Ford's Current Direction

[H D]

Soft suspensions aside, lol, do you like the direction Ford is headed?



I was looking at Ford's new hybrids last night and may take a serious look at the Fusion next year when we're in the market for another vehicle and I retire the ST to toy status. They are making beautiful cars with impressive performance right now. For the town I live in, the Energi engine would make gasoline unnecessary for anything other than road trips.



Technology is working its way into Fords in a way that no other manufacturer is doing and they're doing it at prices that are not ridiculous.



Whatever they're doing to Lincoln is atrocious, though. Hopped over to check out what they're doing in that name and couldn't even dig into the vehicles any more than seeing the horrid looks of all of them. Just absolutely disgusting grilles and body lines. It's a shame.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Ford's quality seems to be improving, whereas Government Motors continues its cheap-looking styling and just general nasty looks. :throwup:



It kills me to see a $50k LTZ 1500 or GMC pickup and see body-colored paint in the wheel-wells that gets tarred and beat up- black would look so much better. Also, the obvious pipe hole in the frame above the rear wheel for the assembly line hangars looks so cheap too. The Colorado is a whole bigger study in horrid design and cheapness. If that is the best they can do, we should have let them go under. :smack:



Meanwhile the GM investors who lost their butts during the government takeover and who now hold worthless stock certificates are still wailing. Meanwhile the UAW got half of the "new GM" and is making out like a bandit on taxpayer money. :fire:



I suspect Lincoln is being marketed toward a totally different demographic than most of us in this forum.

 

[scott degroot]

Financially I don't know what is going on with Ford. I took a gamble a few years ago and bought 1000 shares of Ford at $1.05 and sold it at $18 and lately have been thinking about getting back into it but thier stock price just doesn't make sense to me. At the same time I bought the Ford stock I also purchased 1000 shares of Gm stock at about the same price...lost on that one but what gets me is that Ford stock seems to be a little stale for the past year or so while the GM stock is valued at more even after the chapter 11. Ford does have the better line of vehicles out there in my opinion and are headed in a better direction I just wish the stock prices would start reflecting that. I wonder if the search for Mulallys' replacement is weighing in on the lackluster performance of Ford stock.



As far as Lincoln goes...their not even a player anymore but that's a whole different discussion

 

[Kevin Lang]

I do like where Ford is headed. I like that they have made Sync standard on every Fusion (and IIRC every model now). It definitely gives Ford an edge (lol) over the competition. I'm surprised that it has taken other car manufacturers ~4 years to finally start to get into the game.



I don't like how the MyFord Touch system still has glaring glitches that hurt its usefulness, and I'm hoping that Ford can fix that before I get my next one.



The EcoBoost system seems to be just genius, though my enthusiasm is slightly dimmed by the allegation that to obtain the highest performance numbers for these engines, premium fuel must be used. I don't like the short-sighted and heavy-handed MPG (not to mention against the spirit of the USA) requirements on automakers, but Ford might be the only maker with a way to conform to these absurd requirements without having to make cars that completely suck.



I truly despise this newfangled electric parking brake though. It does not seem to work like a standard parking brake, and I have no use for the supposed benefits it provides (hill assist, "cleaner" interior). Part of Ford's approach for the 2013 Fusion is that it is economical while still being sporty, I've even seen some promo material claiming that it is a "drivers' car". Such a car doesn't need, IMO, to replace the "gauche" parking brake lever for a "chic" button. If I wanted a sleek, luxury car that was all about posh bells and whistles over function, I wouldn't be getting a Fusion, or any Ford.



I do think that Ford has some redundant models. The 2013 Taurus is set to be outclassed by the Fusion. I don't see how the Edge, Flex, and Explorer work together. The 2013 Escape seems to be setting itself apart by being a real crossover instead of a baby SUV, but the other overlapping vehicle models seem excessive to me. The Explorer no longer is a true SUV, so what makes it different from an Edge, besides name recognition?

For the town I live in, the Energi engine would make gasoline unnecessary for anything other than road trips.

I live in The Sprawl and yet I'd still have to be dumping gas into such a vehicle. I find that fascinating.

