Driving through Beverly Hills in a Solar Metallic 2014 Ford Transit Connect Wagon covered with ‘#unminivan’ decals attracts plenty of attention on a blistering hot Friday afternoon, even in jaded L.A. The hashtag reflects two things. First, Ford views the new Transit Connect Wagon as an alternative, perhaps even as an antidote, to a traditional minivan. Second, Ford is aiming this vehicle right at what it calls “impassioned indies,” young moms and dads who know what Twitter is and aren’t afraid to use it.
Yet, as I EcoBoosted my way down Sunset Boulevard, threading traffic thanks to a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, I was thinking that with the new 2014 Transit Connect Wagon, Ford is actually resurrecting the minivan. After all, there’s nothing ‘mini’ about a Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Grand Caravan, Honda Odyssey, Kia Sedona, Nissan Quest, or Toyota Sienna, is there? The only true minivan available today is the Mazda 5, which looks too much like a flamboyantly grinning circus clown to be taken very seriously. Rather than reject the ‘minivan’ moniker for the marketing of the Transit Connect, perhaps Ford ought to embrace it.
On second thought, scratch that. No self-respecting impassioned indie would want to drive one of those conformist mommy-mobiles.