1st post – Toyota sucks! Whoooot!

Sorry, couldn’t help myself… I figure if toyota threads always turn into anti-American car threads, turnabout is fair play. Dontcha think?

SVT gets a restart? Sounds nice if it happens.

How would they really nail it home? Putting the GR-1 into production? SVT Mustangs at least as good as Roush Mustangs?

SVT is awesome, its a shame it hasnt been around. The SVT focus hot hatch was a great car and the lightning may not have been practical but it sure was fast.

I used to have a Focus SVT and that was a very sorted out little car! It handled better than nearly any car I’ve driven, and the braking (believe it or not) was on par with a 911 according to the numbers. Had a mean little snarl to that Cosworth designed 4 Cyl. too.
ANYhow…yay SVT.

raiv: right on!

SVO, ecoboost ‘10 Mustang is next.

SVeeT!

About damn time, Ford!

Who cares….how about a turbo diesel that knocks the doors off any petrol engined truck.

At least SVT sounds cool. I always laugh when I see a TRD Toyota- looks too much like TuRD.

Does LLN realize the GT500 has more than 6 SVT badges on it?

SVT never died or went away. They minimized their products and focused on the GT500 while they were restructuring after the retirement of John Colletti. They hired a former Baja 1000 winner and one of their chief engineers is an ex Indy driver. These two guys have been talking about this truck for over a year and have stated they are working on another car as well.

I just don’t understand how all these automotive media outlets can’t get it through their thick skulls that SVT was never dead.

Seems like the management is finally realize the value of its own “Brand”.

I can’t wait to see specs on this truck. Hopefully its up there with the silverado hd and the tundra…man i hate the tundra. I mean, come on. A texas accent on a commercial for a japanese truck? I realize that it is built (mostly) in Texas, but the profits still go back to japan.

I agree with what teminator said in #12. SVT wasn’t ever really dead. I do hope that SVT goes to handling school, because their products have been mostly “go fast”.

Ford needs to bring back the Taurus SHO too. That was a pretty cool ride in its day, its still cool when i see one go by. Especially on the rare “ufo” body style

^Yep

ford does need to bring back the SHO (i’m a former owner) but there is hope with the ecoboost taurus ford showed in the ecoboost engineering vid. that can be found on youtube

Just got to make sure that tranny doesn’t get tore up by the more robust engine like the Taurus 24V did.

I think it would be wise for FORD to seriously consider spinning SVT off into it’s own division. Let them handle high performance and even develop new vehicles themselves.

SVT will never be the same without John Coletti, the manager of SVT, who is now retired. He is responsible for producing the SVT Lightning, Contour, Focus and the Mustang Cobra. He is also credited with saving the rear wheel drive Mustang in the early 1990s, when it was to be eliminated for cost reasons.

Bring back John Coletti(Ford)and John Moss(GM).

They need to scrap the Raptor and Bring back the Lightning! Maybe this time with All-wheel drive. Or a AWD Redesigned Ranger. Pisses me off, when the **** is Ford going to redesign the Ranger? GM needs to bring back the GMC Syclone and Typhoon.
PAS(Production Automotive Services) GM’s version of SVT, needs to be revived. They are responsible for the Buick Grand National GNX, T-Type, Pontiac Turbo Trans AM, GMC Syclone and Typhoon.

These LLN editors/journalists are a joke! There a bunch of pimpled faced young virgins. I bet they never heard of a Marlboro Syclone. I bet very few LLN readers know what a Marlboro Sy is!

Marlboro Cigarettes purchased 10 Sys for a promotional gimmick in which they raffled off 10 customized Sys to folks who sent in a card. The customizations were done by Larry Shinoda (Corvette and Boss 302 Mustang designer) with the help of the American Sunroof Corporation (ASC). They had T-tops, Recaro seats with 5-pt. racing harnesses, a electric slide-down rear window, CD changer, and a fiberglass tonneau cover. They were painted bright red. Current asking price for these is around $50K, and when new they were appraised at $100K. Horsepower on these were a reported 325.