 

[Kevin Lang]

Oh, for a petty gripe, I don't like Ford making it difficult to use aftermarket audio equipment in their cars, nor do I like their boneheaded decision to keep bundling the cool audio choices with the *&%$#@+ skylight.:angry::banghead:

 

[H D]

I definitely agree about the redundant models. I do see a difference between the Edge and Explorer since our replacement for the Edge will likely be an Explorer for the third row seating. I don't understand why they can't just have the Explorer and people who don't need the third row, won't pay for the third row option. I really prefer the looks of the Edge, though.



Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Taurus: each step up is only a small difference. We could probably do without the Focus since the Fiesta offers the true "economy car" and the Focus doesn't offer much more space and really no more efficiency. The Fusion is just too cool now to let go. The Taurus has certainly earned its place, if for nothing else than the awesome Interceptors.



Don't rip on the skylight. It's awesome for really heating up the interior on summer days or adding an extra 70db if you experience an awkward silence. I really do like it and hope to use it more in the fall but so far, it hasn't been very practical besides making me "feel" like I have more headroom.

 

[blksn8k]

I disagree with their decision to kill off all of their smaller trucks and their decision to not offer the T6 Global Ranger here. I see too many minutely different models of cars and SUV/CUVs and only one size truck. Ford used to have the reputation of being America's best truck builder. I guess that's still true if all you want is HUGE. I wouldn't mind having a new Boss or Shelby Mustang but I have too many cars now that I don't drive often enough to justify buying a very expensive new one that wouldn't get used either. Right now, Ford just doesn't have anything in their current lineup that I need or want.

 

[Mark K 2]

American Ford Transit. ********. It'll make a crappy ambulance chassis if the best you can get is a 5 cylinder diesel.

 

[Kevin Lang]

The skylight on their sedans, and the gen 1 st, makes me know that I have less head room as my head hits the rim. Asian cars have skylights of similar size while having more headroom. Why can't Ford figure this out?



Why must Ford insist on bundling the skylight? Do Not Want.



I also don't think that Europe is the place to draw inspiration for vans designed to run in America.

 

[H D]

The skylight on the Edge is done really well, IMO.

 

[Kevin Lang]

The skylight on my 2012 Escape is tolerable, while the skylight still causes a low-hanging bulge on the ceiling (other car makers don't have as much of a head-space destroying bulge) it doesn't matter as much as the ceiling is higher.



In the Gen 1 ST and the 2012 Fusion, unless I recline the seat and/or slouch, my head is getting jammed right into the rim. Skylights are cool and all, but if Ford is going to keep making them hang so darn low (for over a decade now) I'd appreciate it if they'd stop producing few cars that don't have them but still have other cool features. I'm not a particularly tall guy by any means, I just like to sit more or less vertically in the car. I can't be the only one...can I?



My dealers reported that they had never stocked a 2012 Fusion with Sync without a Skylight on their lots.

 

[Patrick Wallach]

Hugh, I did my senior research project on the Fusion and Camry hybrid and the Fusion blew the Toyota out of the water in everything from gas mileage to how the interior looks and feels. I really like the new Fusions but I'd wait for the 2013 to come out.

 

[Kevin Lang]

Hugh, I just can't help but think of you being like Top Gear's Rutledge Wood when I read about you driving a hybrid car around in GA. Somehow I just don't think of hybrid cars existing outside of the "hippie zones" of America.



But don't mind me, I still think of the American West as being like John Wayne told me it was, despite having been there (much like Raj in CBS' The Big Bang Theory) :cry::bwahaha:



:banana:

 

[H D]

You're right. I'm still in the land of pickups and big SUVs here in middle GA. Heck, my wife drove a lifted Z71 Tahoe on 33s before we traded it for the Edge. There's a few sissy cars around and I would definitely look funny in one but I've never been one to worry about what folks think of my. Besides, I can balance out my hippie side with my '69 Cougar and ST on 35s.:grin:

 

[Kevin Lang]

And here I thought Rutledge Wood was the only Georgian who even had anything close to a "hippie side". :bwahaha:



I still can't shake the comparison between a hybrid car in GA to the Trident Motors minicar in small-town GA, but that it is a somewhat logical (ie:not a suv) hybrid, and a Ford, it would/will/could (pick a tense) get my :supercool: