GTP Cool Wall: 2012 Formula Ford 1.0 EcoBoost

[niky]

Aw, schlub it. This is one car that you can't go half-measures on, because Ford sure didn't. It's either Seriously Uncool or Subzero, depending on how willing you are to look ridiculous when coming up to a stoplight.

Me? I'm perfectly willing. Subzero.

 

[CarBastard]

Madness. See Morgan trike, LCC Rocket, Lotus 7, et al. Madness, complete and utter madness without any regard for whatever the status quo thinks about you is more than cool. It's awesome. This car, like it's brothers from different mothers, is insane. It only cares about having fun for the sake of fun, about being loud for the sake of loudness, and about being insane because you only live once. Screw your poser Ferrari, screw your over-compensating Hummer, and forget everything you thought was conventional.That's the quintessence of coolness to me.

Sub Zero.

 

[Sage Ages]

Street legal race car thingy. Automatic uncool.

 

[mustang fanatic]

It's a Ford: Sub-zero
It's an ecoboost: Cool
It's a Formula car: Meh

 

[Slash]

It's a Ford: Sub-zero
It's an ecoboost: Cool
It's a Formula car: Meh

That's basically how I worked it out. The ecoboost teetered on meh.

 

[Famine]

EcoBoost = Ford marketing speak for small capacity turbo. So this tots up as:

Race car: Seriously uncool
EcoBoost: Seriously uncool
One-off: Seriously uncool

The only thing ever less cool than this was the conditions 1 Planck Unit after the Big Bang.

 

[edawg456]

Sub freaking zero.

 

[White & Nerdy]

EcoBoost = Ford marketing speak for small capacity turbo. So this tots up as:

Race car: Seriously uncool
EcoBoost: Seriously uncool
One-off: Seriously uncool

The only thing ever less cool than this was the conditions 1 Planck Unit after the Big Bang.

Hey wait a second, you actually said a small capacity turbo is uncool?

 

[Famine]

Hey wait a second, you actually said a small capacity turbo is uncool?

Nope. I said that marketing speak is uncool - particularly when this is donkey's years old technology dressed up as if it's a chuffin' iPad. "Eco" = small capacity, "Boost" = turbo.

A decade ago, they'd have called it a 1.0T and had done with it. Now they want to give it a silly name and act like it's a revolution.

 

[Tornado]

But those Ford Ecoboost engines have all the power of a larger traditional engine, but with the fuel economy numbers of a smaller, wimpy engine (and the actual fuel economy of that exact same larger traditional engine). Why wouldn't they want to spin it into water -> wine?

 

[XS]

Subzero, just because it's nice to see manufacturers step out of their skin every now and then.

 

[Slash]

But those Ford Ecoboost engines have all the power of a larger traditional engine, but with the fuel economy numbers of a smaller, wimpy engine (and the actual fuel economy of that exact same larger traditional engine). Why wouldn't they want to spin it into water -> wine?

 

[Mr_X]

You rock up next to a hot chick. Where does she sit?

Uncool.

On your lap but now you can't drive

 

[Zenith]

On your lap but now you can't drive

Haha exactly. You know what makes a car look really uncool?

Sitting on the side of the road in front of a police car that has its lights flashing.

 

[niky]

A decade ago, they'd have called it a 1.0T and had done with it. Now they want to give it a silly name and act like it's a revolution.

Lalalalala... not listening!

To be fair, though, the term has me gritting my teeth almost as much as when they started using "KERS"... for the exact same reason.

 

[McLaren]

Gave it a meh. I like the idea of it, but apparently unlike the BAC (which I love), this is just a one-off concept. Looks bizarre compared to the racing models as well.

 

[Wolfe]

Hey wait a second, you actually said a small capacity turbo is uncool?

Your ongoing, "omg separate individuals hold a variety of opinions that I can't collectively shoehorn into a simplistic flowchart" schtick resembles a quaint comedy routine, older than color film.

Nevermind that you went grasping for the punchline even before Famine could explain what he meant.

 

[Murcie_LP640]

Buying a $45,000 toy is more rich-tool than madman.

RS6 Avant? That's madman material.

A single seat not-quite race car to drive around on the street that is entirely impractical? That's almost supercar levels of ostentatiousness.

