New DD

The Transit Connect is gone. My new DD is a 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5L Premium.

My trip to Pittsburgh for my brother's funeral a couple weeks ago in the Transit Connect convinced me I needed some thing different for a DD.

Only had it a week so far but I am loving it. All the things that I was beginning to dislike about the TC are much better in the Outback. Seats are much more comfortable and heated too! Better gas mileage which I think will get even better with some miles on it. More power and less effort, 70 MPH at ~2300 RPM vs. 3200 RPM in the TC make for a more enjoyable ride. Much better handling on the twisty back roads.

And I have fallen in love with the voice recognition button on the steering wheel. Being able to make a phone call, tune the radio to whatever I want, and change any of the HVAC settings by just pressing one button without taking my eyes off the road is fantastic. I'm sure there are other things it can do, I just haven't finished reading the manual yet.

Looks nice. What was it about the trip that turned you off the transit connect after long ownership?

Great choice with the Outback! This article might be of interest to you.

Oh nice! My mom is shopping those. They come very well equipped.

Vigo wrote: Looks nice. What was it about the trip that turned you off the transit connect after long ownership?

1. The drivers seat. I am not a light weight person and the drivers seat cushion has been giving up the ghost for a couple years now. I spent several months trying to come up with a solution but all the SRS sensors and airbags attached to the seat made that next to impossible. Also the aftermarket seat manufacturers are doing away with many of their "OEM replacement" seats for the same reason.

2. Lousy gas mileage. Because of the lack of power and gearing it downshifted at least one gear on every mountain on the PA turnpike. Even on the flats it was screaming along at ~3200 RPM at 70 MPH. So gas mileage was 22 mpg for the round trip vs. the 33 mpg I get from the supercharged Focus on the same trip. Wife's 2013 Legacy (with same engine as the Outback) gets 29 mpg on the same trip.

clutchsmoke wrote: Oh nice! My mom is shopping those. They come very well equipped.

I did not get the NAV and "Eyesight" on mine since they have been having some problems with that option. Besides I want to "drive" the vehicle and my iPhone has better and more up to date navigation.

To me the "Premium" with moonroof and power liftgate is the way to go. I don't care about the moonroof but the power liftgate is very handy.

G_Body_Man wrote: Great choice with the Outback! This article might be of interest to you.

Already had it on a couple of the "Two Track" fire roads west of here. Interesting that he mentions the room in the rear seat. That is the main reason the wife bought the Legacy, to haul her sisters on their shopping trips. The Outback is even better than the Legacy since the rear seats recline.

In reply to Hal:

Drats. Thanks for the heads up! I'll have to relay that to my Mom.

Sounds like even among the people who actually bought one, lack of a small turbodiesel STILL eventually killed the Transit Connect. Stupid Ford.

Sucks about the seat wear. It's possible to get used decent condition seats fairly cheap from LKQ etc, but that wouldn't have done anything for your poor gas mileage.

Subaru's CVT sure seems to be making a lot of MPG out of their big heavy cars. It's impressive to me. Time was, you could barely get 29 mpg from a 2.2L impreza coupe @2700 lbs!

+1 in subi cvt.

Mom has a '14 legacy and it gets over 30 mixed and close to 40 on road trips. Same or better than my civic.

Vigo wrote: Sounds like even among the people who actually bought one, lack of a small turbodiesel STILL eventually killed the Transit Connect. Stupid Ford.

Don't know that anything "killed" them. The local Ford/Subaru dealer (where I bought the Outback) is selling them as fast as they can get them. In 2014 they changed the engines and transmission. You can get a 2.5L Duratec or a 1.6L Ecoboost vs. my 2.0L Duratec and they come with a 6 speed trans vs. my 4 speed. I was all set to buy one but they changed the body style and options in such a way that it did not fit what I wanted.

Well, what i mean is that they shot themselves in the foot as far as closing off so much potential market. The vast majority of the people who bought them did so for commerical purposes. I think it's a VERY rare case that a non-commercial buyer was ok enough with the underperforming powertrain to buy one without the extenuating circumstance of it paying for itself in actual money in a work capacity. I think a higher-mpg engine with more torque that handled heavy loads and long trips a lot better would have resulted in much higher sales.

I think that's one of the many things they improved with the new one, but like you i too am disappointed by the way the options are structured. You cant get the turbo engine in the long wheelbase version. That puts a major crimp in my enthusiasm.

Vigo wrote: The vast majority of the people who bought them did so for commerical purposes. I think it's a VERY rare case that a non-commercial buyer was ok enough with the underperforming powertrain to buy one without the extenuating circumstance of it paying for itself in actual money in a work capacity.

I'm of the opinion that Ford knew exactly what they were doing. They now have a small 7 passenger mini-van where they had been out of that market for a while.

Also I know two people who bought TC's for their businesses after seeing mine back in 2010. Last month I talked to both of them and they had gotten new full size Transits.

Interesting that the TC moved more toward the minivan people hauler market just as the new full size Transit arrived on the market.