Ford Motor Co. says it will build its own diesel engine to power the next generation of its F-Series Super Duty pickups, ending a bitter relationship with Navistar International Corp.

The new, 6.7-liter turbocharged diesel V-8 will be manufactured at Ford's Chihuahua Engine Plant in Mexico. It is slated to debut on the 2011 Super Duty next year and promises significantly improved torque, horsepower and fuel economy. And Ford says it has made sure the new motor can manage 250,000 miles without a major hiccup.

"This all-new diesel engine has been so extensively tested both in the lab and in the real world that we're confident we're giving our customers the most reliable and productive powertrain available today," said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president in charge of global product developmentfor the Dearborn automaker.

Navistar has been the exclusive diesel engine supplier to Ford's Super Duty program since 1979. But the 6-liter engine it began shipping in 2003 led to a storm of quality complaints. Ford bought back thousands of trucks and ultimately sued Navistar to recoup warranty costs. The supplier blamed Ford for the problems and countersued.

Navistar began producing a new diesel for Ford in 2007 that addressed those quality issues. But Ford announced last year that it would sever its relationship with Navistar, once production of the current generation of trucks ends in 2010.

Now, it has designed, tested and is ready to build its own replacement engine.

Analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics LLP in Birmingham said the move makes sense.

"If you buy an engine from outside, that money leaves the company," he said. "Ford has gotten a lot of experience from its diesel joint-venture with PSA Peugeot Citroën in Europe. They should have the experience and capability to do it."

Ford's new motor will be ready in time to meet stringent new emissions requirements for diesels that take effect in 2011.

August 01, 2009
By Todd Lassa

With Lincoln the Ford Motor Company's only indulgence and badge-engineered Mercurys a couple years away, Henry Ford figured the full Ford division lineup had a car everyone from the working man to the upper-middle classes could need. From the coming B-segment Fiesta to the 2010 Taurus, Ford is returning to those roots.

FoMoCo's outsider chief executive officer and president, Alan Mulally, revived the Taurus name after he joined the company in 2006. The 1986-05 Toyota Camry-competitor had too much equity to throw away, so Mulally used the name to rebadge the slow-selling Avalon-competitor, the Five Hundred. He also pushed for shorter lifecycles; one of Ford's biggest problems was that it let fresh, successful models go stale before replacement. An extensive Taurus facelift quickly morphed into a major redesign. Designers had a clay model of the '10 Taurus by the summer of 2007. The board approved its final design in early spring 2008, no more than 18 months before it was to go on sale.

Before redesign work began, Ford unveiled the Interceptor, a V-8-powered concept built off a Mustang chassis, at the January 2007 North American International Auto Show. There's a bit of the Interceptor's rear quarter-panels in the new Taurus, and the taillamps connected by a thin, horizontal chrome strip are straight off the concept. You'll recognize the Interceptor's high beltline and cowl and low, squat, and fast roofline.
 
While the '10 Taurus carries over the 2009's Volvo-based platform and its near-crossover-level ride height, designers have lowered the roofline up to three inches in spots. The '10 Taurus also has an Interceptor-like "power-bulge" hood and a variation of the three-bar grille.

Then there's the dash-to-axle. Ford's program for a new rear-drive, independent rear-suspension platform to replace the decrepit Crown Victoria's began and ended with the Interceptor concept. Mulally slashed development budgets and cut employees, placing the Blue Oval in a much better position than GM and Chrysler. And so, the front-/all-wheel-drive, V-6-only Taurus replaces the RWD Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis. The Freestyle/Taurus X and Mercury Montego/Sable die after model year 2009.

Ford put some of that rear-drive development money into the interiors. Dashboard and interior door panels are thickly padded, as in the {{{Lincoln MKS}}}, and the ambient lighting in the interior door pockets and footwells, available in seven colors, is as trick as in any German luxury car. The Taurus' center stack expands out from a deep dash, cocooning the driver almost like a sporty car with a "cockpit"-style driver's seat.
That space-consuming center stack acknowledges that the full-size Taurus isn't a high-volume family sedan like the Fusion, and doesn't need to conserve every inch of interior space. There's also no mention in the Taurus' ample spec sheet of rear-seat TV screens for the kids.

