SkapeGote

Sup, Don't get me wrong here, Jelly is a nice guy, but he has no concept of the American market. I live in Canada right now for work, but I am American. The US economy is far worse of than Europe right now, hell it is far better in Canada and it is right next door. Banks are not lending money, so people will not be buying cars as much. Jelly what you have to understand is that Euro cars, as good as some may be, just do not sell that great here. Throw diesel engines into the mix and you have a harder sell. Also, tiny fiesta sized cars never sell that well here, and on top of that hatchbacks never sell well either. I was just reading about how in Europe the first version of the focus hatch sold so well in Europe, but in the US only like 15% were hatches. As for diesels, they can be better all they want, Americans just do not buy many diesel cars. Trucks yes, they need the torque, but cars no. You can try and ram down our throats about how much better Euro cars are, but as for me I would rather see the Aussie Falcon (nice car Australia, kudos for that one guys) than a diesel Fiesta. And I would bet, a lot of people here would agree with me. Not all, but a lot. I think Ford in Europe makes some great cars, but just like how we don't make great small cars here, you guys couldn't make a decent full sized truck. Mostly because your population would have little use for one. I live about 45 mins from a major city, right in the middle of farm country, and you cannot drive by a farm that does not have at least 1 full sized pick up if not more. Someone posted a video about the Euro Ranger Max(?) I think it was, and all I could think was it looked kinda cute, but not much of a real truck. I could not see a farmer or contractor using that for work. The point is, I do not think you have a firm grasp on the American car economy yet. I think the Fiesta will see well here, I just don;t thin kit will be as market altering as you think. Skape

Sup, Just had the same issue with my woman's Crown Vic. It ended up being a fuel leak. It would lose fuel pressure and start hard, but would restart easy as long it was restarted soon afterwords. Skape

Here, I corrected what you really meant. Just for info, my neighbor 2 houses down has a 5.3l regular cab Silverado. It is a nice truck. A nice truck that get around 17-18 mpg. He must have the 4 cylinder 5.3l. Or maybe only 1 injector is working. Skape

Sup, I don't know why people are complaining about the price, I mean seriously. According to this article Aformentioned article here the SHO cost about $24,000 dollar. Pretty hefty for the time. Now if you go here Inflation Calculator and use this inflation Calculator, input $24,000 in 1989 you get $41069.61. Now I have checked this against several inflation calculators. I have gotten number from $37,000 - $42,000 dollars. So would someone tell me why everyone is complaining about the price. It is on par with 1989 - 90. Skape

Sup, know what would be a riot, take the Miata chassis make it slightly wider and longer, drop in a boosted 4 or a small 6. Hell take that 2.5l 4 and put it in there, if you could rwd it. 175 hp would make for a nice tuner car. Strip the interior to bare bones models for enthusiast, and more upscale interiors if you wish to pay more for sync or whatever. Could be fun. Skape

Sup, Why are we giving this poster child for birth control any cred here. He is stupid, a liar, uninformed, uneducated, and just has a hate on for Ford. This topic should be closed, I feel dirty just being in here. This f*** should go gargle on the diarrhea his mom forgot to wipe off the toilet and then wash it down with what is leaking from his backside after his dad got done with him. Close this so we do not have to suffer, if I wanted to hear a retard I would watch an episode of "Life goes On" Skape

Ford Advatage Plan Link Looks interesting Skape

Sup, One more thing. Don't tell me I have never made sacrifices like these guys. Seven years ago I pulled the plug on my own son after a pool accident because he was clinically dead. I am sure you weren't being an asshole, as you did not know this about me obviously, but you should be a lot more creful how you word things, or in your case generalizations about someone you know nothing about. But yes, F1 can be exciting btw. Just not my cup of tea. And if people thought I was being insulting toward F1 driver, I was not meaning to. Skape

Sup, I have watched plenty of F1 racing, that is how I know I do not like it. My father is a huge fan. It is easy to have heart when you can win as much money as these guys can. Amateurs do it for nothing more than personal glory. Same reason I prefer NCAA basketball over NBA and since I am in Canada right now, OHL hockey to NHL. I would also bet you my next paycheck that these F1 driver were way more exciting to watch when they were amateurs as well. It all comes down to the same way I look at cars. I am a huge fan of the Mustang. That is no secret. I have driven, and owned, some pretty high end cars. A few years back I had some transmission problems in my BMW. I decided now would be the time to test drive a WRX, so I borrowed one from a friend of mine, he had being laid off. To make it short as possible the car handled like a champ, cornered like it was on rails. That, in my opinion, was it's greatest fault. Driving a Mustang, I always feel like I had to work hard to make the car do what I wanted, the car wasn't doing it for me. Same 2 summers ago I went to vist my father in London. While I was there I had the pleasure of taking a 1994 Escort Cosworth for a drive. Same thing, handled great, wasn't bad looking. Same issue, felt like I was just ballast. I felt like any schmuck could drive that car well. The point I am making is that people are at there best when they have nothing to lose. It is like watching a drag race and seeing a guy break his car and watching him and his buddies scrabbling to get it going again before the 15 min time limit between races runs out. And he is doing it for no prize money. That is heart. That is determination. F1 drivers are amazing drivers, that I am not denying. They are 10x better than some dude at a local race track, but to see one of these guys make everything come together on a shoestring budget, just seems more awesome to me. Skape

