twintornados

What it also shows is that Ford has brought all those "luxury perks" down to an affordable family sedan that John Q Public can own and enjoy...that is the real story of Taurus.....Ford knows it won't be stealing any sales from the featured competition with Taurus, just proving to all that Ford can do it, and do it better for less. Now, the double whammy punch would be to go after those luxury competitors sales with Lincoln. The cache appeal is much more important in the luxury market.

MkT wheel base, but in sedan form...that would be one interesting car for the "near luxury" set...I honestly think there would be a market for that in the livery/taxi fleets as well as selling 2-3K a month retail....especially in South Florida and like regions. Lincoln is headed to the stratosphere in market terms, but Mercury can attract the livery/taxi market with Marquis and sell it well without hobbling Taurus or MKS sales. Just for numbers sake, I looked up the specs as follows: Taurus (2010) : overall length - 202.9 wheelbase - 112.9 Grand Marquis: overall length - 212 wheelbase - 114.6 Town Car: overall length - 215 wheelbase - 117.7 Town Car L: overall length - 221.4 wheelbase - 123.7 MKT: overall length - 207.6 wheelbase - 117.9 A D3 based Marquis can consolidate current Grand Marquis, Town Car, and Town Car L sales once Panther is put out to pasture. D3 has shown the (pardon the pun) flexibility and can be summoned up for production in St. Thomas Assembly as Panther winds down. Having Mercury in the fleet market would be a boon to Ford as a way to differentiate both marques (Ford and Lincoln) from a fleet stigma.

Man...I hope you are right :shades:

Here is an idea that I am certain will draw the ire of Panther fans... When Grand Marquis goes out of production on the Panther chassis, Ford should intro a 4-6 inch stretch version of Taurus with styling cues from Mercury and bring it out as Marquis, dropping the "Grand" from the name. This would be the car that competes with Lucerne, Avalon, 300 Touring, etc etc...

Saw an appliance white one on my local Ford lot....sat in it, looked it over....pretty interesting piece. Should sell well.

...and you just noticed it now??? LOL

AKA....rental fleet queen. What?!?!?!

Dunno....have you looked in your garage??

Keeping my fingers crossed for an MKR

Interesting to note the "new for 2010" 65C option on the Town Car.....the Continental edition.....things that make you go hmmmmmm

That is what Viagra is for....

Help me jewish god!!! Help me Tom Cruise!!!

Sorry.....the major shareholder in both of these "new" companies says,

<urrrp> gawd, I just threw up a little in my mouth....turn it off.....turn it off

I wonder how well the A/C works on those hot Indian nights......

You guys realize that you are comparing a "near luxury" vehicle (the Buick) to a "value price" vehicle (the Ford)....as previously stated, a more apt comparison is to Mercury.

<whew>...boy, am I am glad those two are gone....I am sure that as time progresses, they will turn it around and become profitable again, but Ford made the right choice....they should have never been in the Blue Oval to begin with.

Check the shocks....if they are bad...that'll chop those tires.....

I remember those.....

The LaCrosse is aimed at the midsize market...Milan is the likely comparison to this car...the Taurus would be compared to Lucerne.

She is very diligent about maintaining her car, always gets the oil changed at the proper interval (5K for the Escape), and rotates the tires (hybrid cross rotate)every other change as well as replacement of air and fuel filters at regular intervals....she is rewarded with an ultra reliable vehicle that has never let her down. Her 2002 Escape had 120K when she swapped for the 2005....I almost bought it (the '02)...but got a Fusion instead.

Gotta nod toward Escape, my girlfriend owns a 2005 model and she is rolling up on 100K in the next few weeks.....zero problems except one, a rear wheel bearing was getting noisy at 97K...had it replaced...did a transmission service while it was in since she said she is going to keep it for another year or more....still looks good and she got 70K on the OE Continental tires...so when it was time for a new set, she got another set of Contis'. She has the V6, but with the new 2.5L four cylinder...should be plenty peppy for your grandparents. Her commute is 100 miles a day round trip and she loves the comfort of the car. Go with the Escape....they won't be disappointed.

Several companies make Hybrid Digital Radio adapters....I am interested, but not at over $250 for a conversion unit.

Could always replace the Kent with RoCam......

hmmmm.....Road Runner returning as a Ford product?? No...wait....Road Runners aren't birds of prey...and they are also of a defunct car marque