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Despite enjoying my fair share of vehicular creature comforts, over the years I’ve cultivated a deep and abiding love of minimalist automobiles. My mania has generally taken the form of ill-advised obsessions with random Japanese kei cars and skeletal British roadsters. This might go some way toward explaining why I’ve taken such a shine to Ford’s bare-bones mini commercial, the Transit Connect.

This diminutive carryall has been on sale in Europe for years now, where it has competed against a host of oddly styled but lovable small utilities like the Renault Kangoo and Fiat Doblò. And now Ford is taking a gamble and bringing it to the States next summer, where it will compete in a class of one as a 2010 model.

As we understand it, the Turkish-built, front-engined, front-drive Transit Connect will initially only be offered in one configuration: a long-wheelbase five-passenger model paired with a 2.0-liter Duratec four-cylinder gasoline engine and automatic transmission. Officials suggest this drivetrain is good for around 19 miles per gallon in the city and 24 mpg on the highway and it carries a gross vehicle weight rating of 4950 pounds, or about the same as a 4.0-liter V-6 Ranger. That’s a far cry from the pack-mule prowess of a full-size E-series van or Dodge Sprinter, but the TC is much smaller in every dimension—picture a pent-roof Kia Rondo with less glass area and you’ve got it. In any case, it ought to provide plenty of muscle and cargo space for many small businesses, particularly those keen to combat rising fuel prices. Naturally, we at WINDING ROAD would love to see an even smaller diesel with a manual shifter option, and hope that a healthy reception will result in Ford expanding the model’s lineup.

To its credit, the Blue Oval has been displaying an increasingly dizzying array of Transit Connects in various guises to showcase the vehicle’s flexibility. I recently attended the New York Auto Show, and Ford showed off everything from a unique take on a “band wagon,” with racks of musical instruments, to a brilliant little taxicab concept.

Taxi operators place a premium on robust mechanicals and long service intervals, so if Ford goes ahead with such a model it will be interesting to see if a front-drive, small-displacement drivetrain can stand up to the serial pummeling that greets these beasts of burden. The trucklet’s aforementioned 19 mpg isn’t hugely impressive, but it’s a respectable figure that the company says represents about a 30 percent improvement in fuel economy and 90 percent lower emissions versus most current taxis (of which Ford’s jurassic Crown Victoria is the most common).

It’s easy to picture this vehicle filling a niche for everything from the U.S. Postal Service to plumbers and florists, but if Ford is smart it will also try to court the same crowd that bought the original Scion xB—both hipsters and seniors. Picture various trade shows deluged with nuttily customized Connects that are decked out as rolling deejay booths, single-chair hair salons, topiary trimming services, and so on. And with gobs of usable cargo space and arthritis-friendly ingress and egress, the little Ford should be popular with pack rats and reduced-mobility types alike.

Incidentally, we had similar hopes for the Chevrolet HHR Panel’s cargo-carrying ability, but came away massively disappointed when confronted with its very limited utility. The Transit Connect has no such issues. If Ford can import it at a reasonable price, it might just kick-start a whole new genre here in the States. Us? We keep envisioning it as a particularly fetching WINDING ROAD house vehicle for automobilia scores, track-day spares, and car-to-car photography shoots.

If the availability of the Transit Connect coerces even a fraction of the commercial market into driving a useful yet more entertaining vehicle with a smaller physical and ecological footprint, well, we’ll say “job done.”

Motor vividly.

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Magazine Issue: Winding Road Issue 33