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!