Ford Trucks For Sale

Ford’s light restyle and mid-life nip ‘n’ tuck for its European C-segment Focus line reaches UK showrooms in February with the new option of a Getrag six-speed, twin clutch, automated manual gearbox.

Other new features include ‘Easy Fuel’ capless refuelling (intended to prevent putting petrol in a diesel car), ‘Ford Power‘ button, tyre pressure warning system, 230-volt AC socket and LED rear lights.

UK on the road prices from GBP11,945 will be GBP£250 more than the equivalent outgoing model though ESP, previously a GBP250 option, is now standard.

The restructured range offers a choice of Studio, Style, Zetec, Titanium and ST trim and a huge choice of petrol and diesel engines. Transmissions include five and six speed manual gearboxes, a conventional automatic or the new Getrag dual-clutch automated gearbox, branded PowerShift.

All Focus models will also have ABS (mandatory in Europe), four airbags, electric front windows, CD player, central locking, height adjustable driver’s seat, 60/40 split folding rear seat, curtain airbags and the Easyfuel capless refuelling system.

New styling cues nicked from the new D-segment Mondeo (getting a lot of consumer reviewer acclaim here right now) include trapezoidal grilles, swept back headlamps, bolder wheel arches, newly shaped rear glass, a contoured tailgate and new tail lamps as key changes. Higher trim grades benefit from chrome detailing and a body-coloured upper rear spoiler.

Inside, new soft-touch plastics now cover the instrument panel and upper front door trim and instruments have been re-designed along Mondeo lines and are now illuminated in red.

Controls for the upgraded audio equipment and two-zone air conditioning have also been ergonomically improved.

The top Titanium model now includes a newly designed centre console with movable armrest and a four-litre-capacity storage compartment, storage areas for back-seat passengers and the facility to add optional items such as a 230 volt socket or the USB audio connection box. Another feature available as an option from the beginning of 2008 is the ‘Ford Power’ button, positioned near the gear shifter.

The PowerShift transmission will be available from early 2008 in combination with the 136PS and new 110PS versions of the two-litre Duratorq TDCi engine.

Another new development is the Focus ‘ECOnetic’ model which features an array of aerodynamic efficiencies and is powered by a 109 PS 1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi with standard diesel particulate filter (DPF). This has average CO2 emissions of only 115g/km, which is a class leading result for a conventional vehicle in this segment.

All Focus 1.6-litre TDCi variants will achieve 119g/km CO2 regardless of power rating, body style or wheel dimensions.

A flexifuel version of the 1.8-litre Duratec petrol four-cylinder engine can be fuelled with bio-ethanol E85-fuel and the range also includes two-litre Duratec petrol engine-based CNG and LPG derivatives.

Buyers can personalise cars from the long list of options, some of which have been reduced in price from the previous model.

Ford’s Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup won one of the classic Bathurst 1000 races on Sunday, overcoming massive drama to go back-to-back at Mount Panorama.

On a great day for Ford, Falcons occupied all three spots on the podium.

James Courtney and David Besnard avoided the bedlam for second, and Steven Johnson and Will Davison almost won the race before settling for third.

For all four guys in second and third, Sunday was a career-best finish on the mountain.

“It’s a great moment,” said Davison.

Holden fancies Rick Kelly and Garth Tander did not finish, nor did Holden Racing Team’s Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly.

To rub it in, Whincup moved into the championship lead, with Lowndes second, dropping Rick Kelly and Tander to third and fourth with four rounds to go.

“This one for me is much bigger. I understand what Bathurst is about. Last year I didn’t know what was going on,” said Whincup, comparing this win to 2006 where emotion was high because of the passing of legend Peter Brock.

But it could so easily have been the worst moment of Whincup’s career.

Ford Performance Racing’s Steven Richards had broken Mark Skaife’s 2005 lap record by less than a tenth of a second with a 2min 08.5580sec scorcher as he and Whincup battled valiantly for top spot, before Whincup upstaged the 35-year-old with a 2:08.4651.

But on lap 134 of 161, Whincup shocked the massive crowd by losing control entering the pits, costing Triple Eight crucial seconds.

“It was a race in the pits and I knew we had to have a quick one, but I just pushed it too hard,” said Whincup, 24.

Lowndes recovered, but then Johnson pressured to sneak in front on lap 154, before Lowndes went back in front a lap later in an immense finish to a great race.

“I was just concentrating on Steven’s lines … and he ran a little wide going into turn one and I managed to get inside of him, we made contact,” said Lowndes, who battled greasy, wet conditions in the closing stages in a highly impressive drive.

“From then on in we just had to knuckle down - every lap was a whole new experience.”

FPR were in control until Mark Winterbottom speared off at The Chase with 13 laps to go, gifting Triple Eight the lead.

Winterbottom and Richards ended the race in tenth position.

Skaife and Kelly’s day ended amongst the late drama when rain fell when they hit the wall.

It was Lowndes’ third title, having also won 11 years ago in a Holden with Greg Murphy.

