Which is Better- Ram ProMaster vs Ford Transit Camper Van

Transit versus ProMaster. Which is the better platform for a camper van build? I've spent time in both and today I'll share my thoughts with you. Let me introduce you to the two vans in today's comparison. On my right is our personal van. This is the Ford Transit with the all-wheel drive and 3.5 liter EcoBoost. It has the 148 inch wheelbase and StoryTeller Overland is the one who did the build inside. On my left is the Ram ProMaster. This has the 3.6 liter naturally aspirated engine, 159 inch wheelbase and this also is the extended length van. It's a bit longer than the Transit but we'll get more into that later. This van was built out by Winnebago and it is their Travato. The first thing you notice with any van is going to be its looks. There's not a beauty queen between these two and back when we had our ProMaster, Kate and I always used to say it had a face that only a mother could love. I don't think the Transit is too far off. It has a big forehead, looks a little funky. Neither one is going to win any beauty contests but if I had to pick between I'd take the Ford. The powertrains of these two vans are very different. The ProMaster only comes in a front wheel drive version. The Transit comes in either rear wheel drive or all-wheel drive which is what this is. The all-wheel drive system on this is actually very good and has different selectable modes so if you're going off-road, driving on snow and ice, in rain, slippery conditions, those types of things, you can pick the drive mode that you need to be in. In terms of off-road capability between these two, the Ford is clearly the winner with all-wheel drive. Unfortunately there is no way currently to convert the ProMaster into an all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicle. When we had our ProMaster, we actually found in situations like this if we were parked on the grass and it was raining and the grass got wet or the tires sunk in at all, our tires would just sit there and spin. We couldn't get out of those situations but that said there were times when we took our ProMaster out to Mojave and we were driving on the fire roads and things out there so while you may not be able to off-road, you can definitely hit fire roads and places where you don't need a four-wheel drive vehicle. Our Transit is lifted two inches. That's how StoryTeller sends them out of the factory. The ProMaster is currently at its stock height but there are companies out there who make lifts for these. You put a lift on this with a good set of all-terrain tires and you can probably take it quite a few places. Under the hood of the Ford in this van is the 3.5 liter EcoBoost engine. This is a V6 with twin turbochargers and it puts out 310 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. This thing is a little rocket ship. It'll go up hills with no problem. You can keep it on cruise control. We've towed with it and didn't even notice the trailer back there. Ford also offers the Transit with a 3.5 liter non-turbo engine. This has 275 horsepower with 260 feet pound of torque. In the ProMaster, this has a 3.6 liter naturally aspirated engine with 276 horsepower and 250 pound-feet of torque. Now when Kate and I used to have our ProMaster, driving on flat ground the thing was fantastic. We had no problems in terms of power. The only time this started to feel underpowered is when we would be climbing grades, especially if we had to slow down for some reason. Let's say someone got in front of us, they slowed down, we had to slow down. Then this would be struggling to get up the hill. In terms of power, the 3.5 EcoBoost in the Ford Transit is the clear winner. Unfortunately, with all the power in that 3.5 EcoBoost, you do get a knock in miles per gallon. So in our van, we get about 13 miles per gallon on average. In the ProMaster when we had it, we were getting about 16 miles per gallon. That is a significant difference. Both Ford and Ram produce these vans in three different lengths. They have a short version, which is about 18 feet long. They both make a mid-length version, which is what this Ford is, at about 19.5 feet long. And they both have extended versions, which is what this ProMaster is at 21 feet. Now the extended version on the Ford is slightly longer at 22 feet long. Now let's go inside and take a look at some of the differences in there. Now a big difference between the Transit and the ProMaster is the height of the door. It's kind of hard to see since we have the screen here, but if I lift this up, I still have to duck to get in and out of the van. But in the ProMaster, the sliding door is much taller and without this screen, I could probably go in and out without having to duck my head very much. This makes it a lot easier to get in and out of the van. I'm 5'11 and in terms of interior height, the ProMaster is significantly shorter than the Transit. To give you an idea, I have about this much room between the top of my head and the ceiling and I'm currently wearing my shoes. And this is how much headroom I have in the Transit. Now that being said, Ram recently introduced the super high roof version of the ProMaster, which adds an additional 10 inches to the high roof that we were just in. Another big difference between these two vans is not only height, but width. The width of the Transit before any camper van build out or anything else is 69 inches inside. The width in the ProMaster is 73 inches side to side. Now that's four extra inches over the Transit, which means it's much