“Taught suspension” is not at all how I’d describe driving one of these. You could probably make it better with some cheap Focus take-off bits, but out of the box they roll hard enough to scrape door handles.

There’s a transmission issue, but it’s shared across everything Ford sold with this hybrid drivetrain.  There’s a bearing that’s wrong or not installed correctly, and it requires a complete replacement.  My SO had to have her tranny replaced because of it (luckily it was covered under warranty).

So how long before Nissan swoops the domain?

Don’t fret, the turbo AWD Talon definitely existed; my buddy had one, and that was the car that gave me a taste for boost.

I’m sure that thing rides like a Cadillac!

If it ain’t broke, keep throwing power at it until it does.

Determining whether to wait for the next generation is a bit like chasing the dragon; there’s always going to be something mo’betta if you just wait another couple weeks... six months.... ‘til next year...  when the refresh finally drops... At some point you have to decide whether the option that’s available now is…

You know, I misread your post. Where you said “unlikely the had a manual that could handle”, my brain squished the typo into “unlikely that a manual could handle” rather than fixing to “unlikely they had a manual”.

Is that a foxbody?  At the very least those headlights are ‘87-’93 Mustang.

We’ve had manuals that handle way more than that since before I was born, and I’m old as shit. Dodge offers manuals with the Hellcat. Ford only offers a manual with the Voodoo. The LS7-powered Z/28 was manual-only. Porsche will sell you a 911 Turbo (or some turbo 911 variant) with a manual. What is with this repeated…

Seems weird to rush this one. People have already waited for the Bronco, and unlike Jeep, Ford already has pickups to sell to someone who needs a truck.

If they need an offroad mid-size pickup OMGRIGHTNOW, why not just adapt the Sasquatch package to the Ranger, or, Edsel Ford forbid, sell the Ranger Raptor?

If you put that chop saw on a credit card, which I’d reckon better than 90% do, you’re effectively taking out a loan.

Ford could make a small run of these (2-seaters, probably) and charge a cool quarter-mil each.

Things I want:
-New RX-7. Take the ND chassis, pop in a rotary, give it a hardtop with the RF roofline and a proper liftback.
-New Celica based on RA29 design. Take the GT86 chassis, pop in a longitudinally-mounted GR Yaris engine for a GT-S and the Camry’s 2.5L for the GT. Then give it a goddamn liftback already.

Things…

“When I close my eyes, I see this thing, an SUV, I see this name in bright KC lights with purple beadlocks. And this name is so bright and so sharp that the SUV - it just blows up because these lights are so powerful...”

There was the Trailcat, but I don’t think that counts.

In that case, let’s just skip to the 7.3L Godzilla motor. A pushrod will be better for the low-rpm nature of most off-roading, smaller, lighter, more familiar to the ‘purists’, etc, etc. Call it an SVT Stallion to really hang a lantern on the big dickness of it.

How is this more the ultimate expression of FF than the Civic Type R?

you get what’s commonly referred to as “torque steer,” where the power twisting the front wheels breaks the traction of the tire on the road surface, which then causes the momentum of the car forward instead of where you’re trying to turn.

How difficult would it be for GM to take the Silverado/Tahoe and do a K5 Blazer job to it?  Or would that even help here?