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rmc523

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Posts posted by rmc523

  1. Eh, the Prius sells because of concept, not really because of the looks. The other three you mentioned really don't sell very well in the big scheme of things.....at least nowhere close to the levels of the current Explorer.

     

    I understand why the Prius sells, I just don't understand why Toyota had to make it so ugly. I know the other vehicles don't sell near Explorer levels, my point was that they sell at all (b/c IMO they're ugly), I would never consider any of them (they're all Aztecs in my book)

  2. Well, a much lower percentage of Fords have had tread separations or cruise control fires...still didn't stop Ford from recalling millions of vehicles and having the media still mentioning it in news reports to this day.

     

    20-30 REPORTED instances was rather significant when the news came out when only 20-30,000 total trucks were on the road.

     

    Also at least Ford recalled and fixed the vehicles, Toyota wouldn't have announced it, it would've been one of their voluntary recall or whatever they call it (or they would've told you there's nothing wrong), as to not damage their reputation.

     

    I wonder if a Tundra were to have some kind of cruise control fire, what kind of news coverage (if any) it would get.

  3. i was searching ebay and i found a nice looking fusion and if you look in the backgropund of some of the photos youll notice that they have a couple of 2008 ford focus's on the lot. are they arriving already i thounght it wasnt for another month?

     

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-2007-FO...1QQcmdZViewItem

     

    That's strange, I didn't think they were supposed to be out for a while, as you said. Well, if they're starting to get to dealer lots already, I would think thats good, they get to sell another new product (instead of the old Focus) alongside Ford's other new products, it fits in better with the rest of the lineup, too (it has a little bit of every car you know-designwise-).

     

    I think it should be a pretty good seller.

  4. using the bronco concept was hypothetical...your take as a niche vehicle for that concept is on the money...and beleive me it would have sold like hot cakes...all i was trying to do is emphasise that Ford TRULEY missed the boat on the Explorer re-vamp...they spent more time designing STUPID door pulle than the most important aspect of the vehicle...the exterior...mechanically and drivetrain wise the Explorer is great....

     

    Well IMO if that hideous Toyota FJ (and other cars such as Prius, Element, xB, etc.) thing can sell, I think just about anything could sell. I liked the Bronco concept, it would make a great competitor to the Wrangler and FJ (they could make a 4 door version ala Wrangler Unlimited - it could take sales from other Ford SUVs but would you rather have that customer trade in their Explorer and buy a Toyota or trade it in on a Bronco)

     

    Now, on the Explorer, I think they did a good job with it, I personally think it looks nice, but they could have done more. Those door handles are kinda silly (they could even keep the door release handle where it is above the window switches, just the grab handle is in such an awkward place). They say the door is designed like that b/c of the safety bars (whatever their called), there isn't any room for the handle mechanism (no excuse for where the grab handle is) Who knows? maybe they arent able to put it somewhere else, given the door design.

     

    They should've been more aggressive with the new Explorer design. Sometimes they can be so afraid to put something different on the market that they end up coming out with a "bland" (although nice) car. On another note, I dont like how Ford is putting the turn signal stalk on a 45 degree angle like in the Explorer, I prefer the almost 90 degree angle found in the Expedition.

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  5. that would change if someone brought something out that LOOKED ok...........I would go so far as to say what if the Edge was the Explorer replacement....styling sells the car at least initially.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's and f'in awful door pulls don't....face it changing light clusters on a vehicle ALREADY long in the tooth does NOTHING to ingest excitement! If say they had completely revamped the explorer along the lines of something visually exciting ( aka Bronco concept ) sales NEVER would have tanked....styling, styling, styling...plain and simple!

     

    I understand what you're saying, the styling needs to be different. You mentioned making the Explorer look like the Bronco concept, I don't think that would've worked either, I think it was designed to be a niche product, much like the FJ (which IMO is hideous). I'm not so sure the Bronco concept would've appealed to everybody. Maybe if you took some cues from the Bronco concept. I may be misunderstanding you though, you said something visually exciting, so you could just mean something that stands out (but not too much)?

