Seriously? You post no articles for several days and then this? Nothing about the Colorado winning TotY? Nothing about Toyota announcing it would unveil a new Tacoma at NAIAS? Good job Mark, you have officially marginalized PUTC into an also-ran.

LOL mad cos the Colorado didn't get a mention, but you already knew about it, so were you just hoping to read the exact same story again? Or are you mad that your favorite brand isn't getting an equal amount of free advertising? Anyway congrats to Ford on the Transit, I think Ram/Fiat should have gone for a RWD option and used the 3.0 V6 diesel with 8 speed auto. GM really needs something to replace the Express, but I think it's the only full-size right now with an AWD option, which they all should have. Nissan also needs to put in the Cummins 5.0 in their NV3500.

I agree- unbelievable Mark if you don't post anything about the Colorado winning MT Truck of the Year. That would really show some serious bias against GM and love for Ford. Maybe it's just taking you a little longer to write up the article?

not really a big story about colorado, f150 is clearly the winner and will sell tons more, just remember Peyton manning got passed over for the Heisman and we all know how that turned out

Wowee did you guys ever show your true colors! FORD BLUE! and not a word on TOTY Chevy Colorado! Not to mention that your are WRONG!! GM did sell more of their "old van" that Ford sold of their new van! I am not in any way taking away from the fact the GM twins are out dated, but are still good old fashioned work horses! that are thousands less than the new Ford van! I have owned a Chevy 2500 Express, and was very pleased with it!

Yep well done to GM for being the first diesel mid-size in America (at least in this generation). No doubt we will see Nissan join the party, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ram/Fiat bring something out. Then Ford will have to sell the Ranger here. I'd also like to see VW bring the Amarok here.

Don't worry, Chevrolet will be back next year with their all new fullsized Nissan van. Complete with a bowtie on the grille. Then Chevy will really stick it to Ford!

Utterly laughable what GMC has done to Chevrolet.

My brother-in-law's Express 1500 is the only van I have been in where if you open the front and rear passenger door all the way at the same time, they hit each other. The steering wheel is massively off-center, uses a lot of fuel, and the footwells are cramped. The good things about it are a V8 and AWD. My old work had a 15 passenger Express, which really showed how underpowered the 6.0 Vortec is for that size vehicle.

Didn't the Super Duty get 3rd place in the last shootout/hurt locker (whatever they call it?). Hardly a good strategy if they are basically a marketing extension of Ford. Mark also highlighted the fact that the Tundra TRD came first in the Baja, and the Raptor didn't even finish. I'd say that made Ford look pretty bad. It seems like a lot of stuff gets overlooked, and people see what they want to see.

@Willie, the F-150 is not the winner it didn't even come in second the very Van in this story was runner up in second place. The F-150 is not even the top in the full size truck segment.

I didn't see the recent news posted here of Ford working on a hybrid F150 and possibly a diesel. Must be biased against Ford! Seriously though, I hope Ford does work on this. A diesel-electric like Range Rover has would be awesome. 45mpg city and highway! Though I think that's UK gallons.

@Alex. Good point. Ram won the latest 3/4 Ton Challenge (Gas) and the GMC won the latest 1 Ton Challenge (Diesel).
I don't see how this site could be considered a "Ford Site." It seems that Mark Williams already predicted that the F-150 would likely NOT win Motortrend's Truck of the Year award.
As far as this article goes, it looks like Mark is going to start showing us work van sales on a monthly basis since it has a lot more players now.
Most of us readers appreciate the news on this site, but I think, more importantly, no one can argue against pickuptrucks.com having the best, most informative, and most thorough comparisons (of which we have been promised more of soon).

Sprinter is in big trouble!

C'mon guys...give Mark a break. Since when does one publication use their platform to publicize a competing publications news?!?!?! Can you see Motortrend headlining "Chevrolet Silverado HD wins PUTC's Heavy Duty Hurt Locker?

I though this article was about the Ford Transit? so far only say one comment dealing with the actual aricle. Get with it people.

@Frank, PUTC does not have to post anything on this site unless they are truly run by Ford?

