mustang84isu
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Posts posted by mustang84isu
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The rear-end obviously differs substantially from what is going into production.
I hope so. I remember Lincoln showed off a photo of the MKZ's rear a while back that was partially uncovered (it's also in your gallery). The roofline had a nice flow similar to the concept, but it still had a bit of a traditional trunk lid. I liked what I saw in that photo, but I'm not as thrilled with this concept. It needs more refinement in the front and rear. I'm not sold on the grille slats--they are just a tad too bold.
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Read post #65.
Of course they won't base their decisions entirely upon comments from enthusiasts. There are guys on Lincoln's facebook page howling for a return of a full-size BOF Town Car, which we all know will never happen. But plenty of people have made perfectly rational and realistic suggestions and Ford / Lincoln seem to be listening.
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OK, do you HONESTLY believe that Ford logs into this forum and pays ANY attention to what ANY of us have to say and makes marketing decisions based on it?
:hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical:You better believe it. Moreso on Facebook than BON, but I would imagine Ford officials peruse all the enthusiast blogs / message boards. I remember posting a while back on Lincoln's Facebook page about how chunky and unrefined the new Lincoln logo had become vs. previous iterations. Now we see they have "refined" it for the new models and, personally, I think it looks much better.
I think Ford reads more comments than one would think.
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Once again, Ford understates and overdelivers. It's a great time to be a Ford enthusiast and shareholder!
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Wow! I like it much better than I did in the two low-res photos provided earlier. I was afraid of there being too much Sonata influence, but looking at a photo of Sonata and Fusion side-by-side, the Sonata looks overstyled and almost dumpy. Great job Ford! It looks far more expensive than it will be. This should set the midsize segment on fire.
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Very nice. I wasn't sure when I saw the original PR photos, but the live reveal ones on LeftLane show a lot more depth to the ATS's body.
I look forward to comparing the MKZ to the ATS. I hope Lincoln's Continually Controlled Damping is as great as they say it is, because the 3400 lb RWD ATS is a tempting package to replace my LS.
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Most customers of small and midsize sedans want FWD and have wanted that for years. In fact if we go way back in time it was actually Ford who held out the longest moving their small and midsize sedans to FWD platforms and it cost them dearly. Ford replaced the RWD Fairmont in 1984 with the FWD Tempo and the RWD midsize LTD with the Taurus in 1986. They didn't introduce a full size FWD car until the Five Hundred in 2005. So Ford knows all about RWD and over time held out the longest, but with little success. People were looking at the FWD competition and not buying the RWD Fords.
I don't see any reason to offer RWD on small, midsize or even full size sedans going forward. The packaging makes sense, the traction improvement makes sense, and the ease of assembly makes sense. I wouldn't touch a RWD only car with a 10 foot pole because you can add all the traction assist technologies you want, but in the end they just don't do well on bad roads. The only person I have ever seen that claimed RWD only was far superior to FWD or AWD on bad roads and in snow was an idiot that used to post here named P71.
FWD was a HUGE step forward in automobile design and for anything other then a BOF truck or a sports car RWD only makes no sense.
Why not give the customer a choice? Some of us prefer the driving dynamics of a RWD sedan and will pay extra for that. I'm even fine with the Ford brand limiting RWD to trucks and the Mustang, but the lack of any RWD offerings at Lincoln hasn't exactly done much for the brand.
As far as snow and RWD: I have a good set of winter tires on my LS and have never had major problems with snow or ice. In fact, the only time I had an issue was at a railroad crossing after waiting for a train; the slope was too steep and I couldn't make it over (this was without winter tires on). However, my old FWD sedan would have had the same problem with that steep of a grade. When you lose traction with FWD you have little ability to steer out of a situation, but with RWD you can lightly use the throttle to steer the vehicle with the rear wheels and get it traveling in a different direction. Of course FWD is superior in the snow for inexperienced drivers or those who don't understand the dynamics of their vehicle, but a properly equipped RWD car with a competent user behind the wheel will have no problems getting around.
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I only have a rear 3/4 view at the moment. I maintained a couple key cues of the LS such as the aggressive coke bottle crease along the beltline and the flared lower side skirts. The tailights were somewhat inspired by the first gen model's ribbed units, but otherwise the back is mostly different and I tried to improve upon the original with a more aggressive rear fascia, reverse lights moved over to the taillights, and having the license plate inset in the bumper rather than trunk lid.
The overall body shape was inspired by Ford / Lincoln concepts from the recent past such as the Continental, Interceptor, and MKR.
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As much as I like the Evos concept, it does not translate well into a Mustang. The proportions are all wrong.
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New photo on Facebook showing a partial wheel
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Did a couple quick chops to see some other grille options. Personally, I like the having Ford on the bar more than spelling Flex out on the sheet metal.
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The more I look at it the more it grows on me, but I almost wish there was either a blue oval on the bar instead of having FLEX on the sheet metal above. I think it would be really hot if "F O R D" was stamped into the bar with a slim, modern font similar to the Flex font.
As for the rear, i think I still prefer the current model. I was surprised to see the off-center Ford logo.
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Sorry, but as a Lincoln LS owner, I don't care for it. It looks like you used the IS300 as the base for your chop with inspiration from the Pontiac G8 at the front. One of the most admirable things about the LS's chiseled styling is how well it has aged, but the car you used as a base is fussy and out-of-character with what the LS was. If anything, use the LS as your base and try to modernize it with new fascias and maybe a tweaked greenhouse.
I also think it's crucial that the long wheelbase remains, because that is what really gave the LS its distinct profile.
