There was also a factory version of the “Futura Ranchero”, it was called the Durango.

I remember seeing this one in a magazine a long time ago. It’s a great look.

Probably more than you’d think, It’s a Fox platform vehicle, so it is just as easy to engine swap and upgrade as an 80s Mustang. It’s also pretty popular as a drag racer.

Model years do not always mark the end of one thing and the start of the next.

70% weren’t wearing their seatbelts. That tells me that the engineering has already been done and that behavior is the problem.

We are quite unpredictable, but to design for every edge case is not practical.

“ordinary human behavior” doesn’t typically place a car on its roof.

The point is, that legislation is not being passed, yet people are still being locked down by edict, and are being arrested for opening their business, or a few months ago for having an outdoor parking lot church service, or not wearing a mask.

Read the whole sentence... You missed the word LEGAL, as a criteria.

You missed the words responsibility and morality. Because once you start regulating how people behave, where do you stop?

My point is Ford showed what kind of company they are, indicative of a culture that should not be tolerated by consumers

Hey, no arguments on either point.

Not a problem with the Fusion.

I can see following trends but keeping a toe in a still large segment isn’t a bad idea, especially if you are a large and diverse company, you can have a lower margin or loss leader offering to keep a base covered.

Scion died because Toyota catered to the Americans’ desire for more space, more power, and more luxurious interior, which made the second-gen cars more expensive and grotesque.

If consumers actually put their money where their mouth is then “cheap and sensible” would be dominating the market.

but now the eunuch mobiles are about all that’s left and the “fun” cars are usually just fast, which is not the same thing.

Plannig your gear shifts ? seriously ????

That is just as likely a “you” thing as anything else. I’d imagine, being on this site, you might simply feel more like being engaged when you’re drivinf a manual. I don’t think that really holds for normal drivers.

Thing is, nobody wants one in a minivan/CUV and that makes sense, but it costs a lot to certify and incorporate a manual into an assembly line and fun cars don’t sell in the quantities necessary to justify that most of the time.