Assimilator

The Escape is a little low on appeal with its anonymous car-like styling and conspicuously inexpensive interior. But I kinda like the simplicity and utility of the Escape, it's well designed and engineered to maximize utility and economy. But it's hard to escape that this is the appliance car, the one car to fill a ton of customers as cheaply as possible. The SE is obviously not a great exemplar. I don't love what I'm hearing about the 1.5L from most reviewers, those Ford 3-Cylinder have never really won over many American customers. The 2.0L however is dynamite, coupled with that platform which is more dynamic than most. And then there is the Hybrid with AWD which is pretty stellar. The Escape does have a nicer instrument panel available, along with the only Ford NA vehicle to get a HUD. I do think it's a shame the Escape has essentially turned into something that is clearly not the SUV-imaged car it began life as. I can't help but think the Escape's brand equity is on thin ice.

Only a Quad-Motor design can pull that off.

An emergency refresh for 2021? I haven't heard anything about that. I've heard something about a Sync 4 update coming for 2022, I don't know if that comes with a larger screen however.

Most Tesla owners rarely use a Supercharger, that is true. And with increasing range, charging stations are actually becoming LESS important. Ford's wisdom on this is sound, most people will never charge outside of the home and won't need to with this kind of battery range. The charging network is a false fear, it's not nearly as critical as people think. Weirdly people who don't have EVs still think in terms of fueling up, forgetting that they get to top off every night. If you could pump your gas at home, how often do you think you'll need a gas station? In my case, that would have meant only once in the past 10 years when I took a vacation to Mackinac. For others that may be different, but for a vast majority of people, once you get over 300 miles of range, you're going to be a statistical outlier, never mind that there is an existing and growing network for those instances. People will get over this FUD with time and experience. And again, the tech is evolving in this extended timeline, what's true today won't be tomorrow and Ford knows that.

I have a hard time believing that the future of EVs requires everybody to build out their own proprietary charging network like Tesla. I don't know what people expect Ford to do about that, it's a network that has to be built out by market forces or cooperation between all the other automakers. Ultimately that may yield WAY more charging stations than Tesla could ever hope to fund for their own cars. It's just not going to happen instantly and time is on everybody's side when it comes to EV tech because it's rapidly advancing. Ford ultimately needs time to develop their cars and to sell to and support their EV customers. What Tesla has pulled off took time and it wasn't easy, essentially only they can do what they did and this would have NEVER happened at a traditional automaker who can't run any business on significant risk and loss. It's also weird to me that anybody would see this as a Ford exclusive problem, every automaker is scrambling to figure out what to do about Tesla. Ford certainly is no further behind than anybody else, and perhaps they are further ahead on the right products. But again, it takes time and this will remain a small market while the infrastructure and tech matures. Come back in 10 years and then judge. Nobody can accuse Ford of sitting on their bums, I don't know what more people want from them. Hybrids, PHEVs, BEVs with Tesla matching range and performance. Even a coveted Rivian Skateboard underpinning a Lincoln. They even partnered with VW to get the affordable EVs flowing in Europe. I don't know anybody else with such a comprehensive approach across multiple markets and segments. I've constantly said that I love Tesla, but I know Ford can actually make the BEV I want. A utility with the functionality and amenities that Tesla is lacking. Tesla doesn't have amenities I consider to be basic (Android Auto, CarPlay, Voice control, heated steering wheel, ventilated seats, wireless charging, memory recall, etc.). Telsa's AV tech is far ahead right now, but Ford's AV technology also involves attention monitoring which Tesla is not doing and it may become mandatory and essential for the tech to work. Tesla still has time to update their tech, but the pace of change at Tesla is really slow now.

The Aviator is uniquely terrible by Lincoln standards however. Even when I'm first in-line for the new models, all my MKXs and Nautilus have been flawless with the exception of MyLincoln Touch. But I don't blame anybody swearing them off if they've spent a fortune for a vehicle with such a major issue that they can't seem to fix.

Definitely scored better than the 2020 Explorer!

I guess Ford has to pick its battles, it has to pull off quite a few expensive and risky product transitions with only so much money on hand. I would contend that Ford no longer has to be a full-line automaker, it doesn't need to be in all segments. But it would be nice if Ford was good at the important ones while making products that stand alone in the market. I like their focus on creating more icons, that's what encourages me about what they are doing next (Bronco, Bronco Scout, Small Pickup, Mach E). Even the troubled Explorer has been treated as something way more special than the typical mundane family hauler when they could have easily gone the easy route.

I don't think I've ever seen people pour into this forum with so many horror stories about a new Ford or Lincoln, this is definitely a unique phenomenon in my long history on these boards and others like it. So I would say without a doubt, the Aviator and Explorer are a hard pass until a year or so has passed. And the scale and scope of this problem is well outside the norm for Ford or Lincoln. This product is going to take a long time to sort out and I don't think we are done hearing about the problems. I will say that this is not really new since I've long struggled getting a Lincoln order filled for any new model car. I try to be first in line, but it NEVER works out. You have to be super patient because you'll run into long inexplicable delays without fail. Certain features tend to cause delays with certain builds, so you can see the cars filling the inventory, but none of them have the features you want. It can be very frustrating, it happened to me with the 2016 MKX. I ordered in March, it was suppose to be built in June, but was delayed each month until November and I had to extend my lease by 4 months. It wasn't a problem, just a constant frustration that came with a vow to never order a new model year car again....and I didn't! I was going to order a Lincoln Aviator but fate handed me a Black Label Lincoln Nautilus on a plate instead and I'm so glad! Avoided so much aggravation. The only first-in-line Lincoln that was a problem for me was the 2011 MKX with MyLincoln Touch which was a complete disaster that lasted the lifespan of the lease, but the rest of the car was fine.

