Originally Posted by
drzoidberg
From what I've read, the 1.5L EcoBoost was developed to avoid engine taxes in China.
The 1.6L will continue on in the Escape, at least for the time being.
Ford seems to be playing some weird games with EcoBoost engine supply. The worldwide supply of the 1.6L is built at Bridgend in Wales; they introduced the 1.5L at the Craiova plant in Romania, but apparently will be moving it to be built alongside the 1.6L at Bridgend later this year and shifting Craiova entirely to the (3cyl) 1L Ecoboost.
Bridgend also makes several non-turbo variants on the Sigma family that underpins the EcoBoost 1.6 -- specifically, 1.25L, 1.4L, and 1.6L NA variants. It sounds like the 1.5 will eventually (but not immediately) replace both the 1.4L and 1.6L engines; my wild guess is that the 1L EcoBoost from Cologne and Craiova will take the place of many of the 1.25L engines, freeing up more capacity for the 1.5.
The 2.0L Ecoboost is actually from a completely different engine family -- it's based on the Mazda MZR. Production of
that engine is expanding to Cleveland (it's currently only built in Valencia).
Originally Posted by
drzoidberg
Call me crazy, but I noticed that the cupholders on a recent Fusion rental were different. Did Ford just implement this change? All my other rental Fusions to date have had the original type. I know this sounds like a super mundane topic..
http://www.carrentingreviews.com/201...ew-cupholders/
These sorts of small changes often get made after the first year a car has been in production. Seeing as it's now one trim ring instead of two, it's probably also a cost savings.
I still recall that the easiest way you could tell a 1996 Taurus from a 1997 was to look at the side reflectors; the ones on the 1996 were held in by screws painted red and amber, whereas the 1997 moved to chrome screws to save money.