Sherminator98

My parents are in the process of dumping 5K into their 2002 EB Explorer to replace the transmission and rear diff on it...after 60K miles on it

The tooling, etc for the Panther has been long paid for, thus whatever Ford sells..is a pure profit vechicle much like the Ranger and Econoline.

The thing I don't get is why people are so anal about RWD. I went from a FWD small car to a Mustang then back to a small FWD car and then back to a Mustang again, and the last thing on my mind was what wheels it was driving. For the vast majority of people out there that actually buy cars, they could give less then two fucks which wheels its driving in the powertrain.

Lets not forget that gas is 3x what it cost in the late 1990's when the Explorer had its best years. As for giving away cars...Ford has been doing fairly well with incentives and what not to move product. Take a look at the new Camery...they are in the same boat with offering incentive on it already...

The size/price gap...the Vue, Equinox and Torrent are all nearly the size of the Explorer and Trailblazer... None of them offer a I4 and they all start about 3K more then the starting list price of the Escape... GM doesnt have a true small SUV in its lineup, like the Escape.

If Ford does do something like this, I sure as hell hope they dont copy the styling from the Australian products...they look like leftovers from the late 1980's. Not to say I dont like the way some products look, but they dont look like the evolved very far from the original Aero look that was started by the 1986 Taurus and Sierra.

Where this car will excel at is in City driving, which everyone will have to move back to since they wont be able to afford commuting into work anymore

It should be interesting how the new "large" CUV from GM play out. They are alot larger then the outgoing Trailblazer, nearly as big as their Fullsize SUV's...not to mention the equinox is nearly as big as an Explorer and it seems to me that GM might have too many products too close to one another in size and has a huge gap down at the bottom where the Escape is.

All depends...right now with me driving roughly 20 miles one way to work and filling up 2x times a week with the Mustang, I'm paying more in gas then I am in a car payment for it!

Wow that was pretty well done...though I do perfer kelly with lighter hair

Like the transmission and rear diff on the 02+ Explorers?

Well dont think Yamaha could ever produce the volume that Ford needs for these products is a good start. I heard a rumor that the 3.5L might not even make into the D3 refresh next spring and just read that the updated 3.0L with 6 speed auto in the Fusion won't show up in the updated Escape till a year after its out...WTF is wrong with Ford and putting in new engines a year after they launch a new/seriously updated vechicle?

I fastforwared though one last night...it was Dr. Z with that redneck dude from the Ram commericals...just seeing that sent shivers down my spine and thought the whole thing was a joke.

Estimated MPG for the Acadia is 17-25, much better then what even a 4.0L Explorer gets. Your lucky to break 20 MPG on an open highway with an Explorer

Its not a bad looking vehicle, but it still looks too SUVish for a CUV :P I'll still take an Blazing Orange Edge over it though.

When the Sprinter came over it replaced the Dodge RAM van and how much has it increased market share? Most Sprinters I've seen that are used by UPS/Fedex are Freightliners...not Dodges. Last time I checked Freightliner doesnt play in the same market as Ford. So all those sales aren't coming from Ford losing marketshare, because they don't even have a dog in that fight to start with.

I see UPS and Fedex using them, but in my locae I still UPS still using the older/larger Trucks for develeries The only other users I see using them are mobile dog groomers

This begs the question to turn this around...why didnt UPS explore the posibitly of using a Econoline Van instead of a Sprinter? Also how big is the market for UPS/Fedex trucks vs what Ford is selling to general contractors etc with the Econoline? The Transit is nice for what it is, but is there really room for them in the States?

Does anyone else think this would be even more of a boneheaded move then GM alliance? What about the all the competition with Ford of Europe and Renault? What does Ford have to gain out of this?

I rode in a 2002 Camry, and was TOTALY unimpressed by it.

MPG?

but on the other hand, they don't make too much of an impact financially since they are based heavily on existing products, but I can see the Compass failing horrible, since its ugly and the "loyal" Jeep owners don't want a glorified uni body compact car masquerading as a Jeep. The Aspen will die a quick death just because that segment is dying because of fuel prices.

Whatever the Edge and MkX get, its still world better then the Explorer can get...

I dont even think Lincoln dealerships would be able to sell a small car like a C2 Based convertible. I think they should keep the MkZ as the smallest car in their lineup, or we'll wind up with another Cimmerion distaster. If it was a Mercury, I can see it and it would sell like hot cakes with Jill Wanger behind the wheel

Dont you mean Focus and Caliber? The Cobalt isnt a bad car, just it reminds me way too much of the Caliver