I believe it.  Toyota has been tweaking the same basic platforms and powertrains for decades while Ford had multiple new platforms and powertrains and lower volume.  Hopeful that C3 will fix a lot of that.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/ford-recalls-35772-explorers-over-headlights-that-could-glare-at-drivers

Mfr direct sales only works at smaller volumes.  The cost of opening stores in every community is too high -too much overhead.  There are only 7 tesla stores in Georgia and they're all in Atlanta.   What is screwing up the system are those stupid state franchise laws that prevent the mfr from controlling how their products are sold.

Farley said awhile back that Rav4 had a $4,000 cost advantage over the Escape.

Take that with a grain of salt.  What people say they want (especially teens) and what they actually buy can be different.  How many people said they wanted a cybertruck?

Not by much - I get your reservation about buying from a traditional dealership, but "two step" distribution has been around for decades and has worked well. When some "less than ethical" principals get into the mix, it can create chaos in the entire distribution chain, but when it works well, everybody makes a decent living and all is good.  

They are commodities and not only was Escape too expensive they totally blew the styling.  As much as I hate to admit it, daughter's Rav4 is a far better vehicle and has a low cost platform.   Ford really had to start over so cancelling Edge and Escape might end up being a great move if we get better replacements.

This is what I'm talking about. I won't deny for a second that trucks and SUVs are very popular, because they are. I just believe you're going to see smaller vehicles start to make a comeback, partially due to their lower prices, and partially because there's less need to have a large vehicle with a lot of cargo space if you know you're gonna have 1 or 2 kids instead of 5. It doesn't matter now because it's not like teens are buying new cars, but I've seen a lot of younger people sticking with sedans and hatchbacks even as they move to a new car purchase. So I don't believe they should be ignored provided Ford can appeal to affordable car buyers in a way that's profitable using CE1.    I also believe aero and technical requirements are gonna start to push us back towards lower vehicles as well. Just look at CE1 and other affordable EVs. Farley has talked about how they couldn't turn a profit on gas powered sedans and hatchbacks, but how the really clean aero of a sedan/hatchback suits this affordable, small EV use case really well and makes a lot of sense. Aero is pushing us towards rooflines becoming lower, and sleeker, ride heights becoming lower, front areas being reduced, more emphasis on sleek design over boxy upright design. All to meet areo targets.    I believe there are some cases where areo should be sacrificed slightly in favor of great design, like with bronco or mustang, the most important thing is that they look as good as possible, even if there's an aero penalty. But with these affordable EVs where it's all about reducing drag, I could see the boxier, more upright look being phased out over time. But we'll see. 

Maybe one was quoted with 93 octane, one with 87?  Both do say "max avail.", though, so not likely.   In the end, does it matter?  Would you have still purchased it if it had "only" 385 HP and you knew it?  Are you ever even going to use all 385 HP anyway, let alone 400 HP?  That's less than 4% difference, and you wouldn't notice that small amount unless you're running the 1/4" track regularly (and you can lose 4% based on weather conditions anyway).  It's splitting hairs and it's really not worth the added stress of worrying about it (IMHO of course).   I tow 12k+ lbs with my Super Duty, and I can never remember how many HP it has.  I think it's 475, but maybe its 450?  It doesn't matter, it does what I want it to do and then some, so I direct my worry to more important things in life.