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Vehicles / bikes 🏍 Car Talk

I'd like to drive the Ford MachE. Don't want to own an SUV/CUV but I do want to drive it.



If I had the $$$, I'd buy one of these for fun.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I'm sort of surprised as well. I haven't gotten a close enough look but I would imagine that all the cars are properly registered which is why the city has allowed it to remain? I would bet that there have been some calls to the city though but it probably also helps that the driveway is on the feeder street and people passing by on the residential street wouldn't actually see it.

FWIW, I don't pay much attention to it but I think code enforcement is sort of spotty (arbitrary?) as every once in a while I'll see something like this or things that are other likely code violations. There was a trend a few summers ago of people putting large above ground pools in their driveways just a few feet from the sidewalk and it seemed like the city was looking the other way for the most part.
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mendelman said:
If that view is toward a collector or minor arterial, that makes sense that the local CE would overlook it.

It's not uncommon for CE activities to be primarily compliant driven versus proactive.

Also, the older car at the back is a late 60s Chevy Camaro.
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SlaveToTheGrind said:
1967 Camaro as it has the wing side window.
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The white car is actually a Pontiac, not a Camaro.
 
dw914er said:
The white car is actually a Pontiac, not a Camaro.
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I thought it may be but with the Camaro around higher numbers, went with the odds. Needed to see the taillights more clearly. Still a '67 as Pontiac followed along with Chevy in regard to the windows. High school buddy had a '68 Firebird with a 400 and Holley 600 double pumper. Fun car to be in. His personal plate was "Chirp."
 
Regarding the Bronco... I got the approval from my wife (well she just rolled her eyes and didn't explicitly say, "No" so that counts, right") and I dug out the title to my Jeep. I am going to head back over there early next week and see what we can do after I give one an actual test drive.

My original plan for this year was to trade in my Wrangler and get a Jeep Grand Cherokee or an Explorer, keep that for a year or two and then pass it down to my wife and revisit a Wrangler, Gladiator, or Bronco for myself at that time. It looks like there is now a bit more inventory on the lots than I was anticipating this spring (if you want to spec one out and order a custom one though, it's still a 5-8 month wait) so maybe I'll get to stay with a "fun" vehicle. It's going to come down to the test drive though. Considering I have an 8-year-old Wrangler with the Rubicon package, it's not going to take much to be a more comfortable ride than I currently have but I'm really interested in hearing how much road noise there is on the Bronco. If I do get one, it will definitely be a hard top.


Planit said:
I'd like to drive the Ford MachE. Don't want to own an SUV/CUV but I do want to drive it.



If I had the $$$, I'd buy one of these for fun.
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My boss has a Mach E (she actually has the first one I saw on the road - her husband is some big shot in marketing at Ford so I think that she had a connection and was able to get one of the first ones delivered. Interestingly, they had also ordered a new Bronco and it was supposed to be delivered to them last spring... then got pushed to the summer... then the fall. I think they finally got it just before Christmas). She absolutely loves her Mach E. I haven't driven it but I have been in it for a few rides. I really like it but it's much much smaller inside than what I would have imagined from looking at it on the outside. It's so quiet in every regard and it accelerates like nothing I've ever ridden in before. Granted, this is the only electric vehicle I've ever been in and I've heard that they generally all accelerate pretty quickly. Still pretty cool.

There is a Triumph dealership just outside our downtown that also sells Morgans. There is always one or two of those 3-wheeled ones sitting in the showroom or right out by the road. I remember the first time I saw one thinking how cool it was. I don't know that I've ever actually seen one being driven though.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Regarding the Bronco... I got the approval from my wife (well she just rolled her eyes and didn't explicitly say, "No" so that counts, right") and I dug out the title to my Jeep. I am going to head back over there early next week and see what we can do after I give one an actual test drive.

My original plan for this year was to trade in my Wrangler and get a Jeep Grand Cherokee or an Explorer, keep that for a year or two and then pass it down to my wife and revisit a Wrangler, Gladiator, or Bronco for myself at that time. It looks like there is now a bit more inventory on the lots than I was anticipating this spring (if you want to spec one out and order a custom one though, it's still a 5-8 month wait) so maybe I'll get to stay with a "fun" vehicle. It's going to come down to the test drive though. Considering I have an 8-year-old Wrangler with the Rubicon package, it's not going to take much to be a more comfortable ride than I currently have but I'm really interested in hearing how much road noise there is on the Bronco. If I do get one, it will definitely be a hard top.
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I prefer the full size bronco over the sport. I think the sport looks like the "little tikes" version of the bronco. I think that ford is missing out by not having a "OJ Simpson" version of the new bronco.

