2004 Ford F350sd Lariat Drw Low Miles!!!! Low Reserve!!!!! Super Nice!!!!! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Ford Police Interceptor Utility shows up for duty in Chicago

The latest upgrade for the 2016 Ford Police Interceptor Utility is all set to patrol the Windy City's streets with its debut at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show. On the outside, the revised Ford police vehicle looks basically the same as the recently refreshed Explorer with a new grille and redesigned headlights. Inside, there's a restyled steering wheel and center console. Unlike the civilian model, though, the PI Utility gets heavy-duty brakes, a more robust cooling system, reinforced subframe mounts and larger diameter suspension springs for more strength. Under the hood, police forces get to choose between either a 3.7-liter V6 with 304 horsepower and 279 pound-feet of torque or a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 with 365 hp and 350 lb-ft of twist. Regardless of powertrain, these 'utes feature a six-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. The transmission includes the awesome-sounding Pursuit Mode feature that switches over to more aggressive shifts when it detects harder driving to properly stop crime. Related Video:

How did Ford keep the GT a secret before Detroit?

True secrecy is a rarity in the automotive industry. Sure, companies try to keep their future projects under wraps all of the time, but usually a spy shot or blurry development photo leaks out. The complete lack of any hard details before its unveiling likely helped make the Ford GT one of the biggest stars of the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. Not only was it the favorite of Autoblog's editors, but the supercar scored a prestigious EyesOn Design Award, too. Rumors about the vehicle had circulated for weeks before the show, but no one really knew much about the GT until it rolled onto the stage for Ford's press conference in Joe Louis Arena. Amazingly, the Blue Oval kept things mostly a secret during the car's 14- month gestation period prior to its debut. According to Automotive News, the GT project began in late 2013 by a skunk works team, including six designers, that guided the supercar along from birth until the unveiling. Ford kept things clandestine by locking the vehicle in a basement storage room, and only the group members got a key to the lock. Much of the development was also done at night to further keep the secret, but occasionally the prototype was hauled outside on weekends to check it out in natural light. Because of the speed in getting the development done and for even more stealth, the designers didn't get input from the Blue Oval's other styling teams around the world. But that was somewhat of a double-edged sword. "You don't actually get to bounce opinions off people," Ford design boss Moray Callum said to Automotive News. "We were on tenterhooks ourselves until the first people saw it." Even now, there are still mysteries surrounding the GT. There's still no official word on the supercar's power; just that it's over 600 horsepower. There are also the persistent rumors going back months that the Blue Oval plans to take the GT racing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of automaker's Le Mans victory. Although, maybe this time the secrecy wasn't so good because we might have got a glimpse of the racer, recently. Related Video:

Consumer Reports declares most and least loved cars [w/video]

Consumer Reports is crunching the numbers from its annual owner-satisfaction survey, and part of that process is finding out how attached drivers are to their cars. CR simply asks readers of models up to three years old if they would buy the same vehicle again in light of their entire ownership experience, and tallies the results. After looking at the responses for about 350,000 vehicles, it turns out that people really love a certain California-built, electrically powered luxury sedan. That's right, this year's the overall winner was the Tesla Model S with a whopping 98 percent of owners saying they would purchase another one (the Model S also won this award last year, with 99 percent satisfaction). The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray came in a close second with 95 percent of drivers hoping to park another one in their garage. A few models weren't quite so favored, though. The Nissan Versa Sedan was the least loved model among its owners; a mere 42 percent said that they would purchase another. The aging Jeep Compass didn't do much better, with just 43 percent of drivers willing to buy the softroader again. On average, about 70 percent of owners say they would buy their car again, and only four cars ranked below 50 percent in CR's findings. Check out the video above to see some of the winners and losers in a few of CR's categories. If you're a subscriber, you can check out the full list on its website. Related Gallery Consumer Reports Most Loved Cars 2014 Related Gallery Consumer Reports Least Loved Cars 2014 News Source: Consumer Reports - sub. req., Consumer Reports via YouTube Chevrolet Ford Mazda Mercedes-Benz Porsche Subaru Tesla Ownership Videos car ownership