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It was strange to be driving this F-150 just after reading in the business pages about the shrunken market for big pickups. The consensus among those in the industry was that the casual-use buyer had largely abandoned the market and wasn't likely to come back. That certainly doesn't portend well for the F-150 Harley-Davidson, a shiny black $50,000 showpiece whose owner would sooner laser off his tattoos than throw a bunch of lumber or gravel into the truck bed. Even as a show pony, this latest version of the Harley-Davidson F-series also seemed to me to be less successful than some of this truck's previous iterations. The 5.4-liter engine's 320 hp holds no performance advantage over lesser F-150s, and the swoosh side graphics look like they were lifted from an RV. At least the power-retractable running boards clean up the aesthetics and function well. And the black-and-red two-tone leather, accented with gloss black trim, is suitably flashy.inline_mediumwraptextright25793498/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2010_ford_f150_harley_davidson_edition0911_05_z+2010_ford_f-150_harley_davidson_edition+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

Room for one more
Honda seems to have the crossover market pretty well covered with the compact CR-V and the eight-seat Pilot, yet the company sees room for one more. The Honda Accord Crosstour looks to slot in between the two in terms of functionality, yet will stand at the top from a pricing perspective. By packaging, pricing, and marketing this vehicle on the high-end of the five-passenger crossover segment, Honda is targeting both empty nesters and young couples moving from either a smaller or larger vehicle into this growing segment. Competitors for the Crosstour include the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and Toyota Venza.