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Ford Doubles Down on SUVs/Trucks

TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
yeah, that's the problem.

We're using the wrong term (SUV) to describe tall, heavy, space-inefficient passenger wagons whose sole off-road trip is to go up the curb when parallel parking.

Oh, I agree the term "sport-utility" is pretty absurd. But many of the popular cars in this category are really jacked-up compacts, which get called crossovers. Even mainline SUVs like the CR-V or RAV-4 are built on car chassis, not truck chassis, IIRC, and they get pretty solid MPG.

If the market was like it was twenty years ago and SUV and truck meant humongous gas guzzlers, Ford would be committing suicide, but I'm guessing that with hybrids, electrics, and fuel-efficient small crossovers, this strategy is a lot more sensible.
 

Mhamstead19

Ready to race!
Location
Simpsonville sc
It’s tough bc I think we all think it’s crazy, but we are “car folk”. My wife is not a car person and every car she says “O, that’s cute” is one of those blobbish crossover vehicles and I think unfortunately we are not the norm.....she is. [emoji15]


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vj123

Autocross Newbie
Location
The Detroit
Car(s)
19 & 16 GTI - sold
Can anyone point me to a non-Porsche SUV that drives anywhere like my GTI?

'Cuz, I'd be curious.


It would be a hard find other than Macan as Porsche is the only company who try to defy physics. From whatever i have read online, CX-5 is the best among the cheap ones.
 

Mhamstead19

Ready to race!
Location
Simpsonville sc
I’ve driven my mother-in-law’s CX-5 and it’s sporty in the handling but still not a ton of gitty-up. Sporty handling for an suv/cross over. Waaaaay better than my wife’s escape.


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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
I’ve driven my mother-in-law’s CX-5 and it’s sporty in the handling but still not a ton of gitty-up. Sporty handling for an suv/cross over. Waaaaay better than my wife’s escape.


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I wish my wife had purchased the CX-5, or even a new CR-V, rather than the Escape we ended up with. But that's partly my fault. For a variety of reasons we had like three days to buy a vehicle, and in the rush the Ford seemed to tick all the boxes. I mean, it's a fine enough SUV, it's just zero fun to drive.
 

Mhamstead19

Ready to race!
Location
Simpsonville sc
Yep, I had an 09 civic si coupe....had the typical mods...intake, exhaust, tuned, wheels and coilovers. It was fun to drive for sure annnnd we had a kid and traded it in for the escape. So I drove a Ford Fusion (her car) for 5 years. But I got to trade that in for my GTI. So it all balanced out.


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Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
Ford's not meeting their profit projections, they lose money on small cars, so this isn't entirely unexpected. The 95% of car buyers who don't care about handling are perfectly happy driving a crossover-ute, and if fuel prices do spike again, their mileage isn't that much worse than a sedan.

Sadly, the market for non-SUVs is getting smaller, which will limit the choices available to those of us who have no desire to own one, but right now, Honda is having a hard time selling Accords, which says everything you need to know about the midsize sedan segment. Ford spent decades trying to compete, selling inferior products with massive cash incentives, and no matter how good they made the next Fusion, it would have piled up on dealer lots, much like the redesigned Chrysler 200.
 

Chad13762

Go Kart Champion
Location
Henderson NV
“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."
- Henry Ford
 

TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
Can anyone point me to a non-Porsche SUV that drives anywhere like my GTI?

'Cuz, I'd be curious.

I hear you. I haven't driven any of these, but the reviews (grain of salt and all that) seem to indicate that the Audi Q5/SQ5, Jaguar F-Pace, Alfa-Romeo Stelvio, and the newest BMW X3 are all quite nice drives. But, um, they all cost an arm, a leg, and a gonad, and at the end of the day...

...you're still driving an SUV.
 

Mike-E

Go Kart Newbie
Location
FL Panhandle
That’s crazy, I guess that’s what everyone wants. I hate driving SUVs. But I would rather drive an SUV than a mini van.


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Most SUVs are mini vans, for men that want to pretend they woman did not emasculate them.

If it has never been off road, it is a mini van.
If it has street tires, it is a mini van.
If the paint is perfect, it is a mini van.
 

Mhamstead19

Ready to race!
Location
Simpsonville sc
Most SUVs are mini vans, for men that want to pretend they woman did not emasculate them.

If it has never been off road, it is a mini van.
If it has street tires, it is a mini van.
If the paint is perfect, it is a mini van.



True story....grew up in Wv so when I moved south and heard that most ppl don’t even have 4x4 SUVs.....what’s the point?!


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Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
Mustang still being made.
Focus still being made. They also have pics of a wagon focus.
So not all cars dead.

The Focus as we know it is dead. They will continue to sell a taller version of the Focus, called Focus Active. Basically their version of the Subaru Crosstrek:

 
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