  6. Considering what a big huge hulking vehicle the Navi is, I wouldn't be too worried about the absense of the "B" Pillar...the majority of the vehicles that will hit it, will probably blow up in the process. Although you COULD create suicide doors, while retaining the B-pillar. I dont think Fords efforts should be used on this, on a vehicle that is losing popularity by consumer tastes and high fuel.

     

    What you WILL see is more Flex-like crossovers, classified as "light trucks" to increase their CAFE score. Thats where Ford is likely to focus their resources.

     

    I know they wouldn't do it, I just thought it might be an interesting idea and wanted to see what you all thought

  7. Toyota's marketing machine has it down, that's for sure. And of course the Tundra is the new novel thing, so that may soon wear off. However...

     

    I know I'm opening a can of worms here -- but I see a lot of talk about all this cash on the hood of the Tundras. I did a (very) quick look at carsdirect.com and the F-150 has $3507 in rebates and the Tundra has $3500 -- so things are equal there. Both are offering 0.0% financing in lieu of rebates, so that's equaL as well. What am I missing here? Is the short period of time between introduction and rebates what's driving all of this talk?

     

    But you have to remember the F-150 is a 3-4 yr old design right now, the Tundra is brand new

  8. Ah, the Navigator. To me, suicide doors seem like a losing proposition. They're certainly possible to engineer into the design, but the result is a horribly floppy chassis. The Element and original Continental suffer from body flex more extreme than a Tijuana stripper, not to mention TERRIBLE crash test results, since there's no B-pillar to brace against the hit. My 1996 Thunderbird has the same problem of a large space between the two pillars on the side, which is solved with a gigantic steel beam in my door, weighing the thing down and making opening and closing difficult.

     

    -Optional LCD gauge cluster

     

    Thats why I said to keep the b-pillar.

     

    The gauge cluster on the 03-06 was LCD, why'd they go away from that. I read a review of the (07)Navi the other day and it was criticized for not having an LCD type display like competitors did

  9. It's all puffing until it comes to market!

     

    True, but we all know that if Ford or even GM would get it to the market first, it be a small, last minute report on any news channel, but if Toyota were to do it first, it'd be headline news

     

    ex.

     

    Toyota developed a plug-in hybrid :bowdown: "It's a revolution!! Nobody's ever thought of this stuff before Toyota!!!"

     

    Ford/GM developed a plug-in hybrid :reading: "Oh, thats nice"

  10. i'd like to see rmc's chop only with the 427's headlamps. that would look pretty sweet. igor, how'd you get so close? where are those headlights from?

     

    How's that? Sorry they don't fit on well, that's the best angle of the headlights I could find, plus, I only spent a few minutes on it

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  11. Yeh, but they should not have contoured the license into the bumper cover. I've been risking driving my Fusion without a front plate because it's not molded in and the plate takes away from it's visual appeal!

     

    Do they require front plates up there? Here in FL, they dont and I'm glad, it ruins the look of 99% of cars (euro tags dont look bad)

  12. No, sounded like you had experience in that area..

     

    Why do you all have to argue so much? It was arguments like these (although worse) that shut down the Autoweek Combustion Chamber. I'd hate to see BOF shut down (I don't know if it would happen) because of meaningless arguments.

     

    This is in no way a personal offense to anyone if it sounded like one. :unsure:

  13. I would imagine it has a LITTLE to do with fuel economy. I'm understanding that the PowerShift will eliminate a lot of the friction associated with automatics, and therefore, improve fuel economy. The manual-shift capability is going to be nice.

     

    Do any other companies offer a PowerShift like option in this class of vehicles (if so, I'd think not many offer it)?

     

    I'd say that's a Bold Move if nobody else or few offer a PowerShift transmission yet.

  14. Yeah, that was it. The SHOstar. I've tried looking for pictures of it online, but have had no luck. Back when I had my SHO, I was a member of the SHO registry. Used to get a quarterly magazine, and I know I saw one in there. Too bad I lost them all.

     

    I assume this is the SHOstar you're referring to?

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  15. I don't know if this topic would be more appropriate in the photochops section, but would it be possible to put suicide doors (keeping the B-pillar and the doors would be able to open independently) on the Navigator?

     

    I would think it could allow for easier ingress/egress from the 2nd/3rd rows.

     

    What do you all think?

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