Michael Reynolds

The Escape yes, but an Explorer not so much. The backseat in that thing is pretty much useless, and I doubt once it is folded up there is little if any cargo space back there. If you ask me it's a little bit of overkill, in an attempt to take the RAV4 from cute-ute-dom to a much more masculine (or aggresive truck). I still do not understand the logic when you have the Highlander and 4Runner all essentially competing for the same market share.

I never claimed you mentioned the Civic so simmah down nah, geeez :D Anyhow the Fusion may be a lot of things, but it's far from bland. The Accord's refresh took a decent looking car and made it ugly, the Sonata reminds me of the outgoing Accord, and the Altima still has that chintzy interior. So compared to the rest of the competition the Fusion doesn't look all that bad (at least from a design perspective).

Yeah because the new Civic is so awe inspiring :rolleyes:

Well of course it does, where did your friend get it from again?

Value pricing would work, if they would simply stick to it. I'm not sure how much more each individual brand would hemorrage if they stuck to the 'Value Pricing' philosophy vs. offering rebates and incentives..........but that appears to be water that none of the Big 2.5 want to tread. Now if they offered cars at a decent price, with a fairly robust warranty I think the rebate crap would be less of a crutch.

No I was refering to the 2000 Civic not the 2006, who in their right mind would think that Honda is remotely concerned with the Focus in its current form. For crying out loud.......... Although I can see your point, with the Canadian vs. American market. In the states an economy car is an economy car, regardless as to how well it accelerates and it's fuel efficency. The Civic, IMO, could be viewed as an appliance from point A to point B.....whereas the 3 something for those that demand a little more than just plain old transportation. With that said the MT Car of the Year Award is more of a U.S. thing, as they don't use vehicles sold in Canada. Basically screw you cannucks :P

That's Retro at its extreme, but it will sell. I'd rather have a Stang any day.

Let me clarify. I will give Honda credit from learning from the mistakes made when they introduced the all new 2000 Honda Civic (this is what I was refrencing above, not the new 2006 model). The introduction of that vehicle essentially carried over old powertrains from the mid-to-late 90s, with a gutless design. Granted the vehicles sold, they only sold because of the 'H' on the front grille. If you ask me it was a rushed hack job to counter the introduction of the new Ford Focus, just like the Civic Hybrid was rushed in to counter the Prius. So finally the car gets a few new engines, and a swoopy design which some like and some don't........but what has it done to force it's competition to up the ante. The Mazda 3 still stands head and shoulders above the Civic.

So what if the car was built off of a modified platform, who cares? Do you realize how much it costs to develop new platforms from the ground up? How much it costs to come up with new powertrains? Are we failing to realize that the Solstice/Sky will never reach production volumes large enough to recoup costs (anytime soon....remember GM is bleeding money as is) associated with their developement? Besides from what I've read it stops, handles, and goes just about as well as a Miata, not bad for a first attempt. Just because Honda decided to replace engines that were essentially carry overs (who the hell am I kidding they were basically the same damn engines) from a previous gen, and up the ante with a more 'luxurious' interior does not make it anything special whatsoever.

While they are at it, Ill take a Territory.

I don't care much for the Solstice, but credit has to be given where it is due. The car may not stop, go, or handle as well as a Miata does, but it does almost as well for about the same price. What other cars can make that sort of claim. All I attempted to point out, before everyone decided to rip into a very solid attempt from GM, was that the Civic doesn't stand out any more than the above cars I mentioned. Aside from it looking like a vessel from 'Flight of the Navigator' I don't see much there, and I would still buy a Mazda 3 over it.

Motor Trend had some worthy contenders this year, such as: BMW 3 Series Lexus IS250/350 Hyundai Sonata Pontiac Solstice That list could go on and on. Maybe the Fusion didn't deserve it, I truly wasn't expecting it to win in the title in the first place. Though the same points pointed out above pertaining to Ford can be applied to the Civic, after the last interation was introduced. It was too bland, underpowered, and the Si was one of the biggest jokes on the market. Then to top it off the hybrid made it to the market 2 years after the Prius with less advanced technology, so basically Honda was caught with their pants down.........and now with the 2006 model they have appeared to recover from the slight embarassment.