The car comes with everything else: adaptive cruise control and collision warning with brake support, BLIS blind-spot info system with cross-traffic alert and voice-activated navigation with Sirius Travel Link. Every Taurus except the base $25,995 SE, the fleet/rental car, comes with paddle shifters for the six-speed automatic. You hit the back of the steering-wheel-mounted paddle for upshifts and thumb the front of them for downshifts.

P235/55R-18 all-season tires on aluminum wheels are standard on our SEL tester, which starts at $27,995 and is the volume trim level. Also standard are supplemental park lamps, body-color dual-heated power mirrors, and Sirius satellite radio. Our black SEL was loaded, at $32,485 with leather, Multi-Contour front seats with Active Motion (stress-relieving air bladders), the top option group including Sync, a reverse sensing system, those ambient interior lights, "intelligent access" with push-button start, power-adjustable pedals, Sony 390-watt audio with 12 speakers, and P255/45R19 all-season tires on painted Sparkle Silver aluminum wheels.

About those Active Motion front seats. They massage your backside, not your back. Taurus designers and engineers believe they may be the first of their kind and are meant to keep the driver alert. They're the first of their kind for good reason, though. Kneading of the buttocks is a strange sensation -- we'll take the backrub.

The $31,995 Taurus Limited is just shy of matching the Lincoln MKS, with perforated, leather-trimmed seats (heated and cooled in front, heated in the rear) and lots more stuff. SEL and Limited models are available with all-wheel drive. Ford admits that Taurus nearly encroaches on MKS territory. The Lincoln features a higher-grade leather and has had many of the Taurus' advances "backfilled" into it. And FoMoCo believes few buyers will cross-shop the Lincoln and the Ford.

All this cushiness and stuff translates into a rather sublime near-luxury drive. The chassis is smooth, and the car is extremely quiet. The driver's seat is stingy with bolstering, though, and it feels as if you're sitting on it, not in it. The ride height exacerbates the problem. Designed for aging baby boomers, you step directly into the car, not down into it. That's often a good thing, but the new Taurus pretty much retains the old Five Hundred/Taurus' ground clearance, ride height, and shoulder-line height, if not its roofline. This stance was designed to accommodate the Freestyle/Taurus X crossover, too, so you're nearly as high up as in a minivan or low crossover. Even with the lowered roofline, there's space enough to wear a hat, should you be so crass as to wear one indoors (no wonder FDR chose a Phaeton). The back seat is loaded with head, leg, and shoulder space for three adults.

No surprise then that this big family car takes fast corners with loads of tire-scrubbing understeer. Rebound damping is pretty firm though, and body roll is nicely controlled. The steering mostly feels precise with good weighting, if a bit too loose just off center, with a kind of bump-steer looseness when cornering on rough or highly crested roads. The 3.5-liter Duratec V-6 is a willing partner, delivering decent, smooth power. The six-speed's paddle-shifters are a bit slow. Best to let the tranny controller do its thing, except on steep roads.

At press time, Ford was awaiting EPA certification, but expects to match or better the '09 Taurus' 18/28 mpg with front drive. That's just one or two mpg better than full-size rear-drive cars like the Hyundai Genesis V-6 sedan (18/27) and aging Chrysler 300 3.5 (17/25). With the Taurus' tall overall height, it necessarily has to be a longer car in order to look like a long, sleek sedan, so it weighs within a couple pounds of its rear-drive competitors, wiping out FWD mass efficiency.

The 2010 Ford Taurus is by necessity a compromised redo. Unlike Ford's last such car, the 2008-10 Focus, the new Taurus is a good-looking compromise with subtle luxury, offering Great Recession consumers a lot of elegant kit for the money. It's the right kind of car for the times, a car our current president may want to be photographed driving, sans the cigarette holder.

