The Kudzu Files

No More Ranger Rants

I got a new sled today. After several months of looking and pondering, I had focused on either the Toyota Matrix or it's twin Pontiac Vibe. Found what I wanted today, and so - no more Ranger. I may miss having a truck, but I can haul a bunch of stuff in this, including my telescopes. And so - the Vibe:

In Which I Once Again Embark On A Ranger Rant

It's been 5 months since my last rant, I feel due for another one. What triggered this one? Well, Mark, for one, although he couldn't have anticipated it. Just an innocent post on a mailing list. But what really did it was this:

Ford Future Products Update, on autoweek.com.

Ford has already announced that the Ranger is dead after next year. Or at least, they're shutting down the only plant that makes them, in St. Paul. Maybe they'll start a Ranger cottage industry in western North Dakota. But I think not. So, no Ranger after 2007, apparently. So let's look at the Ford Future Products Update to see what's coming.

2007 - the Edge crossover; a re-engineered, re-styled Expedition. Wow! That gets what, 15 mpg? And a re-designed SportTrac.

2008 - a "reskinned" Focus. "Reskinned"? That sounds brutal. The Five Hundred "freshened". Didn't they just introduce that? How much freshening does a brand new model need? The next-generation Escape. I bet the gas mileage goes down. The Freestyle freshened. (sigh). The F250 and F350 redesigned.

2009 - The Fusion, the Crown Vic, the Explorer all get freshened. Changing out the pine scent for French vanilla? And the F150 gets re-engineered.

2010 - a new small sedan of some sort, maybe. A new cross-over of some sort, maybe. The Five Hundred gets French vanilla. The Mustang gets restyled. The way Ford thinks, they'll probably give us the Mustang II II.

WHERE THE HECK IS THE RANGER??????? Hey Ford, ever think that maybe the reason F150 sales are falling by bazillions of percent is because at $3.00+ a gallon for gas, maybe people don't want to drive these as much? Imagine if there was a smaller pickup truck, that got 29-30 miles per gallon, and maybe didn't need to tow 10,000 pounds - OK, so you give up that 2% of the market. What if you said "Hey, here's a truck that will haul what 98% of you haul, and gets the best gas mileage of any truck on the market"? Oh wait, you had that, and you killed it off. Never mind.

Monday Night Continuum Of The Friday Night Truck Rant

In my Friday night Ranger Rant, I said I had emailed Ford with the question:

"When, when, when is Ford going to give us a new Ranger? When
will we get a true crewcab Ranger? I see crewcab Rangers on Ford websites
from other countries, why isn't it sold in the United States? I've owned
2 Rangers, I'd love to own a third, but you're not making what I need now"

Ford's response came today, and it, I think, hints at why Ford sales are dropping:

"Thank you for contacting the Ford Motor Company Customer Relationship Center regarding your interest in the new Ford Ranger.

Ford Motor Company appreciates hearing from our customers, especially when customers provide us with valuable ideas and insight. Information of this nature is collected and used in the decision making process by all departments of Ford. We sincerely thank you for taking the time to write to us with your suggestion.

The Sales Department of your local dealership is in the best position to advise you of vehicle pricing or availability. Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships are independently owned and operated and as such, set their own prices for vehicle sales.

To locate a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealership, please visit www.genuineservice.com.

You may also obtain Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing (MSRP) for the model and option configuration you are seeking through our Brand web sites. Simply select the site for the model you are interested in, and you will be able to configure and price the vehicle of your choice:

www.fordvehicles.com
www.lincolnvehicles.com
www.mercuryvehicles.com

If you would like to request a complimentary sales brochure, please use the following phone numbers:

Ford: 1-800-301-7430
Lincoln: 1-800-688-8898
Mercury: 1-888-566-8888

Sincerely,
Quentin
Customer Relationship Center
Ford Motor Company"

I don't think any human actually read my question. If they did, it's more evidence that Ford isn't paying much attention to what the market wants. And referring me to my local dealer? They weren't aware that Ford had begun putting 4-cylinder engines in the Supercab Ranger again.

Friday Night Truck Rant

Guess what this is:

It's a new Ford Ranger, being introduced to Thailand, and later in the year, Britain. Will we get it in the US? Nope - Ford plans on selling the current Ranger (which debuted in 1993) until 2010 at least. Obviously they've not read my Rant The First and my Rant The Second. So I have now asked FoMoCo the question: "When are you going to introduce a new Ranger to the US market?"

Kudzu Files Ugly Car Awards

In no particular order:

-the Chrysler 300 - just a complete lack or proportion, in both the sedan and wagon versions. The tiny windows look ridiculous paired with that grill that looks like a leftover from an International Harvester Scout.

-Infiniti FX - whenever I see one of these, I think Buster Brown Saddle Oxfords. Or Keds. It's a shoe on wheels.

-Ford F-150 - what is it with the windows this year? I guess Ford couldn't decide between inordinately small windows and inordinately tiny windows. The body looks bulky, the cockpit looks scrunched.

-Pontiac Aztek - I actually sort of like the Aztek - it's a little funky - but mostly it's just wierd. Certain colors look better than others, but it's still a wierd sled.

-Scion B - it looks like something East Germany might have built in 1978. OK, that was my initial reaction to the Honda Element too, but the Element grew on me to the point where I really like it now. Amazingly enough, you can buy a lowering spring kit for the Scion B. Like 3 inches of clearance isn't enough already.

-Dodge Magnum - I guess this is a near-clone of the Chrysler 300. All the grace of a tramp steamer without the style

-Hummer - "Hey, let's take a really ugly hunk of sheet metal on wheels, make it get incredibly lousy gas mileage, with poor reliability to boot, and charge an obscene amount for it, and see if we can convince those idiots that it's a status symbol and they have to have one"

-Hummer H2 SUT - so absurd it deserves it's own entry - "hey, it worked once, surely it won't work again"

Pickup Truck Rant

Toyota has rolled out the 2005 Tacoma, a new version of their compact pickup. So has Nissan, with the Frontier. Chevrolet has the Colorado, basically the next-generation S-10. Dodge has the redesigned Dakota. And Honda is bringing out their first truck, the Ridgeline. What's missing from this list? Ford Motor Company, which for some reason is choosing to sit out the crew-cab compact market (The SportTrac notwithstanding - it's not a pickup, it's a Sport Utility Truck, neither fish nor fowl, but foul nonetheless). Except for Honda, which is just entering the fray, all the other companies have been through two redesign cycles since Ford brought out the current Ranger design in 1993. Don't get me wrong - I love the Rangers. I'm on my second now. But there's almost no chance I'll buy a third, because when I replace my 2000 Supercab, I'll be looking for a crewcab. And I won't want to wait until 2008, or whenever it is the Ranger is due. It's not that Ford doesn't have a Crewcab Ranger - they sell one in Indonesia as well as other countries. But they won't build it in the US. Ford may have a better idea, but I'm not sure they have a clue.

Car #1

Haven't found a picture of my 1960 Ford Falcon yet, but this one is just like it, except I had no whitewall tires:

Cars I've owned

Mark has been talking about Bad Cars Of The 80s; and while my old cars weren't bad cars, it still got me thinking about them. So I went looking for pictures. And found a few. I'm still looking for a picture of my first car, a 1960 Ford Falcon. But here's Car #2 and Car #3. Car #2, a 1967 Volkswagen Convertible:

and Car #3, and 1978 Datsun 510:

.