bravestar

My thought was to eliminate the slow selling Freestyle with a vehicle with fresh styling with a more traditional powertrain and ride height for a crossover.

All Ford needs to do is have an extended Edge to accomodate a third row seat and it is a slam dunk for Ford. The Acadia looks too much like a traditional SUV.

Ford has a way of ruining names. Super this super that, Freestar and Freestyle, Shelby Cobra GT500 and Shelby GT (not to be confused with Ford GT) too many similar names. And who, in there right mind would pay close to 10K over a Mustang GT sticker for a cold air kit and stripes just to have a Shelby name on a car that has very little performance improvement?

The Five Hundred is a great car with a very generic design. Sharpen up the creases, flatten the roof line and it should sell. The biggest problem with the Ford interiors is how each button or switch works and looks when you use them. The Japanese and Korean cars controls work like a Canon camera. Functional and substantial when you use them. For instance, in dimming the lights on the Five Hundred, you have to pull the lever through a weird feeling for almost five inches it seems to dim the lights. Now dim the lights on one of the competitors and compare. Another instance is the implimentation of the radio and climate control in the dash. In the Ford cars it looks like it was installed by visually challenged individuals. Now look at the competitors with very tight seams and flush surrounds. It is the little details that scream quality and Ford does not exhibit that yet in Ford Division North America but it is there in FOE and Mazda.

And what kind of trailer tow test was that? Why not pull the same trailer for both vehicles and then compare the performance? Seems like they tried to bag this for the Chevy but failed.

The all new Tahoe is not as good a vehicle as the refreshed Expedition and that has to be a big pill for the Chevy people to swallow. The interior looks like a car interior and is not as functional, joke of a third row seat, the exterior has that melted look that looks plain. The only advantage it has is the 6.0 and the Boss engine is just around the corner.

I have seen so many times that people blame the gas pedal or brake pedal, haven't heard about the cruise control, when what really happened is that the floor mat was pushed up in to and depressing the gas pedal without the driver being aware of it. That is why the drivers floor mat has a anchor point on it and is almost too small to do any good. If a aftermarket floormat was in that car it may have been wedged into the accelerator.

I trust that you are in the "know" and I hope Ford has the common sense you just demonstrated.

There is nothing good about destroying an American Icon.

Do not destroy the Mustang name with a four door or wagon variation. Mustang is one of only two American icons, Corvette being the other, that every one knows exactly what they are. Do not underestimate the enthusiasts and water down their icon just as the Camaro is getting ready to launch. As a Ford enthusiast and 2007 Mustang GT owner I hope they never do this.

Please, no more new styling exercises. Every few years Lincoln reveals a concept and then it never materializes. What Lincoln needs is a near production ready, within six months of reveal, vehicle that shows serious direction and style that is recognizabily Lincoln. It also needs to have a name not an alphabet soup letter designaton.

I bought my favorite...2007 Mustang GT 5-spd

'69 Mustang 428 Cobra Jet. The Boss had the attitude but the Cobra Jet put the muscle to the pavement.

How many stupid and meaningless reports are we going to get about the big 2? Who in there right mind would think that they would merge and that it would pass antitrust regulations? This is another example of why GM and Ford have almost an impossible battle to recapture the buyers they lost when they did not have competitive products. Do journalist and analyst enjoy trying to eliminate the only two remaining American automobile companies? This is a shame, I can see joint development on subsystems but merger?

I for one, am glad that it isn't a car with a SUV wanna be ride height. Not everyone wants a Checker Cab ride height and it does not work very good for sporty sedan styling.

My 2002 Ford Explorer has 90,000 trouble free miles, My 84 Mustang GT traded with no issues for a 86 Turbo Coupe (great car, no balls), marriage into a 92 Cougar XR-7, baby comes... trade for 96 Explorer XLT V-8, trade for the 02 Explorer. My wife and I last night went on a date in our new 07 GT Mustang 5-spd. Best car I have ever owned and proud to say I have always owned Ford products and they have been great for me.

I have a question, with all of the praises on how Mark Field turned around Mazda, have they yet gained back the market share they had originally lost? Also, has the same thing happened to Ford of Europe? Every one is singing his praises but I wonder if has resulted in increased marketshare or more of his success has been in shrinking the divisions to a new reality but better profit.

When people think of Ford cars, they think of Taurus and Crown Victoria not of the new offerings like Fusion and the secret Five Hundred. The car side of business will not improve vastly until all of the old Program Taurus and Fleet Crown Victoria and over priced Town Cars are not on dealers lots at fire sale pricing. The Freestyle is a great vehicle that could use some minor tweaking that no one knows about. They all think it is a minivan...which leads you to the Windstar that was, in the last model years of it, well liked into that joke of a name Freestar and less interior room. I want to see Ford be on the agressive as far as defending great products like the Mustang, F-150 and promote other strong vehicles like the unknown Five Hundred and Freestyle. Saftey and comfort sells and the need to leverage their Volvo heritage, who gives a shit if it doesn't fit in with the Bold Moves campagne. Not every vehicle needs to make a bold statement.

How about naming it Superfree. That way we can use the most redundant names in Fords lineup and continue with the confusion.

They all look the same from behind when you are driving behind it and it looks like the tailpipe is going to fall off because it hangs down too low. It has been that way for the last three generations of Camry's.

Here is the whole problem with that ill advised door pull. Try to grab the door quickly to stop it from hitting the car next to yours when a gust of wind blows the door open as you unlatch it. Impossible and there goes a dinger in the car parked next to you.

It makes no difference what name is refered to. The engine, if good enough, will create its own legend if it deserves one no matter if the name is pussycat. The name hemi only means something because of the history associated with that powerplant. Same as LS1 or whatever family is good. Previous generation PowerStroke for example.

Or, hear is another thought. Why on a rental 2005 Taurus is there a distance to empty display (which for me is very useful) but on a new F-150 XLT truck that is not even an option?

Not only that, but when it is a manual seat, it seems as if it is mounted in such a fashion that you lose about 2" of seat travel and it is mounted too high for taller people.

Also, discussing door pulls, it is very hard to open the door and and then reach down and grab the door pull on the new Explorer before it bangs into the vehicle parked beside it. I understand that there is a redesign but why on earth would anyone introduce a design such as that?