That's the trouble with spending luxury pricing at a Ford dealership, it doesn't always come with a luxury service experience. I think that's a critical factor people fail to consider when Ford's pricing pushes into the luxury space. I know service is what keeps me loyal to Lincoln.

Assembly lines are engineered too, that includes the processes for putting things together properly and ensuring quality.

Assembly is engineering too.

Twitter found you!

Honestly, this is infuriating to hear and I'm sorry and disappointed it's happening.

I genuinely believe Ford under-estimated what the Korean competition was about to do which is sucking some air out of their market, especially with the Explorer's premium pricing and lack of tangibles (Space, Utility, Comfort, Amenities). It doesn't help that Explorer is facing well published quality issues and just underperformed in the same crash test the Koreans just aced (not to mention the Koreans are out-performing them in quality rankings too). I know they'll figure it out eventually, but it seems everyday I learn more bad news about this car. I really see no reason why this Explorer should thrive, it's not a particular compelling or brilliantly executed product. It's really going to come down to the strength of the name or the niche market for ST and Platinum.

Goodness, I looked into it and I guess this is a known problem. So you're not alone.

A frunk would be extremely useful in a pickup because of the disadvantages of storing cargo in a pickup bed (Weather, Security, reachability). It just has to be large enough to store groceries and the like. One of the things I dislike about a pickup truck is that you have tons of space, but none of it convenient for everyday use. Honda, Rivian, and Cybertruck have the bed trunk which does help, RAM has the RAM Boxes. I know in my F-150 I just use the backseat which is hard to use in a parking lot. I'm curious to see what the F-150 BEV does, I don't know how ambitious the top-hat changes are. I suspect it's just a conversion project, otherwise they wouldn't call it an F-150. It does get a unique architecture, but it's largely a frame modification rather than something new. It gets an IRS and a long narrow battery pack filling the inner frame. This might also get around the regulations that require a dual stage hood latch which makes using a frunk annoying. If you have a tailgate-like design it might make things easier.

Lincoln does have a midsize BEV arriving for MY 2023, so it should be hitting shelves about this time in 3 years. That timing isn't great for me since the lease ends in July and I'm sure we won't see it available to buy until closer to the end of the year so I'm looking at lots of lease extensions if I want it. There is also the Rivian tie-in, although I'm assuming that's above my price range. Either way, if you don't mind waiting, things are only going to get better. The Mexico plants are getting a TON of products to fill them up, so Mach E won't be the only product they make. I suspect they will also be getting the Midsize BEVs which were originally planned for FlatRock. But we also have the NG Transit Connect, Bronco Scout, Compact Pickup, and White-Space Crossover coming out of those two plants. Those two Mexico plants account for all of the new nameplates and segments Ford is entering in the next few years.

I lost my sense or urgency to get inline, I still think it looks exciting...potentially. And there are a ton of other EVs coming online very quickly, this segment is evolving too fast to get onboard this early when I have time to wait.

I think it's going to be awhile before they fully vet and fix the Explorer and Aviator design, I would give it a couple years personally since there are so many new technologies in there (Platform, Hybrids, PHEVs, Transmissions, etc.). They just underperformed expectations in crash testing for example so it's going to take a minute to fix that. I would definitely avoid 2020 Explorer, especially since pricing is going to improve and quality will go up. As for Explorer sales, keep in mind they are combining Explorer/UI sales right now, so you really have to compare the combined figures to compare to last year. It's going to be at least a year to stock the right configurations of Explorer and they are also coming back form a substantial inventory drought which can skew sales further.

I wonder if Explorer has strayed too far from its SUV image. I like the more low-slung performance-focused approach, but it has lost quite a bit of that traditional Explorer appeal in this transition. I applaud them for thinking differently however.

I actually just cancelled my pre-order yesterday, they make it very easy online to do so. I'm impressed by how well they are handling that aspect of the car. A big reason is that I just lost the urgency to jump onboard first since Ford is so inexperienced in this segment, the ongoing Explorer/Aviator debacle doesn't inspire any confidence in their ability to fully bake and build something this new at launch. I'm just hoping Lincoln has something in 2022 when my lease is up on the Nautilus, which is something I would be more interested in anyway. This also gives Ford some time to figure out how to make these things and perfect the new tech and features in them.

Ranger or Bronco Raptors seem like prime candidates for the upfit facility, but Ford Trademarked several names suggesting unique low volume trim series for the Bronco.

The F-150 BEV is a 2023 Model, it's not arriving next year, although the Hybrid is.

The mainstream automakers have an exceptionally poor record countering Tesla however, I'm not sure where this confidence is coming from but they haven't earned any of it yet. And the one thing you can't say about Cybertruck is that it's an easy thing to duplicate should it become the phenomenon it appears poised to be. An F-150 with a battery pack and IRS....that's not very compelling. I'm not typically pessimistic about Ford, but what I'm seeing with the F-150 BEV is just not encouraging since I know that battery is very expensive. It could become the Detroit truck norm while others go in more innovative directions, I don't know. I'm not a fan of the converted ICE approach, it's always terrible compared to the dedicated architecture, but that might be the only approach that makes sense for the F-150. The only problem with this approach is that you basically get a worse EV and a worse F-150. Ford is calling this a "Zero Emission F-150" in their corporate documents which gives you some insight into their outlook. GM appears to be year or two ahead of Ford on getting a BEV truck to market, so we'll see what they do.