I drove the bit older, I believe 06 Chevy Express and was happy with the 6.0L power jump it had over the last gen Chevy Express and much better handling. After the 06 was totaled we got a new one and I never really drove it until a few days ago. I'm surprised, I mean it was basically like the 06, but for some reason it felt a bit more poised, less prone to the general understeer. They also finally upgraded the side mirrors with built in turn signals and the double mirror. I'm curious how much of an improvement the new E-150 is, I know there's not much of a power upgrade, but I read they did a handling upgrade, kinda curious on how it stacks up to the Express.

It's still overly prone to understeer, unless you're in an extended model, in which case you'll shit yourself when the tail starts to try and swap places with the nose. The newer ones have slightly better brakes, the suspension is slightly more poised, but the most dramatic improvements are to the A/C's ability to chill on a hot day and the new dash is superb.

I see. Yea I didn't like the older E-150 over the Expresses i've driven, was wondering if the new one became and nicer, which it sounds like it did, but still not up to snuff compared to the Express.

The Econoline's main selling point is it's low price and durable design. That, and the fact that virtually any after market company that supports vans has something for the Econoline. It's market share is actually increasing every year, it now owns over half of the full size van market. They should change it up and give it a full redesign, but why? It's not like it has any competition... An equally spec'd Sprinter is $10,000 more, an equally spec'd Express is a few grand more.

where did you get the info about the market share? The sprinter is waay too expensive, just not really worth it for most business, I think it only works well for bakeries and florists because of their very tall version which a normal person can stand up in comfortably. And they went cheap on everything on the interior of the Sprinter, the seats are horribly stiff and tiny, like sitting on fabric covered plywood. Yea the Express is a couple grand more but it's because it's a better made van, lol.

http://presszoom.com/story_135093.html

And a few other fun things, like most full size vans with over a quarter million miles on them, 4 times as many as the next guy, in fact....

that's coo. Not sure why anyone would want to torcher themselves with a E series for that long, lol. To me the main thing that the E-series had on the market is the nice diesel, only recently have I seen dodge with the sprinter (the overpriced Mercedes van) using a diesel and i think the Express still doesn't have a diesel option. Maybe people buy new ones all the time of chevies because they keep improving them a lot each year. We typically get a new van after I think 200K because it's just worth it tax wise and to have a good new vehicle instead of driving a slightly worn out one, especially since the new on has a lot of upgrades.

You can get the Duramax diesel in the Express. It all comes down to what you want to do with the van. With Ford, if you get a cargo version, you can get one of many various well designed Econocargo systems factory installed that don't cost you a dime over what the MSRP was beforehand. The Econoline comes straight from the factory ready to work for most people, and it's still cheaper than an Express without the interior up fitting. With what you save on an Econoline, you can tweak it quite a bit to suit your needs even better. You save big money, and that big money can be used to grow your business. The Express and Sprinter may be better vans, but they're also more expensive, and all three will do 150,000 miles without too much trouble.

that being said, I wish they would update the entire design and base it off of the new SuperDuty frame, use the new 3 valve heads, modernize the body, maximize cargo space, and offer a high roof option from the factory. The interior could use a bit of help for the 4 rear rows of seats, too. The problem with all of this is that it would raise the price considerably, and the E-series isn't lacking for market share. As long as the current version still outsells all of it's competition combined, Ford has nothing to worry about. I do with you could get a factory 4x4, though.....

Oh, I mostly just talking about Work vans. And naw, don't worry the Sprinter has a lot of faults IMO, I wouldn't really call it a better van, especially at the price the charge. And the bulk of the industry are Fords and Chevies with a lean I believe on more Fords especially now a days i think there are more E series cutaways than Express Cutaways. When looking at the Sprinters they wanted a lot of money for the gas version which had whimpy motors and they wanted a ton for the diesel. Like I said the Sprinters were only good for bakers and florists because of the available height they have, basically it.

I forget the Duramax is available in the Express, just never comes up, probably only available in the cutaways. There's just a lot of things that ford cuts back on that i could justify the extra few grand to get an Express. Like a simple example is that when you get an Express you're guaranteed getting things like step bumpers, which when I was using an early 08 rental E-150 (before the new face lift) it was such a pain with out any of the step bumpers.

I wish GM wouldn't mess up the regular online viewing of the express van, i mean it's really annoying to look it up now on chevy.com. Had to go to the media site to confirm that they still have the duramax on the express.

Ford sells the Econoline as a bare basic van, you add options to make it your own. Some people don't need steps or want to install their own.

step bumpers are a must. I think people are either stingy or management orders basic model without thinking about his employees. I believe it's only 1K differense between the basic of the basic between the E Series and Express, that one K is so worth it.