I've always liked the bronco. I almost bought a first gen bronco when I was 16 but at the time, parts were hard to come by. Now there is a lot of remanufactured parts for them. My father had a '88 Bronco II which I drove when my '67 mustang was in the shop and it was in the shop a lot. The bronco II was 4 wheel drive with manual locking hubs. I spent a lot of time driving it on logging roads in the mountains. I spent almost a equal amount of time at a car wash, washing off the layers of mud off so my father would know that I took it off road. It was a fun vehicle to drive off-road; however, it was anemic performance wise on-road. Despite that I got my first speeding ticket while driving it, I was doing 88 mph in a 45 mph zone.
 
Big Owl said:
I prefer the full size bronco over the sport. I think the sport looks like the "little tikes" version of the bronco. I think that ford is missing out by not having a "OJ Simpson" version of the new bronco.

I've always liked the bronco. I almost bought a first gen bronco when I was 16 but at the time, parts were hard to come by. Now there is a lot of remanufactured parts for them. My father had a '88 Bronco II which I drove when my '67 mustang was in the shop and it was in the shop a lot. The bronco II was 4 wheel drive with manual locking hubs. I spent a lot of time driving it on logging roads in the mountains. I spent almost a equal amount of time at a car wash, washing off the layers of mud off so my father would know that I took it off road. It was a fun vehicle to drive off-road; however, it was anemic performance wise on-road. Despite that I got my first speeding ticket while driving it, I was doing 88 mph in a 45 mph zone.
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The Ford Escape is a poor substitute for the Bronco II.

I couldn't drive my friend's full sized Bronco because I'm not tall enough to push the clutch as far as it needed to go.

An OJ Simpson Bronco would have a waiting list of buyers. 🤣
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I was running some errands at lunch and saw some Broncos on the lot at the Ford dealership so I swung in and took a look up close and personal.

Must! Resist!
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As a Jeep man it should be easy to resist the Bronco. It's more Bronco II and not the awesome fullsized Broncos of days gone by.
 
My cousins drove a 74 Bronco back in the day. Supposedly the best year according to many Bronco aficionados.

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Have I ever mentioned my favorite car I ever had was a Jeep CJ-5 Renegade? Everything about the vehicle spoke to me from its ease of repairs to the austere interior.



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In the late 90s, my younger cousin had a early 90s Suzuki Samurai. It was a surprisingly capable little off-roader and I was quite jealous of him.

I know there are many car people that would love for a small short wheelbase off-roader like this provided today.

Samurai-Hero.jpg
 
My older brother had a Bronco II in high school. It was a piece of junk. Horrible riding in long trips in it. It lasted a couple of years. He loved the thing.
 
mendelman said:
In the late 90s, my younger cousin had a early 90s Suzuki SAmurai. It was a surprisingly capable little off-roader and I was quite jealous of him.

I know there are many car people that would love for a small short wheelbase off-roader like this provided today.

Samurai-Hero.jpg
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There were a couple of guy in my hometown that had an aqua blue Samurai. It was one of the first cars I ever saw with hydraulics in it. There would always be four "surfer" guys (450 miles from any surfable water) in the car. More than once you would see them driving by blaring Sublime or Chili Peppers. Occasionally, you would see them on their side, because a Samurai should not have hydraulics. It is however light enough for four guys to push back on its wheels, which I saw them do once.

Edit: On second thought it might have been a Geo Tracker.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
My older brother had a Bronco II in high school. It was a piece of junk. Horrible riding in long trips in it. It lasted a couple of years. He loved the thing.
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Dad must have got lucky because his was mechanically sound. He originally bought it in 1990 as the second owner and he sold it in the mid-90's . At some point, it was owned by a police dispatcher that worked for my city. I thought it was it and upon inspection I noticed some of my old unintentional modifications like the bends in the bumper where I used a farm jack on it. I talked to him about it and verified it's identity. Ironically, he was told that it had never been off-road. I didn't tell him any different. He was driving it when he left the city in 2010 or there about.
 
Are there clips you can buy to re-attach a bumper panel to the quarter panel? Is it something I could do myself without much mechanical experience? My daughter's 2005 Ford Five Hundred got clipped at the passenger side front. The return of the bumper is flopping a bit and I can see where clips probably held the two pieces together. Just not sure I can do it myself. Thoughts?
 
mendelman said:
In the late 90s, my younger cousin had a early 90s Suzuki Samurai. It was a surprisingly capable little off-roader and I was quite jealous of him.

I know there are many car people that would love for a small short wheelbase off-roader like this provided today.

Samurai-Hero.jpg
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I want to have a car that could pass by bumpy roads or even jungles...
 
Big Owl said:
Dad must have got lucky because his was mechanically sound. He originally bought it in 1990 as the second owner and he sold it in the mid-90's . At some point, it was owned by a police dispatcher that worked for my city. I thought it was it and upon inspection I noticed some of my old unintentional modifications like the bends in the bumper where I used a farm jack on it. I talked to him about it and verified it's identity. Ironically, he was told that it had never been off-road. I didn't tell him any different. He was driving it when he left the city in 2010 or there about.
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My brother was a notoriously bad driver, so that might also play into it. He did take it off road a few times and go it stuck more than once.
 
mendelman said:
In the late 90s, my younger cousin had a early 90s Suzuki Samurai. It was a surprisingly capable little off-roader and I was quite jealous of him.