The 1986 Taurus was so radical that Ford kept the car it was meant to replace, the prosaic, rear-drive LTD II, in production until the new family sedan caught on with buyers. Taurus snagged Motor Trend's 1986 Car of the Year award and set a standard for clean, modern sedans on the large end of the burgeoning midsize market. Toyota and Honda had good reason to envy the Taurus, which within a couple of years found itself competing with the hideaway-headlamp Accord for the title, best-selling car in America.

From the early 1990s, Japanese midsize cars got larger with every generation and were harder to distinguish from each other. Toyota's redesigned 1992 Camry entered the race, and by '93 the Japanese maker had to supplement U.S. production with boatloads of imports. For several years, the Taurus, Camry, and Accord traded first through third, each breaching the 400,000-unit level. They resorted to raising fleet sales and to generous late-December discounts. The Taurus' Hertz lot ubiquity even made popular culture when Patricia Arquette's character in "Flirting With Disaster" (1996) asked, "Does anybody actually own a white Taurus, or are they all rentals?

The '96 Taurus distinguished itself from Camry and Accord with "ovoid" styling. It wasn't a design the competition cared to copy and sales started to slip. Then Honda officially dropped out of the race, explaining it would no longer bring in expensive imports simply to beat Camry.

In 2005, Ford discontinued the midsize Taurus and then brought it back as a full-size model. Ford moved just 53,000 such Tauri last year, compared with 148,000 Fusions, the old Taurus' successor. In a disastrously slow year, without changing nameplates or market position, Honda sold 373,000 Accords and Toyota sold 437,000 Camrys.

Click here to download the J.D. Power and Associates2009 Initial Quality Study^SM (IQS)

In the current economic climate, there is uncertainty about the longevity of automotive dealerships and whether they will be there for you for the long haul.

Rest assured that Coughlin Automotive will continue to offer the same great level of service and selection that you've come to expect from us - today, tomorrow and for many years to come.

Since 1991, we've grown to 5 locations with 10 different brands. We are Licking County's largest dealer and will continue to expand operations to serve the automotive needs of Central Ohio and surrounding areas.

Thank you from all of us at Coughlin Automotive.

The 2009 Ford Flex will be at your local Ford dealer shortly. Its debut as the Fairlane concept was well received and Ford has kept the Flex true enough to the original form-follows-function styling that we expect it to do well. It is produced on the same assembly line as the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX in the Oakville, Ontario, plant in Canada, but it's actually built on the unit body of a Taurus X, albeit one stretched 5 in. That means standard front-wheel drive and optional all-wheel drive with the handling characteristics of a big sedan. The Flex has no off-road aspiration so it has only modest ground clearance and stock 18-in. wheels, and is viewed as a new alternative to the traditional minivan.

The base SE model starts at $28,295, has painted wheels and comes only in front-wheel drive. The $32,070 SEL adds chrome trim, machined wheels, heated leather front seats, climate control and wood trim. Enough luxury and comfort are in the SEL Flex that it wouldn't be inappropriate to use it to transport business clients. Take the big step to the $36,555 Limited and get 19-in. wheels (which still seem a little small) as well as adjustable pedals, the Sync voice-activated system, a 110 power inverter, a power liftgate and myriad other detail changes. Except for the base SE model, awd is available for roughly $1850 extra.

I had the opportunity to ride and drive a $43,250 Limited AWD model. All models come only with the 3.5-liter 24-valve Duratec V-6 making 262 horsepower and 248 lb.-ft. torque — not enough to feel fast, but with the 6-speed automatic enough to work smoothly and still tow 4500 lb. That's quite a feat as it drives like a sedan.

The Flex is remarkably quiet, with a well controlled ride, yet has the steering response of a much smaller car. Ford is hoping the practicality, driving performance and styling will make the Flex a sales success.

