kyle

Most honest post I've read on this site in months....and funniest.

I'm pretty sure FCA still offers 12 months of XM/Sirius and 3 months is obviously a cost cutting move that most people will not notice. I listen to a handful of XM channels but they do repeat a lot of songs!!!

That sounds crazy and I've never heard of something like this before-not even like the Audi 5000 problem-which I think turned out to be driver error. At the very least, maybe engage the electric parking brake for safety? All this data is stored in the ECM, in case something ever happened to protect you. Good Luck-KK

Man that is a lot of gray!!! Looks like they have one color across the entire dash-besides the cheap orange insert. One color door panel could not look more cheap-hopefully things will change b4 they come out.....

I will have to keep a look out for them SB on Peachtree Industrial right before 285!!! They are always there....

Better yet, Ford is offering 0% interest on 7 year loans! If you have to go anywhere near a engine, time for a different vehicle. That alone would cost well over $5k w/labor and on a 2004 not worth it. Good luck and welcome to the Forumn...LOL....

Saw this floating over from a buddy of mine....

I see a lot of Wrangler from the back rear, but less so with the front end. I also see some Defender influences, but still think it looks good and should be pretty popular.

The rebate money usually varies by Region , I’ve never seen it by state, but it could also pertain to certain trim levels.

Well funny how Ford added some warranty coverage after this story was unveiled a few months ago, and as far as I am concerned-Ford fucked themselves on this deal. It is 100% their own fault and customer's paid a price.

I guess as long as my family and I Am part of the 99% group life will be fine:) all kidding aside you wonder why major companies are restricting travel and events are being cancelled. These organizations are not dictated by the media but want to make sure they don’t endanger their employees to something that is potentially deadly.

Nice looking vehicle and know Ford is limited to what they can produce profitably for the US market but think this could slot in nicely below the Escape.

This is hardly a conquest buyer to say the least. He’s already in the Ford family and his last new car was 7 years ago. I was down by you last week in Jupiter Florida and saw probably 10 Aviators. I can promise you that the vast majority were conquest buyers likely moving over from a 2-3 year old BMW or Audi-based solely on the democratically of the area. The Explorer will holds it own with their current owners, but I don’t see a Mazda CX-9’buyer, or any other nameplate selecting this product unless it’s an ST. What is great though is that the Aviator is definitely grabbing conquest sales and shows what is possible if they really go all in.

yea you are spot on and that makes sense about arriving at dealer with most decisions made. again general perspective since customers have variables regarding trades and what they qualify for.

I've been in the industry for a long time myself and have to disagree about your part regarding customer's only choosing one brand and want to decide which model they want. Maybe 25 years ago, when brand loyalty meant something but not today. No way. There are way to many good brands out there and customer's want to look at vehicle choices. Maybe in the truck market or the luxury market they may be more brand loyalty, but not in mid-priced segments. We can go around and around on this but I just don't see it. Have a neighbor who has had Honda's forever-get's totaled in her Pilot by a cop car who ran thru a light and she was debating going back and getting another Pilot. I suggested she look at the Telluride and her co-worker mentioned the same thing. Not sure if she ever looked at the Kia but she is driving a new Subaru Ascent. I could care less what the ATP is if I'm purchasing a vehicle-I want the best product/price that I can afford and am factoring in safety, quality, dealer network, etc......10 years ago, I would of never considered an Korean nameplate-now you have to be blind not to look at them and make your own decisions. There are way to many great products out there for consumers to choose from.

Great point and I don't disagree either but the competitive vehicles are not letting up and Ford is struggling to maintain/grow market share so they have little room for mistakes. Just look to a competitor to see how quickly things can change. Nissan a few years ago was moving along pretty well and now it seems like the company is in chaos and is turning into a major fleet manufacturer.

That's good! Well you are right but 1 year ago you would of had Explorer on the can't fuck up list so my point is there are no guarantees of future success.

What a classy guy and interesting to read the employee's comments about Hackett!!! The easy answer in today's world is to just fire everyone and move on but the reality is that you learn from mistakes and grow into a better manager/company-this one kind of stings for sure and will be interesting to see where he lands!

Not sure you can blame Hinrichs for the Explorer debacle and give Hackett credit on a vehicle that is not even out yet (even though I think the Bronco will be a hit). No you don't need an engineer at the top spot, nor do you want a bunch of marketing/sales guys at the top. I'm not convinced you broom Hinrich's out the door because the Explorer was a fuck up. If the Explorer was going great, half of the people on this board would be signing the praises of Hackett since his hand prints are all over this vehicle. We don't know who ultimately is to blame and can only speculate, but I as a sales guy want stuff out now, and have the mindset that the engineers will figure it out. I don't know if there are any current CEO's/Presidents in the automotive world who don't come from an engineering background, but hopefully Hackett is entrenced into the engineers/operations as we hope he is (and I think he is to a certain extent-but think he is by far his own worst enemy by living in a parallel world where no one knows what the fuck the guy is thinking). Maybe 10 years ago, you could of looked over at the senior leadership of GM and compared to Ford, they definitely felt like they had a short bench. Now, looking at things, the polar opposite is the case-at least to me.

As a Ford loyalist it is painful to watch this play out and much of this blame should be directed at Bill Ford. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to see the similarities between Ford Motor Company and the Lions-both run by people that by all accounts are in over their head and going in the opposite direction of where they need to be. How the hell do the Lions go 9-7-fire their coach because it was not good enough and then two short years later win 3 games and the coach/GM keeps their jobs. Same story here with Hackett-and while I agree now might not be the time to make changes at the top, if this continues it needs to happen. And the sad part is, Ford's senior management team seems willfully un-prepared and over-matched. I would feel differently if Mark Reuss was on the bench instead of Farley. Hate having the top 2 spots being run by sales/marketing guys instead of someone with a manufacturing/engineering background.

Absolutely! How many have they sold? How's the quality? I can go on and on-these vehicles could be a great success (likely) or more fuck ups. Point being no one can say how well they will do in the market with any certainty or for that matter not do. I just am not going to jump on the bandwagon that since Ford has all these upcoming product launches everything will be "great."

I don't think this is an accurate comparison since Toyota and to a lesser extent also have a huge global presence and I would be willing to wager, many more vehicle line ups across the board. You may be correct in the US, but I would not think that would stand up if you look at what Toyota is doing globally versus Ford. Since we are in the NA market-it certainly is painful to watch, but somewhat promising with everything they are getting right with Lincoln. Jury is out on Bronco and F150 and the Mustang Mach E.

Well if that is your biggest gripe....lol....

Maybe so but same company is more my point. Glad to see a very positive review by SG and waiting for him to do an Aviator test.

Well it would shock me even less if this is just the way it currently is rolling off the assembly line.......given current history of some un-excusable gaps in quality