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frankthetank
Fusion
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Posts: 4856
Location: Southwest WI
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 Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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With all the hype in the stock market this week, Ford released its "new" F150 to the world unnoticed. Talk about ground breaking... This company has no clue...
| Quote: | "The timing is perfect. The truck will solve not only the work needs with superior fuel economy, but it'll provide value that the trucker desires," said Ken Czubay, vice president of U.S. sales and marketing. "When times are tough, you want to have a product that differentiates yourself from the competition."
Czubay added that congressional approval of the proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry would "have a very important psychological effect" on potential buyers, especially if it encourages lenders to loosen up lending requirements.
"Credit is really the oil that makes the U.S. economy work, and when you throw sand in there it bogs everything down," he said. "Obviously, September was a reflection of that. But we'll get through it."
Ford said the new F-150 has an average 8 percent increase in fuel economy across the entire lineup. The two-wheel-drive F-150 with a 5.4-liter, three-valve V-8 engine averages 14 miles per gallon in the city and 20 mpg on the highway, compared with 13 mpg in the city and 17 mpg on the highway for the 2008 model.
A "superior fuel economy" version for 2009 increases the mileage to 15 mpg in the city and 21 mpg on the highway. That matches the averages of the most fuel-efficient versions of General Motors Corp.'s two-wheel-drive 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra
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Does a person laugh or cry?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26997310/
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Snowrunner
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Aug 24, 2005
Posts: 647
Location: Screwed
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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I doubt Ford had a chance to call this one off. These product launches are usually several years in the making. The retooling etc. has all been done way before introduction, even if they didn't take off the lines, they HAD already made the new negatives etc. and all that goes with it, most likely ordered the parts for the new model by their suppliers and had them end production of the old ones.
Essentially once they have gone down that road it would be much more costly for them to stick to the old model because the major capital outlay has already been done. |
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Denny
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jul 10, 2004
Posts: 1694
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:26 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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I think the amount of money, billions of dollars in the past couple of years, that has been invested by the "big 3" Detroit automakers and Toyota too, into pickup truck redesign is just a classic example of diminishing returns.
Many of the value added changes, as minor as they are to the fuel economy "bottom line", could have been easily enough incorporated into their existing truck models without touching the most expensive aspects of the changes, the cosmetic aspects of the body sheet metal, instrument panel and the like. I used to work in the auto business and its just mind blowing to see the kind of money that goes into this type of redesign, the stamping dies, the welding shop automation rebuilds, etc. I recall reading a few years ago that the cost for Chrysler, just to replace their shipping racks for the body panels after a change to their minivan design, was in the order of $110 million.
The North American auto business still has a belief in spending real big money for the cosmetic side of things. They don't seem to accept the reality that, for most buyers, the utility and reliability are the paramount virtues, especially for trucks. |
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Tanada
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Joined: Apr 28, 2005
Posts: 3870
Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:37 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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Not to defend FoMoCo, but they do produce a 6 cylender version of the F-150 that gets considerably better milage, they just don't promote it because they make more money on the big honker of a V-8.
If you go to a dealer today and place an order they will gladely sell you the 6 version, because any sale is better than no sale.
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eastbay
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Joined: Dec 18, 2004
Posts: 4873
Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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Why not something like this modern and attractive model from Japan with a 1.3L 4 cylinder.
But no. Ford keeps trying to stuff the round peg into the square hole.
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frankthetank
Fusion
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Posts: 4856
Location: Southwest WI
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:29 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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Tanada-
Where do you see an option for a 6cyl? I just tried to build one on the Ford site and i can't find that option for the F150...
After digging more... I think that 6 has been dropped!
| Quote: | | New for '09 is a 24-valve 4.6-liter V8, which also features the same Ford injection technology. This engine is meant to offer a compromise between peak output and fuel-efficiency. There's also a 16-valve 4.6-liter V8 that replaces the former V6 option, as it delivers the same fuel economy as the V6, only with more horsepower. |
Why couldn't Ford put in a inline 6 (BMW?) along with a 6 speed manual transmission and throw set of skinnier tires on? They use to build that 6 cyl 300 (straight six i think) and it had plenty of power (i use to drive a ford van with one).
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strider3700
Fission
Joined: Apr 17, 2005
Posts: 2750
Location: Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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| eastbay wrote: |
Why not something like this modern and attractive model from Japan with a 1.3L 4 cylinder.
But no. Ford keeps trying to stuff the round peg into the square hole. |
try fitting an 8x4 sheet of plywood/drywall/... into that thing. Or hauling a couple yards of gravel/sand/manure...