What's Hot:

• Seven-passenger seating
• 4500-lb. tow rating
• Drives like a sedan

What's Not:

• Only 17/24 mpg
• No optional engine
• Needs 20-in wheels

Cars to Compare:

• GMC Acadia
• Honda Pilot
• Toyota Highlander
• Dodge Grand Caravan

The Institute rates vehicles good, acceptable, marginal, or poor based on performance in high-speed front and side crash tests plus evaluations of seat/head restraints for protection against neck injuries in rear impacts. The first requirement for a vehicle to become a Top Safety Pick is to earn good ratings in all three Institute tests. Another requirement is that winning vehicles must offer electronic stability control. This requirement is based on Institute research indicating that ESC significantly reduces crash risk, especially the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes, by helping drivers maintain control of their vehicles during emergency maneuvers.

Ford Flex

2009 Ford Flex: good performance in front, side, and rear tests and standard electronic stability control

 

Frontal offset test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2009 models Technical measurements (driver-side occupant compartment intrusion and driver injury) for midsize SUVs

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Side impact test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2009 models with standard side airbags Technical measurements (structure, driver injury, and passenger injury) for midsize SUVs

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Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings See results for all Ford models

Ford Fusion

2009 Ford Fusion: good performance in front, side, and rear tests and optional electronic stability control

 

Frontal offset test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2007-09 models mfg. after Jan. 2007 2006-07 models mfg. after Jan. 2006 and before Feb. 2007 Technical measurements (driver-side occupant compartment intrusion and driver injury) for midsize moderately priced cars

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Side impact test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2007-09 models mfg. after Jan. 2007 with standard side airbags 2007 models mfg. before Feb. 2007 with standard side airbags 2006 models without optional side airbags Technical measurements (structure, driver injury, and passenger injury) for midsize moderately priced cars

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Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings See results for all Ford models

Ford Escape

2009 Ford Escape: good performance in front, side, and rear tests and standard electronic stability control

 

Frontal offset test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2009 models 2005-08 models 2001-04 models Technical measurements (driver-side occupant compartment intrusion and driver injury) for small SUVs

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Side impact test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2008-09 models with standard side airbags 2005-07 models mfg. after Aug. 2004 with optional side airbags 2001-07 models without optional side airbags 2001-04 models with optional side airbags Technical measurements (structure, driver injury, and passenger injury) for small SUVs

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Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings See results for all Ford models

Ford Taurus

2008 Ford Taurus: good performance in front, side, and rear tests and optional electronic stability control

 

Frontal offset test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2008 models 2000-06 models 1996-99 models 1992-95 models Technical measurements (driver-side occupant compartment intrusion and driver injury) for large family cars

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Side impact test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2008 models with standard side airbags Technical measurements (structure, driver injury, and passenger injury) for large family cars

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Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings See results for all Ford models

Ford Taurus X

2008 Ford Taurus X: good performance in front, side, and rear tests and standard electronic stability control

 

Frontal offset test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2008 models Technical measurements (driver-side occupant compartment intrusion and driver injury) for midsize SUVs

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Side impact test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2008 models with standard side airbags Technical measurements (structure, driver injury, and passenger injury) for midsize SUVs

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Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings See results for all Ford models

2008 Ford Edge: good performance in front, side, and rear tests and standard electronic stability control

 

Frontal offset test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2007-08 models Technical measurements (driver-side occupant compartment intrusion and driver injury) for midsize SUVs

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Side impact test results Overall ratings shown; follow links for test details and component scores 2007-08 models with standard side airbags Technical measurements (structure, driver injury, and passenger injury) for midsize SUVs

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Rear crash protection/head restraint ratings See results for all Ford models

Legend for vehicle ratings: =Good =Acceptable =Marginal =Poor

What’s new, highlights, and safety info for the 2009 Ford Focus.

