On Monday we rented a Ford 7-person mini van.

You can see it here:  http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/S-MAX

Let me just say if Ford had been producing this kind of quality in the states EVER, their car/van reputation in the US wouldn’t actually suck (I think they lead in trucks though).  The car was great.  6-speed manual diesel! Lots of power, plenty of space, well made, everything worked.  Great handling and suspension.  Compare this with the Ford I rented in Louisville last spring for the NABBA championships (a Fusion) and one wonders why Ford insists on selling such total crap in the US while selling something like the S-Max in the UK.

If my memory serves, the Ford Mondeo we drove over here in 1992 was supposed to be the UK equivalent of the Ford Escort in the US.  To be honest there really was no comparison then either.  The UK car was light-years ahead of the US car.  And by the same flipping company.

I just don’t get it.  The cars here seem over all to be of better quality, more efficient, with better handling and suspension then we can get in the US.

For another example check out the Mini line.  Here you can get a diesel that gets more than 60 MPG.  In the states you can’t get a diesel, and the unleaded Mini’s you can get, have a rating of about 23 MPG on the highway.  Um…that is a big difference.

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas break.  We have a bunch of stuff still to do today and I’ll post video of the Lindley Band after we play outside at the Lindley Clock Tower tonight at Midnight.

Cheers,
B-

P.S.  I’ll also post more photos Sarah has taken of all the snow here and of our trip to York yesterday. Evensong at the Minster was stunning.  You have to be there to appreciate how a choir with men, boys, and girls (but no women!) sounds.  No vibrato.  Just pure beautiful tone in that huge space.

If you think further, here is a dichotomy that occurred to me:  US brass bands no vib;  UK brass bands LOTS of vib;  US choirs LOTS of vib; UK choirs no vib. (That last part really isn’t true of UK choirs afflicted with mature female voices. Ha!)