Ford
Keepers: The Turbo Dodges
In the pursuit of finding cars worth keeping, there’s not always a clear connection between pedigree, price and performance. Sometimes, cars that people expect to be good turn out to be rubbish, despite their ancestry. And sometimes, you come across performance heroes in the most unlikely of places.
Blog: A New Lease on Life for Detroit
The daily headlines have been full of news about the bailout of the U.S. auto industry from its various problems. As interesting as such details are, I’d like to suggest that they aren’t the important part of the story for automotive enthusiasts. In a dramatically changing automobile industry, what we’ve witnessed up ‘til now is more like the preparation for the invasion of Iraq. We’re entering the phase where we actually invade. But the hard parts and the decisive parts start after that. Or, if you prefer a happier analogy, we’ve been witnessing the prep for the wedding. Now we’re about to go in to the wedding ceremony and then off on a honeymoon. After that, the hard work and – we hope – good times begin. Ongoing life isn’t a wedding ceremony or a battle, and we would do well not to confuse the two.
SVT Contours Star At Spring Zing
Ford’s Tempo replacement in the mid-1990s only had a six-year production run, but when engineers from Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) got their hands on the Contour for the 1998 model year, few people could’ve anticipated the cult following that would follow.
Driven: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, Decisions Decisions…
The obvious comparisons surrounding the all-new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pit the reconstituted pony car against the Mustang and Challenger. Well duh. We submit, however, that the obvious overlooks something right before your eyes; a Camaro versus Camaro face off.
Driven: 2009 Ford Focus SES Coupe
While the second-generation Ford Focus debuted last year, FoMoCo has gone and given the car some tasteful updates for the 2009 model year. A revised front end, larger wheels, and some minor chassis tweaks are enough to make this new Focus a bit better than last year’s car, though it might struggle when faced with the best of the import competition. Still, we were pretty pleased with our Focus’ behavior during its two-week stay in our test fleet.
Driven: 2009 Saleen Dark Horse
For one reason or another, the Winding Road and NextAutos fleet has been graced with a whole lot of Mustangs over the past few months. Whether it be a simple GT, a stock Shelby, or a tuned up Roush, we’ve driven them all. However, nothing seems to compare to our latest Mustang iteration: the Saleen Dark Horse. This car boasts 620 horsepower, 600 pound-feet of torque, and a sub-four-second zero-to-sixty time, making it the baddest Mustang we’ve driven to date. Still, with a limited production run of only twenty-five cars, the Dark Horse will only be experienced by a select few, and we’re happy to have been part of that lucky group.
Driven: 2009 Roush Stage 3 BlackJack
Since the dawn of the Shelby GT500 in 2007, the exclusive, supercharged Mustang experience is no longer just for the dedicated enthusiasts willing to shell out some extra cash to aftermarket performance manufacturers. Ford now offers 500 horsepower right from the factory, and with the Shelby’s starting price of around $43,000, some enthusiasts might find it hard to justify shelling out $56,000 for a Roush BlackJack—a special edition of the company’s Stage 3 treatment limited to just 100 cars for 2009. But for those who aren’t battling in a horsepower war, we think the Roush offers a bolder appearance and a bit more driving pleasure. Conveniently, it just so happened that we had a GT500 in our test fleet during the same week that we tested the BlackJack, and after driving them back-to-back, some of us would rather have the Roush, regardless of price.
Driven: 2009 Volkswagen Routan
Badge engineering. This is the common practice in the automotive industry of taking a vehicle designed for one brand, and tweaking to work for another. But is this a good thing or a bad thing? We all know examples of the Chevy that is also a Pontiac or a Ford that is also a Mercury with little but trim differences. That cynical approach to marketing has led to a tarnished reputation for badge-engineering, among the pundits at least. The term even sounds pejorative.
Driven: 2009 Ford Flex Limited AWD
The new Ford Flex arrives into our market at a time when consumers are downsizing from their large SUVs but still need room for the spouse, kids, dogs, etc. The retro-wagon styling of the Flex may steer some customers away, but we rather liked the styling of our Limited AWD test car. Inside, plush materials and high-tech gadgets make this family-hauler a real win. Overall, the Flex proved to be a big step forward for the Ford Motor Company and we hope their future products go in this direction, as well.
Driven: 2009 Ford Escape XLT V-6
One of the more ubiquitous sights on the American Road is the Ford Ranger pickup. It is handsome, in a hard-working, rectilinear way, and you don’t see many that appear to have suffered neglect or abuse. Now the Ford Escape (and Mercury Mariner) SUVs join the Ranger pickup in its ubiquity. Not only do you see a lot of them, and not only do they look good, they are good. They may be the class-leader of the compact SUV category.
Driven: 2009 Dodge Ram 1500
If you’ve driven pickups much over the last thirty years, when you’re behind the wheel of the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500, the notion might occur that pickups shouldn’t be so quiet, ride so smoothly, carve corners so competently, accelerate so quickly, or have so many features. These were our prevailing thoughts as we drove a Laramie 4×4 through the Tennessee countryside, enjoying a driving experience so good that it provides a compelling argument to drive a full-size truck if you can figure out how to rationalize it.
Driven: 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart and Evo X MR
We’re just back from a day of participation in what Mitsubishi called its Lancer Family Road Show, where the main event was our debut drive in the new center of the range, the 2009 Lancer Ralliart.
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