I love small trucks, I drive a suzuki sidekick with a 1.6 that gets 29mpg regularly. I still semi regularly have to borrow a full size pickup to get things done that are basically impossible with a small truck. If you work construction anything other then a full size truck with an 8' bed is pointless. The point made above about the V6 is a good one though. all of these f350 superduty dually diesels running around as trophy trucks for soccer moms is idiotic. There still is a need for large trucks though
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Tanada
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Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:46 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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| frankthetank wrote: | Tanada-
Where do you see an option for a 6cyl? I just tried to build one on the Ford site and i can't find that option for the F150...
After digging more... I think that 6 has been dropped!
| Quote: | | New for '09 is a 24-valve 4.6-liter V8, which also features the same Ford injection technology. This engine is meant to offer a compromise between peak output and fuel-efficiency. There's also a 16-valve 4.6-liter V8 that replaces the former V6 option, as it delivers the same fuel economy as the V6, only with more horsepower. |
They use to build that 6 cyl 300 (straight six i think) and it had plenty of power (i use to drive a ford van with one). |
Well CRUD looks like you're right, they dropped the 6!!!! Fricking maroon's, if they can get a V-8 to preform with the milage of a V-6 then what could they do for the V-6? Gawd I expect their stock to keep going down down down with this sort of boneheaded manuever!
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Loki
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Joined: Apr 08, 2006
Posts: 1298
Location: Cascadia
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:24 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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| eastbay wrote: | Why not something like this modern and attractive model from Japan with a 1.3L 4 cylinder.
But no. Ford keeps trying to stuff the round peg into the square hole. |
Don't really care for that thing---basically an ugly minivan with a tiny, nearly useless bed---but I agree with your main point. I'd like a 4-cylinder compact diesel pick up myself, or even a 6-cylinder F150 diesel. The latter would be more than enough truck for 95% of truck owners. Ford doesn't make them of course, but I imagine they could easily get mid/upper-20s if Ford gave a damn about mileage (which they obviously don't).
US auto manufacturers deserve to go out of business. Their incompetence is truly staggering, almost as bad as Congress and the President's. A lot of their failure seems to be due to their radical anti-environmental ideology. Why offer efficient vehicles when you can offer ridiculously oversized gas-guzzling monster trucks?
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pedalling_faster
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Dec 10, 2005
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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If Henry Ford were around he'd fire a bunch of people (top 500 managers) and get to work re-designing.
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dissident
Heavy Crude
Joined: Apr 08, 2006
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:47 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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The engine options of US light truck makers are driven by marketing idiocy. For example in 1993 Chrysler was offering the two valve version of its Cummins six-inline diesel which consumed about 10.5 liters per 100 km (23 mpg) on the highway (from personal experience it has this fuel consumption fully loaded with hardwood firewood). This option has not been available for a long time as they chose to go for the four valve version with a bigger bore (6.7 L vs 5.9 L) that gets 16 mpg. The original 5.9 L was and still is more than enough for a pickup truck but consumers respond to the horsepower number and ignore the torque.
The marketing departments and the consumers are still out of touch so products reflect this. |
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eastbay
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Joined: Dec 18, 2004
Posts: 4873
Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:55 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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| Loki wrote: | | eastbay wrote: | Why not something like this modern and attractive model from Japan with a 1.3L 4 cylinder.
But no. Ford keeps trying to stuff the round peg into the square hole. |
Don't really care for that thing---basically an ugly minivan with a tiny, nearly useless bed---but I agree with your main point.
US auto manufacturers deserve to go out of business. Their incompetence is truly staggering, almost as bad as Congress and the President's. A lot of their failure seems to be due to their radical anti-environmental ideology. Why offer efficient vehicles when you can offer ridiculously oversized gas-guzzling monster trucks? |
Strider3700 and the rest of you: then get the single cab version with the longer bed and stack your sheet rock, plywood, and long items on their side like people in Asia and Europe do. I know people build stuff there and you see them hauling big things around in these cool looking fuel efficient rides! Oh yeah! 
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emersonbiggins
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Joined: Jul 10, 2005
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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| strider3700 wrote: | | all of these f350 superduty dually diesels running around as trophy trucks for soccer moms is idiotic. There still is a need for large trucks though |
True - perhaps 10% of the "King Ranch" F-250 set need a 3/4 ton truck.
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eastbay
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Joined: Dec 18, 2004
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Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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| emersonbiggins wrote: | | strider3700 wrote: | | all of these f350 superduty dually diesels running around as trophy trucks for soccer moms is idiotic. There still is a need for large trucks though |
True - perhaps 10% of the "King Ranch" F-250 set need a 3/4 ton truck. |
I can understand someone in the construction or delivery business needing a larger truck... maybe something similar to the one I featured in the above photo, except with a longer bed.
But no one needs a Ford F 250. Shanghai was transformed in the last 25 years without a single one.
At 40 mpg why not something like this:
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eastbay
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: Re: Ford kicks off new F-150 |
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Why not here?
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