tim kakouris

eh, still glad to see those old man panthers are going away. :lol:

most people wouldn't know if there were mice under the hood as long as the car goes like hell.

173,000 foci. sure is a lot of cars when it's supposed to be a huge flop.

the escape/mariner/tribute 214k (combined) is enough for a close second place in the segment, against completely modern competitors like the crv and rav4. i'm telling you, it's a much better vehicle than the "spec sheet" buffs say. all i have to do to remind myself that the general public doesn't buy on spec is to look at the corolla/impala/camry sales.

i'd consider a fusion wagon, as was said, it would have to be a bit sporty. i like our fusion, and it's plenty roomy for a midsize sedan. but for those times when the kids are in the car and we need to carry bulkier items, we have to use the freestyle. if i could replace the freestyle with a sportier fusion wagon, i would. it would have to have some usable space back there, though. not just a hatch. the magnum is really just a charger with a slightly lengthened roofline. you can really fit about as much in a charger trunk (enormous!) as you can a magnum hatch.

we've had ours for a year. yeah, it's boring. but it works so well. i don't want to drive an suv, so this roomy wagon fits the bill pretty well. i wish i had more power, for sure...that's a great incentive to get an '08.

this does not make me happy.

the vette is bad ass anyway. base version, z06, and now the zr1. kudos to gm for continuing to update this american icon.

hey, ford fanatics can bash gm all they want, but cars like the malibu and this G8 are going to prove them wrong. ford has nothing in the way of performance sedans in the us pipeline, so lots of us are looking to gm and even chrysler to see whats coming. heck, since ford dropped the svt focus, there is nothing for the youngsters, either. at least with gm and chrysler, you have the ss cars and the srt4's for the young crowd. the mustang can't scratch everyone's performance itch. i'm a ford fanatic, but there isn't a single performance car they sell that i can fit my family in.

more flaming honda's....range! where is the crv pic??? HERE

...and in a truck with problem camshafts, alignments, shaking beds, and flimsy tailgates, i think one complaint concerning bad driveshaft is probably enough for a recall. it's obvious that the truck was rushed to market and things got overlooked.

all in all, it's exactly the same experience that i've had with all of my ford's....better in reality than they are on paper, and the longer i have them, the more i like them. even the looks of this boring thing have grown on me! pity, because you know that doesn't help sell them.

i recently did a long trip and got 25mpg with the car full of luggage and kids. i think a big thing to think about it literally the size of the vehicle. it's got approximately the interior volume of most big suv's, a little less than a minivan. your figure is pretty good for a vehicle like that. epa estimates become more inaccurate, i think, the bigger the car gets. of course, milage could always be better, but i was very surprised after my first fill-up. i've never gotten less than 19.5/all city, and never better than the 25/90% highway averages. and although the car is mostly pretty slow, i was very excited about the 60 to 80 passing acceleration. i had lots of rural two lane and had a lot of fun blasting past the slow moving 18 wheelers!

but noone buys one at retail.

dude, get real. fox news admits their right wing bias. i'm not saying who is right or wrong, but i wouldn't trust anything fox news says.

yeah, they are so bummed that the old fart panthers are going away that they have to bash the rest of ford's lineup. i think they believe they are hurting our feelings or something. anyway, now that the panther is dead.... :P

don't keep going back to the D3's situation to defend the panther. if the D3's don't sell even with improvements in product or advertising, then they should go, too. it isn't an either/or situation. the panther has had it's time. it worked, it was good. it's time has passed. it will not sell on lots in significant numbers. if the D3 continues on the same road as it is now, it's time will pass, too. talk about rocket science.... :rolleyes:

i agree, p71. but a 30 year old platform doesn't "own" anything but a burial plot in the automotive graveyard. see the new pontiac G8 for a modern rwd platform. there are plenty of fwd v6 cars that car guys buy over the panther, just check the sales. the 1965 galaxie was a rwd, v8 car. pretty damn cool, too. i'd love to own one and completely restore it. 352, 390, whatever. but you won't get too many people thinking that it's a 'car guys' car in the sporting sense. maybe in the 'guys into old cars' sense, like most people feel about panther lovers....

hey, old guy. i'm 40. no ricers here, bud. the panther is an old farts car, don't care how many "enthusiast" web sites out there say differently. i wouldn't be surprised if most of them dream of putting the light bar on and catchin' a few speeders...lol. as the owner of 8 mustangs, and 13 fords over the years, currently owning 2, i think my opinion on what is happening at ford is just as valid as the panther mafia's is.

"car guys" don't want a panther, rwd, fwd, or 25 wheel drive. car guys want a real rwd platform, one that can actually spawn a reasonable automobile not designed in the 70's. maybe have a two door variant worthy of thunderbird/torino/cyclone. the mustang is there for the smaller, sportier car, and then we have the panther??? for the geriatrics and the chronic used car buyer, but not for a CAR GUY. the last time the panther looked remotely like it could be for a car guy, the marauder, ford pussyfooted around and gave a 4000lb car 300 high-revving horsepower and doomed it. every time i travel with associates, and we walk up to a cab of any sort, they are amazed when i tell them they still sell those turds to the public. not wanting the panther around has nothing to do with being car guys, it has everything to do with getting rid of the old, dying design.

80% of a dying market? great.

please, please, get over the panthers. they are old-think, old-tech. the world is buying different cars. they may not be buying taurus' or taurus x's, but they aren't buying old tech, either. fleets, fleets, fleets. you guys keep talking about the panthers like they are some revalation of the automobile world. if they were so great, they'd keep on making them...do you think ford would run away from a profitable car?? camry. corolla. accord. altima. civic. crv. rav4. escape. impala. those are selling, not a rear driver in the lot of them. it's 2007, not 1977. i don't care if you don't like it. i'm so tired of every post on bon being summed up by the panther mafia. over and out.

they are closing because they produce a product that is going away.

i've sat in one, and driven one (the malibu) and the interior is very nice. the camry/accord interiors are dull. can't say much about the altima, i've never been in one.

guys, don't argue about it. i'm just saying the malibu is a really great car for gm, and nicer than the current fusion. but, it should be. it's the latest creation, and the latest creation should always be a step forward. i'm assuming (hoping!) that ford steps forward when the next generation of fusion/milan is due. this whole board is nothing but opinions. when we see new cars, we post it in the 'competition' section, right? well, this is the most impressive remake of a model i've seen in years....that's my opinion.