This MS-RT Ford Transit Connect Van Is the Diesel Sports-Van of Your Dreams

It's called the MS-RT Transit Connect, and it debuts with a special Launch Edition. Only 40 MS-RT Transit Connect Launch Editions will be made, all wearing a sleek paint color called Magnetic Grey and sporting a delightfully Focus RS-like front end. 

If MS-RT sounds familiar from the side of a rally car, that's no mistake. It's the M-Sport team's roadgoing vehicles arm, where M-Sport founder Malcom Wilson teamed up with Van-Sport to apparently bring the kinds of things we doodle in margins of notebooks to life. (Surely I'm not the only one here who doodles race vans?)

While most of the MS-RT Transit Connect's modifications are visual, it looks fast, and that's a solid first step for van-kind. All the MS-RT Transit Connects come with the standard Ford 1.5-liter EcoBlue diesel engine, good for 118 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque. That EcoBlue diesel should breathe a little freer thanks to the MS-RT's quad-tip stainless steel exhaust. 

Should you use it for work in Europe, the MS-RT van still meets Euro Stage 6.2 emissions regulations. It's a roomy three-seat van able and ready to carry large, awkward loads, which the MS-RT van will even illuminate for you with its LED loadspace lighting. There's a six-inch color touchscreen with satellite navigation and a rear-view camera inside to get you where you're going, along with a heated driver's seat and air conditioning to keep things comfortable.

If you just have the need for raw, sick van speed, well, it wouldn't be the first time someone engine-swapped a Transit. (I'm for this great idea, by the way.)

In addition to the Magnetic Grey exterior, each of the 40 Launch Edition vans gets a special nappa leather and suede Launch Edition interior wth blue stitching, an MS-RT carbon-inlay steering wheel, Launch Edition-specific stickers, 18-inch OZ Racing alloy wheels, and a numbered "Limited Edition" plaque. 

It's the exterior mods that are the real head-turners here, with a customized front bumper, front and rear diffusers, side skirts and rear spoiler. It's everything you wouldn't expect to see on a van that's not gunning for an obscure speed record, and I love it so much. 

Buyers also get an MS-RT gift pack full of things "to keep your van in top condition," per the official statement. The MS-RT Transit Connect Launch Edition starts at £23,995 before taxes and fees, which works out to $31,207 U.S. Sadly, however, it's not coming Stateside.