pictor

As an owner of an Audi A4 convertible I can tell you that I have the top down most trips between May and Sept and at least one per month even in the cold New England winter. The year I bought the A4 I looked at the Volvo and BWM as well but was scared off by the overly complicated roof mechanism. The Audi soft top just seemed less likely break in the long term after the warranty had expired. Time will tell but I have enjoyed the open air driving experience. It is the closet I come on dry land to the experience of being on the water. I appreciate the Mustang convertible for what it is and rent them while on vacation but as a daily driver in New England I could see foresee some difficult drives to and from work

This is the thing I found interesting but not unexpected, it looks like the timing on this introduction was impeccable. " The new 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine accounted for 41 percent of F-150 retail sales in May, up 4 percentage points from April. The total V6 mix, including the new 3.7-liter engine, was 55 percent – surpassing sales of F-150s equipped with V8s." From the Press release

Back in 2001 when I bought my Escape I bought it because it did have the ability to haul my 17 and 19 boats to Maine and back in the spring and fall. We currently use the Edge for that. To be honest I think that the Escape, while having a a less powerful engine, makes a better tow vehicle. The Edge does get better gas milage. I for one would like them to keep the 3500 lbs rating in the Escape in that it will give me another option when the time comes to replace the Edge. With just my wife and I at home now we do not need the all the room of an Explorer and would prefer to have better fuel economy then seen in an F150. For us a smaller CU V with 3500 lbs of towing capacity is about right for our weekly trips to our summer place and biannual towing of the boats.

As an owner of Audi A4 Convert I can tell you that I have this small fear always in the back of mind now that the warranty is over that if somethings goes wrong I am about to= get taken to the cleaners for the repair. I have had a couple of problems that were taken care during the warranty phase but that has been over for a year. As soon as I am done paying for my daughters education (twins at BU) the car is going. I also have Ford Edge which had a couple of transmission issues since we have owned it so the Audi has been no worse than the Ford as far issues during the first four years. It is just the cost of parts to repair the Audi scare me now that the warranty is over. The Edge has a little less than 6 months left on the power train warranty and I am hoping that the transmission issues have been fixed . If you are only going to keep the AUdi for 4 years or 50,000 it shouldn't be a problem, after that ??????.

The market for the full size rear drive car even in its last bastion seems to be slipping, as oil and the resulting gas prices continue to soar one can only speculate that the market will continue to fall. I don't know what the figures in Australia for the Mondeo are, but I assume some of the Falcons former buyers have moved down a class to a midsize.

Remember, the Ranger shares no platform mates, without platform mates the economics become harsh. Maybe ranger based on the FLEX, just kidding

In Eastern Massachusetts we have been getting a heavy snow storm once or twice a week since Christmas. Most people just have all weather tires on their cars, CUVs and SUVs. Most people know enough to just stay put until most of the snow has fallen letting the road crews do their jobs. My wife's 2007 AWD Edge with the original tires still moves smartly through the snow and ice with minimal trepidation. Practice makes perfect when it comes to driving on snow and ice

[it must be since it out sells everything in its class but the 50 year old plus ladies car, otherwise known as the CRV. Have a good day raining on someone else's parade 9 Iquote name=Nr9' timestamp='1295506938' post='671161] is the escape competitive against ANY of its competition?

The switch blade key device on my 4.5 year old Audi is grey now, the panic button has fallen off and looks very worn and has for some time. The fey for the Edge, which rides along side the audi key looks much better at 3.5 years then the Audi key ay the same time period. While not a scientific study by means , the much admired VW/Audi key wears with time like any other plastic device.

For the non commercial market a more efficient power train would be a big plus, an efficient good handling vehicle with all the room of the TC could be a segment buster. The swagger wagon bull sh*t will soon grow old when and not if gas goes above $4.00/ gal, the TC with a modern power train would be a natural for the family set. The TC is entering the market too late for me as my kids have left the house, hopefully only to return as guests, but if this vehicle had been around when we hauling this kids around, it would have been our choice for the people mover.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/19/ford-police-interceptor-quickest-in-la-sheriffs-department-test/ See what happens when you compare the latest Pi with the Caprice also PI utility beat the Tahoe around the track

Our 5th ENG truck is the E-Series... used daily, but is inferior in every way to the SD's / Sprinters: It doesn't have to limp home on every 6 months with a bad turbo, does it. ummmmm

Maybe we will see something that looks like the Bronco from a couple of years ago, that would get some people really excited

Let me start by saying that I agree with what you are saying but 99% of the public could give a shit. Do you create a website to scare away the non-enthusiast? With all the marketing acumen at Ford , do really think they would leave the details out if they thought it would sell more cars? Just asking

I believe Pioneer is in the Maintenance Dept., when he repairs something, I believe it is the line equipment, not the vehicles

Other then the Liberty, I can't think of any other small CUV/SUV that is truck-y. The X Terra might count but it would seem a little big for the category. Maybe the Escape sells so well because it has the niche to itself. As the owner of a 2001 Escape with 110,000 miles on it I have come to know it's strengths and weaknesses. I am sure Ford market research knows why the current Escape continues to sell and would be working to preserve its niche in the market. At the time I bought our Edge I looked at the Escape but at the time it still had the same engine /transmission combo that was in my 2001 which for great for 2001 but antiquated by 2007. I think that we are going to see andEscape in the mode of smaller new Explorer. We will see

And the praise keeps coming http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/18/ford-named-marketer-of-the-year-by-advertising-age/

you left out New England( excluding "live free make others pay " New Hampshire), no real "mericans" here either

Could we be seeing the rebirth of the Bronco?

It may be the front wheel drive setup found on the 4 cyl engine quote name='PWR Kid' date='28 July 2010 - 01:00 AM' timestamp='1280293223' post='631077'] Not sure why towing on 4 cyl EB is only 2,000lbs. V6 EB in F150 is going to be class leader in towing...

Compared to Volvo, Lincoln looks good

I believe he wrote kms or kilometers, which is about or 86,000 miles. Does the 2.3 have a timing belt or chain, I thought belts needed to be replace around 80,000 miles quote name='dlucarelli' date='18 June 2010 - 10:20 PM' timestamp='1276914020' post='622277'] Man, I wish my engine would have lasted 130k miles. I spun a main bearing @ 65,000 miles and 37 months of ownership - 5k miles past the 60K extended warranty. "Catastrophic engine failure", the dealer said, and, $7,000 later, I had a remanufactured engine with a better warranty than the original. Go figure. Ford was of no help, so... the replacement vehicle will *not* be a Ford Motor product. Tell all your friends. quote name='Ashburn' date='18 June 2010 - 04:53 PM' timestamp='1276894425' post='622217'] Bought a new Ford Escape in 2006. 138,000kms, mostly hiway. Regular oil changes and maintenance. Car never gave me a lick of trouble until coming back into town from road trip. Travelling approximately 100km/hr. Motor blows. Timing chain/belt snapped. I believe these motors don't have a lot of tolerance between piston head and valve so when the timing went, whamo!. Just paid the vehicle off too!. Well got 4 years out of a $30,000 car. Warranty expired. Tood bad, so sad. Repair bill: $6.000.00 remanufactured motor plus labour + tax. Looking at around 8,000.00 clams to fix. Hmmm.....might want to check those timing rubber bands you have on these motors. Regards,

While in France on business I have found that there is always two bottles of water on the table, with and without carbonation

That would be Ford http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/17/jd-power-2010-initial-quality-study-domestics-lead-imports/

Scion was supposed to be a Youth brand, and not Ivery successful at that. they could have just called all those little cars versions of the Yaro and be done with it