along with coolers full of 2,000 or so of your favorite beverages. Without the second row, you can haul 3,495 12oz cans of iced beverages. That alone makes for a great party even without the hot dogs. Going beyond payload capacity and cubic feet there are some very useful electronics including a built-in computer with internet access from Sprint™, GPS from Garmin™, Tool Link™ from DeWalt® and Crew Chief™ from microlise®. These are heavy hitters in their respective industries and to do their systems justice you need to access www.fordworksolutions.com. Suffice it to say the systems are well integrated and are simple to use although I would suggest not showing off those gizmos at the party if you’ve helped yourself to some of those iced beverages.

First impressions of the Transit were deceiving. It doesn’t look that big on the outside and the pictures I’d seen didn’t prepare me for the remarkable amount of room inside. One would think a 5,000 pound vehicle powered by a 2.0L 4 cylinder engine would struggle. However, with its 4-speed automatic transmission coupled with a 4:20 final drive, it has reasonably good power and stopping ability even when loaded with 1600 pounds of play sand bags as one our test vehicles was. You can carry a lot of sand, coolers and people in this thing. The exterior is like a blank canvas begging for your companies personalized name and logo. With the money saved in fuel each month (22/25 mpg), I can see a lot of company parties in its future. Prices start at $21,475.