That there is exactly why you'd need to be mad to own it.

An RS6 Avant is not a mad car, it's a rather practical Audi that has a giantly powerful engine in the front of it. It's a Q-ship. It's also cool in its own way because of it.

The Formula Ford is an example of making something legal for the road essentially because Ford Europe essentially said "🤬 it, why not?"

 

[Zenith]

That there is exactly why you'd need to be mad to own it.

An RS6 Avant is not a mad car, it's a rather practical Audi that has a giantly powerful engine in the front of it. It's a Q-ship. It's also cool in its own way because of it.

The Formula Ford is an example of making something legal for the road essentially because Ford Europe essentially said "🤬 it, why not?"

No, not really. At least cars like M3's and Corvettes have some semblance of utility. They can be driven in the rain, they can carry some groceries, they can take a person.

This car cannot do that. This car is a toy. There's nothing uncool about owning toys, but there's something uncool about owning a toy that costs more than most people make in a year and driving it on public roads.

Somebody who buys a £45,000 toy is not mad, they've got more money than they know what to do with. That is uncool.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Good technology in it which is put in both racing and road cars and Ford did the smart thing of making a one-off rather than full production.

 

[niky]

Somebody who buys a £45,000 toy is not mad, they've got more money than they know what to do with. That is uncool.

To be strictly fair, an M4 Convertible costs over £60,000 in the UK.

The Formula Ford is actually relatively cheap for a fully-equipped, FIA homologated (to F3 specs) race-car... though I think the old 1.8s were cheaper. Having one with (removable) street-legal trim might just allow a weekend racer to drive his car to the track... though where the hell you'd put your tires (does it even have a tow-point for a trailer?), I don't know. Racing tires are a bit expensive to waste on commuting.

 

[Stotty]

Race cars can't be cool unless they are iconic.

Race cars made road legal just for publicity purposes can NEVER be cool.

Seriously uncool.

 

[AlvaroF]

This one is tough... It has that cool EcoBoost engine, it looks like a BAC which is cool, you aren't terribly embarressed to be seen in one of these (but you still feel embarrassed) because it looks kinda cool, it's a one-off, so meh. I like it as whole. So cool or sub-zero?

Cool.

 

[Murcie_LP640]

Somebody who buys a £45,000 toy is not mad, they've got more money than they know what to do with.

They're also crazy for doing so.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Kent please.

 

[TheCracker]

I suppose the difference between this and other racecar-like road cars, even other single-seat ones like the BAC Mono, is that they at least try to be a road car. Even if the technology and engineering used and the driving experience it gives is closer to that of a pure racecar. This Formula Ford is just a novelty promotional road vehicle, like the wienermobile or one of those crazy sofa-vehicles. It's just something that isn't supposed to be seen on the road.

 

[Adamgp]

A decade ago, they'd have called it a 1.0T and had done with it. Now they want to give it a silly name and act like it's a revolution.

Originally (here in the US at least) Ecoboost was originally called "Twin Force". Ford decided the name didn't sound "green" enough so they changed it.

 

[TheCracker]

Originally (here in the US at least) Ecoboost was originally called "Twin Force". Ford decided the name didn't sound "green" enough so they changed it.

'Twin Force' also sounds like the sort of straight-to-video Van Damme film you might catch on the Syfy channel.

 

[MoLiEG]

So many mixed feelings for this car...

I think it's a meh.

 

[Zenith]

To be strictly fair, an M4 Convertible costs over £60,000 in the UK.

Yes, but as I said that M4 can actually be used to do things. It might not be the best, it might not even be good, but it can.

The Formula Ford is actually relatively cheap for a fully-equipped, FIA homologated (to F3 specs) race-car... though I think the old 1.8s were cheaper. Having one with (removable) street-legal trim might just allow a weekend racer to drive his car to the track... though where the hell you'd put your tires (does it even have a tow-point for a trailer?), I don't know. Racing tires are a bit expensive to waste on commuting.

Great point. It makes me wonder what the point of making the car street legal was if it seems like the only way to take it to a track day would be with a support vehicle.

They're also crazy for doing so.

I agree, just in a very uncool way.