sullynd

I love my Lincoln dealer, it's where I've always had my Escape serviced. In the absence of Mercury, and with limited Lincoln sales, they've essentially had to become a used car lot, which also sells Lincoln (And, fortunately for me, has an excellent service department). That's not a way to sell a luxury "experience" to those who would buy Lincolns. I'm afraid Ford is going to end up driving them to sell to the local Ford Dealer (And as you may guess, there is a reason my Escape has only been serviced there once).

What model year? Do you have navigation?

I'm not talking about the height of the 3.5, but rather it's placement in the D3 platform. Take a look at the engine under the hood of a Flex (I have, I own one) and tell me that they could have achieved the sportier look of the 2010 Taurus without having a large overhang.

And the height of the engine requires a very long overhang at the front to give it less of an upright look - while the Flex has a 5" longer wheelbase, the Taurus is longer overall due to it's overhangs.

I guess I'm wondering if this will mean an all-new platform, even if it's FWD/AWD. D3 has been around a while, and building a Taurus/MkS off CD4 could make it even more difficult to differentiate from the Fusion.

What vehicle? If you search, many (if not all) SYNC equipped vehicles have a second, hidden USB port.

No, our Flex is not EB.

LOL. We didn't buy our Flex until the Explorer was unveiled. The new Explorer is easlly my least favorite Ford. Do you have any idea what Ecoboost is? The 3.5EB is not meant to have better fuel economy than the NA 3.5. The Ecoboost Engine is about decent Fuel Economy for a high power engine ("V8 Performance, V6 MPG").

Only the 2009 Flex was not available with the EB option (It became an option for the 2010 MY), and the Flex has never had a 2,000 pound towing capacity*, it's 4,500#. *when equipped with the tow package.

The 3.5 Ecoboost is available in every other vehicle which uses the D3/4 platform. It has nothing to do with R&D. Ford could have a 3.5EB tomorrow if they wanted to. An engine is only one part of towing capability. Even with the 3.5EB the Explorers towing would likely not increase. The Ecoboost Flex cannot tow more than the non EB Flex.

The 3.0 is at the end of it's life. I keep hoping this is the application for the rumored 2.7 (Or a 3.0) Cyclone. (According to info from the time Cyclone was released it was engineered with Hybrid use in mind)

I think the Equus is more of a sign of things to come than a threat in it's current form. It looks very "old Hyundai" to me. In it's next iteration, I fully expect it to not only have the appropriate technology and features, but also style.

I haven't used AIM in a decade, but it used to (Maybe it still does) work this way - if enough people dinged someone it would affect how frequently they were allowed to send messages. I'm also thinking there would be no indication who had done the dinging.

Some sort of crowd-sourced driving control would be interesting. Thumping base, I ding you. Busted tail-lights, I ding you, driving too slow, fast, tailgating, etc. Enough dings within a period of time and the cars performance gets affected (only 5 mph over speed limit, etc).

I'd be more interested in the 2.7, especially as a Lincoln exclusive, if it were paired with a hybrid powertrain.

If the Durango were not a Chrysler product I'd probably consider it over the Explorer (Same for the GC). I do think it's odd that there is a new Dodge which looks like a RAM SUV, given RAM is now it's own brand (Which is stupid IMHO).

I believe most, if not all, of the extra wheelbase occurs in the second row.

Have you been able to get the MFT/MLT update yet? If so, did it make a difference?

If memory serves, the Cobra came first, then the the painted GR-1, and then this polished version (with some minor tweaks from the painted one) all three where, I believe based somewhat on the GT platform.

In addition to the Fusion, Edge is outsold by (of course) F150, as well as Focus and Escape. CD4 is an important platform, but C2 will likely have more volume. Edge is not a poor seller (It does quite well), but I'd hardly consider it Ford's "biggest performer".

That is my understanding, Flex and MkT are D4, everything else is D3. The MkS/SuperTaurus (EB) has been referred to as D3-2 Well, the Taurus is longer than the Flex for cripes sake (despite the extra 5" wheelbase on the Flex).

There is an E car, but we don't get it

Right, it's primarily dimensional. Who couldn't use an extra 5"?

Here's my questions; Can CAP do multiple platforms? My understanding is it can't. Could it even do D4 (Explorer is D3)? Given the Explorer is just ramping up, I can't see it moving off D3 for quite a while. If Taurus moves to CD4 that raises more questions; Where would it be built? (If CAP cannot do D3 and CD4 - Do you move Explorer to OAC [And at that point why wouldn't it have started there] or do you move Taurus somewhere else [KCAP?]) Could a CD4 Taurus support a V6? (EUCD cannot - I can see Fusion being all fours, but question that path for both Taurus and MkZ) If MkS stays D3 (or moves to D4) then could MkZ be more closely aligned with a CD4 Taurus to make room for a C2 based Lincoln? Perhaps they have a different front structure to support a V6. If Taurus goes CD4, would Ford keep the PI on D3?

I still wonder two things; Whether this will be built alongside the Verscape (as the Tribute was) Whether this replaces the CX-7 (CX-5, 7, 9 seems a stretch, especially as the 5 and 7 would both be on the C platform)