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The Car-Based Ford Explorer Test Mule, Up Close And Personal
Detroit, 1:49 AM
Sun Dec 6
8 posts in the last 24 hours
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The Car-Based Ford Explorer Test Mule, Up Close And Personal |
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11/03/08
11/03/08
...they want to sit on top of everyone else, that's why.
11/03/08
What say you, Ford fans?
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The answer was to take the Explorer to softroader status and send the Taurus X to an early grave.
There was a real smaller truck version that would be shared with the aging Ranger, but I believe that group has closed up shop. When asking about their futures I just get blank stares.
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Build a new explorer. Build it as a truck, with a truck frame and a proper diesel or v8 with a 6 or 7 speed transmission. Build only a limited number per year. That way you aren't producing 1 billion more SUVs, but people who can actually need one can still buy one. I still guarantee you'd build more than necessary. People who really need one can fuckin' pay for it. And if you don't need one, which you don't, you can find a Flex on the lot instead.
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That car-based thing is such blasphemy. Keep it the damn Taurus X and build a real Explorer. I want to explore more than just the suburbs, malls, and maybe the neighbor's flowerbed when I accidentally off-road through it.
Why can't we have small, capable off-road vehicles anymore? The only decent 4x4s are all full size, and even the Wrangler has gotten bigger than necessary.
11/03/08
11/03/08
Seems like they took home the message that we need to make SUVs more fuel efficient and car-like.
...when what we need is good cars. Ford's going to spend all this time developing too-tall-too-heavy CUVs that maybe buyers will migrate to for briefly, but the overall trend is to cars: coupes, sedans, wagons, ya know?
11/03/08
Explorer - Far away, uncharted land.
Expedition - Closer, but still on the maps.
Excursion - Let's go have a picnic in the burbs.
So far, their crossovers seem to be named on relative stiffness, decreasing with size:
Edge - Rigid, sharp.
Flex - A little bit bendy.
2011 Explorer? - Will probably be renamed the Ford Flop. This might happen a year or two into the production cycle of course...
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To replace the Taurus X.
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I've played with the T-drive layout, sketching a few floorplans for how you could do it. Running that engine the entire width of the engine bay like that means some interesting things happen:
1) You could use the engine as a stressed member for chassis stiffening. I wouldn't unless it were a straight six, but even an eight could serve as the car's front tower brace without adding to chassis buzz.
2) The hood gets awfully short. Every vehicle could have a nose like an Econoline.
11/03/08
Also, obligatory comment about Euro Fords blah blah ad infinitum.
11/03/08
Imagine, if Chrysler had done this we all could be driving around in Dodge Duravengalibers!
11/03/08