I hope the SVT one looks better, otherwise I'm not crazy about the regular one. I'm somewhere in between on the regular one, I don't hate it, I don't love it.
I bought my Trac because it was a bit beefier than most vehicles, yet not as large as others. Had truck functionality, but didn't handle like one. A full frame was a must as getting rear-ended here is as common as gas at the churrascarria. In the Trac, I managed to rear-end a suburban that stopped short due to some jibrone that cut him off. I bent the suburban's bumper with no damage to the Trac. In what would be a first for me, but common in NYC, I managed to rear-end an Accord (sort of, he reversed into me at 15 MPH) with no damage to the Trac, yet his bumper was hurt.. Struts were a no-go, as the streets here ripped one off of my old car. Some ricer in an eclipse somehow scraped alongside my Trac for about 6 inches, scraping up his paint, but doing very little to my cladding. My front plate is held on by steel braided cable, and my rear cladding is a bit chewed, but it's nowhere as bad as if this were paint. All we do here is parallel park, well some of us parallel park, others ram into the car behind them, then ram into the car in front of them, and walk away giving you a look like you were in their way.
Between the lack of parking, lack of space, potholes, ice, flash floods, and extreme heat here in the NYC / Tri-State area, I needed something as versatile as the environment it would operate in. I'm comfortable in heavy traffic, and I can let it rip on the open highway, after I drive 2 hours in traffic to get to it.
It brakes good, it takes off better, it gets around chinatown on a friday night, it can handle the hills uptown, and won't lose a wheel in soho or tribeca. I can drive over a sidewalk or a highway divider in traffic or an emergency, I just drove through a 20ft long 3ft deep puddle of water and the 9005 fog lamp bulb that I didn't silicone was the only thing that gave out (the other one was fine). I've taken it out in a blizzard and gone up a 60-70 degree grade in said blizzard with no issue, I'm not brave enough to try going down one, but if presented with the situation, I'm confident I can give it a shot.
It's low emissions, and no mechanic has even dared to tell me I failed inspection. We used to get a tailpipe sniff in NY, and the reports on the Trac came in at half the particulates of my old CAR which would barely pass every year (94 Corsica). Fuel economy is about the same as that of my old car, if not better.
Now it needed better shocks, a stiffer sway bar, and the best brakes, tires, and wipers I can find, the air filter and IAC need to be cleaned every three months / throttle body at 6 months because it is so damn dirty here. Need to have it washed at least weekly, to get the droppings, tar, mud, dust, unmentionables, etc.. off it.
NYC is a severe duty maintenance schedule.
But 4 years / 60K miles and my Trac doesn't even sweat it or show it. If the new one meets those standards, it has my vote.
