2011 Ford Transit Connect « New and Used Car Listings

2011 Ford Transit Connect

Maybe it was the bright Torch Red paint on the 2011 Ford Transit Connect van that attracted attention, more maybe it was how the very tall, yet small van moved nimbly into parking spaces labeled for compact cars.

Maybe it was because the Transit Connect — with room for five passengers and a large cargo — cost less than $65 to fill the fuel tank, even at today’s prices.

Whatever the reasons, people stopped and checked out Ford’s Euro-style people and cargo hauler. The curious and admirers included regular car buyers, not just the owners of small businesses targeted by Ford officials as purchasers of the Transit Connect.

Introduced to the States in 2009 after years of sale overseas, Ford’s Turkish-built Transit Connect is growing its U.S. sales impressively. After a modest start of 8,834 sales in half a year in 2009, the Transit Connect’s sales here last year grew to 27,405. And through the first four months of this year, sales are up again — some 46 percent over the same period last year.

For 2011, the unique-to-this-country Transit Connect is offered in a new trim package, the XLT Premium, that includes a full back seat, rear quarter windows that flip open and rear privacy glass.

Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail prices, including destination charge, for the 2011 Transit Connect passenger van is $23,855 with 136-horsepower, four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission.

This compares with the $22,005 starting