LexFather

We are directly affected here, I've said before I drive by the plant in Hapeville all the time. Back in 1986, it was GROUNDBREAKING, to this day its design is felt.

My family owned a LX and SHO and both were POS, we loved the looks, loved the space, the cars were too problematic, we will NEVER buy a Ford again,(maybe a truck).

SO long, and farewell.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Well in NY Ford is trying out a fleet of hybrid Escapes.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Are you sure? From what I heard in 2007 they are being cancelled for good, which is a shame, crown vic and cars based on its platform are the only decent american cars.

nthach

From having seen one at my local dealer, I like them. Very roomy, and with AWD, it would make a great sedan for occasional Tahoe runs. Now if they would only fix the front end and drop in the new 3.5L V6...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Another impressive thing about the Ford 500 is it's under $30K MSRP *FULLY LOADED WITH NAV*.

mmarshall

Depends on if the CVT tranny in the AWD versions can handle the 3.5.

ArmyofOne

the thing that bothers me the most about the big 3 is this HUBCAP craze.


i saw a ford Fuszion today with hubcaps. EVERYTHING else was top of the line, leather, the works. but it had hubcaps. it had to be a close to 30,000 dollar car, with hubcaps!

the 500 is the same way, and DODGE! dont even get me started on them. i saw a durango, a vehicle that starts at well over 24K, with hubcaps.

My 2002 ESCORT doesnt even have hubcaps, it has wheels! and i paid $6k!

mmarshall

What you are referring to are not "hubcaps" but " wheel covers" . True hubcaps went out many years ago.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Alloys, of course, look nice, reduce unsprung weight, (the amount of weight under the suspension pushing up on the springs) thereby improving both the ride and handling ( all things equal, irrespective of tire size). They are also simpler in some ways to clean ( obviously you don't have to take the covers off to clean out all the brake dust inside ) and you don't have to clean both a wheel and the cover too on both sides....inside and out.

But...on the other hand, alloys are expensive, prone to cracks and failure upon impacts with hard surfaces, require much more care putting on and off the car and in tire mounting and balancing, and sometimes require special cleaning techniques and substances to get off dirt and brake dust without harming the finish. Also, alloys are not recommended for driving on winter-treated roads due to the damage that salt, sand, gravel, pebbles, and abrasives can do to them unless you are very careful and clean them immediately. Alloys, upon impact, unlike a stamped steel wheel, generally will not bend....they will crack and fail first.

GFerg

Damn, I always like the first and second gen Taurus models(2nd gen being my favorite). Very roomy car for the years it was built, easy to operate controls, and had a very cool looking design. HAHA, I remember the old Tuarus commerical when they used the first gen model and morphed it into the second gen model. At my young age, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Then in 1997 when my brother was off to college he got a used 92 Tuarus LX, and OMG what a piece that was. EVERYTHING broke. Not one or two things, EVERYTHING. He made a list, I only remember parts of it. Everything good I said about the Tuarus went right out of the window.

Alternator(3times)
Windshield washer motor
Radio
Rear view Mirror(countless times)
Air Conditioner(2 times)
Heating element(after awhile, he just didnt use the heat at all)
Radiator(2 times)
Burning Oil
Power Steering
Seat Recline was stuck
Windshield cracks
Engine consistantly turned off(while driving sometimes)

urgh...and there was alot more. I felt bad for my brother. I'm just very happy he never got into an accident. The last day he had it, I drove it from his place to our home(which is less than a mile), and as soon as I pulled up to the house, the engine started smoking and it just died. He ended up donating the car the following day.

With that siad, Ford Taurus, good riddens.

mmarshall

Yes....this is typical of Tauruses.....see my first post on the subject at the start of the thread.
One car coming down the assembly line can be a real cream puff and the one right behind it the lemon of lemons. I have seen this numerous times.

Falcon LS

Somebody's been telling you porkies. Yup, I'm sure...the Panther Platform isn't going away anytime soon. The Crown Vic is a cash cow for Ford and the Grand Marquis is pretty popular with the older members of the public. There were some talks about how Ford would kill the Mercury brand...and to kill Mercury, Ford would have to kill the Grand Marquis first, it's Mercury's number 1 seller. The Town Car? That's popular with the limo industry. So basically they are here for a while.

GFerg

Wow, I just read it Marshall. Thats crazy stuff man. It so weird that all the cars would be sooo dramatically different. And so common at that. When I worked for Volvo I found out that the performance of certain models would differ greatly as well. For example we had 2 S80 T6 demos(same year 2004, brand spanking new, low miles) that I would take out any given day, adn the performance would differ greatly. It was crazy. Although performance and quality issues differ greatly(quality issued being assembly problems maybe, as stated in your post) it was still very wierd to experience two identical cars that performed so opposite of eachother.

GS69

Ford to End Taurus Production Next Week
Ford will end production of its popular Taurus sedan next week, after 21 years of sales and nearly 7 million units sold, reports the Associated Press. The once best-seller has faced a somewhat slow death as the automaker abandoned development of the car in favor of SUVs in the mid-1990s.

Although dated by today's standards, the original Taurus was actually quite controversial and futuristic. "When that thing came out, it was a big deal," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "It so much became kind of the template of what a modern car was going to look like."

Despite some critics calling it a "jellybean" or a "flying potato," the Taurus made its debut in 1985 and went on to save Ford from financial turmoil. "We were in terrible condition financially," recalled Jack Telnack, chief designer on the original Taurus. "He said 'Look, we need something really different, really new, that will kind of set the pace out there.'"

mmarshall

This is nonsense. Some of the people who write in the automotive press just disgust me....they have NO idea what they are talking about.

Ford did anything BUT abandon development of the Taurus in the mid-1990's.
In fact, the 1995 model had the most thorough and radical restyling in the car's history....to the point where it turned a lot of people off with its plethora of ovals inside and out, fish-mouth grille, and insect bug-eye headlights. It was so radical that the company had to dial it way back for the next-generation model in 2000.

-J-P-L-

All this talk about the Ford Five Hundred in place of the Taurus...

The FUSION is the actual replacement of the Taurus. Look, it's the same size and class. The 500 is bigger and more upscale.