http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000750067287/
Well, they hype it up pretty good but, the current 3.0 it's based on now puts out 221 HP and a little over 200 TQ. I was under the impression tht they were gonna get a little more out of this motor.
oh well, looks like there are some pretty cool new toys in Ford's design process.
Very interesting. Even more interesting is to read the complaints below the article that come from people that would hate the engine whether it had 250 horsepower or 350, just because it comes from Ford. And people say that American car drivers who hate ricers just because they drive "rice" are closed-minded :disappoin The only thing those haters say that I agree with is that this engine should have come out five years ago. The Five Hundred and Fusion should never have been released without it.
It will be interesting to see how that engine works in the Fusion, which, at a mere 221 horsepower currently, is already competitive with the more powerful puppiesanese and Korean cars (and actually beat the Camry and Sonata in the two comparison tests I have read, one in Car and Driver, the other in Motor Trend).
This motor would have made the FWD Cougar able to compete with the sport compact cars that FoMoCo wanted it to go up against. The FWD Cougar was too porky for the 2.5 V6 (let alone the 4 cylider) and this motor would have fit under the hood without problem.
I would personally like. nah love to see that V6 tweaked for performance in the Mustang. But then they would need to boast the GT up significantly.
Heck if you found a car with one and a bent frame but great engine, throwing that in a T-bird with the 6 speed auto would be pretty kickass too.
Pretty interesting. Hopefully they turn it the right direction and it drives the right wheels at some point...
I'd count on it. Some day soon that engine will likely replace the 4.0 V6 in the Mustang as well as the Ranger, Explorer, etc). I wouldn't be surprised to see that engine become Ford's own VQ (the Nissan 3.5 that is installed in virtually everything they make). The more vehicles that use the engine, the more the development and tooling pays off.
Inless you're planning on having a FWD T-Bird, fughettaboutit. The 6-speed is a FWD transaxle, not a RWD transmission. At this point about the best you could hope is that the 3.5 would bolt up to the 5-speed auto in the Mustang, and by the looks of that 360-degree bellhousing, it wouldn't.