Transit factory

[Richard]

I'm getting a new Transit at the start of March, ordered in the last week or so. Is it likely to be one of those?

[Mr Lobster]

Seen a couple of the new Transits about and I know what Trig means about them looking a bit Hyundai like. They just don't look very robust , and they also look a touch smaller than the previous SWB Transit.

 

I'd like to have a go in one though, see how they stand up to being fully loaded with my show kit and getting stuck in muddly fields.

[Bobthebeard]

Seen a couple of the new Transits about and I know what Trig means about them looking a bit Hyundai like. They just don't look very robust , and they also look a touch smaller than the previous SWB Transit.

 

I'd like to have a go in one though, see how they stand up to being fully loaded with my show kit and getting stuck in muddly fields.

 

Transit? Muddy fields?

[Mr Lobster]

Yeh. This happened quite a lot last summer

 

 

Usually followed by it being seen on the end of a rope attached to a Land Rover or tractor

[freebird]

Yeh. This happened quite a lot last summer

 

 

Usually followed by it being seen on the end of a rope attached to a Land Rover or tractor

Bingo!

Ive lost count of the amount ot times ive had to be towed off a field or even a verge. FWD is utter shite, the old RWD jobbies went everywhere and, in my job, they DO have to go everywhere.

If these new ones are smaller than the old then, Im guessing, they will be more Vivaro sized, and that was the bloody reason I chopped in my works Vivaro for a Transit when it came up. Vivaros dont have the space( ours are racked out) that Transits do.

I dont suspect i will be getting a new one any time soon, it seems that Openreach have decided to keep the vans in service even longer than the old 5 year limit.

It will probably be 10 fucking years knowing them. At this rate my 56 plate will have dissolved, rust is starting to take hold in the usual places as it is..

[FredTransit]

the new Custom is smaller than the SWB and the new Mk8 is more like a Jumbo or sprinter. They have gone from small, medium and large to small and XL......

[Wilko220]

Latest update on this. Sad news.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-23432322

[Sigmund Fraud]

I often drive past the Southampton factory, and it has been really sad to see less and less activity going on around the site.

 

Interestingly, when I checked out the employees' parking lot, less than 1/4 of the cars were actually Fords. It reminded me of the anecdote about BL workers all buying cars from other manufacturers...

[Partridge]

More pictures of inside. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2366138/End-era-British-car-manufacturing-Inside-Fords-Southampton-factory-close-doors-final-time-century-car-production.html

[cms206]

I've no experience of the new vans but we've supplied two new Tourneo Customs so far - one LWB, one SWB. Never drove the LWB but did a demonstration tour recently over 120 miles round some customers with the latest SWB we got into stock. Initial impressions... They drive very well indeed, a definate improvement on the outgoing facelift Mk4s. Very well equipped too in Custom spec, and as a 6'3" chap of unusual proportion it's very comfortable. Visibility is excellent and stowage up front is good. The plastics however are cheap and nasty, the controls are a bit fiddly - okay for those who drive new Focii I suppose - and customers report very poor fit and finish, indeed the LWB has already been to Ford for recification. Strangely, on the Tourneo at least, three seats in the front is a cost option. Space and access in the back is poor too.

[Vince70]

More manufacturing jobs going abroad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-23432322

It's such a shame I remember when I was kid and my father had an old gas board Transit van which had slide doors which would stay open while diving along it was great old beast, but the fitters would get Sherpa vans which were a bit quicker.

Do we actually produce anything in this country anymore.

[maxpower]

Do we actually produce anything in this country anymore.

 Yes..... unemployment queues

[Wilko220]

We produce more vehicles in this country than we have for quite a while. Sadly though, all for foreign-owned companies.

[dollywobbler]

We produce more vehicles in this country than we have for quite a while. Sadly though, all for foreign-owned companies.

 

Does it really matter who does the owning? Ford isn't British you know! Nor is Vauxhall. This country is in GREAT shape for producing cars - the Nissan factory is frequently described as one of the best in the world.

 

Yet people keep on whinging that we can't build anything these days. Factories close, production moves. That's how it works.

[Wilko220]

I know that Ford and Vauxhall aren't British!

 

I think it's great that manufacturing is on the up, whoever the owners are, so I'm certainly not knocking it. Of course things move on and we have to accept it. I'd be lying though if I denied being a bit sad about the fact that basically nothing is left of Britain's rich motor industry heritage.

[holbeck]

I spent a bit of time inside the Southampton plant a few years ago, ( it was the run up to the 97.1/2 MY introduction).

 

Even then, it was difficult to see a future in it. The plant was old, cramped and starved of investment, especially when compared with Genk in Belgium (also now closed) which was a showpiece.

 

What it did have going for it was the people. There were a lot of good blokes who were determined to produce a transit that was every bit as good as Genk. It is a testament to them that their plant kept going another 16 years. Shame.

[Faker]

I've driven mk2 transits, and owned mk3/4/5 (all the same, just face lifted)! Large mk2 and 3 transits with twin rear wheels still utilised a steering box and a dropped front beam with kingpins, proper tough wagons! Mk4 and 5 transits started to get a bit softer, but were still the market leader for their time. The 2.5 direct injection engine was pretty bomb proof. I replaced my smiley front swb semi high roof tranny with a lwb hi-ace, as the mk6/7 transits are utter Shiite! Diesel pumps and injectors being their biggest failing.

[Faker]

[Ghosty]

This new Transit is a bit odd, there's too much of an overhang at the front.

Combine this with how the sides curve inwards at the bottom, and it reminds me ever so vaguely of the Ford Thames...

[PhilA]

I miss mine.

 

Sold it but rot got the best of it in the end. It got reversed into things, dented, and beaten back into shape with a lump hammer in a half hour. Basic maintenance, cheap parts... what went wrong?

 

--Phil

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Ford of Britain was very British with several plants and carte blanche to do what they liked. The original Cortina was 100% Brit.

That new Transit is wank. They've been taking the piss for years with shit quality but it was an institution. Not any more. VW and Renault have fucked them over cheaper/better vans. I still rate the Trafic as a great all founder. Ace to drive, some mechanical issues but cheap and rust resistant.

I think Ford may have shot themselves in the foot and the Transit may go the same way as the lorries and tractors - another lucrative market pissed away.