2022 Ford Transit Connect Model Review - Santa Clara, CA

There are a few things I'm as excited about now as autonomous vehicles. That said, fully independent vehicle capabilities will be slow to roll out. We can expect autonomous cars to start like today's driver-assist features. I thought it would be interesting to take an in-depth look at the 2022 Ford Transit Connect, which has been modified to be an early version of a self-driving shuttle.

What's new for The 2022 Ford Transit Connect?

The Transit Connect has a well-designed and spacious cabin with comfortable seats. The seats in this compact van are supportive, but they lack lumbar adjustments. There's good room for five people, though the backseat is short on legroom. There are two front seats and three on the second row, which can be folded flat to increase cargo space.

The 2022 Transit Connect has more space than you'd imagine in terms of cargo capacity. A wheelbase of 104.8 inches provides about 85 feet of volume behind the first row and about 179 feet when you fold down all the seats. This is enough room to carry large items such as items from a home improvement store.

Trims & Features

The 2022 Ford Transit Connect will have five trim levels: XL Cargo Van (base), XLT Cargo Van, XL Passenger Wagon, XLT Passenger Wagon, and Titanium Passenger Wagon (the top-level). The base model is pretty basic, with vinyl flooring and seating, no backup camera, and old-school hand cranks for the windows and door locks. The XLT adds a backup camera, cloth seats, power windows, remote entry, and an 8-inch touchscreen with Ford's SYNC3 infotainment system. The Titanium trim adds 18-inch wheels, leather upholstery, dual-zone automatic climate control, and an 8-inch touchscreen display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration.

The SYNC3 system is a nice upgrade over the older MyFord Touch setup found in other Ford vehicles and offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability as standard. It's easy to use, with decent graphics and quick response times.

We can now add adaptive cruise control to that list of standard features for the first time. It comes bundled with Ford's Co-Pilot 360 safety suite of driver aids, including automated emergency braking, lane-keeping assist system (LKAS), and automatic high beams.

Horsepower

The 2022 Ford Transit Connect Commercial boasts a new 2.5-liter Duratec four-cylinder engine making 202 horsepower and 191 lb-ft of torque, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. This is a significant improvement over the previous model's 2.0-liter inline-four, good for just 162 horsepower and 144 lb-ft of torque. The new engine is also equipped with active grille shutters, an engine stop/start system, and regenerative braking to help eke out fuel efficiency.

Safety

Starting with a solid foundation, the 2022 Ford Transit Connect's safety features include a driver knee airbag and side-curtain airbags for both rows, plus a rearview camera. The front seats have three-point seatbelts and adjustable headrests. Both rows of seats have LATCH anchors for child seats.

In the IIHS testing, the Ford Transit Connect earned "Good" scores in every category except the small overlap front crash test, where it was rated "Marginal." In that test, the driver's area showed excess intrusion into the passenger compartment, which affected the dummy's movement and caused its head to skim the dashboard. The dummy's head also suffered from excessive forces from impact with the steering wheel.

In federal crash testing, the Transit Connect earned four out of five stars for overall protection and five stars for side crash protection; it received three stars for frontal crash protection.

Visit our dealership

So if the new 2022 Ford Transit Connect sounds like an SUV that's right for you, come to our dealership to check it out. We'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about Transit Connect or any of our other new Ford cars and trucks.