1971 Ford F250 Reviews

The Ford Mustang Mach-E has broken the Guinness World Record for the longest single trip taken in a production EV on a single charge.On July 27, a UK-based team, sponsored by vehicle tracking software company WebFleet, travelled 932.84km over a 24 hour duration.It beats the previous record set by Chinese EV-maker Zeekr in Hangzhou, China by about 10 km. According to the new record holders, as per Autocar, the journey was “meticulously documented with independently verified video footage, odometer readings, GPS and battery-level data from Webfleet”. The Mach-E chosen for the record run was the Premium extended-range model, which carries a 91kWh battery that feeds a single rear mounted electric motor making 216kW/430Nm. Ford claims a range of 600km via the stringent WLTP test cycle. Over the journey, the vehicle averaged 10.05km per kWh, far exceeding the 6.1km per kWh the vehicle is capable of according to the WLTP rating.Even with the battery showing zero per cent charge the vehicle travelled a further 33.8km. The car was unmodified except for smaller 18-inch wheels that were wrapped in Bridgestone efficiency-optimised EV tyres. Bridgestone says they have a lower rolling-resistance than tyres used on conventional internal combustion vehicles.It wasn’t revealed what the Mach-E’s average speed was, though the trip took place on public roads across the UK and included a mix of different road types.This is the longest verified distance ever undertaken by an electric vehicle, however, Mercedes-Benz claims their EQXX concept travelled 1202km from Stuttgart (Germany) to Silverstone (UK) in 2022 on a single charge.In April, Chinese-EV maker Nio also claimed their ET7 large sedan completed three test runs in excess of 1000km using a “semi-solid state battery” that Nio says is lighter, faster-charging and more energy dense than conventional lithium-ion batteries.The Mach-E Premium is available in Australia for $86,990 (before on-road costs). 

Let’s talk sleepers. In fact, what is a sleeper car? In the motoring world, a sleeper is a vehicle that hides its performance potential from the world, only revealing its true potential when the driver nails the throttle.

The Toyota RAV4 was Australia’s favourite vehicle last month, overtaking the incumbent utes and notching up 5933 sales. The Ford Ranger (4915) and Toyota HiLux (4747) trailed Australia’s favourite SUV, with Toyota once again taking overall honours. Mazda managed to keep its head above Ford with both maintaining a solid gap back to fourth-placed Kia. It was another record-breaking July with 99,486 registrations recorded enough to beat last year’s result by 2.7 per cent. Year-to-date, sales are at 731,898 — up 7.9 per cent on last year’s record numbers.“This is a remarkable achievement in an economy featuring widespread cost of living pressures,” noted Federal Chamber of Automobile Industries (FCAI) head Tony Weber. “It was also interesting to note that while sales in the Business and Government segments were up 13.7 per cent and 37.5 per cent respectively, Private sales were down 4.2 per cent,” added Weber. Hybrid sales were also buoyant up 88.4 per cent on last year with plug-in hybrid sales up 128.9 per cent. The share of electric cars fell slightly to 6.6 per cent. “While the first seven months of 2024 have exceeded expectations, the industry remains cautious about the future pending the implementation of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard coupled with the economic conditions,” cautioned Weber.Toyota is riding the popularity of hybrid vehicles keeping its head in first place with 22,705 sales last month and climbing back to an impressive 22.8 per cent market share.The battle between Ford (57,371) and Mazda (57,023) is nail-bitingly close, the former having a slower July (7749 vs 8476) but managing to hold second place year-to-date by a slim 348 car margin. Kia remains in a strong fourth followed by Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Isuzu, MG, Nissan and Subaru.As for models, the Corolla hatch and sedan had an extremely strong sales month with 2688 registrations with its sparring partner, the Hyundai i30 (663), nowhere to be seen as the company waits for the updated hatch to arrive (though with Kia Cerato sales up significantly to 1592). Then came the Isuzu D-Max ute, Ford Everest large SUV, the Mitsubishi Outlander and Mazda CX-5 mid-size SUVs and the MG ZS small SUV. The Toyota Kluger rounded out the top 10, beating the LandCruiser to the punch. Tesla’s sales were weaker in July with just 1353 Model Y and 1239 Model 3 registrations not enough to see either model climb into the overall top 10. By state and territory, the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia all improved their positions while the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria had small sips (less than two per cent). Sales in Tasmania were down 12 per cent.

Holden faithful, avert your eyes. Walkinshaw Performance has hotted up the most popular model from its old rival, Ford.

Ford USA seems to get all the good stuff - not just the partially Aussie-developed Bronco four-wheel drive but also the urban-friendly Maverick ute. 

Can you hear what’s coming over the horizon? Probably not, because it’s a swathe of near-silent Electric Vehicles (EVs), set to supersede the bog-standard gas-guzzling Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car within the next decade or two. 

Ford will move away from big electric cars in the hopes to drive profits with smaller, more affordable vehicles for the masses.

As William Shakespeare famously wrote: ‘What’s in a name? Would a Ford Mustang with an electric motor still be a Ford Mustang?’

Ford is rolling out a new and improved Ranger divvy van for Victoria Police that builds on the success achieved with the earlier-generation PX III model back in 2021.

Australia is losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes thanks to lenient exemptions for utes - particularly full-sized American utes - says a leading policy think tank.