Hateful83- “I do hope that SVT goes to handling school, because their products have been mostly “go fast”.

Have you even been in a SVT? Let alone a Lightning? The Lightning handles just as good as most compact cars if not better! AND IT’S A BIG, HEAVY TRUCK!

You people need RS…

At a FocusFanatics.com meet I once saw two Focus ZX3’s with 6-Cyl. SHO engine swaps done…those were beastly little rides! Sounded pissed off too with straight pipes. Now if they had them upgraded to SVT suspension components that would’ve been even sweeter. Not many Lightnings on the road where I live though.

SVT has done legend stuff. Thankfully not going the GM SS route. I think they should do a compact, sedan, truck and of course another terminator Mustang. And keep it a skunkworks away from the regular Ford folks.

And yes to Colleti.
Give him the guru status and have the young guys gather around him. Would do wonders to the balls at Ford.

It’s a bit burry, but the 2010 Taurus isn’t looking too bad. Might make an awesome SHO:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_XEEIzU0UA1M/R_v1RWVvJeI/AAAAAAAAF-0/Sul1N6tBEf4/s1600-h/1.jpg

There isn’t a market for the Lightning anymore with gas prices rising, and the new platform is just too heavy that for a 3rd gen L to be on par with the old it would need upwards of 600hp and that is just not practical.

This new Raptor is though because it brings on a whole new concept that hasn’t really been played with to this extent by the big 3 and Toyota. I think a lot of people will like this truck because off-roading is probably one of the most fun things to do it’s just that it can be really expensive to try and set your truck up on your own.

My SVTF was a great handling car and in all honesty my 03 Cobra felt like it out handles the Focus so SVT is definitely no slouch in the handling department, but of course it can always be better.

well even if SVT never ‘died’ their main focus was just mostly on the GT-500, while the SRT brand was on EVERY car they put out, well excluding the vans- I mean you had the SRT4 Neon(Caliber) SRT6 Crossfire, SRT8 Charger(300C,Magnum,and now Challenger) all the while Ford just had it’s Mustang.

Bring back the Ford EXP

Don’t laugh LaCaLover, I worked with a guy who had a turbo EXP and it was a blast. Who knows, maybe if they brought back the LN7 they could revive the Mercury franchise? LOL

SVT almost died. Especially when you go back to the first half decade of the 2000’s when ford had the SVT F150 Lightning, the SVT Contour, SVT Focus, and SVT Cobra Mustang.

It’s going to take Ford a lot more then just a SVT F150 Raptor for the SVT nameplate to be revived, because to me right now they are as good ad dead.

Also Terminator where are the 6 SVT Badges on the GT500? I see them everyday and the only emblems I see are the Cobra emblem, the Shelby Badge and GT500?

you have to look at the engine bay N4SS

Oh. Ok I’ve never seen inside the engine bay. lol I was wondering where they were. Thanks EricTheRed.

OH and the SVT Focus sure wasn’t the quickest car, especially compared to the Neon SRT-4, but I had a fraternity brother that had two and yeah could that car take a corner! I’m surprised I don’t see many SVT Focuses when I autocross or do track events.

a4: ditto on the SHO

Terminator, you don’t make any sense, you say there isn’t a market for the Lightning, but there is for the Raptor? They both would get around the same gas milage in reality! DRRRRRRR. Anyways you only read half my post. I said they should make a redesigned All-Wheel Drive Ranger, meaning like the GMC Syclone. The Syclone was only 280HP and did 0-60 in 4.3 seconds! That was in 1991 too! A lightning don’t need 600HP. They just need to make it all out of fiberglass, and use AWD for the drivetrain.
Jumpoffit, while SVT had John Coletti, there was no SRT! Coletti even said as long as he was manager of SVT, he would not let anything beat the Lightning, meaning top speed. Still though, nothing beats the Syclone in 0-60 or the 1/4 mile. The SY remains the quickest truck to this day. While the Lightning and SRT-10 Ram have a faster top speed, the SY is still quicker. If Coletti never retired, the SRT would not have the fastest top speed.

