jpd80

It's an interesting one for sure, they could have chosen any of the wider bore spacings like FE (4.63") or Lima (4.9') but no, Brian Wolfe chose 4.53" which is same as 6.2 so maybe minimal changes to what had already been learned. If the cylinder head gasket was ever going to fail, it would have happened during the Medium Duty sustained load test.

Bore spacing is actually 4.53", same as 6.2. deck height is 9.67" where 6.2 is 9.4" So I wonder if they used Boss as starting point to save development and casting costs and worked from there. There was a suggestion that a smaller capacity Godzilla might replace the 6.2 after it ends, I don't know how essential that engine would be now that Ford has 7.3 in three power settings, 310, 350 and 430 Hp.

I look forward to them revealing how the soft top works, that's gonna blow people away..

Glad to hear, do you have a choice of work station / shift?

That's the reaction that Ford wants from everyone...

That's the thing with so many now shopping on line, they just compare deals on the main Ford website and of course, the competition will always play much better to Ford's national pricing and rates. I think the real issue is fewer buyers are now coming to Ford dealers in the first place and that is something Ford needs to address. I think that this is a failing in Ford's regionalised incentive strategy, good in theory to targets specific regions but that plays so badly to online shoppers looking for lazy comparisons between brands. How long and how much this hurts Ford depends on whether Ford prefers to see Ford credit making big profits versus lost sales. It's the Dearborn suits playing games with figures to put Hackett in a happy place. Meanwhile dealers get shafted.

And that would be because production news stopped nearly three months ago, It's gonna take a while to move that older stock, maybe some incentives coming from Ford (final payment thing?) to move stubborn inventory.

Lack of competitive financing is killing sales at Ford, just ask deanh and icecapades. So many people now go on line and cross shop before ever visiting a dealer and all most of them do is compare the monthly payment.

And that's what I'm getting at, maybe it doesn't even get to any perceived faults with the vehicle if buyers are seeing more attractive deals from competitors.

I think a lot of it has to do with getting people through the door in the first place. With so many vehicles on the market to choose from, aggressive advertising is everything in getting those deals done and I'd imagine that you wouldn't have to be "off" by much to affect sales flow, it could even be lousy finance rates. Whatever is causing Escape's sales contraction will only worsen with the arrival of Bronco Sport, Ford seems to be wounding itself with entry level or volume trims not selling as they should and I wonder if the issue is now down to cross shopping before people set foot in dealerships.

With retro styling, less is more.

That would make sense if Ford offered the rotary shifter as an option, the fact that it developed a folding shifter instead kinda says to me that their customer base probably rejected it in research clinics. High series buyers may be different though.....

Ford knows what it's truck buyers like, and obviously still prefer the folding T-Bar shifter over a rotary knob. I think it's a nice touch and a novel solution that breaks people'sperception of the shifter as a solid rod. An " I thought that wasn't possible" moment, does this take the air out of competition just using a rotary knob?

In a non-Super Duty application the power rating without change becomes 460 Up and 500 lb ft. Just as it is, the 7.3 would make a great replacement for the 5.4 and 6.2 in older F150.

Correct but the overwhelming majority of F150 fleet sales are EB V6/5.0 V8, so as others have said the 3.3s are being bought by (fleet) buyers who want basically lowest price. Quick math, average monthly sales of F150 is about 50,000 and of that, Fleet is ~ 14,000 sales, ~12,000 of these are EB V6 & 5.0 V8 3.3 is ~ 2,000 sales, a tiny fraction of monthly fleet sales but just received 10R80 for 2021, 6R80 stock now exhausted? 3.0 TD was ~ 2,000 sales but at this point who really cares unless it gains upgrades to match 3.0 Duramax.