92merc

Agreed. They should have followed the model the Aviator used. 3.0EB with hybrid. More for power. Plus the 2.0EB would have better noise characteristics than the 2.5 NA.

The newest Escape 1.5 is a three cylinder. The ones with coolant issues is a 4 cylinder. 2 different engines.

I can give another example of my personal experience. I have a 2015 BMW R1200RT motorcycle. BMW manual states 89 octane minimum. So right there 87 is out the window for me. In my area, most stations have switched from 87/89/91 to 87 ethanol/87 no ethanol/91. Some stations are ethanol 91, some are not. I have to watch that. When I could still get 89, it was always ethanol blended. What I noticed is I get better fuel mileage with 91 non-ethanol than I did with 89 ethanol. Since fuel range is important to me on a motorcycle, it was worth it to me to get the 91 octane. Even when I can only get ethanol blended fuel at a remote gas station, I still got better fuel mileage with 91 vs 89. So the 91 octane fuel is worth it, for me. I do NOT however feel a power difference. Just fuel range. Now I know from other BMW riders, in an emergency, I can drop down to 87. The bike will adjust and be down on power. But it'll work. I just like to avoid that situation.

And 91/92 Octane isn't "better" gas than 87. It's like me saying the dark beer is better than an IPA. It's just a different formulation. Too many people have been brain washed into thinking the higher octane fuel is somehow extra refined or something making it a better grade fuel. It's not. Just has more anti-knock fuel in it than the 87 has. Nothing more. I have a 2.0 EB in my Escape. I tried 87, 89, 91, ethanol free all for trials. I noticed no power differences between them all. And 87 WITH ethanol actually resulted in the best fuel economy for what I drive.

I don't agree Nasser was exceptional. He pushed hard on the PAG group. That was a money pit. If 1/4 of that money would have gone to Ford/Lincoln, FOMOCO would have been much better off.

I was going to say the Rivian will win, but changed my mind and didn't post it. https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/13/business/rivian-r1t-motortrend-truck-of-the-year/index.html

I think with the better than expected sales of Mach-E and Lighting, Ford realized they couldn't make enough batteries for those two, plus Explorers. So they'll be taking that battery ramp up time and make the EV Explorer even better. At least that's what I'm hoping they are doing.

Go back to the old play book. "Import Opels, ????, make money!" Yeah, look up the definition of plain vanilla, you'll find this car.

Yeah, I got hosed with those requirements. 2 of my desktops are Gen7? Right at the cut off. TPM chips are also required. I had those. The only PC that meets the requirements is my weather PC that keeps my weather website up to date. But no real gain by upgrading that at them moment. I'll wait for the bugs to get ironed out.

Personally, used take offs from EBay are fine. Since they are winter use, a few scrapes are fine. The rims I found had the clear coat peeling. But the rims themselves were true and no road rash on them. If you really want to go cheap, you could find some steel rims in all black. But not a common size I'm guessing. So it would take some searching. You could always just check out Tire Rack site for rims as well. They'd be "new", but sometimes they have closeouts on a style that isn't half bad looking and cheaper than EBay. And for winter, good enough.

No Edge here, but I had a set of Blizzak's on my Montego FWD. When I bought an Escape, my son inherited my 2007 Montego. I bought some rims off Ebay and put the Blizzak's on the Montego. His Montego would get around as good as my AWD Escape. And braking was much better. He got spoiled with winter driving in ND. He got about 35k out of the tires. They're pretty much done now. But I wouldn't hesitate to buy Blizzak's again, should I need them.

The only issue with the 1.5 3 cylinder EB is NVH complaints. I haven't heard one personally.

New Corvette is still a good 200 lbs heavier. But, we'll wait to see the specs come out to be. https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/gt GT Specs: Power: 647 hp @ 6250 rpm Torque: 550 lb-ft @ 5900 rpm C/D TEST RESULTS: Zero to 60 mph: 3.0 sec Zero to 100 mph: 6.2 sec Zero to 130 mph: 10.1 sec Zero to 150 mph: 14.5 sec Zero to 170 mph: 21.4 sec

If they go hybrid standard like the Maverick, I wish they'd just go to the same rear electric system like the Corsair has.

Soon to follow. A fleet of Transit vans with portable diesel generators to re-charge the Tesla's that the clients didn't charge...