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ZanatWork

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Posts posted by ZanatWork

  1. I'll always think that Fields' greatest issue was that he couldn't "take the room" with leadership charisma.  He wasn't admired, respected, and/or feared enough to keep the old bad habits from returning.

    He may or may not have had the political clout within the company to do much, either...but I'm well aware the my viewpoint is basically up in the nosebleed section.  I don't have any real insider information.

    The new financial guy may be a boon or a curse...but what's unchanging is that the next few years of Ford's future are at least as important as those heading into last decade's recession.  The new products need to be pretty amazing, and to set precedent for a genuinely strong step into a very nebulous future.

    • Like 1
  2. A huge amount of the current frustration with Ford is the extended limbo period that we're currently inhabiting; we're years into the rumors regarding the Bronco, the forthcoming electrification, which we've seen the cars getting cut and two recent offerings (Ecosport and Ranger) coming in as aging place holders.

    Granted, the Ranger is being welcomed with impressive sales...but the big news with Ford has mostly been news, not anything in the metal.

    This is an odd position for me, as I'm very much an analog guy that's always interested in the performance models first and foremost; I generally spend little time caring about the run-of-the-mill offerings.  That said, I'm with many other Blue Oval fans that are watching carefully to see if Ecosports and Escapes will truly supplant the Fiesta/Focus/Fusion sales in the market.  Does and Edge make for an attractive Taurus alternative?  Will the showroom suffer from being 70+ percent CUV blobs, with only the occasional Mustang or F-series making and visual difference?

    The undeniable importance of the new Explorer and Super Duty aside, we're still just around the corner from...well, we're not quite sure.  We get snippets about dealers being impressed with "Mach E" previews and get glimpses of forthcoming PHEV tech in the imminent models...but we've basically been led to believe that there's a new Ford era dawning in the next 1-2 years, after years of rumor and delays.

    Wall Street can go commit a physical/carnal impossibility for all I care...but the brand's fans have plenty of cause to be frustrated.  How much of that rests on Fields vs. Hackett, I'm not certain.

  3. On 2/19/2019 at 8:44 AM, akirby said:

    What about the others that are available here and not in Europe:

    Mustang GT350, GT500

    F150 Raptor

    Edge ST, Explorer ST

    Oh, I'm grateful for what we have...but this is a familiar annoyance, even if it's not as bad as the old days of Cosworth Fords overseas while ford kept trying to re-invent the Fairmont.

    Living near Seattle as I do, having a Ford hot hatch to deal with the traffic/parking issues there would be ideal.  Well, that, and my now-dashed hopes that the Focus Active was going to bring a real WRX competitor.

    I'm still hopeful that the "whitespace" vehicles have a good surprise or two ahead.

  4. ...aaaaand once again, the Ford's USA performance customers get to be pissed about offerings that are offered elsewhere, but not in the company's home country.

    Hey, I get all the math involved, and even kinda-sorta agree with the large "car phaseout"...though I still think that a couple of Focus Active models would have served as easy Subaru competitors.

    Still, this feeling is as maddening as it is familiar; I'm back to wondering why we can't have the Sierra Cosworth all over again....

  5. 18 hours ago, Deanh said:

    fingers crossed for the hybrid mate

    that sort of snarkiness is unwarranted...you may wish to vist FACEBOOK and discuss Politics...that would fit right in....jeez people.

    4 little non-profane words certainly get your unmentionables bunched.  I have little patience for people over-griping on projects still in the rumor stage, I tend to think it's a special breed of ridiculous to just dismiss a potential vehicle this early in the game.

    Plus, he said "he's done"...so...why should he care?

  6. The nose makes me think of the NIssan GTR...so I hope it looks better in person.

    The lack of a true manual is a bit disappointing, but the "stat racers" should be thrilled.  Even as much as I love a good manual in a sporting car, I have to admit that there's a bit of a disconnect between wanting supercar performance capabilities while preferring the slower shifting of a manual.  Basically, it seems like the GT350 is the "analog purist" car while the GT500 is the "today's tech" super-Mustang.

    Barring the GTR-esque visual issues, I'm impressed and very pleased, overall.

  7. I'll wait for real judgement until I see the real thing in a real color.  As much as I love any prototype pics I can see, they rarely define my overall impressions of the production examples.

    However, regarding the earlier post about wagons-minivans-SUVs-CUVs-wagons...eh, most SUVs and CUVs rarely see unpaved roads.  The basic truth is that the wagon remains too logical to not utilize, regardless how it's repackaged.

    Some of us really liked the Focus ST wagon, and were hoping for a successor in the Focus Active line, but whatever....

    • Like 1
  8. As much as I'm annoyed with Ford's apparently inability to control the releases of its own product news lately, I'm also disappointed that every Bronco rumor goes from zero to ridiculous assumption in about one second.

    It's gonna be a mid-sized, off-road focused SUV with 300-ish hp.  As much as I'm a member of the "save the manuals" club, a good auto isn't a deal breaker.  I also have no real opinion on a hybrid version, as I wouldn't be likely to buy that variant.

    • Like 4
  9. It locked up noisily while I was driving it, it sounded very mechanically tragic.  I haven't had it out and diagnosed yet, but it sounded like someone was dragging bicycle chains in a metal drum...and only park/neutral were doing ANYTHING.

    Sadly, my abilities to get a proper diagnosis are very limited as the timing of the failure was truly unfortunate.  I only just started a new job and am beyond broke, which exacerbates the situation.

    Strangely, I can't see any but the first response on this thread...?!

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