I know there are many car people that would love for a small short wheelbase off-roader like this provided today.

Samurai-Hero.jpg
Click to expand...

When I used to be more into off-roading back in the late '90s and early '00s, these old Samurais and Trackers were hot commodities. You could buy them fairly inexpensively and if you were so inclined, could swap out the axles and differentials to something beefier and have very good off-roaders on the cheap. People who wheeled on more technical trails loved them because of their short wheelbase and great approach angles. It was really hard to get them hung up on anything.
 
I went and test drove the Bronco yesterday at lunch time. I really liked it and the ride was definitely much smoother than with my Wrangler and there is considerably more room inside (though there isn't really much extra legroom in the back, but there is still plenty for our needs).

That said, once I add on a few of the options that I really want (leather, dual tops, slightly larger tires, better stereo....) the price climbs quickly and it makes the interior feel exceptionally cheap for something that's going to cost ~$50k.

If I had the space to have a second vehicle, I'd be interested in buying a very basic Bronco, slapping some bigger wheels and tires on it, and having some fun during the sunny days while having something more comfy and/or luxurious for the rest of the time. Otherwise, I think the Bronco is out of the running for my new vehicle.

On the bright side, the dealer did offer me a very good price on my 8-year-old Wrangler as a trade-in so I've got that going for me. I am now leaning back towards a Grand Cherokee so hopefully I can get a similar trade-in offer from the Jeep dealership...
 
My wallet is $1500 lighter thanks to a camshaft issue. However they replaced the timing chain and a few other items while they were in there and only charged me for one labor fee (so that was nice).

This is a mechanic we very much trust. Bonus is that we had just received their Spring Coupon Book so I calculated we'll reduce the bill by $350. Still Ugh!
 
Gedunker said:
Are there clips you can buy to re-attach a bumper panel to the quarter panel? Is it something I could do myself without much mechanical experience? My daughter's 2005 Ford Five Hundred got clipped at the passenger side front. The return of the bumper is flopping a bit and I can see where clips probably held the two pieces together. Just not sure I can do it myself. Thoughts?
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Yes there are replacement clips and I don't think it's a tough job to perform. Have I actually ever done it? No. (Sorry I'm not more helpful.)
 
If anybody is looking to buy some sort of GMC/Chevy/Buick/Cadillac crossover or SUV and there is nothing on the lots and a long lead time for new inventory, I think I've found them all: There is a few acres of parking and staging area near our office that is usually used by the utility companies for stuff but there is now suddenly a few thousand various GM vehicles on it.

I wonder what's up with that? Maybe the automaker is leaving them parked there while waiting for chips or something? It's just weird seeing so many vehicles accumulating there over just a few days.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Maybe the automaker is leaving them parked there while waiting for chips or something?
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This is likely. They are done with production but a part is missing or a recall-type repair needs to be done. When I worked for an auto supplier we had a situation like that where a batch of parts we made had some that were defective, so they were held at the factory until we either cleared the part or if it was defective, replaced it with a good one.
 
Doohickie said:
This is likely. They are done with production but a part is missing or a recall-type repair needs to be done. When I worked for an auto supplier we had a situation like that where a batch of parts we made had some that were defective, so they were held at the factory until we either cleared the part or if it was defective, replaced it with a good one.
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That's what I figure. There are a couple of spots up here where it's not uncommon to drive past and see a few hundred or even a thousand of the same vehicle parked in a lot for a week or three but looking at some aerial photos, knowing how big this lot is, and how many parking spots there are, a conservative estimate would be that there are at least 10,000 SUVs and crossovers out there. The astonishing part is how quickly they all showed up.

I wonder if they were being staged at a few different spots around the area or Midwest and then were all consolidated here in one spot for crews to make it more convenient to do whatever needed to be done to them.

This morning on my way in I noticed that they've now erected mobile security towers in a few spots to watch over everything.
 
There is a huge lot that is part of the port just as you cross the river into Savannah and I noticed the other evening there were a lot more cars there than have been in a very long time. I guess slowly the supply is increasing. Savannah is the 3rd busiest port in the US so I guess that's some sort of economic indicator.
 
Doohickie said:
....and the grille. Jeep has the rights to 7 slats.
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Jeep actually lost a court case about the iconic 7-slot grill maybe 10 years ago or so. IIRC, Jeep (nor AMC or Chrysler or Daimler or FCA) never registered that as an actual and American General/GM put a similar grill on one of their Hummer models. Jeep sued but lost the case because of the lack of an official registered trademark and because of the shared corporate history of American General and Jeep (both of which could trace their roots to Kaiser Jeep.
 
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