I apologize in advance for my very first post being such a negative one, but I'm still peeved, as you'll see.

I signed up for the Chicago area "Innovation Drive" event scheduled for this morning. It featured the Five Hundred, the Freestyle, and the 2005 Superduty. Obviously I went for the Superduty action...

All they would let you do is pilot a truck with a trailer around a tiny oval course. You stopped once with the 3rd party brake controller active, and once with the new integrated brake controller active. Then you were done. The "8000 pound trailer" was actually empty because the course was so small, and they didn't want anyone getting out of control. The course was so short I'm not sure I ever even got into second gear, so I'm not sure how I would have gotten out of control. Needless to say, the empty trailer was hauled down from its blistering 10MPH equally well by either controller, so I'm not sure what they were trying to prove, other than the fact that the integrated controller has a nifty-keen bar graph to tell you how hard you're pressing the brake pedal.

There was no way to try out the new turning radius. They wouldn't let you take one of the trailerless trucks on the test track that the cars were on. (Him: "...because it's too tight a track, we can't run the trucks out there." Me: "Gee, even with that great new turning radius?!") So no way to test out that greater torque or the turning radious or the better brakes, or anything. They wouldn't let you take one of the trucks over to some grass to see how on earth you can turn tighter in 4WD when they still have a u-joint at the hub, which already binds really badly at the current turning angle on the leaf spring trucks. They didn't have anyone there that knew anything about the trucks to answer technical questions (like about the u-joints, or about how come my truck is idling erratically again with the latest reflash, or [maybe if I got him drunk] about what the true odds are of my other 7 injectors making it to 100K miles...)

So I drove an hour to get there, spent 15 minutes looking at a new Mustang and a roped off GT in the tent, spent 3 minutes behind the wheel, spent 7 minutes pleading with the guy to provide *any* sort of reason for me to have come there, then drove an hour home. The thing was so disorganized, nobody ever asked me how my experience was, etc. (And if I was Ford, I would have been surveying the types of vehicles in the parking lot, but I guess I think farther outside of the box than they do.) I'm a complete geek over this truck stuff, and yet even by my low standards, the entire thing was a complete and utter waste of time.

More ragging: that dash was a cost-reduction project, pure and simple. It's really been cheesed out. For proof, simply climb in one and turn on the headlights. Man, I've seen sturdier control ***** on an Easy-Bake Oven! And why, after at least 10 years of the same basic layout, did they *swap* the tach and speedo?! Sure, all the little details have to scoot around to fit in the new layout, but couldn't they have left the speedo on the left and the tach on the right, at least? What gives? For the final insult, the Five Hundred and Freestyle testers got cool baseball caps with their car's name on them. The redheaded stepchildren Superduty testers got a cap with Toby Keith's ugly mug on it. Sorry to the Toby fans out there, but I don't think even his mother would wear one of these caps...

For what it's worth, the new suspension could be really great; I'm just peeved that I had no way to find that out, when that was one of the main reasons I went down there. From what little I could feel near full lock at low speed, it's a huge improvement over the leaf springs. They seem to have finally fixed whatever is squirrely about the geometry and power assist on the current trucks as they get off from center. Lots of other situations that it would have to excel in before I'd endorse it, and I couldn't try any of them, sadly.

I wouldn't attend something like this without bringing back pictures, so here you go:

New Powerstroke badge

New suspension cutaway demo

Another view of the cutaway

That lovely cap

Duncan

 

Duncan,

That was a great write-up. Very well done. No matter the context (positive or negative) it was nicely written.

Good job, maybe Ford should hire you.

 

you would be better off going to a dealer and test driving one of thier trucks. I have hever thought about the u joints limiting turns, even though in the winter my truck bounces around in tight turns.

 

Mine does fine even with a locker in front.. Thanks for the pic's

 

I agree, very well written piece. It sounds as though it truley was a waste of time and effort. At least you got the cool hat

 

well, i would have to disagree with duncan on a few points as i myself attend it twice today. when i was there in the morning i was able to drive a v10 dually on the road course and they had a 2wd and 4wd srw diesels that i didnt drive until the afternoon because there was no line. the v10 was just as powerful and quicker than the smaller trucks. the turning and handling were great when i was ripping turns at 10-20 mph on sharp corners. when it was in 4wd there was definately a lot of jaring with it turned all the way and moving

they gave me a survey in the begining that i filled out and it was also for a chance to win a two year lease

i do agree the trailer portion was bogus and how i told them i really couldn't tell the difference. i was going to ask if the trailers were empty,but i was not going to expect a tructhful answer so how do u know for sure Duncan?

all in all i thought it was awesome to see and drive the trucks before they hit the dealers. also, at least they let u drive a truck with a trailer because i dont know of any dealers giving demos with trailers and slamming on the brakes

 

AS far as the u joint noise during full ,slow,tight turns......simple physics,It's going to clunk at extreme angles.However,no harm will be done at such slow speeds.

IMO,
Super Dutys ROCK!
Both old and new.

 

The guy who took me on the trailer course *told* me the trailers were empty, and why. They had a longer course set up (you could see where the stripes used to go) but someone decided they needed more parking and shortened the course to the point of being pointless. If there was no line for you, that maybe says they didn't need the extra parking after all.

Either you sweet-talked the guy better than I did, or he was clueless and someone else came along later, or they changed their minds. He wasn't letting me on the road course in a Superduty no-how no-way.

I'm not so much concerned with full-lock turns while *in* 4WD, I'm thinking more of the case where you have your manual hubs locked in (like in winter on a day when it might snow), and you make a tight turn while in a parking lot or something. That's not always going to be such a slow turn. You get a lot of exciting hopping at the current turn angles, I can't imagine what it will be like with the 2005's.

Duncan

 

duncan, you must have gotten there really early because when i got there around 10 three superduties were on the road coarse and the parking lot was semi full. when i came back later in the afternoon there was a lot less people but the trailer coarse was still small

i have no experience with 4wd so i would not know what to look for, but it definately turns a lot better than the leafs

i also have no experience with trailers, but did it feel like it was empty? i was going to open the trailer to see what they put inside, but i saw a lock on one of the doors so i didnt even bother

 

I was there pretty early. I think I was the first person to wander over to the Superduties, but there were numerous Five Hundred and Freestyle drivers on the course already. I would think that everyone would ask them "how come I can't take a Superduty for a real drive?" so maybe they eventually just gave in. That will teach me to beat the crowds!

The guy said the trailer was empty ("...it says 8000 pounds, but it's empty because we shortened the course...") and it felt like it. I mostly haul stuff in the bed, not by trailer, but I couldn't even tell it was back there. I would have noticed 8000 pounds, even on wheels. I was saying how I couldn't get up any speed to notice a difference in the brake controllers, and he said where it really shone was at low speeds anyway. I can believe that, but with no weight in the trailer there's just no way to demonstrate it. I don't blame the Superduty guys, they were hosed by whoever took away their trailer course space. I do blame them for not letting me take one for spin on the road course though. Duh!

Duncan

 

Duncan

Good write up as always, miss your input over at the other board but I'm glad to see that you surfaced somewhere

Sorry that the drive wasn't worth it

Eric
[Triguy at the other forum]