I think the motortrend truck of the year has been covered in other articles, heck it was even spammed that ram won esquire magazine truck of the year... If mark wanted to be about ford winning he could link up the f150 being "fleet truck of the year" as seen here. But he didn't.
http://m.automotive-fleet.com/article/252407/ford-f-150-named-fleet-truck-of-the-year

I'm not claiming this site is running Ford propaganda, I'm claiming it is poorly run and missing stories. Colorado was a story. Tacoma at NAIAS is a story. Hybrid F150 is a story. This is a blog, every one of those should have been posted, nevermind actually trying to get some original content.

Mark used to work for MotorTrend so I'm sure he knows how they operate.

I visit this site to read all the goofy comments that follow the stories, and I think most you all do to. Ergo the real outrage of the unreporting of the TOTY story for the Chevy base is they had been rejected and rebuffed from thier one rare chance to gloat.

And that's the real reason they are pissed.

Since when is motortrend award so important? Motortrend lost credibility a long time ago. Actually I'm not sure they ever had much credibility. This site has been very critical of ford lately. Can't believe all the people that getbutthurt when they don't instantly see the latest bit of news on their fav. brand. Pickuptrucks.com is in themidst of their own testing of the colorado and new f150 so why would they bother to publish a story from some other site?

@the other Chris,

As Beebe stated, why promote some other site and somebody else's test? Come on. Get real. I am sure this site will mention the MT TOTY winner, but is NOT a priority specially with all of the odd behavior going on over there. I'd rather PUTC do their own testing.

Re: Or how they think you can get an EcoDiesel Ram for the about the same price as an equivalently optioned gas Ford or GM

What MT tried to trick people on (and many were fooled by the wording) was you can get a lower trim cloth model Ecodiesel Ram "pretty" close (it's a few dollars more) to the price of an upper trim leather Lariat 2.7L EB F-150. How that is a positive for Ram I don't know and shame on MT for trying to claim such.

What ABOUT THE CHEVY COLORADO BEING NAMED MOTOR TREND'S TRUCK OF THE YEAR OVER THE ALL-NEW FORD F-150???? If the F150 had won, the story would be here.
This is so biased. Look at all of the news headlines, mostly about Fords.

Wow the GM fanboys are cut to the core over this. It says much more about their fans than it does about this website.

I saw one of the new vans in a cab/work box version. Had tool boxs on the rear rather than the van style, and was really slick. It caught my eye and I had to go over and do a 'walk around' in the McDonalds lot.

*********BREAKING NEWS********
Ford has admitted the Ecoboost was an UTTER FAILURE and they are now ready to move to diesel:
"When asked about a diesel F-150, he said the company was poised to respond quickly, citing the numerous diesel engines in Ford’s global powertrain portfolio."

Read more: http://www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2014/1412_ford_says_working_very_hard_on_f_150_hybrid/#ixzz3L3K8tAP9

@EcoBoost, Ford has a 3.0L V6 Lion diesel with 270/440. The same power and torque as VM Motori's 3.0 in Europe, a tune not available in the US. Hopefully that changes! I think the higher figures would really help the marketing team.

If this site was pro-Ford then why did they post the MotorTrend test where Ram beat the new F150?

I do wonder about the lack of GM news especially concerning the Colorado.

GM's PR department may be too busy doing damage control over those ignition recalls.

This site is ONLY guilty of regurgitating press releases - GM's PR is lacking compared to Ram and Ford.

Back on topic - looks like the Euro-invasion is picking up steam. At least these vans are RWD which would be easier to accept in the conservative vocational market.

I prefer Motor Trend myself. I really like it over there.

I wasn't going to comment in this article considering some of the poor judgment by some of the contributors.

But, the Transit works well. The Transit formula started in the 50's with the Thames van and grew. In the EU many large vans with tiny diesels do the work. I've seen them on EU highways sitting on 130kph.

One issue I do have regarding this van is the FE with the 3.2 diesel. I've heard it isn't great. I wonder if Ford has resolved the diesel emissions without sacrificing too much FE?

The EcoBoost Transit will motor along quite well, but it will also use considerably more fuel than the diesel.

Alcoa Touts Step Toward Stronger Aluminum for Cars
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:08am
David Koenig, Associated Press

Alcoa Inc. is touting a breakthrough in aluminum manufacturing that it says will give the lightweight metal a better chance to replace steel in car doors and fenders.