Introduction

Ford’s small car, the Focus, underwent a comprehensive face lift for 2008, but underneath the new clothes resides the same Focus platform that debuted way back in 2000. At that time, the Focus was at or near the top of its class and even won several of our 10Best awards. But today, the platform feels a bit less refined than the newer competition. The freshening went a long way toward updating the Focus’s styling, but much of the competition offers a superior driving experience.

The redesign killed the hatchback and wagon versions of the Focus, leaving only a four-door sedan and a newly introduced two-door coupe. Both versions ride on the same 102.9-inch wheelbase and have nearly the same interior volume. Only one engine is available, a Mazda-designed 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 132, 140, or 143 horsepower depending on emissions tuning and model. Coupled with a five-speed manual transmission, the 2.0-liter returns EPA fuel economy of 24 mpg city and 35 highway on regular unleaded. Power is adequate, and the engine rarely calls any negative attention to itself.

Inside, the Focus can feel a bit narrower than some of the competition. The new instrument panel is handsome and well laid out, but the optional ambient lighting system is a gimmick; it can change the color of the footwell and cup-holder lights. Sync, Ford’s voice-command system that can integrate one’s phone and iPod, isn’t a gimmick, though, and is fairly easy to use.

Completely retuned for 2008, the Focus’s fully independent suspension seems to have become a bit softer and more compliant. The Focus soaks up bad roads easily, but some of the sharpness that made the previous Focus a C/D favorite has been lost. Those seeking luxury in their small cars will approve; those who equate small with fun will be disappointed. Stability control and anti-lock brakes are optional on all trim levels.

For 2009, the Focus offers four trim levels (S, SE, SES, and SEL); coupes are available only in SE or SES trim.

Major competitors to the Focus include the Chevrolet Cobalt, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Spectra, Mazda 3, Nissan Sentra, Subaru Impreza, Suzuki SX4, Toyota Corolla, Scion xD, and Volkswagen Jetta.

Verdict

The Focus’s platform may be old, but the Focus makes up for it by offering a low starting price and a soft ride that might just appeal to some small-car customers, that is, if those customers can swallow the somewhat tacky styling.

Click here to read our full review of the Ford Focus.

Click here to read our latest comparison test involving the Ford Focus.

What’s New for 2009

For 2009, the Focus coupe undergoes a few minor cosmetic modifications, including ditching the heinous chrome fender vents, and the five-speed manual version of the two-door gets three extra horsepower. The SEL trim is new and offers a bit more luxury for folks downsizing to a more-fuel-efficient car. Stability control is now an option across the lineup.

Highlights and Recommendations

At the bottom of the Focus hierarchy is the S trim level, which is only available as a sedan and comes equipped with a full cadre of airbags. Of the few options offered, three worth considering would be the anti-lock-brake and stability-control package, Sirius satellite radio, and—for those who only want two pedals—an automatic transmission.

One needs to step up to the SE to get the Sync voice-command system. One option best left unticked is the ambient interior lighting, which allows the driver to select the color of footwell and cup-holder lighting—this option would be tacky in a limousine. Next is the SES model, which has options—and recommendations—similar to those of the SE trim level. The SEL is the top model and available in sedan form only. The SEL includes chrome door handles and mirrors, Sync, and leather-trimmed heated seats as standard. When offered as an option, the leather-trimmed seats aren’t that expensive, but there are vinyl interiors that look better than the Focus’s leather.

Even though Focus sales have been buoyed by high gas prices, Ford still offers tempting incentives and rebates on its small car.

Safety

Dual front airbags, front-seat-mounted side-impact airbags, curtain airbags, front-seatbelt pretensioners, and tire-pressure monitoring are standard across the Focus lineup. Anti-lock brakes and stability control are bundled together in an option package that is available on all trim levels.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported the automaker had more vehicles than any other manufacturer on its list of safest vehicles sold today.

The IIHS reported that Ford had 16 of the top-rated vehicles, followed by Honda with 13. General Motors and Toyota each had eight vehicles on the list.