[big_d]

I've owned 14 Sprinters for my business. I loved them at the beginning, when Dodge was selling them. But having to deal with Mercedes dealers and the constant emissions system headaches have worn me down. Now, I want to buy a transit.

I'm a little baffled by the product line. My sprinter 170's have three bench seats (3/3/4) and then a ton of luggage space. Ford seems to want to sell me something with four rows if I get a huge van (3/3/3/4). But I don't want four rows, I want luggage space.

Does anyone know if the long/high roof transit can be purchased with 12 seats? If not, is it possible to snap the rear seat in as the third row and discard one 3 seat row?

Thanks in advance for helping me through this very necessary transition.

 

[CrewVanMan]

The base High Roof/148" WB Wagon comes with the 12 passenger seating. Most dealers go ahead and add the 15 passenger option. If you go with the High Roof/148" Extended Wheelbase Transit, it comes standard with the 15 passenger seating. You can remove the seating in either of the Transit Wagons.

Let me know your zip code and I can see if there are any HR 148" WB 12 passenger wagons close to you. Most of these tend to be 15 passenger but if the dealer went with the base wagon, it may show up. Most I have seen in the 12 passenger were special ordered. Is there any special options you need on your Transit?

 

[big_d]

The base High Roof/148" WB Wagon comes with the 12 passenger seating. Most dealers go ahead and add the 15 passenger option. If you go with the High Roof/148" Extended Wheelbase Transit, it comes standard with the 15 passenger seating. You can remove the seating in either of the Transit Wagons.

Let me know your zip code and I can see if there are any HR 148" WB 12 passenger wagons close to you. Most of these tend to be 15 passenger but if the dealer went with the base wagon, it may show up. Most I have seen in the 12 passenger were special ordered. Is there any special options you need on your Transit?

Thanks, but can I change the 15 passenger config to 12 passenger? Removing the last row would make it an 11 passenger. I'm in 61820 or 60014.

 

[CrewVanMan]

Do you need the regular 148" WB or the Extended wheelbase? With the regular 148" WB, the 12 passenger seating leaves you room behind the seats. There is also extra room with the 148" Extended with the 15 seat configuration intact. Are you looking for a 3.2L Diesel or 3.5L EcoBoost engine?

 

[GAdad]

big_d, I don't think you can make a 15 passenger a 12 seater. In other words, the 4 seat bench mounts entirely differently than the 3 seat bench does. If you go with a factory 15 passenger you can remove the last bench, but you will be left with an 11 passenger and your last seat ( 3 seat bench ) will not go wall to wall like the 4 seat bench would if you got the factory 12 seater. I hope that answers your question. EDIT - Actually that last row would be a 2 seat bench and then a single seat leaving a space between the single and double still not being a wall to wall bench.

 

[CrewVanMan]

The High Roof 148" WB 12 passenger seems to be a pretty rare one. I found 2 in the whole USA and both were black. Closest one to you is in Traverse City, MI at Bill March Auto Group. VIN last 8 GKB14257. Other one is at Gaudin Ford in Las Vegas, GKA73918

 

[asdrew]

big d, the 4 place seat in the extended 15 passenger is like it is in the rear of a 12 passenger, in two sets of 2.

Depending on your needs, you could remove the whole last row (11 seats and a huge cargo area), or you could remove just 2 of the sets in the rear for 13 seats and still a much larger than standard cargo area.

I usually have my 12 passenger set up that way (10 seats total), and the cargo area is wonderful that way (plus I can walk from the front seat all the way to the rear door).

 

[JohnPomp]

As others have already stated the rear seat on the 15 passenger will not fit as a third row seat. In fact the rear four place seat is actually two double seats and they will not mount where the third row single seat is at.

 

[asdrew]

Here is an image showing the floor mount alignments in our 12 passenger with the right rear seats removed (yielding 10 seats and a little extra cargo space):