easier for camper van builders to put in a bed, for example, without having to add the bump outs on the side because most people can sleep side to side in a van that's that width. Another big advantage for the ProMaster is that the body itself is much more square, whereas in the Transit there are a lot more corners and angles and things for a builder to have to deal with. So the clear advantage with height, width, and body style is going to be the ProMaster. Now driving position between the two vans is very similar. This is the Ram ProMaster. You have your gear shift knob here, entertainment system, AC. The dash is fairly low, so when you look out you can see a lot of the road. And the only real difference between these two is in the ProMaster, it has a much more right angle to your leg when you're sitting. So my foot now is on the gas and I feel like my arms are at the proper length for the steering wheel, so my legs are going to be much more angled down. I will say that between the stock seats in the ProMaster versus the Ford, the ProMaster wins out. I do not like the seats in the stock Ford Transit. I didn't like the stock seats in the Ford so much that I replaced ours with Shulman's. If you want to, you can watch the video and we will link to it here and in the description below. This is the seating position of the Ford. My legs are a bit further out to be on the gas pedal. The steering wheel is in a similar position. You have your gear shift, entertainment system, and then the dash is slightly higher in the Ford. The seating position and the way everything is arranged is pretty much a tie between the two, but I will give the nod to the ProMaster for the seats. I do like how far back I am in the Ford and the fact that my leg goes further out to reach the gas pedal. Now let's talk service. Ford has about 3,000 dealers nationwide and Ram has about 2,500 dealers nationwide. This means that even if you go to a small town, you're likely to find a dealership of one or the other if you have problems when you're on the road. Both of them have gas engines. They're both six cylinders, so maintenance costs between the two are going to be similar. Now there might be some additional costs with the Ford if you go with the EcoBoost engine and the all-wheel drive system, but outside of that, again, these two vans are going to be very similar in that regard. In terms of cost, in general, depending on how you option the vans out, the Ford Transit is going to be more expensive than the Ram ProMaster. And for this reason, when you see van build-outs, the Ram ProMaster build-outs tend to be a little less expensive than their Ford counterparts, but this all depends on what systems and options and things you're putting in the van for that build-out. Now let me talk about some of our experiences with both vans. We had a Ram ProMaster for two years and put around 35,000 miles on it. We loved the way the Ram drove. It had a great turning radius and at 21 feet, it was still just short enough that we could fit it into a standard parking spot, but we also got that extended length. We loved how wide the van was and in our ProMaster, we slept side to side or east-west. So in bed, I'm 5'11", my head was not touching the wall and my feet were not touching the other wall. So the bed worked out well for us. Now with the Ford, we love the way it drives as well, but with all that power from the 3.5 liter EcoBoost, it's a little rocket ship. I mean that thing flies up hills, we can tow with it no problem and it is great. Between the two though, I will say we take the Ford. Now the Ford doesn't get great gas mileage, but with all-wheel drive, we can take it pretty much anywhere we want to go where clearance is not an issue. We've taken this thing in mud, we drive it around in the snow and it is great. That said, the ProMaster is a great driving vehicle, but if I wanted to get further off of the pavement, I would go for the Ford. Let us know what you think in the comments below. I would love to know if you own one or the other and your opinions of it, or if you have another van that might be a contender to these two, like the Mercedes Sprinter. If you do want to see more about the Mercedes Sprinter versus the Ford Transit, check out our video link above or in the description below. So that's our experience with these two camper vans, but let's answer the question I posed at the beginning of the video, which is ProMaster or Transit Van? Which is the better van for a camper van build out? Well unfortunately, I can't tell you which one because that all depends on you and how you plan to use it. As I mentioned in the video, the ProMaster is a much easier van to build on because of its square sides and body design. You can get the Transit in all-wheel drive and take it off the pavement and go to those less explored areas. It really depends on what you're looking for, where you plan to take the van and how you're going to use it. My suggestion would be go to a Ford and a Ram dealership, test drive both, see what you like, look at the vans and see what works best for your situation. But that is it for this video. If you want to learn more about our camper van and some of the adventures we've taken it on, head on over to our website at weretherussos.com and we'll see you next time. Thank you so much for watching, bye. My second book, Tales from the Open Road, The Adventures and Misadventures of RV Living, is now available for sale on Amazon. Read all about the ups and downs of our first year and a half living on the road full-time.