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Old 05-14-2020, 09:59 AM   #51 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH View Post
The Promaster is the only full-size FWD sold in the USA. It was introduced to the USA in 2013 and has run a distant 4th behind the offerings from Ford and GM despite selling for thousands of dollars less. The Ford E-Series is 28 years old and being retired this year but still manages to outsell]
Very little of what you say has anything to do with poor sales.

The actual operators who would buy a FWD contractor van have been bit by reliability problems and gone back to traditional vans.

First with the discovery that a Mercedes sprinter motor fails miserably if driven in Winter conditions
Then bleh promaster is just as bad. Not to mention the insta-rust problems some years possess

No Van is particularly reliable but the FWD units have particularly expensive failures and early on, downtime is expensive even if the repairs are under warranty.

If a VALID FWD offering were to consistently be reliable with low cost repairs proven Over many years you would see commercial operators buy them as the FWD layout is otherwise superior in every way a contractor cares about, space, ergonomics, ease of use, fuel economy


I myself would have bought the original Ford transit if Ford would have imported the 5mt Diesel and interior.

Ah well the joys of a chicken tax protected isolated market

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Old 05-14-2020, 05:45 PM   #52 (permalink)
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If the Promaster's poor sales were based on poor reliablility I would expect sales to start out OK and then fall off as people experience failures. That hasn't happened. Sales continue to steadily grow but remain a small fraction of the total market.

Mercedes hasn't ever sold a FWD Sprinter in the USA so people can't be avoiding buying FWD vans due to failed Sprinters.

Ford brought the Transit to the USA and it immediately took the #1 spot so customers aren't scared of buying a Euro-style unibody van.

The Transit is made in Kansas City so the Chicken Tax doesn't apply. There are also ways around the Chicken Tax as Ford demonstrates the Transit Connect. (Formerly built in Turkey and now built in Spain, the Transit Connect is imported as a passenger van and then converted to cargo)


If you are waiting for a manual transmission full-size van you will be waiting for a long time. Manuals are dead in the USA. Dead in full-size truck, full-size vans, and almost dead in heavy duty trucks.

If you are looking for fuel economy the Chevy Express with the 2.8L diesel is king. I would buy one if they offered it in a Cut-away.

USA full-size van sales:
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Old 05-14-2020, 11:17 PM   #53 (permalink)
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They are reliable if you keep a spare engine and transmission assembly on hand.
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Old 05-14-2020, 11:44 PM   #54 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JSH View Post
FWD is a rather poor fit for a cargo van intended to actually do work. Putting weight into the van shifts the weight distribution away from the drive wheels. Yes, it saves a bit of weight (the FWD Sprinter is 220 lbs lighter than the RWD version) but that is a small weight savings for a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 lbs.
It's not really as bad as you believe it is. On a sidenote, the weight bias seems to be what dictates FWD vans to usually have a shorter rear overhang, allowing to better balance the load between the axles.


Quote:
But again - The USA market has all types of vans available. FWD unibody, RWD unibody, and RWD body-on-frame. Today the commercial buyers in the USA choose to buy RWD van. It isn't about redneck showing off since nobody buys a commercial van to show off.
Rednecks showing off is related to trucks and SUVs, not vans. But some commercial operators who could actually be better served by a van go for a truck because it's often deemed more desirable by the average Joe. An exception might be Argentina where vans seem to be more appreciated.


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If you want to talk about over-sized ambulances here you go. A Chicago Fire ambulance built on a Freightliner Class 6 truck chassis

That's a nice one. I have already seen ambulances built on Class 5 trucks in Brazil, but those are not so widespread. When it comes to fire departments, in some smaller Brazilian towns there are some "combination vehicles" which have some of the typical firefighting and rescue equipment and a medical compartment on the same vehicle, which is not the best solution but allows a smaller yet less specialized fleet to be kept, decreasing overall costs of some firefighting stations in smaller towns.
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Old 05-15-2020, 01:51 AM   #55 (permalink)
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If I'm ever conscious and need medical attention, I'm calling an Uber. If I'm ever unconscious to the point that I cannot deny medical transport, it's probably money appropriately spent.
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Old 05-17-2020, 10:23 PM   #56 (permalink)
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If I'm ever unconscious to the point that I cannot deny medical transport, it's probably money appropriately spent.
If someone is unconscious, it's better for the first-responders to be prepared for a subtle change on the prognostics that might require a more advanced support.
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Old 05-18-2020, 12:27 AM   #57 (permalink)
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If I'm ever conscious and need medical attention, I'm calling an Uber. If I'm ever unconscious to the point that I cannot deny medical transport, it's probably money appropriately spent.
If I'm headed to the hospital the bill is going to be over my $5,000 deductible no matter what they do. I might as well ride in an ambulance
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Old 05-18-2020, 04:09 AM   #58 (permalink)
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I'm good with not riding in the china virus taxi.
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Old 05-18-2020, 10:17 AM   #59 (permalink)
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In the two instances I participated in, the ambulance bill turned out to be not insurance covered. $1,000 for the transport from the air evac from chopper to hospital, $586 for scraping up son from street.
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Old 05-19-2020, 12:29 AM   #60 (permalink)
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I'm good with not riding in the china virus taxi.
Yesterday for the first time I saw an ambulance with its crew seemingly heading presumably to a Chinese virus related incident (the driver was wearing a protective suit, not only a makeshift mask as it have been usual since last month).

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