Why not? I see plenty of them on the roads these days in Texas. They make sense in a $4.00/gallon environment. Much more sense than the high, slab-sided F-150's as commuter cars and sometimes weekend haulers of mulch and beer coolers.
Unlike the Colorado/Canyon....Ford dealers actually seem to stock a good number of these on their lots, and last I checked they actually had decent incentives (at least locally).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitman1970
How much would it cost to redesign the interior and place a more fuel-efficient engine in this truck?
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Not sure, but it would seem worth the effort. I loved the one we got handed as a rental on the Big Island of Hawaii some years back. I didn't notice anything "wrong" with the chassis. Great extended cab truck, and the interior didn't look that bad, either, for the time. Overall it came off as better than the S-10 that was competing with then -- the S-10 had very 1990's curvy interior styling.
Given GM's apparent absolute lack of effort in selling Colorados and Canyons, I often wonder if they too would not have been better off taking the
Brazilian S-10's styling/sheetmetal and pushing it along for a few more years. Even the 2.2L OHV I4 would have been welcome now, as it got 28MPG or something similar. But instead they kept around the inefficient wheezer 4.3LV6...(still available on base Silverados) The 2.2L Ecotec could have replaced it. And that's not to mention the 4-cylinder Diesel offered in the Brazilian S-10.
All that, and the S-10 had a huge "mini truck" fan base that was on display at truck shows such as the Texas Heat Wave. So GM replaced it with a hard-edged, "angry toaster" looking Colorado/Canyon that they never much cared to sell...
This is the only memorable ad for the Canyon/Colorado, and it seems to even poke fun at the truck...
Compare this ad to the macho Silverado "This is Our Truck" type ads with cowboys and such:
(Is that guy singing one of the "squints" from Bones?)