For 24-year-old Winterbottom, this was his second triumph and yet another milestone in an increasingly impressive career.

Hundreds of Dodge dealers could be wiped out. That’s because Chrysler is considering branding changes that would streamline its product offerings. The Wall Street Journal says the change means Chrysler dealers would sell all passenger cars under the Chrysler name, meaning Dodge dealers would sell only pickup and commercial trucks and Jeep dealers would sell only Jeep and sport utility vehicles. That move would eliminate underperforming dealerships that carry excess inventory.

A Garbage truck emptying a Dumpster in Kissimmee on Friday snagged an overhead power line, pulling three transformers to the ground and causing a power outage.

The Truck was emptying a Dumpster in the alley behind the Kissimmee Korner shopping center, located in the northeast corner of John Young Parkway and U.S. Highway 192, at 6:45 a.m. when the transformers, each weighing 1,160 pounds, were pulled down.

Officials said the incident resulted in a fireball that left all the businesses in the shopping center as well as a nearby Laundromat without power from Kissimmee Utility Authority.

Honda puts on display next generation clean diesel and fuel cell technology

Diesel engines for consumer vehicles in the United States in recent years have been relegated mainly to Heavy-duty Pickups along with the Jeep Liberty, Mercedes E-Class and a few VW models. The diesel engine just hasn’t taken off here due to the relatively cheap unleaded fuel prices that Americans enjoyed. In Europe, however, diesel engines are found in 50% of new cars.

Honda has unveiled a new diesel drivetrain that it hopes to employ in its US passenger cars by 2009. It also says that the new engine passes U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier II Bin 5 emissions requirements. The key to Honda’s diesel cleanliness is due to an innovative new catalytic converter that uses ammonia to convert nitrogen oxide into nitrogen. According to Honda’s press release :-

The new catalytic converter utilizes a two-layer structure: one layer adsorbs NOx from the exhaust gas and converts a portion of it into ammonia, while the other layer adsorbs the resulting ammonia, and uses it later in a reaction that converts the remaining NOx in the exhaust into nitrogen (N2). Ammonia is a highly effective reagent for reducing NOx into N2 in an oxygen-rich, lean-burn atmosphere. This ability to generate and store ammonia within the catalytic converter has enabled Honda to create a compact, lightweight NOx reduction system for diesel engines. The system also features enhanced NOx reduction performance at 200–300ºC, the main temperature range of diesel engines.

Honda also touted its next generation FCX concept fuel cell vehicle. The new fuel cell stack used in the FCX is 30% lighter and 20% smaller than the previous generation. Despite the reductions in size and weight, power is up by 14kW. The drive motor also saw its power output increase by 15kW and the overall drivetrain is nearly 400 pounds lighter than before.

With its hydrogen fuel cell and onboard lithium ion batteries, the FCX boasts an overall efficiency rating of 60% — three times that of a conventional internal combustion engine, two times greater than a hybrid vehicle and 10% better than the previous generation FCX. When all is said and done, the new FCX boasts a range of 354 miles.

Honda has long been seen as a “green” company in the United States and its new engine technologies show that the company is poised to maintain that clean image.

Honda Cars for sale at Volcars.com

Using Microsoft’s Auto software, Ford Sync looks to integrate mobile devices with cars more tightly than ever

At Microsoft’s Sunday evening CES Keynote, Bill Gates mentioned that one area his company is looking to expand into is providing information services inside the car. With commuters spending hours in the car every day, Gates wishes to give drivers and passengers access to many of the features they experience at home. Mark Fields, Americas president of Ford Motor Company then took over to describe a new factory-installed, in-car communications and entertainment system that is designed to change the way consumers use digital media portable music players and mobile phones in their vehicles.

The Ford technology based on Microsoft Auto software first leaked last year, dubbed Sync, provides consumers the convenience and flexibility to bring into their vehicle nearly any mobile phone or digital media player and operate it using voice commands or the vehicle’s steering wheel or radio controls. In theory, Ford owners will not need to worry about whether their car or truck is compatible with new phones or music players that hit the market – Sync is upgradeable to support future devices and services.

Sync offers consumers two ways to bring electronic devices into their Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles and operate them seamlessly through voice commands or steering wheel controls: Bluetooth, for wireless connection of phones and phones that play music, or a USB 2.0 port for command and control and charging of digital media players – including the Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune – as well as PlaysForSure music devices and most USB media storage devices. Supported formats include MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV and PCM.

In addition to the voice-activated, hands-free calling, another feature offered by Sync that allows the driver to keep his or her eyes on the road is audible text messages. Sync will convert text messages from your phone to audio and read it out loud. The system is even smart enough to translate such commonly used text messaging expressions as “LOL” and other emoticons. The recipient can choose to reply from any of 20 predefined responses.

Sync includes the same features offered on mobile phones, including caller ID, call waiting, conference calling, a caller log, a list of contacts, a signal strength icon and a phone battery charge icon – all located on the radio’s display screen. The system will also automatically and wirelessly transfer all the names and numbers in a mobile phonebook.

