Commentary From An Unlicensed Author: Talking About Ford and Consumer Reports

[YSSMAN]

Day after day I get up and it seems like there is some kind of negative story about Ford, GM, or DaimlerChrysler floating around on the internet or on television. But strangely enough I awoke this morning to surprisingly good news, Ford managed to pull it out, and actually beat the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in this year's Consumer Reports reliability ratings.

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"What a surprise," I thought, sipping my juice as I prepared for school, "Ford actually managed to pull it off?"

Yes, they did, with the Fusion no less. From zero to hero, the Ford Fusion managed to tackle the two giants of the industry by a few points, and the same can be said of it's sister cars, the Mercury Milan and the Lincoln MKZ (Zephyr). I have pretty much drawn blanks as to why that happened, but best guesses go to the Camry outright sucking all around (drop in build quality, unsatisfying performance, little value in the market these days), and with the Accord I would think it is more of an age thing.

But then of course the dark side came out, and I had to say it:

"Do they realize they are buying a Mazda 6 with a blue-oval on the hood?"

...Not that it matters really, as I like the Fusion, a lot. I like the look both inside and out, it is incredibly comfortable while still being involving, and manages to strike a pretty good balance between the three national traits of automobile design, American, German, and Japanese. I'd be more apt to buying a low-level I4 model with a stick, but the V6 SEL that I had looked at was quite nice, and I was actually at the point of recommending it over some GM models.

Close, but no cigar. Ford still has a long way to go. Sure, all of the old folks and people who are so tight with their money that it has to be planned for them by Consumer Reports may think twice about that Camry or Accord, but that isn't everyone. Ford is going to have to be able to bring people into the showroom, have models that people will actually want to buy, and give it to them at a fair price. Ford still has a very long way to go there, and it will be interesting to see how it all works out in the end.

In all of this, I have high hopes for Ford, as they seem to be comitted to turning around the opinions of poor quality and poor product planning. At the same exact time, this all gives me even higher expectations for the rest of the American automakers. If Ford can do it, so too can GM. Same goes for DaimlerChrysler (although that is questionable at best).

The next two years will be very exciting indeed. A wide range of new products are due out from The Big Three, and if things go well, we could see more and more American products showing up on the list, just like they are supposed to be.

 

[Tornado]

Now Ford just needs a big sedan that is undoubtably good.

 

[YSSMAN]

My fingers are crossed that the new V6 and 6-speed automatic helps make the Fivehundred a better car, but I can't make any guarantees. I still think they look nice, particularly in black, and the practicality of that HUGE trunk can't be ignored.

...Or Ford could do what they SHOULD be doing, and actually spend some money developing a mid-size RWD platform so they can get in the game. I don't care if it uses the same setup as the Mustang, as long as its RWD and actually has some modern technology baked into it, it will undoubtedly be better than the outrageously old Crown Victoria.

 

[Tornado]

It wouldn't be as cheap to make though, so the profit margin probably wouldn't be as wide. So Ford probably won't do it. But I'm just scared that ford will replace the Crown Victoria with something stupid like they are doing at Lincoln. MKZ? WTF?

 

[harrytuttle]

...Or Ford could do what they SHOULD be doing, and actually spend some money developing a mid-size RWD platform so they can get in the game. I don't care if it uses the same setup as the Mustang, as long as its RWD and actually has some modern technology baked into it, it will undoubtedly be better than the outrageously old Crown Victoria.

That's funny, didn't they have a good rear-drive platform in the form of the now-discontinued Lincoln LS? I see nothing wrong with any of the cars based on that (S-Type included) except the styling (S-Type included).

I would think a simple expansion of that should do just fine. It's already there, would be interchangeable with tons of current components, and (I hope) be possible to add all-wheel-drive.

 

[Tornado]

That's funny, didn't they have a good rear-drive platform in the form of the now-discontinued Lincoln LS? I see nothing wrong with any of the cars based on that (S-Type included) except the styling (S-Type included).

Technically, the S-Type, Lincoln LS (as well as the retro-bird) use the same platform as the Mustang, it is just heavily modified in the Mustang.

 

[YSSMAN]

If Ford is so obsessed with cost-cutting, it doesn't seem unreasonable to have them stretch out the D2C/DEW98 platform underneath the Mustang, use the same running gear, and call it a Galaxie or Fairlaine. People won't care as long as it looks good, drives right, and doesn't cost a whole lot... Kinda like how they see the Crown Victoria right now...

A good guess may be that they are waiting to see what pans-out with GM and the Zeta program, but it is my belief that if they wait too long, they will lose far too much ground on the competition, and never really recover.