Ranger Roundtable Continued...Page 3

Malcom Strydom:

"Now comes the big question you are all wondering? V8 or not to V8. Well they couldn't tell us if such an animal was due to come out or not but I can tell you they are not blind to the idea and they wanted to hear what we had to say about it. Trust me guys we preached V8. Like I say they couldn't reveal that kind of info but I did get the impression that if a V8 did ever come out it will not be 302. It would be new technology, OHC. The 4.6 that are in Mustangs? I cannot say - sorry guys I tried to weasel as much info as possible :) They also threw the idea of a super charged V6 at us, so there's a possible option too."

"Then came the highlight of the day. They set up a little track with cones and had a professional race driver tear us through there in the new 2001 4.0 SOHC Ranger. All I can say is DAMN. That Ranger rocks, you guys will be very happy with the power boost and handling. I couldn't believe the way that thing cornered, of course it was a Race driver, but damn."

Jim Karnes:

"We started off the day with discussing several departments of the truck - engine, suspension, interior, etc. (I'll have more details later) then we did a tour through the Advanced Engineering Center to where they do all the testing on design and 'stuff'."

"After we had lunch we got started with the discussion again. The engineers were extremely

anxious to keep us talking because they loved the input and they were taking notes."

"Ford said they wanted to figure out a way in which they could help support both RPS and Fordranger.com and hopefully it will happen. They talked about having engineers, etc. respond to postings on both sites with helpful information on problems."

I'm still so psyched at what went on there and I still can't believe that they actually went through the expense of hearing our opinions. We made sure that we stressed that "we" weren't just representing ourselves but the thousands of others that we talk to daily. It's things like that which got their attention. 1. Started the day off with the discussion. The tables were setup so that we were facing them, etc. There were microphones on the table and a professional video camera taping it all.

Things that were discussed:

1. Offroad - mainly about the torsion bars, more below
2. Suspension
3. Noises - wind, road, drivetrain
4. Interior - this was a pretty good discussion; we complained about the cup holders, we need bucket seats, the 5 speed trucks need the tachometer more than the automatic, need a forward facing rear seat
5. Quality - we told them that quality seemed to have dropped with the newer models
6. Engines - discussed supercharging the 4.0 and V8

For more details from the rest of the Ford Ranger Roundtable attendees check out FordRanger.com's full coverage and attendee diaries.

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