2006 Ford F150 Xlt on 2040-cars

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Ford driving Alaskan maniac rams toddler-carrying SUV

A couple from Anchorage had a frightening traffic encounter when they were followed and repeatedly rammed by a stranger in a pickup truck. Grace Bernert, her boyfriend, and his two-year-old daughter were returning home from a trip to downtown Anchorage when they noticed a blue, 2001 Ford F-150 following closely behind them. "The guy was so close, we couldn't see his headlights," Bernert told KTVA. Bernert, who was riding shotgun, pulled out her phone to record the truck when it struck the rear end of their Acura SUV. That's when she called 911. Bernert's boyfriend tried to lose the F-150 in the Sullivan Arena parking lot, then drove to a local Ford dealer's parking lot where he drove through a maze of new Ford pickups in an attempt to shake their assailant. "We started doing circles around the brand new Fords because we thought the truck wouldn't be able to turn as fast as we would," said Bernert. "We were right, but the guy didn't care. He just kept hitting the new fords and backing up, coming after us." The truck continued to follow them, ramming the Acura again and again. Bernert estimates that F-150 driver struck their SUV between five and seven times, and hit numerous new trucks in the dealership parking lot. Eventually, they ducked into a nearby neighborhood where they managed to lose the F-150 and called 911. Bernert told KTVA that she believes they were targeted but doesn't know why. "The guy was either some random sick person who didn't care, or somebody who knew us and didn't care there was a kid in the car," she said. Anchorage Police arrived shortly after the couple escaped the F-150 and filed a report about the incident. They are currently investigating. Recent Video:

Ford talking unibody Ranger replacement

Now here's some welcome news. Car and Driver reports Ford is seriously mulling a replacement for the recently deceased Ranger, but the successor to the compact pickup's throne may not look anything like what we've seen from the nameplate in the past.
While speaking at the 2013 Chicago Auto Show, Doug Scott, marketing manager for Ford Trucks, said there's still a market for a smaller pickup, but that buyers expect to see a larger differentiation between the smaller utility vehicles and their full size counterparts in price, capability and fuel economy.
According to Scott, that means a vehicle with a payload capacity of around 1,000 pounds paired with a towing capacity of 3,000 pounds and "a dramatic reduction in fuel consumption." But the biggest piece of that recipe is the price tag, and Scott says to keep the MSRP far enough away from the already cheap F-150, the answer could come in the form of a unibody design. Scott says target customers in this market don't care whether the truck has a traditional frame or not, so long as it's tough enough to do the job and has the capability they need.

Lexus gets top brand marks from Consumer Reports; Ford, Jeep hit hard

Consumer Reports has released its 2014 Car Brand Report Cards, with Lexus again reigning at the top and doing so with the same industry-topping score of 79 that it registered in last year's Report Cards. This year, the institute credited its lineup for being "usually quiet, comfortable, and fuel-efficient," noting it's the only brand on the list "to achieve an excellent average overall reliability score." The Car Brand Report Cars list is meant to rank the best all-around vehicles based on CR testing and reliability results tallied by subscribers it surveyed. Each brand included must have sufficient test and reliability data for at least three models, a standard which left out 11 marques including Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche.
This 2014 Brand Report Cars edition is the first of a new format in which sub-brands have been broken out from their parent brands, with Acura using this year to move up the leaderboard into second place with a score of 75 for its "reliable, well-finished and somewhat sporty models." The top three was rounded out by Audi, climbing from eighth to third by scoring a 74 for "well-crafted interiors, nice handling and good gas mileage." Audi scored highest in the road-test portion, its improved reliability aiding its rise. The top nine was completed by Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz.
Ford and Jeep weighed in at the other end of the rankings, Jeep taking the lowest overall score in the road tests and hampered by "a mix of spotty reliability." Ford was sunk by reliability issues with its MyFord Touch infotainment system which consumers found troublesome enough to negate its cars earning "solid test scores" for being "very nice to drive." Perhaps the rumored switch from Microsoft to Blackberry's QNX for the next generation SYNC will help them out. Cadillac's score also took a hit for infotainment reasons after it was the leading US brand last year, the CUE system in the XTS dragging Cadillac to the bottom of all General Motors brands.