Folks, I happened to wind up behind one of those new Ford Probe-Es.

I have to mention that while I poke fun at the name of the thing, the Ford Probe-E is certainly a nifty vehicle in many many ways.

But, people... That thing is *awful* to look at from the back. And the side ain't helpin'. And the front... Well, the whole thing, I suppose...

Regardless of the unfortunate body, it gets worse.

They put on their brakes. Holy carp, those are just hard to be behind, so bright, and doesn't even use but the upper half of the tail lamps. Why.

THEN... they did the worst part next... they turned on their *turn signal*



It comes on, three lower segments, with the upper bits joined and then traipsing inside towards the middle. It comes on fully on all segments... then rolls off from inside out, sequencing the three lower bits.

Just... man. Could they have done it any worse. A *SIMPLE* thing, this stuff, and they completely botched that.

I'm... I just don't know. I know the stupid thing should be a good thing(tm) for Ford, but why... WHY... did they use the Mustang as a branding tool for this awful machine.

I'm just a little saddened, and wanted to talk about it. I was trying, honest, to be a good, openminded person, but those signals just made it cross the line from "barely tolerable as a thing with poking fun helping me to cope with the situation" to "absolutely not acceptable in any lifetime."

Just... GAH. Bad, Ford, BAD.

Thanks for comin' to my rant. Enjoy the rest of your day!

 

My test drive of the Mach E I couldn't get over the big tablet in the center that looked like you could detach it and take inside with you.

 

I agree I dont think I would ever get use to the tablet that is basically a small tv in there

 

I think I was behind one a couple weeks ago.I agree,it was almost as hard for me to look at as a mirror

 

Had not seen one in person yet, but with all I have see of the vehicile I agree with all said by @houtex . So the write-up made me wonder what it really looked like. So, I had to go find a video. It made me wonder who was the idiot that designed these? They operate backwards from all intuitive thinking and to all Mustang/Cougar/T-Bird sequential taillights that have come before... Stupid looking and real rookie mistake there...


Did see a Kia Sorento from a distance the other day and thought it might be one of these abomination of a car name vehicles... Then realized it only had two side by side taillight elements. This looks like a blatant rip off of a Mustang taillight.

KIA/Hyundai Management: "Oh we are sorry, we forgot that that look belongs to a Mustang... Oh you now have a Mustang named SUV, we did not know that..."

Just too close to not be intentional.

 

To be clear, much like the Aero Headlights of '85.5 SVO and Mark VII, this sorta started with Audi and US Regulations about turn signals.

Re: SVO and Mark VII, the aero style headlights were illegal in the United States due to federal regulations. 85 was the year they became legal due to lobbying by Ford (and probably others), so Ford became the first one with aero headlights. Until that time, the individual square and round lights, both two and four lights, were the only legal lights in the US.

So, here comes Audi with their cool directional fade in turn signals... which are illegal in the US. And still are. If you've been behind those things, you'll know what I'm talking about. Think the above, but reversed. It's a nifty line that progresses outward and then turns off. Very effective, cool looking, and not at all unnoticeable or mistakeable in any way.

The illegal portion is not that that they do such a function. It's that the initial lamp size itself is. There is a minimum visible size the turn signal MUST be when it first comes on. That is the only real turn signal, the other lamps that you do trickery with like the sequential or the fade in/out is immaterial. If you have that initial start of the signal big enough, the rest of it is fine.

So Audis still do the fade in outward thing, but it is secondary to the actual turn signal you'll see... a standard blinking lamp. Which unfortunately looks a little odd, but Audi had to do what Audi had to do. This is a US spec car, the European/World car doesn't do this, it does the fade in only.

So Ford, to have a fade thing too, does... this.

And it's awful.

But hey, I dig the music in the video at least...

 

I do not like the "iPad jammed in the dash" look that everyone is now doing. The early Tesla Model S had a huge screen that was nicely integrated into the center stack. Now it follows the jam a tablet look like everyone else.

 

I wonder how that thing is for night driving...

 

It goes dark like Waze does at dusk.