WC Man

I have an 07 Grand Marquis. Yesterday afternoon, I got in to go to the store. The ABS and parking brake light both remain on, the digital part of the dash and the HVAC do not work, and the steering feels heavier than it should. It went away after driving the car for about 10 minutes, was gone this morning, then it came back again. Calling the shop next week, just wondering if anyone knows what it is.

More power without sacrificing efficiency. I've seen aftermaket conversions that look awesome. Would love to see for offer a "family" package with quad buckets and a bench in back, or 6 buckets. The raised roof offers wonderful opportunities for entertainment options. In reality, the interior only needs minimal upgrades as real parents prefer durable over style. I would offer another cross-shop option for minivan/MPV shoppers. Its different enough to not cut into C-max or Edge sales.

They can't build it. Tough and simple, few features, more options, not "packages" that load crap on it I never use. Little computer control in the engine (told you they couldn't build it) so home mechanics can work on it. Simple V-8 motor. Manual Transmission available. Durable, easy to work on, interior. Limit hidden screws and latches. Lots of aftermarket goodies. Solid axles, simple suspension setup. Assume it is going to sell to people more interested in off-road-ability than highway ride. Do not market to the crowd that buys the Edge, we have one of those. Two doors, seats five only, high stance. This has worked for Jeep for almost 100 years. We have station wagon replacements, nothing is being offered to people who do not want those. They will never make this vehicle. My setup calls for a vehicle that combines 60's simplicity combined with 2010 reliability. This is not a vehicle that can have 10000 electronic nannies on it. It requires a driver that quits texting and focuses at least part of their attention on DRIVING the vehicle. Its also a vehicle that doesn't require a million dollars in computers to diagnosis. Like I said, they can't and won't build this vehicle. You can get it in India or South America, but not here.

One day, when the bulk of these cars have been ruined by aftermarket tuners, and they are collected as the last great American road car, this will be seen as a stupid move by Ford.

Look at its competition friends. The Cobalt would've been a competitive compact 10 years ago, and Dodge thought an inefficient nearly-crossover was the ticket to competing in a field that is still cost sensitive. I do not hold out hope for the Cruze, GM seems incapable of competing in this segment. Chrysler could compete, depending on the Fiat content of the coming small sedan and execution. But Ford seems poised to move into the Honda-Toyota field if the new Focus has the brass tacks to take 'em on.

I was thinking the opposite. Make the Flex a bit bigger. Make it completely competitive with minivans from Toyota, Honda, and Chrysler. The Explorer can chase the fad crossovers, while the Flex can carve out a niche as the upmarket non-minivan.

Let me help you out. Take the edge, add some outback-style lower body effects, stretch it a bit, add a third row seat, and there you go! :happy feet:

Toyota needs all the help they can get. The xD is basically a new vehicle and it can't outsell a Chrysler that was introduced in the last century! Where did this come from? Why aren't the small Jeeps on it? Isn't the Versa classified as a compact car?

I personally like all the attention to "Providing Mercury customers with continued parts and service". That's mighty white of 'em, of course, outside of the grille, logos, and possibly wheels EVERY PART ON A MERCURY IS THE SAME AS A FREAKING FORD!!!!!!!!! They HAVE to produce 90% of the parts because they are on the SAME Ford models. I wish I wish I wish I could believe all this crap. But it sounds all the world to me like they are planning on slapping Lincoln grilles on Mercury products already in the pipeline. I would love to see a Lexus fighter, or even a Acura fighter, hell, a Buick fighter might even be nice. But I just have a hard time believing it before I see it. In my area, they closed the LM lot and did not move the cars to the Ford lot, so its easy to see how Mercury sales were flat, they weren't even available. Boy talk about badge engineering! Infinitis aren't even that reliable. Have fun.

