Why I Chose the Ford Transit Connect for Long Term Travel

Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about vehicles so take this lightly.

Choosing a vehicle to travel in long term is a huge factor in how your travels go and affect your comfortability. Most van conversions that you’ll see are Mercedes Sprinters, Dodge ProMasters or Ford Transits. However, there are a lot of other options that may work for you. Traveling in a smaller vehicle, a camper, or even just bringing a tent is also an option if you are looking for something cheaper. At one of my campsites, I met a man that was hitting all of the National Parks and just tenting along the way. So if you take anything from this article, I hope its that you don’t need a big van or a fancy conversion in order to roadtrip comfortably.

When I was choosing a van, I read articles and watched videos to get the input of vanlifers to see what they liked or disliked about the vehicles that they chose. Some things to consider when choosing your own van would be: cost, shape, size, gas mileage, and maintenance. You need to decide what your budget is and what space you will need for your van conversion. I ultimately chose the Ford Transit Connect, which is smaller than the rest of the Transits for a few reasons.

1. Easier to maintain

   From the research that I did, I found that Ford Transits were preferred by many because they were easier and cheaper to repair. Most mechanics will work on Ford Transits, whereas certain makes such as Mercedes sometimes require specific mechanics depending on what repairs are needed. This was important to me because I knew I would need a mechanic along the way and didn’t want to have any difficulty finding one.

2. Cheaper

   As I stated above, it is easier to find mechanics that will repair Ford vehicles, which typically means that they are cheaper to repair as well. The Ford Transit Connect was also cheaper because of the smaller size and lower demand. They also have pretty good gas mileage for a van which is cheaper in the long run.

3. Easier To control

   I opted for the smaller model of Transit, because it was extremely easy to drive and didn’t feel any larger than the vehicles that I was used to. Looking back, I think I could have very easily adapted to a larger vehicle, but I am still okay with this decision. A smaller vehicle is also easier to park when in larger cities so that has worked well for me. The Ford Transit Connect is also ideal for stealth camping because it is not a common vanlife choice and doesn’t draw much attention.