92merc

Well the kinda sucks. I was hoping for more. I hope that's the all wheel drive specs. The 3.0L Fusion is 21/29. Fusion is 3200lbs. Edge is 4000. So if they pull off 20/27 out of a 1000lb heavier car, it wouldn't be terrible. But I was hoping for more like 22/31. Shoot, a Grand Marquis will pull 20/27 without much trouble.

I think you may need the Audiophile system. I don't think the base unit will have the Aux input. Would be nice if it did though. But the part I like about the input is they have it inside the center console storage unit. I think it even has a power point inside there. That'll be sweet.

Edge has no current plans to go three rows. And I doubt they will. It's based off the Fusion. I don't think there is enough room to safley put a third row in. I belive that is why there will be a Fairlane. That is a people mover. More so than the Edge will be. Me, I'm planning on a Edge. Unless there is some serious reason after a test drive, I'd say there is a 90% chance this is my next car. Coming from a 92 Grand Marquis...

More recent models of the Mountaineer are AWD, where as the Explorer are 4 wheel drive. Explorer you can go 2wheel or 4. Mountaineer has an all time 4 wheel system that will transfer power when slipping. Generally speaking, most Mercury's come with many options standard, where as the Explorer, they are optional.

Ah yes. I'm getting them confused. But then it's the same 6 speed as the Fusion then. Not the 500. But the 6sp Fusion V6 does pretty well.

Igor, I think your research shows a bit about transmission and gearing. I doubt all of those you mentioned have the same tranny and/or gear ratio's. My mother in law's car has the 3.8 in a Buick. My buddy has the same model year Pontiac, same engine. But the MIL's car beats his by 3 MPG pretty consistently. Since the Edge has the same tranny as the 500, I'm hoping the efficiency will be good. With the 6 speeds, they will have a lot of room to program the right shift points so they can keep efficiency and still have some seat of the pants HP.

My feeling is it will be low 20's around town. Low 30's on the highway. I really really hope that's what it ends up being. Shoot, my mother in law's Buick with the 3.8L gets 35MPG at 75. It would be nice for the ole Ford to get that. Because I'm planning on trading in the mother in laws car for an Edge this fall.

I was browsing around and on Edmunds, they have a video. If you listen to it, they actually state excpect a combined fuel economy of 25mpg. That's the first figure I've head at all other than, "7% better". http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Gener...rticleId=108868

Well, I can say things in North Dakota aren't quite like the previous poster. Since ND is still primarily a rural state, the Highway Patrol and county sheriff's are most often the first responders to a call. So these guys have anwywhere from 200 to 300 lbs of stuff in their trunks. Shotguns, crow bars, extinguishers, you name it. So rear truck space is needed. The rear suspension also has to keep up with that load. Also, our guys frequently hop from one highway to the other, right through the ditch. Crossovers are few and far between most the time, especially on the Interstate. So they can't wait to turn around. The frame and suspension will need to take a beating. In ND, some police in town are still running with Impala's. But even in my city of 60k, it's a mix of Impala's, CV's, and some Tahoe's. We have a few cops that are in the upper 6 foot range that can't even fit in a CV. So they're big boys. I'm curious to see what the long term pans out for the Charger. But I don't see the Charger taking any more spots around here than the Impala does. If anything, Impala numbers may drop more than CV numbers do. Mostly if gas mileage is better. All it would take to keep the CV's running in ND is the 3V and 6 speed to help those milage numbers, and I don't think any of the civil service groups will bat an eye at buying more CV's. On a personal note, I have a 92 Grand Marquis and love it. I'm hoping for some decent updates to the platform and keep it around.

I think it was in one of those lawsuits, but an independant company showed that the CV was equal to the other cars of it's making. But the only car they could find of "equal" design was the Chevy Caprice. They didn't test it vs the Impala. And those tests were without the new shield. But from what I understand, the new Charger, the CV, and the Impala are all rated for 50mph rear end collisions. The feds don't ask for standards higher, so only independants have done the testing at higher speeds. And only on CV's with regards to "current" models. So there is really nothing to compare, from my understanding.

I'd agree that a hybrid VIC would be good. But hows that going to help all the idleing? Run the compressor off Electric? Oh yeah, that'll be efficient. I don't care how you are setting and idling, that's probably the most ineffecient thing you can do on a vehicle. So the LEO's might not get much for realized MPG gains if they are dong that all the time.

OK, I don't care what kind of car that is, but it's certainly not an econobox. But when a motorcyclist can strike a car and FLIP it, they were haulin ass, period. Plus consider if the cycle was hauling ass, when it strikes a car, it does so with a small impact area than a car with it's bumper. Less mass, yes. But I've seen plenty of crashes with cycles that penetrate into cars. If it is a Ford, I'm sure the media will be all over it. But depending on the crash, any car might have burst into flames.

