GM joins Ford in jettisoning the minivan market

I liked the driving position on the E-series much better than the Dodge
B-series because the Ford "extended nose" reduced the size of the
doghouse quite a bit, but the Fords do indeed handle like... well...
twin-I-beam Fords have always handled :-/

I haven't yet driven a newer non-Twin-I-beam E-series, so maybe that's
been fixed.

 

Picasso wrote:

They hide their overstocks and recall better. Remember, Japanese car
companies are all about image, not about substance anyway (yeah, maybe a
bit overly cynical, but that's the way I see it for the most part). If
they convey an image of quality and never a hint of a recall or
overstock, dummies will still flock to buy them. A co worker just picked
up a new T*yota Tundra v8 because, as he said, "they were GIVING the
things away!" Far cheaper than he could get a Dodge Dakota. All is not
as well as it seems at Toy, either.

 

80 Knight wrote:

Regardless of any badging: dual exhausts indicates a Hemi v8, single
exhaust indicates a 3.5L v6. The 2.7L v6 is not available in a Charger
police package car (actually I don't think its available in the Charger
AT ALL.)

 

The brake pads are different, the rest of the brake components are the same.
When it came time to do the brakes on ours I asked at the dealers for the
different part numbers for parts for the police package Imps and everything
was the same so I just bought some good pads.
The Suspension differences are just stiffer struts. The cooling system has
the second fan the size as the first, there is one wrecked police package
Imp in the junkyard near my house so I may pick up the fans someday.

 

With very little success. Chevy's market share in those segments is
minimal compared to the venerable Ford Crown Victoria.

 

What, you don't like what happens when the camber angles of each front
wheel change so radically in a turn, especially in a turn with bumps.

Argh, what horrible suspension geometry that was. The amazing thing is
that Ford advertised it as a "feature" for so long!

 

Based on what? Here in VA, most state trooper cars are Impalas.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

The first time I saw Tatas was in India.. I was told they are a large family
owned concern, making trucks,
buses, even small cars.

It has been a number of years since I was in India, but the cars of the
period that I can speak of were
like the old British crap.

Surely they have modernized some by now.

 

Have a look here:


http://www.businessweek.com/autos/c...6_314763.htm?chan=autos_autos+index+page_news


Most published reports put Ford's share of the US police patrol car
market somewhere between 80% and 90%. That doesn't leave much for Chevy
and Dodge!

 

Thanks for the info. I will take a look next time I am out there.

 

The 2.7 litre engine is standard in the Charger SE.

 

I'm not sure what officers you're talking about. The all refuse to
drive them here unless there are no crown victorias left. The highway
police won't even touch them anymore, they had one dose of them, then
the next year i saw them all go through the car auction 1 year old with
50-60,000 kms on it, while all the vics at the auction were 3 years old
with 200-225,000 on them.

 

Well thats the problem with toyotas. They do/"appear to" make a good
quality truck, but when push comes to shove, and you put your money
where your mouth is... a v8 toyota looks pretty shitty compared to a
fullsize f150, or even an f250 if you get the right price. For the
money, I would take the better looking Ford over a toyota at the same price.

Fullsize fords i have more respect for than any other truck, i have
thrashed those trucks through more woods roads.

The rangers, however, are a completely different story!

 

I'm sorry, but the Impala is a great car. And, like I said, the Officers
down here (Ontario, Canada) love them. We have more of them then we do Crown
Vic's.

 

A 2.7L Charger must be a real slug. Even the 3.5L is not particulalrly
impressive. The 3.5L Chrysler 300 is slower than the 3.0L Ford Five Hundred
which everyone except me says is "too slow." I can't imagine the 3.5L
Charger is any faster than the 3.5L Chrsyler 300.

I wonder how many 2.7L V-6 Chargers Chryler actually sells? Hard to imagine
anyone wanting a slow car that is also uncomfortable, rides poorly, has
mediocre fuel economy (21/28), rattles, and is unreliable. I can see the
atttraction of the Hemi version, at least until I get my first speeding
ticket.

Ed

 

Where are you getting this idea? When I bought a Nissan Frontier earlier
this year, I did a bit of shopping and everyone's lot was stuffed with
pick-ups. If anything, the Toyota dealers had many more Tundras on the lot,
in relationship to sales, than Ford had F150s. The Nissan dealers had
Frontiers and Titan everywhere. The Nissan dealer nearest my house has at
least 50 Frontiers on the lot right now (and this is on the lot where I can
see them - he has storage lots out in the country I don't see).

Where are you? When I was shopping for a Tundra, the dealer had no problem
rolling out one with the options I wanted from the "back" lot. When my Son
was shopping for a Mustang, the dealer had to get one from 100 miles away to
match his wants. The dealer also had plenty of Tacomas, but they came in too
varieties, stripped 4 cylinder manual models, and completely loaded up and
totally useless for a work truck models. I actually wanted a Tacoma instead
of a Tundra, but they had no Tacomas with the equipment I wanted - they were
either ridiculously over-equipped (and therefore ridiculously over-priced)
or stripped to the bone (but still ridiculously over-priced). I could find
plenty of Tundras set up as a work truck with the equipment I wanted. For
some reason, Toyota wasn't building any Tacomas with similar equipment. I
assume they figure the only people who buy Tacomas are fleets looking for
strippers and boy racer looking for big wheels, big stereos, and lots of
chrome. They had plenty of those choking the lot.

Again where do you live? You don't have Toyotaton? Around here it seem like
"Toyotaton" is an 11 month event. When Toyota isbn't running ads with stupid
F150 comparison (like my Tundra can haul 6'6" boards - your Ford can only
haul 6' 3" boards), they are screaming about the huge savings, great
discounts, rebates, etc. If you listened to the Toyota ads, you would think
they were giving Tundras away (at least till you try to buy one and they
slap on the "dealer fees" that make the price non-competitive). Nissan is
even worse. It seems like they have been running the "Year End Sales Event"
ads since last January.

Why do you think Ford is shutting down so many US plans and offering buy-out
to 30+% of their work force.

Ed

 

That may be your opinion but when I owned my formed fleet business numerous
departments particularly city departments, bought the Chevy and Dodge FWD
cars because they were available for a few thousands less than the
Interceptor and got better fuel mileage Service experience soon shows the
maintenance and repair cost vis a v the Interceder far outweigh the lower
purchase price and when they bought more cars they returned to the Ford.
Ford 'owns' the police car business, by at least eight to one at well over
100,000 units, over the current Doge RWD cars and the Chevy.. That surely
slows which car department prefer.


mike

 

That may be but Ford still sells more F150s in about a month or so than
Toyota sells Tundras in a year


mike

 

Yeah, I work in a building next to two Sheriff stations. We share the
same parking lots. I see a ton of Crown Vics outside and no Impalas.
Since the Feds moved in there are a few black Suburbans, too.

Only one Avalanche though. And I get to drive it home.

 

What "may be your opinion?" Please don't top post.