Back in March of 2019 Ford Motor Company announced that they were adding AWD to the Transit program. While keeping up with our fleet dealer, we were informed in September of 2019 that orders were being pulled for scheduling so I decided to toss my hat in the ring and order the new Pinnacle Campers Demo Vehicle. The acquisition of this new Ford Transit could be a journey in itself.

Immediately after ordering, Ford decided to push all previously scheduled orders back one month to build Amazon Prime Vans.

The order I placed is for an E2C chassis, 148″ wheelbase, mid roof, cargo, AWD. I went ahead and chose the Ecoboost V6 motor. As standard the 2020 Ford Transit has a new 10 speed transmission. Both the motor and transmission are carry overs from the F150 lineup. The gear ratio as standard with this combination is a 3.73 Limited Slip.

Other options included are, Magnetic Metallic paint, trailer tow package, Audio pack #21 with 8″ screen and SYNC 3. Rear park sense, fog lights (new), extended range fuel tank (new), and ebony leather 10 way seating.

Some notes about a few features that have been added to the 2020 Transit that I didn’t include in the build.

Crew Van configuration. Ford is offering a second row seat configuration similar to the Sprinter Crewvan. In looking at the prototypes, I don’t see much advantage to this model in a camper conversion scenario. The flooring and headliner are only half length, both cut off after the second row seat. Additionally the second row seat only comes in a 62″ 3 person version making getting to the back of the van difficult as it is the full width of the van. We will be installing an aftermarket second row seat for two that folds out to a bed in the Pinnacle CDV. These 2020 Crewvan model 2nd row seats could be changed out to a Ford 2 person seat after the sale, and it is nice to have a full DOT legal seat install, but folding flat into a sleeping option is something the Ford seat just cant offer.

Swivel seats. Although Ford is offering swivel seats this year, they aren’t easy to get based on configuration, and cost a fortune once the right tick boxes are checked. This will be much better serviced by an aftermarket supplier.

I also stayed away from some of what I felt were unnecessary electrical doo-dads, like front/rear split view camera, lane keeping assist, park assist (yes the new transit will park itself), cross traffic alert, BLIS, and a few other acronyms. The Transit also offers a new 3.5L direct injection V6 and a new diesel motor. The 3.5L pfdi looks promising and would save $1500 over the ecoboost, but oh, those twin turbos….

There are also some late availability items like power sliding door and a 3 across crew cab option for front seating as well as the diesel motor.

Flash forward, after delaying 2020 production for yet another month, our van got pulled for scheduling on 10/29/19 and is set for a “week of” 1/13/20 build.

If you are considering a new camper conversion from us, and a Ford Transit appeals to you, we can walk you through the process to fulfill an order and get on our build schedule for soon after it arrives locally.

Here is a link to the 2020 Ford Transit AWD build.

Order_Summary B23M Build week 1-13-20

Stay tuned for more updates!