The AC isn't "slammed" on any worse at startup then when driving down the road. The AC's power circuit isn't on until the key is in the RUN position. So at "crank" time, the AC is still off. As far as cooling the car faster, running on NORM with the window cracked is fastest for cool down time. Think about it. You get into a HOT car. It's typically hotter in the car than the outside air. When on MAX, you'd be trying to take the hotter inside air down on recirc and cool it down. You're better off taking outside air in until the inside is cooler, and cool that off. To get more airflow, like MAX has, crack a window to let the hot inside air purge out. Once cooled down inside, then MAX. As far as alergy wise goes, I can't help you much there. I'm only alergic to death and taxes. But I would guess only a cabin filter will truely help you there. If the car is driving through something alergy laden, it'll get in one way or another, unless you're drivng through it fairly quickly. Otherwise if the alergen is all over your countryside, it already got in when you opened the door. So it's stuck to you already. Recirc will just keep it in and still blowing around. Just MHO... The AC isn't "slammed" on any worse at startup then when driving down the road. The AC's power circuit isn't on until the key is in the RUN position. So at "crank" time, the AC is still off. As far as cooling the car faster, running on NORM with the window cracked is fastest for cool down time. Think about it. You get into a HOT car. It's typically hotter in the car than the outside air. When on MAX, you'd be trying to take the hotter inside air down on recirc and cool it down. You're better off taking outside air in until the inside is cooler, and cool that off. To get more airflow, like MAX has, crack a window to let the hot inside air purge out. Once cooled down inside, then MAX. As far as alergy wise goes, I can't help you much there. I'm only alergic to death and taxes. But I would guess only a cabin filter will truely help you there. If the car is driving through something alergy laden, it'll get in one way or another, unless you're drivng through it fairly quickly. Otherwise if the alergen is all over your countryside, it already got in when you opened the door. So it's stuck to you already. Recirc will just keep it in and still blowing around. Just MHO...

Hey, it could have been worse. They could have been Fords! :-0

Navistar is history. No more 6.0 or 4.5. International has it now. They will be doing a 4.4. Also a 3.x? I think the smaller 3 liter is first. But I think in the E150, the 3 liter would work well for most of the "people hauling" they tend to do. Won't be a speed demon, but it shouldn't be anyway.

Ha, I read that page too fast. I thought it said "Sphincter", not Sprinter. That would give the van a whole new meaning! Man my brain isn't working right this morning. I need some coffee....

Sorry, but just not my cup of tea exterior LOOKS wise. Long nose and short butt. Just doesn't seem proporitionate to me.

Where's my Elmer Fudd imitation when I need it? "Kill da Wabbit, Kill Da Wabbit!" :-)

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong (back it up with a link), but I thought the CV was rated to 50 MPH in a rear end collision already? And that's with 10 year old technology. Who cares if a window breaks after a collision like that. Besides, all the fires on the CVPI have been at over 50mph. And none have occurred since the shields have been added. So the way I see it, the Magnum is equal to the CV in rear end collisions. Not better.

From what I was told, Ford bought Toyota's "software", no hardware. Apparently both were working on similar systems. But Ford supposedly had issues with the shifting and behavior software. I guess the ride and transitions were harsh. The Toyota software fixed that. I was told this by someone who claims he works on the Toyota hybrids in the plant. So take it all with a grain of skepticism. But if it's true, the Ford didn't buy a whole lot in the grand scheme of the whole hybrid system. I'm hoping Toyota take a down turn in hybrid sales when they will be forced to change their MPG rating on the Pruis. I've heard NOBODY gets the claimed 50MPG. The real world riding puts the Toyota at the same or slightly less than the Fords. And with new Fusion, Zephyr, 500 hyrbids coming for sure, it'll only help Ford. Now if Ford actually pulls off a F150 hydraulic hybrid with the claimed 50MPG, Ford will be kicking all over the US-3 for sure.

For some reason, this move reminds me of the Monopoly game. The point where you are starting to loose. You have no cash and a lot of property. So you either sell some property or motgage it so that you have enough money to pay for the nasty spots you are about to land on. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess. I just pray Ford doesn't go down this route. It's gonna get ugly...

For more info than you probably want to see, just Google Blackberry lawsuit. The suit had been on-going for quite awhile.

I don't think the Commander is a "bad" vehichle. But it's about 10 years too late. The bigger SUV market is declining. If Jeep wasn't in it before, I don't know why they want to be in it now. I do see the market stabilizing within a few years though. So who knows. Besides, a good NTHSA frontal rating is only a small part of it. How about the side impact? And even if it gets good ratings there, it seems like the Insurance Institute always comes in with totally different ratings. Look at the Fusion. Good on NTHSA, Insurance Institute only rated it one step above "bad". So it's all relative. And a marketing spin. Which somehow it seems like Ford is always taking in the shorts, and not the other guys. I guess that's life looking through my Ford blue goggles...

I think the 500 was shot of the starting gates with "bare" minimal options. Basically getting the design on the streets before it had the new 6 speed, 3.5L engine ready. I'd say the radio is probably the same story. I'd expect when they announce the 3.5 availability, it'll have some other new updates like the radio and Siruis capable. Something along the lines of the Zephyr/MKZ update coming shortly. Until then,...

The one thing I don't get is how they are touting Jeep as being the unit that will do the sales job. SUV sales are on a steep decline. All of Jeeps new lineup are refreshed SUV's. I would say with the exception of their small compact SUV, none of the line up will receive any major success in sales numbers. They will probably be hailed as good vehicles by the journalists. But in the end, it's the sales numbers that matter. And SUV's aren't where it's at in the up coming years. At least Ford is moving that direction with the Fusion, Edge, Reflex, etc.