Stupid comparo meant to hype the Hyundai, who the entire auto-rag core seem to be having a collective orgasm about. Lexus is a luxury car, Hyundai claims to be a luxury car, Buick is a dinosaur from the last decade waiting to become extinct, and the Taurus is not, nor has it ever claimed to be, a luxury car. Its a working man's car that should be compared to similar models. I don't put any faith in any of those magazines these days. They want more horsepower or better handling as long as the car they like has it. C & D consistantly chose the Mazda Protege/3 over far more powerful small cars due to handling, even though almost nobody purchases a small car and takes it to the track to work out the suspension. Motor Trend once said the M5 was a better sports car than the Corvette because it was more comfortable. Most people here could give you a huge list of reasons that a Ford is better than any other car in its class. When you pre-determine the winner, its strengths become the most important features a car can have.

Eco-boost is basic progress. My '96 Villager has a 151 hp V-6 that was considered very competitive in its day. My wife's '09 Patriot has a 173 hp I4. Today, you can hardly consider a V-6 viable if it doesn't make north of 200 hp. The popular 302 and 351 truck engines only made 250 and 290 hp in thier respective most powerful forms. Truth is, for some 90% of truck owners, the EB will more than satisfy their needs. But in trucking circles, "mines bigger" bragging rights reign supreme to the point that people who never haul anything more than a bag of garbage pay for ridiculously powerful trucks. That's fine if you want to pay for it, I drive a car that no longer requires a V-8 motor, but Ford cannot ignore CAFE. Maybe all of these truck guys should spend more time writing their congressmen instead of griping about Ford offering what the almighty government demands. And for the vast majority of owners, they will never do enough to truly tax the motor.

I guess we can all agree that the current Lincoln plan, whatever the heck it is, is not working. Still, salvaging Mercury will not help Lincoln. If Lincoln is to survive as a luxury marquee, it, not Mercury, must compete with C-class, 3-series, TSX, & IS. Personally, I don't see the brand surviving as it doesn't seem to have any kind of market appeal. Maybe Ford could cancel it and re-introduce the brand at a later date if the market warrants it. How many independent Lincoln Mercury Lots are left anyhow? They disappeared here several years ago.

Alas poor Mercury...I drove ye well. What ridiculous arguments? That some of us prefer traditional comfort to underwhelming FWD platforms? Let's ditch Mustang too! Oh well, I guess losing a few hundred thousand buyers won't mean much to Ford. BTW, far more greyhairs drive Toyotas and Buicks than Mercuries. I don't think you are allowed to test drive the Avalon unless you can produce an AARP card! I expected Mercury to disappear with the MGM. There is no place for mid-level brands anymore. GM will only make it so far with Buick/GMC, probably long enough to consolidate all of their lots to Cadillac/Buick/GMC or Chevrolet/Buick/GMC before they axe the brands. Nothing but MGM had any market appeal from Mercury. Sure, guys like me might shop only because we prefer the Waterfall grille to the Gillete razor, but they were basically selling Fords. Ah well, we'll always have the past together. At three cars, Mercury is my current "most owned" brand. Kinda hurts my chances with Ford though, I can't bring myself to love the razorblades. I guess I may look elsewhere for my next vehicle. How? Those are luxury cars. Better to build Lincolns at that size.

I guess you build a less efficient minivan and you get less sales. Flex is a minivan pretending, at best, to be a station wagon. It a neat looking vehicle, but Honda and Mazda have already proved car doors do not work in the minivan world. Flex is too boxified to be confused for a CUV, and Explorer is about to yank that rug out from under it. I think you push the other way. Make the vehicle taller with more interior room. Go the transit connect route and offer a business oriented model alongside the consumer model. Consider the possibility of optional sliding doors.

Hey now! Those people paid a $1000 premium for that high quality electrical gremlin Oops, I mean whatever the they claimed was wrong with a floor mat that somehow caused those cars to go out of control. Those were super-deluxe quality floormats to, not those cheap non-accelerator jamming one found in Fords .