FR739

Ram. And every automaker is being affected aside from Toyota (up until the fire at a semiconductor plant recently).

The 10-speed has been problematic since day one regardless of application. Yes he called out The interior which is mediocre at best (especially the infotainment and that screen) and the ride he said was trucking which he liked! As for the Ranger, that was deserved too. Cheap center stack, sluggish infotainment, cheesy and awful augmented engine noise, and a gauge cluster from a 2011 Edge. His complaints were valid. And his praises were valid too. He praised aspects of both vehicles as well.

The Jalopnik article also indicated this PTU failure also occurred on a Badlands model.

Great points. Much like society in general, it seems facts and honesty have no bearing. You should just follow and repeat the narrative. I don’t know why honesty is so despised. Also I watched both the Ranger and Explorer review and found them to be very accurate. Of note, during the Explorer review when they were discussing the awful stereo, their chart of the analysis did say that a lot of the issues were present regardless of how the EQ was set. So I’m lead to believe they do adjust it.

Wow. That’s even more sad that this happened at an official Ford event. You think they’d avoid that. Really good commentary in the comments too. Dave Tracy is genuine and a great writer.

Those were not hit jobs. They were very accurate and fair. It’s ok to call out poor design or shoddy materials. As for the BS they clearly get it. It’s a vehicle designed for the Renegade crowd and for those who want an Escape but one that doesn’t look like...well...an Escape. As for the sound system, the B&O logo is all that makes the system B&O. It’s still a cheap, basic audio system. Not sure why B&O would want their name tied to something so cheap but hey, money is money. It reminds me of the Bose system that was in GM vehicles in the 2000s. It was crap

While it may take a little longer than 15 minutes it’s still a possibility. Even at -20 a car will still overheat with a stuck thermostat.

Change sand to snow and it becomes a very real possibility.

So true. Nothing about small SUVs (because I refuse to use the made up marketing term crossover) is about capability. The vast majority have no more capability than an AWD sedan. But sedans became the new minivan and nobody wanted to be seen in them. It’s a facade of capability and all about image.

Very well put. I fully agree.

Oh without a doubt. But there is a difference in calling something “full self driving” that most certainly is not and a poorly engineered PTU.

Precisely. And it remains to be seen if the Bronco will fair any better or worse.

Thats my entire point. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thats fine you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. But in terms of styling (which is what this conversation is about) it’s not too far off. Again, never said it was a bad thing. People need to not immediately get so defensive

Which part are you taking issue with? I never said Ford didn’t understand truck buyers. I was equating the Fusion refresh and the F150 refresh and how some think that the Fusion sales were hampered because of its similarity to the previous model. But we see that with the F150 and it doesn’t affect sales. There’s a hypocrisy there. Chevy has not seen a lack of sales due to the styling of the Silverado. In fact, it’s helped GM overtake Ford in truck sales and has helped in giving GM over 6 billion in earnings.

So the *only* option for the F150 was to design it to look exactly like the previous generation OR something like the (very successful) Silverado? There’s no middle ground at all? Come on, no need to be dramatic. You can style the truck differently without having a bold design like GM. Ford is fully capable of coming up with a bland design without going the GM route. To suggest otherwise is silly. But to point to that as a negative on the Fusion yet excuse it for the F150 is a bit hypocritical

I see it differently. If Ford were to build an SUV for what 99% of the people will use it for, they wouldn’t have built the BS at all because the Escape accomplishes that. Instead they decided to produce a vehicle with a focus on the off road aspect of SUVs. The named it Bronco for Pete’s sake. So to have a main component of said off road geared vehicle overheat doing the very thing it was built to do is a bit puzzling.

The “new” F150 looks just like the last generation from 2015 with a tweaked nose and rear end. The visual updates are minimal although they do go a little farther than the Fusion.

Hasn’t seemed to hurt the F150.

I remember this happening to Motor Trend (I believe) when they tested the first FWD D3 Explorer about 10 years ago. What’s that saying about those who ignore history?

That’s always what I’ve thought. I’m sure there were other things as well but Fields was barely there long enough to make substantial changes. And his gut feeling of a downturn panned out wonderfully with the Covid hysteria. He certainly was better suited for the job than the furniture salesman. An entirely new front end, trunk lid, and interior changes. I think that’s the literal definition of a MCE. But the Fusion sport was horribly done. Probably one of Fords worst efforts because there wasn’t any effort. Just a big engine with a garbage transmission (or transmission programming) behind it. Visually it was awful too with very little differentiation from a normal Fusion. And it was overpriced. But I really like the way the MCE pulled the design together. The Fusion alway look fine but the MCE gave it a level of sophistication that was missing prior.

The same outfit that throws a tantrum when there are “leaks” lol

Do you think Fields was just a fall guy for a lot of Mulallys mistakes?

So what? Because of that there was no possible way to delay the Explorer by even six months to get it right? Im not saying there wasn’t a need to replace the platform. The origins of it date back to the late 90s. But it certainly didn’t need to be rushed to the point it was. Hackett went to 11. They should have stuck to a 7 or 8.