Ford-F150
Phil P., an excellent DIYer with years of mechanical experience can not quit talking about his new Ford F-150 Twin Turbo V6! So impressed was he that he bought two of
them after a test drive.
If you’re a DIYer, you’ll appreciate this heart warming Christmas story, Phil’s getting excellent mileage for a truck, over 20 some miles per gallon, and he’s having a little trouble keeping his foot out of it because he says it’s fun to mash the pedal, and can give older passengers near heart failure.
But this post is not about Ford and the great success they’ve had in making vehicles people want to buy. It’s not about Toyota who did a brilliant job of studying potential buyers of their popular Hybrid and assuring the design and price point allowed them to market to the people who had the money and wanted to buy the hybrid car.
I remember as a 10 year old kid.. listening to Adults talking about buying a new Ford Fairlane with a Nuke Power Plant under the hood. That was a big story back then, and some adults were saving up for the down payment on their new Radioactive 500.
So here’s an article worth your study.
Ford F-150 Hybrid May Deliver 40 MPG
The first thing you might notice is the mention of hydraulics to store energy, just how does that help in highway mileage figures? Remember the Indian Air Powered Car , people are still looking to buy it!
But. what’s the point of this article if this is just another big joke?
My TAKE.. It’s all about readership and the ability to sell advertising based on that readership. Consider a magazine like Popular Mechanics, the advertisements make good money, but only if they have readership to warrant a good price for the ADs, no way you’re going to advertise in a Magazine or an Online Website WHEN there’s little or no readership and pay top price.
So.. consider this article in Edmunds, look at the frontal area of this Ford F150. If we make a model out of lightweight foam, and put a slippery skin on it, paint smooth.. and set it up off the ground with reasonable truck clearance so it can function as a truck, we can then place our model in the wind tunnel and simulate a 50MPH cruise speed. We look at the force applied to the strain gage and we know exactly the amount of energy we must expend to keep this vehicle moving down the road regardless of weight! Sorry, you won’t get near double the mileage (40MPG) any time soon, so don’t plan on it 🙂
Edmunds played us all for WEB site hits! A truck with 40 MPG fuel economy, WOW!
Now pull up your pant legs, and prepare for that family gathering.. and for Goodness Sake.. keep your opinions to yourself at the dinner table..
Merry Christmas.
George B.
Maybe it gets that gas mileage doing down a steep hill and averages it for a half of a mile. LOL
Weasel Words
Some of my favorite flags phrases are: experts predict, scientist say, scientific breakthrough, Senator, congressman, or governor stated, a recent study shows, etc.—you get the picture. “Popular Mechanics” has been on and off this list for several years now.
In the early sixties I actually saw a fuel system modification that was guaranteed to propel the V-8 powered Chevrolet pickup it was installed on a full 90 miles on one gallon of gasoline. It looked to me like a Kohler small engine carburetor with a lot of extra copper tubing, much of which was coiled up in a tin can that I think was supposed to be filled with ice. It was ordered from the ads in the back of one of the popular magazines at the time. The owner would not divulge the price and, alas, he never got the bugs worked out of it.
May get—could be—up to thousands—over 20 some; really? Just how nebulous a description do journalists think we will accept as serious reporting? These terms along with others cause red flags to pop up all over when I read or hear them. As a means of basic survival I learned a lot about “weasel words” as a member of a military Development Technician Team working with some pretty reputable industrial contractors in the mid 80’s. Even so, I still occasionally get sucked in to reading some wild claim emanating from the latest scientific breakthrough. I guess its human nature to want it to be so.
Merry Christmas
Harold, It seems even the majority of us are gullibe at times. Consider all the Social Security Payments going into the general fund.
Imagine! A Big ole Ford Pickup, streamlined as a barn door giving as good or better numbers as the Chevy Volt!