The Taurus SHO was never a SVT! It had the Yamaha developed engine. The first and second generations were better and faster than the newer 3rd generations. The newer SHOS were more for comfort than performance.

You want SHO… why not put ecoboost in the AWD Fusion? That car is 10x better than the current Five Hundred (pardon me, Taurus) anyways.

why do americans love these ulgy ass toyota’s? they come specked out but there so damn ugly! :\ im a brit. and i love the 1968-70 dodge charger and a huge muscle car fan, and i love my hondas and Acuras u call them out there and supras skylines but them dog ugly pirus’s are crap they dont do the miles they say they do they are cheap and ulgy and there other cars out there are 2 o0nly nice toyotas are supras

Quiet, all of you! They’re approaching the tyrannosaur paddock.

Need4SSpeed, also on the door sills and some other places I can’t remember. The GT500 is still assembled by SVT with the KRs and SSs being modified at Shelby’s Vegas plant.

murderedout, it’s all about cost. The new Raptor will most likely use one of the newly developed engines such as the 5.0 L Boss or 6.2L that will be designated for truck duty but will have enough power to satisfy the enthusiasts as they take their trucks out on the dirt rather than hotrod them on the street which will still be possible and just as fun thanks to the aftermarket. It’s easy to get a truck to put down a 6 second 0-60 and a 14 second 1/4 mile, you only need about 400hp and the right gearing. But it isn’t easy to take a heavy truck like the new F150 and make it do at AT LEAST a 5 second 0-60 and 13 second 1/4 mile (that’s what the 2nd gen L was capable of). Fiberglass is out of the question because of durability. Although Lightning were performance trucks they were still trucks and had to do all the same things other trucks could do like tow and haul. Fiberglass is just too delicate for that kind of duty.

The Ranger was or is being discontinued so that is out of the question as well. I agree that Ford should have kept up on it and kept it fresh with much of the ideas you posted.

Whoever was talking about SRT being on top of things. Well the guy that started SRT came from Ford where he started SVO and the whole in-house tuner thing for Ford. SRT had a much easier time with their development because they had someone who had been there and done that. If you noticed most SRT vehicles aren’t tuned to the extent that a lot of SVTs are, they are a lot more organized. It’s usually only 1 high performance V8, V6, 4 cylinder and then the V10 that they throw into all their cars. There’s nothing wrong with it but SVT tends to find the right engine for the right car and tweaks with the suspension quite a bit.

If you want to see a car that had a ton of R&D look at the SVTF and the work Cosworth did on it.

I can see lines outside Ford dealerships waiting for this one to come out. Just like GT-R.

Unfortunately when you look at Ford’s current line-up what vehicles besides the Mustang, and F150 are SVT Badge worthy? I stated earlier in my post (#35) that back in the early 2000’s Ford had the SVT Cobra Mustang, SVT Lightning, SVT Contour, and SVT Focus. What could Ford possibly have a SVT variant on now? I can see maybe an AWD SVT Fusion, but the new Focus is fugly, and not whatsoever worthy of a SVT bade, then you have the Mustang that already has the GT500 and GT500KR versions. I see why SVT temporarily went behind the scenes.

Obviously SVT is still around, doing more behind the scenes development of the Ford GT and Shelby GT500, I think if Ford offered both a SVT off road version and came back with another Lightning that would be awesome.

What would be more awesome, and it would bring me to a Ford dealership is if SVT came out as its own brand and they imported the Falcon and the Focus ST that everyone else gets and re-badged those as SVT’s. But that won’t happen.

go ford go kick ass,intil your on top again.