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It truely irritates me as to the engineering direction that Ford takes. It makes no sense to me. Ford seems to push unresolved technology on the customer without addressing the things that really matter. Concepts like reliability, durability, time to market, competitiveness are all poorly resolved. The powershift transmission is a perfect example. Ford designs an unproven, complicated transmission to a low price. All for 1 or 2 mpg. Sounds like a recipe for disaster and it was. To this day, it is a financial liability.
Fast foward to the 3-cylinder Dragon engine. The 3-cylinder Dragon engine is not necessisarily a bad step if Ford addresses the issues with a 3-cylinder's vibration. Ford addressed some of this with a unique flywheel design that seems to be good engineering, but they do not know when to stop. Why add the complication of cylinder deactivation to a small 3 cylinder when there are going to be undesirable compromises? The special flywheel cannot be optimal for both running conditions, so vibration results. Why program an auto transmission to shift under minimum turbo speeds that impact engine response and vibration? 0.5 mpg? Why use a oil bath timing belt at the expense of the reliability of a timing chain? A neglible amount of noise?! $10 cost? If they would stop inventing new ways to produce an unreliable or undesirable vehicle, why not sacrifice the 1 mpg to give the customer a more reliable, lower NVH vehicle without the deactivation complication, with a transmission programmed for smooth driving in all conditions and a reliable timing chain that will last the life of the car. And at no expense and less design time! Baby steps to perfection. If you want 1 mpg, you are more interested in the 10+ mpg of the hybrid anyway. The hybrid, with the tried and true Mazda L motor, may to be the reliable choice as well.
Then comes the interior materials. What is the excuse? The Escape was primarily designed out of the UK. Are the Escape/Kuga materials acceptable there? If they are, they aren't acceptable here for $30k+ vehicles. How long do we have to complain about this? For the most part, Lincoln seems to get this and have made great strides recently. When is Ford cars going to fill some of the gaping hole between Ford and Lincoln? I ask for competitve materials since better than the competition does not appear to be in the cards. My goodness, has Ford ever looked at the interior of a Mazda CX-5? Even the CX-30 puts the Escape to shame. It can't be that expensive.
Sorry, it just pisses me off that Ford just keeps fumbling. All their products have similar issues. Even the GT350 with its low end interior. I want to buy American, but can't get an American car company to build what I want.
Fast foward to the 3-cylinder Dragon engine. The 3-cylinder Dragon engine is not necessisarily a bad step if Ford addresses the issues with a 3-cylinder's vibration. Ford addressed some of this with a unique flywheel design that seems to be good engineering, but they do not know when to stop. Why add the complication of cylinder deactivation to a small 3 cylinder when there are going to be undesirable compromises? The special flywheel cannot be optimal for both running conditions, so vibration results. Why program an auto transmission to shift under minimum turbo speeds that impact engine response and vibration? 0.5 mpg? Why use a oil bath timing belt at the expense of the reliability of a timing chain? A neglible amount of noise?! $10 cost? If they would stop inventing new ways to produce an unreliable or undesirable vehicle, why not sacrifice the 1 mpg to give the customer a more reliable, lower NVH vehicle without the deactivation complication, with a transmission programmed for smooth driving in all conditions and a reliable timing chain that will last the life of the car. And at no expense and less design time! Baby steps to perfection. If you want 1 mpg, you are more interested in the 10+ mpg of the hybrid anyway. The hybrid, with the tried and true Mazda L motor, may to be the reliable choice as well.
Then comes the interior materials. What is the excuse? The Escape was primarily designed out of the UK. Are the Escape/Kuga materials acceptable there? If they are, they aren't acceptable here for $30k+ vehicles. How long do we have to complain about this? For the most part, Lincoln seems to get this and have made great strides recently. When is Ford cars going to fill some of the gaping hole between Ford and Lincoln? I ask for competitve materials since better than the competition does not appear to be in the cards. My goodness, has Ford ever looked at the interior of a Mazda CX-5? Even the CX-30 puts the Escape to shame. It can't be that expensive.
Sorry, it just pisses me off that Ford just keeps fumbling. All their products have similar issues. Even the GT350 with its low end interior. I want to buy American, but can't get an American car company to build what I want.
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