Alcoa says the process, still in the testing phase, will create metal sheets that are stronger and more easily shaped into auto body parts than current aluminum and are lighter than high-strength steel.

Company executives say the aluminum-alloy material could show up in cars by 2018.

http://www.pddnet.com/news/2014/12/alcoa-touts-step-toward-stronger-aluminum-cars

Funny how you same guys never complained about the past stories here on PUTC about the Ram Pro Master, or the Chevy and Nissan vans.

#1 You guys beat PUTC on the breaking news yesterday about the Motor Trend truck of the year. PUTC isn't going to do a story about it if its old news.

#2 The Motor Trend truck of the year isn't a big deal, magazines are run by the advertising dollar, I bet they did a deal where if we name your truck as truck of the year you give us your big advertising money.
You can tell a lot about any magazine by looking who advertise with them.

#3 I bet if PUTC had a story about the Ram Pro Master van you guys would be falling all over yourselves praising it and telling us how wonderful it is.

BREAKING NEWS

Published on December 5, 2014
Nexen gets OE nod on Ram 'ProMaster'
Tire Business Staff Report

SHANGHAI (Dec. 5, 2014) — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has selected Nexen Tire Corp.’s Roadian CT8 HL tires as an OE fitment for the 2015 “Ram ProMaster” commercial van, to be assembled at FCA’s Saltillo, Mexico, plant for sale throughout North America.

http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20141205/NEWS/141209937/nexen-gets-oe-nod-on-ram-promaster

Just saw an advertisement for the colorado stating it is the motortrend truck of the year. That was fast. They obviously already knew it was coming. Also funny that autoguide chose the f150 with the canyon 2nd place while motortrend "unanimously" chose the coloradoover the canyon and the f150.

In case anyone missed it, which is quite possible around here:

http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/truck/2015_chevrolet_colorado_is_the_motor_trend_truck_of_the_year/

Transit van? Who cares about some European commercial VAN (not a pickup, BTW), which although it isn't a pickup still beat the Beer Can F-150 and was runner up for Truck Of The Year.

Autoguide also said the f150 easily had the best handling of any full size truck while motortrend blasted the f150 for having bad handling. Autoguide had a much better video. The offroad portion of their test looked pretty impressive and they hit some potholes on purpose. Motortrend didn't even take the trucks off pavement.

Will be interesting to see the pickuptrucks.com shootout. They aren't perfect but definitely not as biased as motortrend. As long as aaron bragman isn't part of it.

The Chevy Colorado wins the Motor Trend Truck of the Year award and this truck site is posting about a van. Get with it or kiss me good bye!

How about a goodbye with no kiss?

We have not got the larger Transit, but the slightly smaller version. Not a great seller. Major market for Transits is the UK, although Ford is now selling badly there with it's cars Elsewhere in Europe, everyone else's Vans are popular

I've got to side with Chevy guys/gals on this one. Their win should've BIG headlines days ago!! I knew it would be between those two. I'm disappointed myself. Don't know why MT said it didn't handle well, when all the other sites I've been to have been praising it because of the lower center of gravity. Oh well MT, or any magazine, for that matter wont influence my decision anyway.

Doess MT report on the PUTC Light Duty Shootout? No. Why should PUTC make the MT report big headlines? They are not partners. PUTC gets a pass on posting news because they are busy doing their own test right now.

@Robert, looks like Australia now has the new full-size Transit. Not as many configurations though. No passenger van, cargo only and chassis cab. Only power train is a 2.2L 4cyl diesel with a manual gearbox. I'm surprised that there's not even an auto option or 5 cyl diesel.

http://www.ford.com.au/commercial/all-new-transit

@Alex,
Not blown away by that, even the Duacto, Promaster in the US , has gone to a 3litre Diesel for the Delivery Van. 3Litre option always available for Motohomes though

@Lou_BC,
That is a benchmark passing Econoline sales

@Alex,
We have newish 2.2 litre diesel Transit buses at work. I went for a ride in one last year.

The 3.2 was dropped because our Transits are coming out of the EU and the EU don't use the 3.2 diesel any more.

Most EU vans are in the low 2 litre size now. Must be something to do with FE and emissions.