The SkyNomad—with heated floors, a projector, a pop-up roof, a fridge, swiveling seats, and over 1,000 miles of range—is a “luxury” ride that undercuts Range Rovers by tens of thousands of dollars.
But Ford is responsible for bad designs like EcoBoost and trucks with plastic oil pans. Peek under a Bronco, many of the steel parts aren’t even painted and body seams are not sealed. Peak 1970s manufacturing.
Plastic oil pans save weight, who even uses metal anymore?
The only time I ever got a hole in an oil pan was a metal one and it was my ex who somehow hit a rock and hid it from me. The one car I had with a plastic pan never had any issues, but it also had a skid plate that makes a larger difference than the material of the oil pan itself, since loose debris would just bounce off. Plus the skid plate helps reduce wind resistance so it’s a necessity in this day and age anyway.
There are always trade-offs. All polymers deteriorate when exposed to that kind of thermal cycling and chemical exposure. A metal alloy fit for the job can last forever.
But Ford is responsible for bad designs like EcoBoost and trucks with plastic oil pans. Peek under a Bronco, many of the steel parts aren’t even painted and body seams are not sealed. Peak 1970s manufacturing.
Plastic oil pans save weight, who even uses metal anymore?
The only time I ever got a hole in an oil pan was a metal one and it was my ex who somehow hit a rock and hid it from me. The one car I had with a plastic pan never had any issues, but it also had a skid plate that makes a larger difference than the material of the oil pan itself, since loose debris would just bounce off. Plus the skid plate helps reduce wind resistance so it’s a necessity in this day and age anyway.
There are always trade-offs. All polymers deteriorate when exposed to that kind of thermal cycling and chemical exposure. A metal alloy fit for the job can last forever.