Sup, Only good racing is amateur. No multi million dollar cars or prizes just some dude, at the track, with a car he built and balls the size of watermelons. People who it just for the glory, the weekend warriors. That is racing. Skape

Sup, Yeah the Focus becomes fearful as I draw nearer. I figured I could wear one on each foot like shoes. Then again if I stepped in a Cortina I am not sure I could find a stick big enough to scrape it off. Just kidding Jelly. One last thing on the Cortina though, #1 seller does not mean an awesome car Jelly, does any american here remember the Dodge Aries K?. It sold awesome. It was because it was cheap. Skape

Sup, I am 6'7, so I hope it is bigger than the Focus. I do not fit in a Focus. Skape

Sup, I agree, back on topic. I do not think the Fiesta will do as well in North America. B cars just do not sell all that well here, especially hatchbacks. I have spent plenty of time in the UK for work, and I can tell you that I have never sat it one I liked. Too small. Just doesn't feel right. Skape

Sup, I cannot believe that in one month 16,500 people had such bad taste. I mean seriously, what is with these people. Now, to be serious, I just find them so ugly and bland. I am not saying they are not good cars but I would rather drive a Pinto, or even a Le Car *shudder*, than a Cortina. Just on visuals alone. The cars market is also alot different now than it was when Leyland had that kind of market share. Skape

Sup, I think it is good to have environmental people working on this. I mean, you know, Global Warming and all. Lets face it, it is becoming a problem. As for all the people who think that it is not real, I understand why you would think this. I would never kick someone around for their beliefs. My only worry is, if they are wrong and Global warming is fake, then all we have done is clean up the air we breath, which is a good thing. But if it is real, and we do nothing, the consequences are dire. Skape

Sup, That is the first Dodge I would ever own. It is just amazingly tacky, and that is just awesome. Skape

Sup, Honda is not a company I would emulate. My brother in law has had nothing but trouble with 2 civics and his Accord. I once blew a head gasket in a 3.8 t-bird during the test drive. So if reliability is problem then Ford and Honda both suck. Then again, could be just bad luck which is what I am guessing it was. Also, if Ford starts firing 4 cylinder EB's in everything, I will not buy a Ford. I hate 4 banger cars, especially with turbos. Torque band is always too high, and the ones with decent low torque were still dogs. I order a 2010 SHO, first boosted American vehicle I have owned since my Syclone debacle. One more thing, the Hemi and the EcoBoost are different monsters entirely. Yeah they both make good power, but one was designed with efficiency in mind, the other not. EcoBoost was designed to use smaller engines without giving up the power of larger displacement. The Hemi was designed to make big power, using a big engine. Consumers want power, and mileage. The is the best way to achieve this cheaply. Skape

Sup A diesel Fiesta would be great, but these guys are right man. You have no concept of the American market. Most Americans just don't, or will not, buy a diesel, with the exception of trucks. There is just a stigma against them right now. You can buy diesel Jetta's no problem in the States and Canada, where I currently reside, but only of about 1 out of every 100 or so seem to be. Diesels are great engines, no argument from me, but when the nearest diesel station from where I live is about a 15 min drive, I would rather have a gasser. I still think the Fiesta will do okay, but I have noticed 3 things about North Americans. They don't like small cars as much as medium sized ones. Fuel Efficiency is not a top priority. We seem to hate hatchbacks. Euro cars don't do well here, unless they are similar to American cars. The Fiesta will to me be regarded as a throwaway car, just like a lot of small cars. The Accent, K-Car, Omni, Escort, they are were considered entry level throwaways. Skape

