Reader Question: V10 Ford Van?

William writes:  I was pondering a new Transit, perhaps a Mercedes diesel sprinter for a new mission I have with the newest addition to my family -a female german shepherd.

Instead of laying out a chunk of my capital (which really serves me in my business) or signing up for a loan (even tho I could write off a bit of it) for a new modern biggie tall van like those , I opted to buy a buddy’s 2005 Econoline extended van. What did it for me was the V10, and the torqueshift transmission that comes with an external bypass filter.

With the Big Momma 6.8 liter van at just over 100K miles, decent side paint, kind of peeling roof, and blown a/c compressor (all of which I could remedy at my discretion), I went with the purchase for just under $4K.

The van has been nothing short of astounding even with zero mods. Takes literally a ton of gear inside, has a beefy engine that I highly doubt the van body will ever stress out (they put this engine in motor homes and Uhaul trucks). I kind of think they can be worked on and fixed anywhere, parts are a plenty thus far. A high class towing package adds a pulling capacity of well over 10,000 pounds.

So I didn’t buy it for MPG, and figured it would take me a few hundred thousand miles of driving to overcome the alternative purchase costs of either the more gas efficient sprinter or transit, to say nothing of the much higher cost of the Sprinter diesel parts, gosh and the headaches with DEF, mutliple computer systems, and insurance would surely be significantly higher.

Anyway, I have no real idea why I wrote you this except to share my joy of certain vehicles and how lucky we are that we have these choices available to us. And that we now have youtube and parts logistics transports so that it’s a lot more feasible to keep our beloved vehicles in functional mechanical condition longer.

My reply:  I amen your sentiments – and your purchase! You got a V10 van for less than the down payment on a new Sprinter van and your van is likely to cost you less over time, too. You may at some point need to put $1,000 into it for this or even $3,000 for that. Well, even if you do that’s just $4k – and you may not have to put any of that into this van. But let’s say you do – over say the next five years. That works out to $800 per year or about $66 per month. How much would the monthly payment on a new Sprinter be?

I’m glad you found the van – and thanks for the kind words!