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It’s always amazed me that the big three don’t send more of the cars that do so well elsewhere to the U.S. Think about how well the Contour, the G8, the Catera, the Focus, the new Vue and Astra drove/drive.

Here’s another example of a car that could redeem the U.S. auto industry. (Don’t hold your breath).

The best-driving workaday hatch you can buy is a Ford Focus. Fact. So what happens if you take a Focus platform, enlarge it in track, wheelbase and the height of the body it carries, and insert an extra, Haldex clutch-controlled drive to the rear wheels? You get a Ford Kuga… it steers and handles like no other compact SUV I can recall. The steering is crisp, consistent and natural (providing you don’t switch it to heavy, stodgy ‘Sport’ or anaesthetic ‘Comfort’), there’s little roll and yet the ride is smooth, calm and composed. It’s a bit of a miracle, frankly. – evo

New York Mayor Bloomberg recently announced a plan to convert the city’s entire fleet of 13,000 taxis to hybrid vehicles by 2012. This change will greatly assist in the mayor’s plan to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030. As of mid-2007, hybrids comprise only 375 of the 13,000 vehicles used as taxis in New York. And of those 375 hybrids, the majority is the Ford Escape Hybrid. The Escape Hybrid was the first hybrid to be used in taxi fleets across the country. The bulk of Escape Hybrids are serving in New York, and they have been holding up remarkably well, given the extremely harsh conditions faced day in and day out. Ford reports that the first batch of vehicles have accumulated around 175,000 miles (since late 2005!) and have had no major mechanical problems. City EPA estimated mileage for the Escape Hybrid is 34 mpg, compared with 14 mpg for the Crown Victoria. We expect the Escape to be chosen as the most popular model in the fleet. Whichever model prevails, the savings in fuel costs alone will be significant… – Automobile

... but Ford’s really got no clue.

Their Edge crossover pales in comparison to their own Volvo based Freestyle and perhaps more importantly to its Mazda CX7 cousin.

Lincolns was too busy adding chrome to every surface and shuffling its names to an alphanumeric system to do much in the way of actual engineering on the Zephyr, which required them to update the car just one year into production. So much for a good first impression.

Then the ‘new’ Focus comes out not with the P1 chassis that the rest of the world gets but another refacing that sees the car moves to a coupe bodystyle just as hatch sales are skyrocketing. They’ve also killed the 2.3L Mazda engine that gave the Focus a fighting chance.

And now to make up for the bloated last generation Passat styling of the Five Hundred and releasing the car with an underpowered engine, Ford is renaming the Five hundred the Taurus?

If ever you run an automotive company, look to Ford for what not to do.

...’Four-C’ adaptive dampers with comfort, sport or ‘advanced’ settings [are available] but the differences aren’t huge. You can also have power steering adjustable to three levels of assistance, but the feel is artificial in all of them… In some ways the new in-line six, matched to front-wheel drive, is more pleasing… Furnishings? The matt wood looks either Scandi-cool or plastic according to your viewpoint… The rear doors shut with a surprising clang, the column stalks feel hollow, the climate control makes the cabin too stuffy. It’s a well-made car, and that ‘floating’ centre console adds to the internal airiness, but compared with German rivals the quality is skin-deep. – evo

Commentary: Traditionally when GM buys a brand, it invariably forces engineers to use existing parts and runs the company into the ground. In contrast Ford tends to supply companies it takes over with the money needed for R&D required to improve product dynamics and quality.

The S80’s platform will serve as the basis of a number of new models in Ford’s global line-up… I can’t help but wonder if this car’s lack of attention to detail, like that in the Fustion and the Miata, are a harbinger of the kind of products we’ll be seeing from Ford and its sub-brands until the corporation is less preoccupied with its shaky financial footing…

My preferred rent a car company is Hertz, simply because they’re most likely to have something that’s remotely pleasurable to drive than the next company.

This special edition of the Mustang only reinforces that opinion…

The rake of their windshields.

Remember the Bronco II/Ranger/Explorer based Aerostar’s steeply raked windshield? It was there to improve the aerodynamics of what until then had literally been boxes on wheels. (My personal favorite – the rear drive Previa – was the only competitor to follow suit…)

Toyota’s engineers revisisted the steeply raked windshied of the ‘one-box’ design for the 2nd generation Prius.

Now Honda’s thrown contemporary sedan packaging protocol out the window with its new Civic. Windshield rake: 21.9 degrees.

Contrast this with the Scion tC’s 49 degrees… another reason I’m critical of Toyota’s basing their sport coupe on a family car (in this case the Euro market Avenisis).

The first time we drove a current generation Ford F150, we were astounded by its refinement. Size and height aside, the experience of being in one trumped most domestic cars and many an import. There was a sense of structural integrity you don’t get with most body-on-frame vehicles, a real accuracy to the steering, and interior materials that would do an Audi justice. Like the Focus, the Fusion and the Contour it drove far better than you’d expect and far better than was necessary to be competitive – always a good thing.

Ford’s advertisers have put together a microsite showing off the overengineering that goes into the F150 , the kind of overengineering that we’re worried will not continue given Ford’s current financial troubles.

The full size trucks tend to leapfrog one another so we’d expect the next generation Chevrolet and Toyota products to improve significantly with their upcomng revisions. The Titan’s low-rent components highlight how little money Nissan currently spends on the details that add up once the new truck smell fades. If you’re considering a full size SUV keep in mind these components also go into the Expedition/Navigator, Sequoia, XTerra/Pathfinder/Titan/QX, and Escalade/Yukon/Suburban.

(The journalist in these videos is being paid to endorse the F150. We are not).