Cate to provide some examples of this? What are they doing that is so “out of touch” with the luxury market is? What, in their current lineup of cars is similar to what Cadillac was doing 20 years ago?

Why? The ecoboost V6 has better overall performance (especially in low end torque) smoother power delivery, and is quieter than V8s. It is perfectly suited to a large SUV.

By “not trying” do you mean not making RWD sedan platforms or high performance variants? What auto journalists and enthusiasts forget/ignore is that people who actually buy the cars in these segments don’t really care.

Current Gen CRV AWD is worse than than that, more like 98/2 power split.

Not likely to bring a “stripper” version up here, they don’t do it with the ST.

I’m the fleet sales manager at a large (for east coast Canada) Ford dealer. I’d offer to sell you one but we already have three orders in and so far only the first is being built for sure.

Ford.ca is wrong on the rates. The RS gets the same programs as a regular Focus in Canada, 0% financing and lease rates with surprisingly good residuals, even thought ford.ca says they dont lease the RS. Talk to your dealer. No joy if you’re looking for cash off though.

Improved flex over a fixed radius arm setup sure, but still a ton of bind. At extremes of flex those bushings and brackets (axle and frame end) see a ton of twisting and side load forces.

It is a Ford 9" rear made by Strange.

Yup, spend another 10-15% of the MSRP on forced induction and you’ll have more power, or you can go diesel in a 3/4 ton and be better off from a price/towing performance/fuel economy standpoint.

Yes I have towed with ecoboosts and v8 (both gas and HD diesel), and all has engine vehicles’ fuel economis drop like a rock when hauling heavy.

And check out the recent max tow shootout on pickuptrucks.com, which shows the idea that the 3.5 EB fuel economy is worse than V8s while hauling heavy is simply untrue. (I’ll make it easy for you http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2016/01/texas-… )

You mean all the way from 5200 to the 6000 rpm redline on a pushrod V8?

In “general terms”, torque curves of all modern V8s found in trucks have torque peaks above 4,000 rpm. The 3.5 EB’s torque curve climbs quickly to its peak at 2,500 RPM and remains quite flat from there, easily besting the v8s. You really have to try one to understand.

This is not just the Ford 5.0's problem, look at the torque curves on all the V8s 5.7 hemi, 5.3 and 6.2 from GM, etc. You’ll find torque peaks all north of 4,000 rpm.

The public at large are not “car people”. Most actual car buyers couldn’t describe to you the basics of a combustion cycle, how many gears the automatic in the car they currently drive has, or the difference between a turbo charger and a super charger.

Do have a look at the Escape too. It won’t get much attention here as blue oval hate it fashionable amongst the auto “fan” crowd, but it isn't one of the top vehicles in the segment for no reason.

But it’s a Toyota, the most reliable vehicles that have been or ever will be made. *rolls eyes*

Let’s look at “middle of the road” 3/4 ton diesel trucks, crew cab 4x4 in cloth trim with decent equipment, not base model.

In the US max tow includes tow mirrors, but not in Canada.