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Courtesy of AG3 over on GMInsidenews:
I really liked the Auto Express renderings...this, not so much. The front will look nice, but the side profile is bland and doesn't match the aggressiveness of the front fascia. I'll withhold final judgement until we see the real thing.
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Ford September 2011 Call Transcript. It's a very long transcript, so I will not post the text here. Please click on the link. In the same link, there is also a Q&A tab with Wall Street analysts that has some additional text.
Thanks for posting that. I didn't get a chance to listen in today. Sounds like October should be a much better month for the Focus.
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As the resident architect here, the exterior is a mess. There is something to be said for a simple and cohesive design, and this isn't it. There are five different colors of metal on this building, plus what looks like brick or precast by the service bay. Simplify it down to three types of metal panel (there is a nice contrast between the white and black, and I think the corrugated metal works well) and it will look a lot better.
The nicely designed waiting area looks out of place with its bland, cavernous surroundings. It feels like it was just plopped in there. Why ceiling tile? Why such boring light fixtures?
Overall, a pretty generic and conservative design--I would like to see them do more.
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Based on my experience with my wife's Santa Fe, I have no reason to doubt the Elantra's figures. Driving while keeping the green "ECO" light on (think the Fusion hybrid's leaves) will exceed the EPA numbers by about 1-2 mpg every time.
I was in SoCal recently and expected to rent a 2011 Taurus. Due to a mix up was given a 2011 Santa Fe 2.4 instead. I never saw any rhyme or reason behind what made the green ECO light turn on or off. With that said, my fuel economy never was anywhere close to the 20/28 EPA numbers. My average highway was about 23-24 and city driving usually netted between 17 and 18 mpg. The Fusion I had rented a year earlier to drive from Iowa to Florida and back always met or exceeded the EPA mileage (I regularly achieved 29-30 mpg highway in the V6 Fusion).
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Come on Ford. You really need to address Focus inventory levels. No other major surprises. Lincoln sales looked really good for the month!
Listening to the call right now...sounds like Focus production was way up in August, so that should address inventory issues in the coming months.
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I was taken aback when I first saw it, but the more I see it the more I really like it. I think they need to tweak the front on the production version to make it a little cleaner, but otherwise I love the crisp styling and the more organic evolution of Art & Science. And I like the fact that the tall beltline / chunky rear fad is starting to fade away.
What kills me is that in profile it looks like a Lincoln and makes me wish it was a Lincoln. It looks like the 2002 Continental Concept provided the inspration. Once again, Lincoln puts the idea on the drawing board and Cadillac is the one to run with it.
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I've seen more and more 200's on the road, and they actually aren't bad looking when looking directly from the front or rear...other wise they look like dog vomit from any other angle.
They are moving a lot of 200's around my area. The side profile is the weakest aspect, but Chrysler did a nice job overall with what they had to work with. I've seen quite a few in person and have also sat inside a couple--you get a lot of car for not much money.
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Interesting comment from the Lincoln FB page today.
Hey Grant- an update on the MKR has not been announced yet but our Facebook page is the place to be for our latest announcements. Thank you for your interest.
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An article in Automotive News about a month ago suggested the new MKZ might debut at Los Angeles this year. Hard to believe it would break cover before the Fusion, so not sure if I can believe that one.
If Lincoln is going to be viable, Ford needs to do everything to distance it from the Ford brand. Why does the Fusion have to be released first? LA is the ideal auto show for the MKZ.
Maybe even the Lincoln first, so it looks like Ford is borrowing from Lincoln, instead of the other way around. Though it MAY not be an issue if they are as vastly different as we've been lead to believe from the little hints coming out here and there. However, it seems even when the vehicles look vastly different (flex/mkt, taurus/mks) the news rags still harp on the platform sharing thing, seems like it is going to be a hard stigma to get rid of, even with completely unique sheetmetal for Ford. You don't seem to see the journalists mentioning it for the other luxury brands that share platforms.If the MKT didn't have such dowdy styling, I doubt the issue would come up as much. The main problem with Lincoln is the styling. Lincoln has to use the same hard points as its Ford siblings thanks platform sharing. The bow wave grille looks forced on most applications, and the tall beltline, tall cowl, and general stance of cars like the MKS makes them simply look less striking than an A6 (for comparison) in profile. The pasted-on Lincoln star near the A-pillar looks like an afterthought. Until Lincoln gets some styling direction and figures out how to refine itself, the Ford comparisons will keep coming up.
In the luxury market, it's all about the details.
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This is a "chop" of something artandcolour posted in the photoshop section over a year ago.....it is awesome!
I really like the overall profile, but I don't like the retro Fairlane sweep and detailing on the side. It seems forced.
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It's a pricey platform, but these will be high profit margin vehicles. If GM can make a business case for it, why not. Cadillac will have a nicely rounded lineup of RWD vehicles in all sizes, and if they put as much effort into the ATS and D-segment vehicle as the CTS, I see no reason why Cadillac won't be able to run with the top tier luxury makes. Cadillac and Buick have both done well in market lately, an this will only make them stronger.
Meanwhile, Lincoln seems content in the near luxury field and a $1 billion investment through 2014 is not exactly going to give them the boost they need to revitalize their image. Ford has done a great job turning the Ford brand around, but I don't have the same confidence with Lincoln...hopefully they prove me wrong.
2013 Lincoln MKZ Concept Debuts!
in Ford Motor Company Discussion Forum
Posted
Not only are the lights larger, but the grille slightly larger and the chrome surround is thinner. It looks a lot more refined than the concept.