Archive for the ‘Ford’ Category

Remember that episode of Family Guy where Peter thought it'd be fun to fill up his truck with jet fuel and fly around town? Well, he's been one-upped: Michigan's Chris Lentz took a 728-pound jet engine from pre-war Czechoslovakia and a 20-gallon kerosene tank, and bolted both of them to the back of his 2005 Ford F-150. Sadly, the truck can't actually fly, but it makes a very respectable 0-60 mph in 8.5 seconds. And as you'll see from the clip above, it sounds just as badass as it looks.

[AutoMobileMag]

Many of Volkswagen's new vehicles continue to be rated worse-than-average by Consumer Reports in reliability, below the industry average in J.D. Power's annual Initial Quality Survey (the latest just released last week), and near the bottom in post-sales service, as gauged by Power's latest annual Customer Service Index (CSI).

Yet, as the latest Total Quality Index from Strategic Vision suggests, Volkswagen owners are among the happiest with the ownership experience. VW placed at the top of the 2009 TQI rankings, along with Ford.

Across the various segments that Strategic Vision breaks models into, Volkswagen had the greatest number of...

There's more good news all around for Ford—it beats out Toyota, GM, Honda, and other full-line mainstream brands and has taken the top mainstream-brand spot in AutoPacific's 2009 Ideal Vehicle Awards (IVA). Porsche takes the top premium-brand spot, and both top-performing brands win for the second year in a row. Model-by-model, top honors go to the 2009 Honda Odyssey minivan, followed by the 2009 Toyota Venza crossover/wagon, Ford F-150 pickup, Ford Taurus sedan (in the top five for a second year), and Lincoln Town Car sedan. Last year's top-rated vehicle was the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

As an indicator that shoppers' priorities might be...