Sup, The Camaro is not kicking the Mustangs ass. Last I heard it had a estimated 0-60 of 4.7 seconds, the mustang I have seen as low as 5.0 even some 4.9's. How is this kicking the Mustangs ass?. As for the comment about the SRA being crude, that is not really true. The condition you are talking about is called bump steer. This mostly eliminated with a pan hard bar, and almost completely eliminated with a watts link. Straight rear axles do what people who buy Mustangs want them too do. I have never heard of someone buying a Mustang and then complaining about how it does not have world class handling. IRS's are okay, buy they are heavier, more expensive, are lackluster at a dead stop launch, fail more frequently, I could go on. That being said, the ride is nicer in a IRS for sure, that I agree with. What you seem to want is a sports car, the Mustang is a Muscle car. It may not have the cornering finesse of say a Mazda Miata, but it is the kind of car that will piss in the Miata's gas tank when it passes it on the straightaways. The Mustang is fine for now. If the 5.0 comes out in 2011, great I will be the first to buy one. As for the 3.5l EcoBoost, I don't know. It seems very Un-Mustangy to me. I am not a turbo fan, I can do a Super charger, but even then it feels better to have NA power, and a lot less to go wrong. I ordered a new SHO, which will be my second turbo vehicle I just hope it is better than my first experience. If the SHO is great, I will change my mind about the Mustang with a turbo 3.5l, but not before. Skape

Sup, Trust me, imports are no better. My BMW has had just over $17,000 in repairs since I bought it new. My mother is a visiting nurse, looks after people after out patient surgery. She has an AWD Edge, I will see if she has any problems. She puts thousands of miles every year on cars. Skape

Sup, The Mustang is everything but crude. You dream about IRS being all fancy and wonderful, but the fact of the matter is with engineering put into that live axle, it handles better that a lot of IRS setups. The new Challenger has an IRS, and yet the Mustang out handles it. The Genesis has an IRS and the 'Stang out handles it as well. I have a T-Bird SC a few years ago, it's IRS would not out handle the Mustang. As for letting the customer decide, Ford ask and polled thousands of Mustang owners when they redesigned the Mustang for 2005, people didn't want the IRS. I would like to see it as an option, but until the majority of Mustang owners want it, you won't see it. The Mustang is a muscle car. It is not meant to directly compete with the Genesis or any of these imports. It is meant to compete against other Muscle Cars. It whoops the Challenger already, and is competing against an imaginary Camaro at this point. As for the the 3.5l being in the mustang, where does it makes it's torque?. I do not believe we have seen the 3.5l in a RWD setup yet, have we?. So maybe they are not there with it yet. Also, Ecoboost will come, Ford is just being careful. Factory Boosted engines need more time for reliabilty testing, last this you want is to be paying warrenty repairs on a turbo because you choose one with shitty bearings. Skape

Sup, Instead of the f100, why not reinvent the SportTrak, or make something similar. Take the Flex and made her a 2 seater with a box instead of the family hauler. Upgrade the rear suspension. Make in capable of 500 - 800 pounds of cargo. Nothing to extravagant. Then call it the Flex 100 or the Flex-Able. Okay that was a joke. Anyway, they will probably make a Ranger replacement. I think the F100 nameplate will not see the light of day. Ranger just hold more cred with the general public. I had a 1975 f100 in high school though. Something like this, but not all tarted up. Flex Truck Skape

Sup, This past weekend I managed to score a 370z for the entire weekend. A good friend of mine runs a Nissan dealership, and lent me the demo. I will say this much, it is fast handles like a dream and feel fairly refined until you hit the limits. Engine vibrates at high RPMS, and it did not seem to like being launched extremely hard. I loved the way the transmission shifted, steering feel was good, suspension was almost perfect. Instruments were easy to read. i would say the only major issue was a huge blind spot rearward. Now, here is my only gripe I had with the car. It practically drives itself. It was exciting until you realized that you could pretty much throw the car around and had to do almost no work to get it to go where you wanted. In contrast, my father owns a year old Bullitt mustang. Now the 'stang is a little slower to 60, I think. I have no numbers, just feels a bit slower. Obviously the suspension is not in the same league as the 370z. That is the issue.... driving the Mustang you have to work her, hard, to get her to do what you want. The satisfaction of a perfect drift or hard corner is emmensly satisfying. You don't really seem to drive the 370z, I felt more like ballast. The Japanese make some fantastic machines, but they seem to take not real talent to drive. The car seems to do all the work. I like to work hard to get my car to perform, I like the effort involved. It is just more visceral. Anybody else know what I mean? I my opinion the refinement of the Mustang is one of it's greatest qualities. You can tell the 370z was designed by engineers with a goal. The mustang seems more desinged by American car enthusiasts. Just my opinion Skape

Sup, At what point did someone say "Hey a box with wheels is pretty cool". Maybe I am too old or something. I always thought those little boxy thing where pretty ugly. It would not fit Ford's current design formula. It's like a fat chick standing in a room of porn stars. Skape

Sup, Could someone explain to me why the Mustang needs an IRS when it can get as high as 0.95g on the skid pad with the track pack?. Why add to the price right now. The Genesis is scoring a 0.88g on it's IRS. Look at the scores for the Challenger, same deal. Skape