The Argument Against EcoBoost/SVO Mustang

The SVO leaves me scratching my head, because there isn?t any advantage to using the 365 horsepower EcoBoost V6 from the Taurus SHO over the existing 5.0 liter Coyote V8 in the Mustang GT. The EcoBoost motor is actually some 50 pounds heavier than the aluminum block V8, makes 47 less horsepower and 40 less ft lb of torque, and would only deliver a marginal improvement in fuel economy. No one buys a performance oriented Mustang for fuel economy, so unless Ford has some serious tricks up their EcoBoost sleeve, I?m not sure where a Mustang SVO would fit into the product line.

Patrick

can you rebuild an ALU block? (i dont know myself)

The federal government's CAFE doesn't care about what us mere customers want.

Seems, as cool as a new SVO be, we'll be right back where we at in '83-'85 -- a romping, and cheaper, 5-liter car vs a more expensive, "higher-tech", forced-induction, cylinder-challenged SVO. Will the tuner generation embrace the new SVO or will the old guard V8 dudes win the battle of sales?

Patrick

What central planning forces on people is bound to be a heap of fail. Unless the V8 is eliminated from production or crippled it will likely win... unless of course central planning's screw ups extend to dramatically increasing the price of gasoline as they often have.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:59:50 +0000, Brent rearranged some electrons to say:

The price of gasoline is being manipulated by the current regime. They want us all in wind-powered Smart cars.

Do those black helicopters in your head make your ears ring?

The current regime, meaning the gang in the White House and the mob in the House/Senate, don't show much sign of caring about the price of gas. The only real control they have over the price of gas is the federal gas tax, which has been fixed at 18.4 ¢/gal since 1993; in fact, if you correct for inflation, the federal gas tax is now down to a mere 11.9 ¢/gal in 2011 dollars.

If the gang and the mob wanted to force us out of gas-powered cars, they would crank up the federal gas tax to European levels, and then index the tax based on the CPI. But they don't, and they won't, since they only seem to care about getting re-elected.

{FYI - If the federal gas tax had been indexed to the CPI starting in 1959 when it was raised from 1 ¢/gal to 4 ¢/gal, that tax would now be 26.4 ¢/gal. Of course, indexing a tax to the CPI would preclude the on-going theatrical debates about the "proper" level of taxation.}

I don't think there's any cause for alarm here. That wonderful 5.0 badge has been re-introduced on the 2011 Mustang. Maybe the Ford folks are just "sticking a toe in the water" to check if the EcoBoost V6 will gain any popularity. I dunno.

Dick

Um... it's a multi-faceted issue. I'd rather not get into it, so I'll stick to the facet I was going towards... Central planning is prone to error because central planning makes one size fits all decisions and one size does not fit all. The other issues is that all power given to central planning will be abused for the benefit of those who can influence the planners through the groups they establish and fund as well as the companies they control.