2010 NYIAS: Ford F150 SVT Raptor!

Why were these oversize reptiles not upstairs? My guess is that these two Raptors are too heavy for the 3rd floor of the Jacob Javits Center. When you walk up to one of these it's more like approaching a T-rex than a Raptor.  It's basically an F150 on the biggest dose of steroids you could ever imagine.


Currently, the Raptor is only available with a 5.4 liter V8 engine there is a 6.2 liter version on the way that puts out 411 hp and 434 lb.-ft. of torque. Ford says the truck is built for off-road rallying so its tow capabilities are not excellent but it will have no trouble towing a small 4-wheeler.


Models start just under $40k and figures can get up to almost $60k fully loaded. There is a splatter decal package you can get for just under $1000 which almost seems necessary and it's available with navigation in case you get lost racing through the sand dunes in California.

The truck is available in orange, black, white, and blue but I'd go for the orange. 


From the side, it looks like the truck is equipped with suicide doors for the back seats, but it's not and there is not much room for sitting behind the driver and passenger, but screw the kids anyway right?


The interior is wrapped in graphite colored leather with seats and door cards to match the exterior color and while the interior design looks clean and premium, it's mostly gray plastic. In fact there is entirely too much gray plastic everywhere you look on this truck which does look utilitarian but it's not priced utilitarian. 

Whether you like it or not, the SVT Raptor is badass. The fact that Ford went ahead with it is impressive and scary at the same time because who is in the market for buying an outlandish truck made for hitting jumps for $40-60k? I sure wish I was.


~M/o  "Stay up to Speed"

Motoriginal's notable cars of 2009

2009 marked a good year for cool cars even though the economic downturn has halted sales and forced certain brands to go out of business. This could be the reason there were so many great cars this year. The decline in consumer spending has forced companies to try very hard to get our business.

Here are some great car picks from 2009 brought to you by Motoriginal in no particular order. This list is not based on sales or price but rather the coolness factor, design, and game changing aspects of the car.

 Cadillac CTS Sport: one of the coolest wagons ever, GM would do better marketing this car to men

Nissan Cube: where Honda failed with the Element, Nissan succeeded, trendy yet versatile

Porsche Cayman: beautiful curves and amazing performance, a car in its own class

Maserati GranTurismo: one of my favorite designs, Italian sports and luxury you can't beat

Alfa Romeo 8c Spider: pure beauty, I think it's the most beautiful car ever

Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe: futuristic design mixed with class

Volkswagen Eos: hardtop convertible, great mixture of simplicity and complexity

Volkswagen GTI: beautifully redesigned for 2009, very tight and sleek

Lexus IS 250: well executed hardtop convertible, a car nobody knew they wanted until it hit the market

Saturn Sky: redline edition shown above, a great little roadster for saturn prices

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution: successfully married rally with street racing

Subaru WRX/ STi: great front facia, perfect amount of beefiness and practicality

BMW Z4: hardtop convertible redesigned by the ladies design team

Honda FCX: hydrogen fuel cell available in the U.S. only in California

Mercedes-Benz SL: sporty yet elegant, continues the classic SL line

BMW 7-Series: very well executed design by Adrian van Hoyden, served as BMW design flagship

Cadillac CTS-V: very aggressive design, sharp edges and a power-train that competes with the M3

Lincoln MKS: undoubtedly a Lincoln with apparent European looks, Ford needs to market this car better

Hyundai Genesis: this car changed the whole brand and surprised the global car community

Hyundai Genesis Coupe: the most sporty Hyundai ever, rear-wheel drive sports car

Audi S5/A5: amazing looks, the sound of the exhaust, perfection

Audi R8: Lamborghini v10 engine, the second most beautiful car ever in my book

Chevrolet Camaro SS: have to give GM credit for going ahead with it, I would like to see a redesign for 2011

Volkswagen CC: my favorite sedan, very sporty with distinctive aesthetics

Ford Mustang: 2010 version shown above, Ford tightened up the body, love it

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1: competes with Lamborghinis on the track, pure American muscle super car

Nissan GT-R: Godzilla! Japanese Porsche killer, simply amazing

--M/o

Why won't Americans buy American cars?

What's the last American made car that you wanted for under $30k. Okay, maybe you like the Mustang or Camaro. Aside from these exceptions to uncool American cars, what else is there???

I mean, have you seen recent tv ads for GM? What's with the "let the better car win" crap? What has GM won in the past decade? Maybe Motor Trend "truck of the year," and lately those Motor Trend awards have been going to foreign cars. Seriously though, why won't Americans buy American cars?

Let's start by breaking down the competition for GM, Ford, and Chrysler. GM offers plenty of cars between $15-30k. Take for instance the Chevy Cobalt starting just under $15k, and the Pontiac G6 starting just under $20k, and the Saturn Aura starting just under $23k. There are plenty more to choose from but the problem is they're all basically the same car and they're not very desirable cars.

So who are these cars for? GM has 42 SUVs and trucks, 18 sedans, 8 coupes, 4 convertibles, 2 wagons and 1 hatchback. That's right 1 hatch! Out of hundreds of cars and trucks to choose from there is 1 hatchback and 8 coupes.

