Drew Dowdell

Tonight at an event ahead of the Detroit Auto Show, Ford unveiled the updated 2024 Ford F-150. Starting in 2024, the F-150 will drop the base 3.3-liter naturally aspirated V6 in favor of the familiar 2.7-liter Ecoboost V6. This increases standard power across the line by 25 horsepower and a whopping 135 lb-ft of torque. Additionally, citing a 28% increase in hybrid F-150 sales, Ford is increasing production of the hybrid powertrain to meet this demand. Ford expects to double the mix of hybrid availability in the coming years and aims to be one of the best selling hybrids across all segments. To help achieve that goal, Ford has matched the MSRP of the 3.5 Powerboost Hybrid to that of the 3.5 Ecoboost gasoline model. The Powerboost hybrid powertrain is available on XLT through Platinum Plus models. Hybrid power doesn't mean low power either. The Powerboost hybrid can produce a maximum of 430 horsepower and a stump ripping 570 lb-ft of torque. Available on Powerboost equipped trucks is the Pro Power option, up to a 7.2 kWh power-on-demand capacity for running tools and even some household appliances. This is the most powerful power export option in full-size trucks. Pro Power is available in 2.0 kWh, 2.4 kWh, and 7.2 kWh options. Ford has upgraded their Blue Cruise system to version 1.2 to allow for new features like Lane-Change Assist and In-Lane Repositioning. New for 2024 is is the Ford Pro Access tailgate. Ford widened the step cut-out and increased bumper depth to create the best tailgate experience yet: Pro Access Tailgate. The F-150 with available Pro Access Tailgate is the only pickup in its class to offer a 100-degree fully opened integrated swing gate. Opening from the driver’s side, this solution reduces walking distance to the tailgate handle, facilitates operation when towing, and even features a specially designed integrated handle for easy entry and exit of the swing door opening. The swinging door has built-in stops thanks to the use of detents, or devices to position and hold parts in place, in the door’s internal mechanism, which help avoid banging the door into the trailer jack, offering a seamless user experience even when towing. The 2023 F-150 will continue to be built in Ford's Michigan and Missouri plants and should go on sale in just a few weeks View full article

Best I can do under $25k and fully equipped is a Kia Rio or a Hyundai Venue. Even the Sentra clocks in at $27k and the Mirage is dead.

It costs them literally nothing extra to stick some Envisions they're already building on a boat. The shipping is built into the MSRP and destination charge. They've gotta keep building them for China, so there's no harm in sending a few over here, plus it gives GMC dealers a few vehicles to cover price points below the Terrain, which is now $29,900. Because that isn't the case. They are selling over a million a year in China. Tossing a couple thousand on a boat twice a week doesn't cost anything. Ford killed off the Fusion for dumb reasons, but one of those was that there were far too many product option. The Fusion had 4 different engines, 2 hybrids, FWD or AWD. And they weren't getting volume advantages by building them all in one plant. The Euro Fusions were built in Europe. The US Fusions in North America. The China Fusions in China. The Buicks have one or two engine options each and each model is built in one plant for the whole globe.

Only the Enclave is US build. Envision, Encore GX, and Envista are China built. OG Encore is out of production but was S. Korea built. But also @David: There are 4+ Buicks sold in China for every one Buick sold in the US. They do that by being an American brand and having that image. They get to sell a million + Buicks in China because of the image. So losing that image by closing in the US would cost more than any expense in keeping Buick alive here for 150k cars a year. That, and I think the Envista is going to sell like gangbusters. It will appeal to economy car / kia soul drivers who want something a little nicer.

How can you look at at 47% quarter increase and a 68% YTD increase and come out with the idea that Buick needs to close? 1. They won't close Buick because it being a US brand makes it a status symbol in China. 2. The R&D for Buick is cheap. Take a Chevy they're already building, give it curvier sheet metal which is easy to do with computers these days, nicer leather, laminate the windows, and add active noise cancellation, and they can mark it up $5k. 3. It's likely that any of the EV Buicks will end up being built in the US due to the way the tax incentives for EVs works, so for EVs at least, the China question becomes moot. The only point I'd cede on this is that the Envision should probably be built in the US. It is a platform mate to the US-built Cadillac XT4 and they share engines and transmissions. Since the XT4 isn't exactly lighting up the sales charts, they could probably use the spare capacity to Kansas City to build Envisions, even if the sheetmetal gets stamped in China and shipped over.

I just wanted to let you know that @Anthony Fongaro has joined the team and will be starting to contribute news to the site starting this week. Anthony and I have known each other for a number of years, and like me, he is a member of several automotive media press guilds such as Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA), Automotive Press Association (APA), and International Motor Press Association (IMPA). Anthony hails from the Greater Chicagoland area and also writes for The Gentleman Racer and his own social media Anthony on Autos. If you recognize him, it is because he has written a few articles for us back in late 2019. I've posted some of his prior articles below. Please welcome Anthony and be nice.

