2004 Ford Ranger Xlt Extended Cab Pickup 2-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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2013 Shelby 1000 unleashes its 1,200 horsepower ahead of NY show reveal

True story: Last fall, I had the opportunity to spend a week with Ford's new 2013 Shelby GT500 - the Blue Oval's factory Mustang with 662 horsepower and 631 pound-feet of torque. It's an amazing beast, to be sure. I'm not sure if it was Michigan's damp streets strewn with potholes and wet leaves, but at no point did I ever say to myself, "You know, Ford is on to a really good thing here, but what it really needs is about twice the power." And yet, for people in warmer climes with infrastructure in better nick - or for those whose muscle cars live their lives out on the track, there's apparently sufficient demand to warrant just such a beast.
Quick studies will recall that Shelby American launched its 1000 last year to commemorate its 50th anniversary, but it is returning to the New York Auto Show with a fresh version based on the 2013 GT500 I drove. The 2013 Shelby 1000 whips up 1,200 horsepower on pump gas thanks to beefed-up forced induction, engine internals and cooling. Wisely, it also incorporates an adjustable suspension and big brake package to make sure those ponies have the best chance being safely deployed to the ground.
What price the world's most powerful "production" muscle car? $154,995 for starters - donor GT500 not included. What, no convertible variant?

We drive the 2016 Ford F-750 Tonka dump truck

The Ford F-750 dump truck stands nearly 10 feet tall and is painted bright yellow. It idles patiently yards away from Ford's test track in Dearborn, MI. "Tonka" is emblazoned on the sides. We pose the obvious question to Ford marketing manager Mark Lowrey: Why do this? "We built this truck to get attention," he replies. And indeed it does. Ford revealed the 2016 F-750 Tonka dump truck in March at an industry show, underscoring that the Blue Oval is back in the business of big trucks after years of teaming with Navistar in a joint venture. The new F-650s and F-750s start rolling off the line at a factory near Cleveland this summer, and the order bank is open now. The trucks come in regular, super, and crew cabs and offer three states of tune for the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 turbo diesel, plus a gasoline-fed 6.8-liter V10. Naturally, the Tonka has most powerful diesel mill, with 330 horsepower and 725 pound-feet of torque. The Tonka edition is a paint-and-sticker one-off that Ford is using as a promotional tool. You can't buy one, and it will be touring shows and events throughout the year. Lowrey notes that it calls attention to work trucks in a positive way. The general public usually only sees them when the trucks are blocking the road or making too much noise at a construction site. Tonka trucks, on the other hand, conjure up happy childhood memories. "We're going to do something where someone's going to see this truck and smile," he says. It's hard not to grin as we climb into the cabin of this monster truck. It has a 33,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating and can carry five yards worth of dirt. We're not doing anything like that today – just puttering around Ford's handling circuit inside its product enclave. The course is closed, so even though this track is better suited to calibrating Mustangs, F-150s, and well, almost anything but a dump truck, we're totally relaxed. We depress the button to release the parking brake and are off. The truck is surprisingly easy to drive. The vision ahead is excellent – makes sense, we're nearly one story off the ground, after all. The cabin is simple and cleanly laid out. It looks like a Ford truck, regardless of the size. The diesel engine has a lot of grunt. We can feel the torque. The steering is light, and we have to stomp on the air brakes to slow this thing down. We go 'hot' into a tight corner just for fun. It's not really that fast, but it raises the eyebrows of our film crew, which is set up nearby.

2015 Ford Focus gets more Aston-y [w/video]

With more and more members of the Ford brand adopting a new familial face, the Focus has been left looking like an odd man out. At the Geneva Auto Show, though, it properly rejoined the family, adopting the now familiar Aston Martin-ish grille that's proliferated throughout the range.
Overall, we're liking the refreshed Focus' look. Aside from the new grille, the headlights have been restyled and now look like elongated versions of the lamps on the Focus ST. Functionally, those headlamps are bi-xenon units, complete with an adaptive front lighting system. Out back, the rear retains the same overall look, which has been smoothed out for 2015.
In the cabin, the second-generation of Ford's much-maligned Sync system makes its debut. Sync 2, as it's called, is supposedly more intuitive than the first-gen system. Ford is promising "one-shot" navigation functions for the system. Saying "I'm hungry," should bring up a list of nearby restaurants. Of course, we'll be reserving final judgment until we can test the new system in person.