The Saturn Astra is the only hatchback GM has and the Volvo C30 is the only hatch that Ford has to offer (I still don't consider Volvo a Ford). Personally, I like both but would I buy either? The last new cars I was looking at were affordable hatches, coupes, and few (sport) sedans. I had very little choice of American hatches in a sea of VW GTI's/Golfs/Beetles, Mazda 3's, Honda Civic Si's and Mini Coopers.

Which coupes do GM, Ford, and Chrysler have to offer? Okay here goes...So who are these cars for? That's what the GM marketing team needs to ask themselves. What competitor cars are similar but better and possibly cheaper?! Don't get me wrong, I am not just criticizing to hate on the US Auto industry. I want to see it improve and I'm sure there are plenty of Americans out there that would agree.

Ford: Mustang & Focus
Mercury: 0
Lincoln: 0
Chevy: Camaro, Cobalt, Corvette
Pontiac: Solstice, G6
Cadillac: XLR
Saturn: Sky
Buick: 0
GMC: 0
Chrysler: 0
Dodge: Viper, Challenger

Okay, the Corvette, XLR, and Viper are out of my league along with most people. The Focus, Cobalt and G6 are ugly, not very sporty and cheap looking. So I have the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, Solstice and Sky to choose from. As much as I like the Camaro, I probably would never buy one because of the price and sheer principal. The day of the muscle car was over 30 years ago. If I want a muscle car I'll go buy a '69 Camaro for the same price and have a piece of automotive history.

I like the Mustang more because ford has incorporated a modern aesthetic that doesn't necessarily into the muscle car category, plus I like the design better than the Camaro aside from gaudy chrome wheels. The Challenger is just too retro for me. And the Solstice & Sky, well they're cool looking cars but what's the difference between the two?

Within my price range I had the Mustang, Camaro, and Soltice/Sky to choose from in the American market. Get ready for the competition now...Audi TT(Germany), VW Eos(Germany), BMW 1-series(Germany), Honda Accord coupe/Civic coupe/S2000(Japan), Nissan Z/Altima coupe(Japan), Hyundia Tiburon/Genesis coupe(Korea), Mazda Miata/RX-8(Japan), Mitsubishi Eclipse(Japan), Scion tc(Japan).....If you increase the budget by $5k there are a mess load of other imported cars to choose from.

I was also looking into a few affordable, sporty sedans. In the American market there are only the Volvo S40 (not American to me) and the Cadillac CTS which costs more than a BMW 3-series.

Some sporty sedans that I was looking at were:

Mitsubishi Lancer

Mazda3
Mazda6
Volkswagen Passat
Acura TSX
Subaru WRX/STi
Nissan Sentra SE-R
Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan

Why doesn't GM or Ford offer sporty little sedans? Why is there no Audi A4 killer in the American line-up? I think it's pretty simple. Develop a car to compete with the best sellers and sell it for less, believe me GM, Americans will buy it! And sorry, the Chevy Malibu is too Motherly and big for me, and the Ford Fusion is just plain boring.
What happened to cool American cars or just nice cars in general?

Here is my list of cars that GM, Ford, and Chrysler(which is not American owned anymore) need to at least try to compete with in order for Americans to buy:

Toyota FJ-Cruiser: The Ford Flex was a good attempt at creating something new but a completely different car. Not very utilitarian.

Subaru WRX/STi & Mitsubish Lancer EVO: Subari has an image. Rally, sporty, compact. What image does GM or Ford have? Ford offers the Focus RS in Europe but not here. Let's see it!

Mazda Speed3:Pontiac has the vibe...just change the face of it, give it a sport-tuned suspension, add a supercharger and call it a day.

Toyota Prius & Honda Insight: If you noticed, the best selling hybrid in America is the

Toyota Prius. Why not the Fusion Hybrid or the Malibu Hybrid? It's because they are half-assed. The Prius is it's own car as well as the Insight. The Fusion and Malibu are just different versions of what's already available. Give it a whole new name and body and they'll sell a ton. Or if you want to be different, make a hybrid V8 Mustang.

Volkswagen CC: GM and Ford better answer to this as soon as possible because this car is going to

change Volkswagen's position in the United States for good. Volkswagen is going to be the Toyota that everybody wants.
I can think of hundreds more that GM and Ford need to be competing with but this is a great starting point.I want to buy American and I think it's vital for our economy but I don't want the reason I buy one to be that I'm

"patriotic." I'm a human being/consumer that wants the best product I can find for the best price so why settle?

It seems as if GM and Ford (and many other American companies) think the only U.S. consumers are between the ages of 40 and 80, live in the suburbs with 4 kids and a dog and like big, bulky, heavy cars that can't go around a turn without massive balance issues. That may have been true 35 years ago but look at all the imports on the roads these days compared to 35 years ago.

If Volkswagen/Audi, Honda/Acura, Nissan/

Infiniti, Toyota/Lexus/Scion keep making better cars than U.S. auto makers there will be no U.S. auto makers left.

So please GM and Ford...open your eyes and give us something desirable!

And if you think that Ford and GM are incapable of much cooler cars here are models available in other countries that we don't get here.

--M/o