Hilton has announced that they will install up to 20,000 Tesla Universal Wall Connectors at 2,000 hotels across North America, creating the largest EV charging network in the hotel industry. The project will start in early 2024 and include at least six chargers at each selected hotel. Hilton says that customers are increasingly searching for EV charging at their hotels, with the charging availability filter being the second highest attribute that converts a search to a booking. For Hilton, allowing EV owners to charge where they park means no unnecessary stops along their journey and that adds value to Hilton's product. The Tesla Universal Wall Connector natively supports both NACS and J1772 type plugs, covering the vast majority of the new EV market, however, owners of older EVs with CHAdeMO or the Nissan Leaf will not be able to use these chargers. Using a standard 220-volt / 48-amp circuit, the 11.5 kW Tesla Universal Wall Connector can charge a Tesla Model-3 up to a rate of 44 miles of range per hour. When set up in groups of six, the Tesla Universal Wall Connector is capable of managing access, allowing locations to monitor when and who is using the charging stations. Our take: Building a charging network at locations where people naturally spend a significant time parked brings in additional customers who might otherwise go elsewhere. Cheers and Gears is reader-supported. If you purchase through the links provided, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Read More: Choice Hotels Signs Agreement with Tesla to Install Chargers Marriott and EV Connect Partner to Install EV Chargers in North America View full article

Cherokee is kinda a false statistic. Stellantis intentionally over produced it by a LOT because it’s going out of production but the EV that is replacing it won’t go into production in the next model year. Basically they built up stock levels to hold dealers over for longer. I think the same goes for the Ford Edge which is already out of production until the next model comes which we haven’t even seen the new US version yet. Picture the new Nautilus with Ford bling.

Escalade minus the fancy suspension = my truck. And yeah, it’s fantastic for long distances. I’ve done 19 hours in it. Now, handling is ass. I’ve looked into stiffer anti-roll bars. Take it into a corner hard and it leans hard. Magnaride can improve on that but only if GM calibrates it that way. But chewing up 19 hours of interstate is what it’s built for and does well. The long wheelbase really helps too. Tahoes and shorty Escalades aren’t as comfortable long haul for that reason. I have the same WB as the ESV.

The ride in the GLS depends on if it has AirMatic or not. With conventional coil springs, it’s just average. With Airmatic it is super cushy, but that’s more without drawbacks. Airmatic fails often and is expensive to replace. Also, back in that timeframe you couldn’t get airmatic + AWD because of the way the suspension was set up. But David has magnaride, which is the holy grail of suspensions. Still expensive to replace but very reliable. I drove a Denali with it a few years ago and it feels like it tiptoes over bumps. It’s a shame GM is slowly phasing it out.

Aside from the vents (which were all the rage in that timeframe, even Saturn had them) and the roof rails. I have all of that on my truck.... now my truck was the top of the Avalanche line in 2013, but still.

And thinking back a bit more, those early Navigators and ever generation after until the current one rode terribly. It was like riding in a beefed-up F-150 suspension. The Infiniti suspension was soft but annoyingly sloppy. Who wants to drive jello and not be able to maintain the lane center after a bump? The second-gen Escalade dialed in the comfort a lot (I never drove a first gen). It was the first of the giant SUVs to have that Cadillac Fleetwood ride.

Eh, a lot of that was people putting big aftermarket rims and big sound systems and lighting in them after the fact. Sure, you could option them up with chrome 22s, but this is what most of them looked like from both generations. 19s at best, not chrome, basically the same as any Yukon. Maybe you're too young to remember it, but yeah, the Navigator was huge when it came out. Navigator is what took the luxury car sales crown from Cadillac for Lincoln. It was a massive hit that Lincoln let flounder. The Navigator came out in 1997 and a "real" Escalade didn't hit the market until 2001. Then Lincoln dithered and gave the Navigator the mildest of mild facelifts in 2003 before ruining the styling completely in 2007. I'm not a professional now? Again, in a handling contest, it's going to go to the Europeans. But on long-distance highway travel, absent some ultra-fancy massaging seat options, comfort for the drivers in this class is pretty much equal amongst this class.

In vehicles this size, solid rear axle v. IRS means little in terms of comfort, and few can tune a solid rear axle for comfort better than the domestics. IRS is mostly about handling while spring rates and shock absorbers determine comfort. I don't know which suspension setup he has, but the air suspension setup in my Avalanche is very comfortable and I have no complaints there. He might have magnaride, so he would have a shock absorber advantage over me. Get his Escalade or my Avalanche out on the open highway and they will match any non-airmatic Benz on comfort. They'll get beat by the latest Lincolns Navigator and Aviator, but that's only because Lincoln tunes their spring rates to be like driving a pillow. I doubt he ever rides in the 2nd or 3rd row of his Escalade, so his perspective is only that of the driver. I don't know if the author Aaron Kiley is suffering from atrophied back muscles or something, but exactly what corners is he throwing these vehicles into to require large and firm side bolstering? Driving in the same seats literally every day, I don't ever experience what he describes. My second row probably gets low marks too, but so do most truck second rows. Doesn't matter to me though, my second row gets folded more than sat in. TL:DR, the Escalade and Avalanche from this generation are both very comfortable for the drivers.

Escalade is "louder" than a Yukon, for sure, but I'd still put it at the quiet end of luxury unless it's the V. That said, so are the GLS and Q7. Nothing says "I'm a multi-millionaire but my wealth is tied up in assets I can't sell" like a beige GLS. Loud luxury I'd consider things like the Levante, Urus, Maybach GLS.

I'm one of those people that certain things wouldn't change that you'd expect to change if I won the $1b Powerball. Flare is not something I'd ever chase regardless of the size of my bank account. Yes, I'd buy a bunch of cars, but for every one Lucid Air Sapphire I owned, there'd be 3 old carbed land yachts from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, in the garage. Yes, I'd get a bigger house, but not some absurd "Cribs" sprawling mansion, I'd aim for an 80+ year older "estate" on some land with a warehouse of cars nearby, probably in New England. My daily would probably be a black CT6 platinum. Quiet Luxury.

Eh, I prefer function before form. Both are important, but without the function, it's just flash which doesn't impress me. Same reason I won't wear clothing with giant brands on it.

I have been there multiple times. Glad you found the way out.

Great to see you back @JamesB. Naturally, I fully support a Toronado-powered motorhome!

As I was emerging from the car wash, I spotted this beautiful Custom Bruiser whale waiting in line at the gas station in front of me.