I have to assume there’s already a RHD version for Australia and the expense to bring it to Japan is minimal.
Brynjaminjones
brynjaminjones
As far as the Gladiator goes, American automakers have been trying and mostly failing to sell their substandard smaller cars in Japan for years now.
I didn’t really back away, because I don’t think I really “laid it at his feet” to begin with. The person who started this thread may have, but not I. I’m cool with Khan’s comments.
As for my comment above: I just don’t think “It meets our internal tests” is the best way to address/acknowledge a perceived problem.…
Agreed. You’re not a Dick, David. Apologies for the harsh framing. It just seemed profoundly disrespectful of Kahn, a person whose job I assume is not primarily PR. Granted you backed away from that repeatedly ... which suggested to me that you knew it was unnecessarily personal to lay it at his feet.
Also David, if you’ve had a chance to review a Renegade under similar circumstances... I’d be really interested.
To me, “it meets our specs” sounds like code for “this is not a hardcore off-roader”, not “We decide what’s good and bad, you don’t.”
So as an engineer I think this highlights a problem with designing for consumers in general. Those internal specs/design targets often don’t (and really can’t) be published in a way that’s understandable or meaningful to the average consumer. You design something for x, customer immediately uses it for x^2 and claims…
It may be part of media training.
I will say that my boss (and friend) at Chrysler—the best engineering manager I’ve ever known, and undoubtedly one of the best in the industry (Khan, it’s worth mentioning, seems to have a great reputation among his peers as well)—also responded to criticism of the JL Wrangler by…
As a mechanical engineer I find engineering manager Eddie Khan’s response completely unacceptable.
I would love to know what land rover is using but they sure are cagey about their new stuff. I know the transfer case has a clutch pack as does the rear... But I don’t know if it has a center diff or not
All true, but they neglected one important thing: the first people that get to drive these things are journalists that are going to flog the piss out of them and then write about their experience. At the very least they could’ve done something to the press mules to help them hold up better. While shady as hell, this…
Eh, it’s a fine system for some use cases. Ultra-capable offroad vehicle isn’t one of those use cases, which is why Ford shouldn’t be attempting to sell a tarted up Escape as an ultra-capable offroad vehicle. They have the real Bronco for that work.
Just and FYI, when I was researching my story I found out some more info on that center diff and transfer case. They use a special coating on the gears and discs to prevent chatter but you can burnish the coating if you abuse the center diff too much causing chatter in turns. TLDR: if you are really bombing around,…
DT coming through with the solid content. Good article dude!
This has been a really fantastic article and I kind of need a cigarette now. Bravo, David Tracy. This was very informative and I like how you told a story and investigated the facts, injected educated opinions, and arrived at an answer.
paging HammerheadFistpunch!
You’d think with all the advancements in computer modeling and engineering that something as basic as thermal management would’ve been accounted for. And people want me to trust computer systems to drive better than I can. Both are only as good as the eggheads sitting at a desk programming them.
Thanks, this was highly informative, even if it’s for something I’ll never appreciate.
Here you go:
Hybrid 4wd: 24 across the board
5.0 4wd: 16/22/19
2.7: 19/24/21
3.5 EcoBoost non-hybrid: 18/23/20
3.3: 19/22/20