Help bring the ford t6 to north america

[Kevin Lang]

For a few bucks more, you can buy a full size truck that gets about the MPG's and has more room.

No my friend, this should say:



"For a few bucks more, you can buy a full size truck that gets MORE MPG and has more room." :grin:

When the new ST came out, I knew I would never buy another one.



My next truck will be an F-150 SuperCrew. It would never be a Ranger. Too small and too little interior room. I know, I know, same dashboard, but my father has a Ranger and it is cramped in the front seat. The Trac has more room in the front seat.

The F150 is too large for my needs, but if it is getting 20+ mpg, then I'm on board. I agree with everything quoted. The Ranger is tiny and, to me, useless. The Gen II ST doesn't do anything for me, and the Gen II Adrenaline wouldn't work for me.



Clearly, if the F150 can get mileage FAR superior to that of the ST, Ford could have given us an ST that did not get such atrocious gas mileage. Perhaps then, the compact market would still be profitable. Perhaps, but as ya'll have said, the price difference between a compact truck and a full-size truck is negligible. :banghead:



I hope there is something to all these rumors of 20+ mpg for the new F150, because if not, and the reports were based on official Ford material, Ford is going to have a lot of questions to answer.



(Oh, and Chevy shouldn't be an example of profitable car manufacturing. They went bankrupt. They are bankrupt. :grin: )

 

[Les]

Point is that compact trucks cost too close to make whet they sell for.

Actually, small trucks are priced to high to make them your first choice. And they can't be that expensive to make. When you can buy a full-size PU for the same price, why should you buy the smaller truck. Use to be a compact PU was cheap, reliable transportation, but manufacturers decided to keep making them bigger and more expensive. Now you can easily buy a full-size Ram PU for less than a Ranger.

 

[Vince Coshenet]

Why buy new anymore with so many shops restoring vehicles? I would much rather put $10-$20k into the vehicle that is perfect for me than drop upwards of $40k and settle for something else. New interior, paint, motor, suspension, wheels and tires would sure seem like a new truck to me. Plus, as a weekend mechanic, I could still work on/repair my own vehicle.



:driving:

 

[Tom Schindler]

Use to be a compact PU was cheap, reliable transportation, but manufacturers decided to keep making them bigger and more expensive. Now you can easily buy a full-size Ram PU for less than a Ranger.

This has alot to do with the Government. Safety is a major reason cars are getting bigger and heavier. Add up all the crap that is required now. Airbags, side impact airbags, stability control, and TPMS to name a few. These things add up in price and weight. On top of that, you need room to place this crap. If you build a little truck, and then put in the airbags, side curtain bags, ABS modules, etc. you have a tiny interior. You may have good gas mileage, but you are not comfortable driving it. So you make it bigger and have a fair ammount of interior room. Then your gas mileage is not as good.



On top of that, what new government mandates will come out. So, when designing a vehicle, you have to anticipate what "may" be next in your design.





Tom

 

[Gavin Allan]

Comparing SportTrac sales to compact pickups is apples/oranges. What you really need to compare is SportTrac sales to CREW CAB compact pickup sales. Most folks who want a Trac do not want a Ranger.



I'll bet crew cab compact pickup sales have increased dramatically over the past ten years and will continue.



Ford is missing the boat by not having a product in the crew cab compact pickup line. The SportTrac could have had much higher sales if Ford would have advertised them a bit, and if dealers would have actually carried some inventory. My local dealer has only had 2-3 generation II Tracs on his lot.



Oh well, there is still GM, Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, etc. alternatives. However for me, none of them were as good as a SportTrac. But if I didn't get a new Trac last month, I am sure I would have gotten one of these alternatives within the next year or so.

 

[Kevin Lang]

Why buy new anymore with so many shops restoring vehicles?

While I'll probably never buy new (Debt & I don't get along), a restored vehicle to me sounds like an ancient vehicle, and I'm more preferential to 96 & newer cars as OBDII is convenient, I must say. I don't know what I'd do with a 1970s Ford pickup, which is what I think when you say "restore" combined with "pickup truck". I can't even afford to drive one, those things had atrocious MPG.

So you make it bigger and have a fair ammount of interior room. Then your gas mileage is not as good.

But it could be better than it is which is what irks me. If the new F150 can get 20+ mpg, then the ST should be getting FAR more than its rating, but Ford decided to take the cheap path for manufacturing...and charge a ridiculous amount for the ST.



With all of these modern advancements, a larger vehicle doesn't have to be damned to <20 mpg, but makers made that choice. Ford's current statements make it sound as though this was their plan all along.



If the new F150 really does get 20+ combined MPG, then I'll have to ask myself why I'm driving a smaller vehicle with WORSE gas mileage. The ST will then be moot.

 

[Vince Coshenet]

fftopic:

How do you put quotes in your post?

:back2topic:



@KL...Who says to restore a vehicle it has to be of collector age? I can hopefully put another 100k on my truck and it may only be 10 years old by then and I would seriously consider restoring it. :haveabeer:



It seems like a viable option that most people wouldn't even consider.

 

[Les]

How do you put quotes in your post?

Right click the mouse and drag across the area you want to quote and leave highlighted. Just below this box are 5 buttons. Drag you mouse across these and they will identify what they are. The fourth from the left is the quote button. Click on the button and your highlighted area will be placed between two boxes. It is now quoted...

 

[Kevin Lang]

.Who says to restore a vehicle it has to be of collector age?

I do. :grin:



"Restore" to me means to revert something to the condition it was in brand-new.



If your car has been regularly maintained over those 10 years, why would you have to restore it? Regular maintenance should keep you close to Brand New condition as long as you put the effort in.

New interior, paint, motor, suspension, wheels and tires would sure seem like a new truck to me

It would seem like a new truck because you've just made a new car...at a hefty price. And with the ST getting worse gas mileage than the new F150, that doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Maybe if you could upgrade the ST to get that same performance, but that also seems less cost-effective than just getting one of these F150s.

I would much rather put $10-$20k into the vehicle that is perfect for me

20k is more than I paid for the ST. Shoot, just looking at the prices for used STs that pop up on this board, I could get several for 20k. 20k is close to what a new compact truck should cost IMO anyhow.





fftopic:

I've never gotten the quote thing to work properly, I've always had to copy the text in-between the "quote" tags myself. :sad:

 

[Tom Schindler]

I've never gotten the quote thing to work properly, I've always had to copy the text in-between the "quote" tags myself.

That is because you are not using IE.





Tom

 

[Kevin Lang]

That is because you are not using IE.

As it should be :banana:



Internet Explorer sucks. It gets better...after it steals innovation from others. Still, the interface isn't as pleasing to the eye, and the hotkeys are all wrong. But I digress.



I thought you switched over to Ubuntu anyhow? :grin:

 

[Tom Schindler]

I thought you switched over to Ubuntu anyhow?

I use both. I prefer IE over Firefox. For my surfing, IE is superior in all ways.





Tom

 

[gary s]

" Do you know the exact sales numbers of the Tacoma from today and 10 years ago? "



Calendar Year US Sales

2000[12] 147,295

2001 161,983

2002[13] 151,960

2003 154,154

2004[14] 152,933

2005 168,831

2006[15] 178,351

2007 173,238

2008[16] 144,655

read the link below for 2009-10: toyota tacoma remains sales leader in its segment





[Broken External Image]:

 

[Gavin Allan]

You could have had a V8! :banghead:

 

[gary s]

"You could have had a V8! "



2005 toyota tacoma V-6 crew cab 1/4 mile 15.7

:driving: