Traveler Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 This restyle sort of reminds me of the 94-98 Mustang transition to the 99-04 style. They're keeping the curved roofline and angling the front and back more with a slightly longer overhang on the front and rear. This leaves the roofline just a fraction out of visual balance. Still, it doesn't look bad. My loyality is more with the Panther (in the Ford camp) and I've stated before I'd rather have a RWD Panther, but more horsepower and a sharper look might help. I'll wait before passing judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZanatWork Posted December 17, 2006 Share Posted December 17, 2006 Well one thing is for sure and that is the camry is the better vehicle, the Fusion was better than the old camry bu with the fusion ford did their normal mistakes of focusing on the 4 year old compeition and not the redesigns coming out in a year. AH, back to this again...and here's the line that always gets it messy: the new motor wasn't READY YET. PERIOD. I've driven both the Fusion and the new Camry, and the horsepower of the Toyota V6 and the supposed avaiability of a manual trans with it are the only things I preferred over the Fusion. That's IT. The Camry is so detatched and is plagued by so many driving nannies that you barely feel like a driver. Down a twisty road, I'd likely set a better time in the Fusion, even at the power disadvantage. The styling of the Camry is horrid, it looks like a Mazda 6 that's been eating donuts and ice cream for a solid year. The car's popularity reminds me of the days that the Cutlass Supreme (complete with smog choked v8s) was the most popular car sold in the US...no amount of better product could make the populace change its mind. The Camry was far from a world beater at its original dbut, and the Fusion has growing up to do. The people writing it off already (or, indeed, before it sold a unit) are the kind of people that WANT it to fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F250 Posted December 18, 2006 Share Posted December 18, 2006 (edited) Were you alive in the 80s'? By then the Japanese were firmly established and already putting a beating on the Big 3. Chrysler was almost dead when they launched the minivan in 83. The Japanese agreed to voluntary import limits to allow the Big 3 time to recover and started building plants in NA to get around the limits. Nice spin but in reality the Japanese didn't limit production "voluntarily." The U.S. government (at one time had a backbone) informed the Japanese they were going to stop their dumping and the Japanese wisely agreed to "voluntary" limits that they negotiated with our government. In 1983 Toyota had zero production in America so they wisely stalled for time and did everything they could to cheat the system, like importing pickup trucks without beds as incomplete vehicles and installing the beds once they arrived here. That's like saying Toyota has "voluntarily" recalled it's current generation Sienna 6 times when the truth is the NHTSA would have forced them if they hadn't. Edited December 18, 2006 by F250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdy1s Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 (edited) I don't think Ford advertises the Five Hundred/Montego/Freestyle near enough,and Mark Fields admitting a few months ago that Ford "orphans" cars, by blitzing the advertising at first then backing off, leads me to beleive that marketing is at least part of the problem. No one mentions it but as long as they were advertising the 500, it sold, especially the expensive one. As soon as the advertisements stopped, the car stopped selling. Granted the sales weren't where Ford wanted them, but it did sell according to the adv campaign. People just didn't know that they wanted a 500. You need television commercials dedicated to 1 vehicle, not a line, and not a commercial based on some woman paying for some dude's dry cleaning. You don't need internet only advertising because not all people have broadband and if they do what makes them go to a certain page? And you sure as hell couldn't rely on the 500 selling itself. Bring back the idiot box commercials!! Edited December 21, 2006 by birdy1s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon lover Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 look at the greenhouse.its the same damned car! So it takes 3 or 4 years to put a new 3 bar grill on it? By that time the 3 bar grille will be old and tired and need refreshing. WTF! Has this company not learned yet that you can launch or redesign a car thats already last place when it hits the street. remember when the cars have a different grille every year???? All cars, from all nameplates , have new griles , headlamps and taillaigths in fall-winter........ Now Ford cant put a new grille in a boring car in 3 years!!!!!!!! that is the origin of the problems they have now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyalbutconcerned Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 The new Five Hundred will doom Ford. After 3 years I can't believe this is all they could come up with. This rendition of the Mondeo (that has not been used by the way, and will somke day show up as somebody else's car) would have been better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 The new Five Hundred will doom Ford. After 3 years I can't believe this is all they could come up with. This rendition of the Mondeo (that has not been used by the way, and will somke day show up as somebody else's car) would have been better. You make it sound like they put the entire company into redoing the appearance of this vehicle for an entire four years. As I have heard it, they've already been working on the redesign for 2010 for a year. What did you expect from a refresh? A new engine and transmission, a new front end, significant NVM/handling upgrades, Sync, upgraded materials and color combinations in the interior (thank god monotone is dead!)... I think it's a fundamentally substantial upgrade that will help more people who try the car purchase it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Most of the Fusion owners I know are pretty happy with the D30/6 spd auto. Heck, I'm happy with the I4 that I have, and this is after I came off of driving a V8. This car is decently peppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 This rendition of the Mondeo (that has not been used by the way, and will somke day show up as somebody else's car) would have been better. You know, I really agree with you on this one. That Mondeo looks baller. But will the baby boomers take it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyalbutconcerned Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 You know, I really agree with you on this one. That Mondeo looks baller. But will the baby boomers take it? I for one am a baby-boomer and so are several of my colleagues who believe this is head and shoulder over the current design. Oh by the way, a few of them currently drive the car and love everything about it, but the looks. Noah needs to understand that Ford started discussing reskinning the car the year it was launched. That is not a secret. They can do better. Many companies are bringing new cars to market within two years so there is no excuse for this. They knew it needed to bne done based on the reviews (and sales) and they could have put out a bette effort this time around. Why should customers wait until 2010 for a better look? Their counterparts in Europe had many on the table. That is why they have so many highly paid engineers and designers. They need to earn their keep so the company can stay in business. Case in point, my neighbor a long time Ford customer was interested in the Five Hundred and shopped around for a month and ended up bolting for the competition, why, design. Another needed an all whell drive car and shopped the Montego, didn't like the design and bought an Avalon. Baby-boomers as well. They both test drove the car, but could not stand the looks. And by the way, power was not the issue My point, there are compelling reasons for the company, after 3 years of taking knocks from the critics, to reskin the car with better looking sheet metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyalbutconcerned Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 You make it sound like they put the entire company into redoing the appearance of this vehicle for an entire four years. As I have heard it, they've already been working on the redesign for 2010 for a year. What did you expect from a refresh? A new engine and transmission, a new front end, significant NVM/handling upgrades, Sync, upgraded materials and color combinations in the interior (thank god monotone is dead!)... I think it's a fundamentally substantial upgrade that will help more people who try the car purchase it. Did they "put the entire company into redoing the appearance" of the Mustang? Look how that turned out. Each of these vehicle lines have design and development teams they did a poor job. It does nat matter that they put all these new things in the car, if it is not good looking enough, most people don't want to be seen in it. Don't get me wrong, I have driven this car, n complaints about its driveability. As they (the new team) have realised a great looking car goes a long way towards its success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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