Sync will debut this calendar year on the 2008 Ford Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, Edge, Freestyle, Explorer, Sport Trac, Mercury Milan, Montego, Mountaineer and Lincoln MKX and MKZ. The technology will be on all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles in the near future.

“Ford and Microsoft share a vision for a future where Drivers are safely connected to the people, information and entertainment they care about while they are on the road,” said Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation. “Built on Microsoft Auto technology, Ford Sync delivers an in-car system that is an important step toward achieving this vision. Using software that bridges the automotive and consumer electronics industries, Sync will help revolutionize the driving experience by providing a simple system that intelligently connects mobile phones, music players, and more.”

A semitractor tanker hauling about 6,000 gallons of liquefied hog manure tipped over, spilling half of the waste along an eastern Indiana highway, police said.

An estimated 2,500 gallons of the hog waste spilled from the truck in Wednesday’s accident but the environmental impact appears to have been minimal, said Steve Polston, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

“Mostly, the environmental impact is to the soil at the site of the incident. About 100 gallons might have spilled into a ditch,” Polston said.

Driver Robert Thompson of Morgantown was turning onto Indiana 67 from a county road when the tanker’s tires left the road, causing it to unhook from the rig and flip onto its side about 20 miles northeast of Muncie, Jay County sheriff’s Deputy Mitch Sutton said.

The truck, owned by Wagler Transportation Inc. of Nashville, was removing the waste from a confined hog feeding operation to spread onto farm fields as fertilizer.

Sutton said the Redkey fire department built a dike to contain the manure, which was then pumped into another Wagler tanker that was hauling manure in the area.

Wagler is expected to excavate the contaminated soil and spread it on farmland.

A driver has been transported to a hospital after his garbage-hauling truck smashed through a fence and ended up in a residential swimming pool in suburban Fort Worth.

North Richland Hills police spokesman Larry Irving says the driver apparently lost consciousness Monday afternoon.

Two other people with him on the truck weren’t injured in the crash.

The Truck came to rest on its side.

A pair of Sangamon County vehicle-pedestrian accidents Monday evening left a 38-year-old Riverton woman dead and a 58-year-old Berlin man hospitalized in critical condition.

Michele J. Everhart, 38, was killed instantly when she apparently jumped or ran in front of a car on Old Route 36 in Riverton shortly before 8 p.m., according to Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Barb Freesen.

Everhart had recently moved to Riverton, authorities said.

There is little lighting at the site of the incident, and authorities were unsure why the woman was in the roadway.

A Riverton couple told police the 79-year-old husband was driving east in a Ford Focus when what they initially thought was a deer appeared in front of them at the Fourth Street intersection. There was no way for him to avoid the collision, which caused the victim to be thrown up over the hood of the car, shattering the driver’s side windshield, Freesen said.

It appeared the woman approached from the westbound lane.

Authorities went to Riverton Middle School afterward to talk with a Lincoln man who had been in a romantic relationship with the victim. State police also indicated she had at least one child.

It wasn’t immediately known if the woman was under the influence of alcohol or any other intoxicating substance, Freesen added.

Meanwhile, Sangamon County sheriff’s Capt. Jack Campbell said alcohol appeared to be a factor in an accident that badly injured Gary Sheppard about 4:10 p.m. in the 400 block of South Washington Street in Berlin.

Witnesses told deputies Sheppard had been drinking throughout the afternoon before a woman came to pick him up at a friend’s house and take him home.

Sheppard refused, prompting the woman to get back into the 2003 Pontiac Sunfire.

As she looked over her shoulder in the other direction and started to back out of the driveway, deputies said, Sheppard approached the driver’s side door. The car then swung around, striking Sheppard and running him over.

He suffered injuries including a skull fracture and a broken leg and remained in the trauma unit at St. John’s Hospital late Monday.

No citations were immediately issued as deputies continued to investigate.

Tossing bags that can weigh as much as 50 pounds from in front of as many as 500 homes is a difficult job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not one worth doing.

“They think it’s bad because it’s trash,” Mike Robinson, a residential trash employee for Olathe said of the public’s perception. “It’s hard work, but it’s not a bad job.”

Donnie Morrison, the commercial supervisor in the solid waste division, began throwing trash for the city 15 years ago. He said it wasn’t a glamorous job.

“No one grows up and says, ‘I want to be a trash man,’” he said.

Robinson and 29 others who work for the division patrol the city’s neighborhood streets, often working overtime to make sure what you put in front of your house to be disposed of doesn’t stay there long.

Three groups comprise the division: residential, commercial and recycling. Each week, the city collects trash from 35,200 Olathe houses, yard waste from 32,000 houses and recycling from 10,000 houses.

Unlike most of the more than 900 city employees who had the day off on Veterans Day, Robinson and his fellow workers hit the streets to pick up residents’ grass clippings, leaves, small plant trimmings and tree limbs.