It’s really interesting. What happened is that something that is good and priced well (not cheap but definitely lower then the competition) in a budget brand is able to overcome brand snobbery and broaden it’s buying catchment. 

Well Shane you sure know how to throw a wrench in things. I guess he could have added a little twist somewhere to make it more interesting. It’s like he’s trying to gun for grumpy car guy of the year. In the end I don’t think this article was a very big hit. He needed to be a little less crass and maybe it would have…

I don’t associate hidden fasteners with quality. I associate them with luxury though. Because exposed fasteners feel very plebian, very utilitarian. Exposed fasteners disrupt the interior design aesthetics. Hiding them provides for a cleaner more luxurious coach and certainly takes more effort (bolstering cost/money =…

If they aren’t’ required to floorplan it then this is a good deal for dealers. I’m glad you found that, the cynic in me expected the dealers to get the shaft here.

non-synchro suuucks when stopping at a stop sign. Have to come to a complete stop every time OR know how to rev-match like a pro. 

I know, and how can a dealer say no. They have NO inventory so they will do whatever they can to have a sellable car. Even if it means financing it as inventory for a month before they can even sell it. And Ford sales will bump up even though they aren’t putting any more cars on the road then they were before.

what is a 24 month trade in?

It’s possible that it is an easy install. And even if not, there are very qualified techs at the dealership that can do a good job.

It will eventually settle down, but probably not until next year.

3rd gear: Oh good gawd no. Nothings says quality like having a bunch of independent dealers do final assembly. If it is as easy as just plugging something in then maybe, but there will still be issues. In the end Ford will pay the dealers for .1 hours of labor time to do a job that takes .2 hours and so the techs…

It is not commonplace especially in the older designs (which most existing bridges are). Most existing bridge girders rest on a pad, but are not attached at the ends. This makes the only load at the point a bearing load in the vertical position. Any lateral load due to friction is trivial and can be disregarded. It’s…

Doctors should worry about the hysterical COVID people after they do something about the hysterical people that are worried about:

This has nothing to do with manufacturers “realizing” anything. It’s simple supply/demand curve analysis. (really not simple as there are so many models and manufacturers) BUT, this is just an adjustment of the supply curve as it is constrained across the whole industry by the parts shortages. So, with high enough…

I sometimes imagine what these would look like in a sales piece directed at NY gangsters from that era. Tommy guns under the seat and a body crammed in the back I suppose.

If it is unsafe enough GM will tell them not to drive them at all and provide rentals. That’s what they did with the ignition switch recall a couple years back. Not sure what would trigger this in GM’s mind but I feel like this situation is already there.

For what it is worth I’ve seen someone do one wheel burnouts on a decommissioned LLV. Maybe could drift this thing with 31HP.

Aha, yes, there are a few. Maybe because they are composite and just skinned on. Although I have two newerish saturns (non-plastic) that are not removable.

I was going to mention the starter. It’s in the V between the cylinder banks. Great place to put it to save space. No so great if you have to replace one. Luckily I didn’t have to, it was just a bad connection to the security chip in the key.

I think the point of the prompt in this post was to point out things that are not officially serviceable (ie. the manufacturer considers it not serviceable).

I knew a guy that used to stalk the junkyards collecting these. Made some money till the junkyards realized it and started taking them off before putting them out in the lot.