rev up your engines, today I'm going to
talk about why Americans have a love affair with giant SUVs, and I'm gonna
start with a little history lesson, we'll use Ford as an example, after World War
2, Ford made its famous line of F trucks they were pickup trucks, people like the
pick up truck, they can carry a lot of stuff they're still making them, they're very
popular, but in 1957 Ford came out with the Ranchero, it was part truck, part car,
part station wagon, it had an open back but it was more stylish, and then in 1966
they came out with the precursor to all the SUVs, the Ford Bronco it was sealed
in the back, it was a partial off-road vehicle, you vould get two-wheel drive,
you could get four-wheel drive and it's really the beginning of modern SUV,
standing of course for sports utility vehicles, many liked the
idea of the four-wheel drive option, so they could go off-road in them, they were
rugged vehicles but coming from trucks of course, they rode like trucks too,
when OJ was trying to get away in this Bronco you know that thing isn't a
smooth riding machine, and they kept adding to the Broncos in 1978, they put
v8 engines instead of the original six-cylinder engine, so they had more
power and they increased the wheelbase to 104 inches instead of 96, so they have
better driveability, then in 1991 they had a game changer, they came up with the
first real American SUV, which was a Ford Explorer, it mainly came with a v6 engine
but it had a lot more luxury accommodation than any of the Broncos or
anything had, then in 1996 they came out with the first Ford Expedition, a large
giant four-door family carrier, because Americans like big, it's got one, two,
three rows of seats, and even with three rows of seats it's still got a huge
trunk that you can put a bunch of stuff in and generally gone is the four-wheel
drive, there's no front-wheel drive only rear-wheel drive, at least on this model,
you can get four wheel drive ones if you want, but let's face it,
hardly anybody's taking these things off-road, but speaking of rear
drive, this baby's got the new 10-speed automatic transmission, the same one
they're using in the Mustangs, it's a combination of power and the best gas
mileage you can get with ten different gears you can get a lot of power for taking
off, but on the highway you can still get good gas mileage, now in this 2018 the v8
is gone it's a v6, but it's a twin turbo that puts up 400 horsepower, so when you
combine the 10 speed automatic transmission with the EcoBoost engine
system, and the fact that it uses a lot more aluminum just like their pickup
trucks for less weight, this gigantic thing can get 23 miles a gallon on a
highway, which kind of amazes me, because my old Celica this tiny little sports
car, it gets 26 miles a gallon on the highway, they get something that big with that kind of gas mileage, it kind of an interesting technological achievement
for sure, so if you know Americans they love big things that are luxurious, look
the little step side comes out so you can get in easy, and it's like being in a
living room and your own chair lounger, comfy seats, comfy seats in the
back even the third row seats are comfortable, and of course it's got all
the modern technological features parking sensors, dual zone climate
control, super fancy alarm system electrically open tailgate assembly, luggage rack if you want to do one of
those National Lampoon's summer vacations, let's face it, this thing is
like a man cave on wheels, and that's why Americans love these giant SUVs, many
Americans don't want the image of being a minivan man, that they want to sports
utility vehicle like this gigantic thing because it's more fun to drive, it's got
a more macho image, it's not here comes the man in the minivan, it's got the more
agressive styling like the Mustang and it certainly is a sports utility
vehicle, you got a family you can utilize it to carry a whole bunch of people, and
fit a bunch of stuff if you take the back seats out and lower the panel, sure
it's not the utility of the original ones, which was off-road, but it fits with
our modern society, it's a utility thing for the whole family, and
you know why Americans are in love with giant SUVs, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos, remember to ring that Bell!
