Ford....what they should be doing

1990Coupe · Jan 8, 2007

im thinking that the reason ford doesnt bring some of those cars to the US is because could it possibly be far to expensive to make it "legal" in the us? like saftey, collision testing, meet the enviroment standards we have here?? Im just looking at reasons maybe the dont bring some of these cars to the US

Nopantz · Jan 8, 2007

We all must remember one thing which I learned when my mom bought her Audi, Europeans look at driving as an experience (hence the reason European cars have less cup holders, etc.) , unlike Americans who just look at driving as getting you from point A to point B. In that case Ford has to build exciting cars in Europe and Australia to sell them. Here America that isnt the case so Ford does the bare minimum. They have had the pickup market and even SUV market cornered for years. Nothing sold like the F-Series and Explorer, but now SUVs are on a decline do to such things as fuel prices, safety issues, and now most cars can be had in AWD (for those who have snow). Ford still owns the pickup market but players like Honda and Toyota are beginning to make great ground in those categories, basically Ford needs to still keep making the F-Series better and shift its weight to making cars that are attractive to the general public and start to stray away from the SUVs. If they want to build an SUV build one in different variations and call it a Bronco

I dont know about anyone else but could you imagine if Ford brought over the styling cues from Australia....juss the styling cues alone I think would be a great help to them.

QUICK91LX · Jan 8, 2007

a big thing ford needs is better quality standards. i worked for toyota and it was 80% maintenance, 20% mechanical repairs. ford is almost the opposite, from annoyances to transmission replacement. why cant ford build a car that can compete with the japanese? people who consider toyota rarely take a look at ford before making their purchase.

they do need a simpler lineup, but one with more inspiration. they need to compete on all levels with the other automakers, but they have to make cars people actually want. (quality and longevity play a major role in this, too)

Toyota offers a 268hp V6 in the Camry...the Fusion offers 220hp max...ugh.

FOCUS - beat everything when it came out, but nothing has changed. major re-tooling and better variety (a 2-door coupe and a higher performance model, ala dead SVT or Dodge SRT-4?) needed

FUSION - good car but looks arent for everyone, give it more power and a little more refinement, maybe tone down the angles and "BOLD"-ness and people might notice. make camry buyers look twice.

FIVE HUNDRED - kill it. come back with a rear-drive 4 door that offers everything from simple V6 powered luxury to sporty V8 horsepower to compete with Dodge Charger/Chrysler 300 AND the SRT variants. (Aussie Falcon???)
***Also have a 2-door based on the same chassis with similar engine options, just offer a manual trans and call it a Thunderbird.

CROWN VICTORIA - old standby, if it sticks around it needs some re-working. or merge this line with the car that replaces the 500. have everything from a simple sedan to a sports sedan to a cop car to an old folks cruiser. Chevy does it with the Impala, so why not?

FREESTAR - better drivetrain needed here. toyota is offering that same 268hp V6 and 5-speed auto in the Sienna. ford has never had the upper hand in the minivan market, they have to do something big to compete. needs a better name too.

FREESTYLE - dead. useless. give this new edge a shot to compete with the highlander, equinox and pilot. the freestyle is nothing more than an overweight station wagon.

ESCAPE - good idea, needs tweaking. make it a bit bigger and make the V6 more powerful. offer nicer interior options too. once again that ballsy toyota V6 is available in the Rav4. The 2008 Escape looks like it should do this well.

All trucks and other SUV's are fine, though it would be quite cool to see a 2-door expedition/F150 based SUV called a Bronco. the ranger could use a re-design too. nothing more than nose refreshments since 1993.

oh yeah, merge lincoln and mercury and call them all lincolns. have sportier cars (such as infinity G series or lexus IS) SUV's and big luxury cruisers. mercurys dont sell. lincolns dont much either, but consolidate and maybe people will take notice.

so thats my take, its a nice thought to bring old names back, but i worry that all the change might confuse people even more...

310stanger · Jan 8, 2007

QUICK91LX said:
a big thing ford needs is better quality standards. i worked for toyota and it was 80% maintenance, 20% mechanical repairs. ford is almost the opposite, from annoyances to transmission replacement. why cant ford build a car that can compete with the japanese? people who consider toyota rarely take a look at ford before making their purchase.

they do need a simpler lineup, but one with more inspiration. they need to compete on all levels with the other automakers, but they have to make cars people actually want. (quality and longevity play a major role in this, too)

Toyota offers a 268hp V6 in the Camry...the Fusion offers 220hp max...ugh.

FOCUS - beat everything when it came out, but nothing has changed. major re-tooling and better variety (a 2-door coupe and a higher performance model, ala dead SVT or Dodge SRT-4?) needed

FUSION - good car but looks arent for everyone, give it more power and a little more refinement, maybe tone down the angles and "BOLD"-ness and people might notice. make camry buyers look twice.

FIVE HUNDRED - kill it. come back with a rear-drive 4 door that offers everything from simple V6 powered luxury to sporty V8 horsepower to compete with Dodge Charger/Chrysler 300 AND the SRT variants. (Aussie Falcon???)
***Also have a 2-door based on the same chassis with similar engine options, just offer a manual trans and call it a Thunderbird.

CROWN VICTORIA - old standby, if it sticks around it needs some re-working. or merge this line with the car that replaces the 500. have everything from a simple sedan to a sports sedan to a cop car to an old folks cruiser. Chevy does it with the Impala, so why not?

FREESTAR - better drivetrain needed here. toyota is offering that same 268hp V6 and 5-speed auto in the Sienna. ford has never had the upper hand in the minivan market, they have to do something big to compete. needs a better name too.

FREESTYLE - dead. useless. give this new edge a shot to compete with the highlander, equinox and pilot. the freestyle is nothing more than an overweight station wagon.

ESCAPE - good idea, needs tweaking. make it a bit bigger and make the V6 more powerful. offer nicer interior options too. once again that ballsy toyota V6 is available in the Rav4. The 2008 Escape looks like it should do this well.

All trucks and other SUV's are fine, though it would be quite cool to see a 2-door expedition/F150 based SUV called a Bronco. the ranger could use a re-design too. nothing more than nose refreshments since 1993.

oh yeah, merge lincoln and mercury and call them all lincolns. have sportier cars (such as infinity G series or lexus IS) SUV's and big luxury cruisers. mercurys dont sell. lincolns dont much either, but consolidate and maybe people will take notice.

so thats my take, its a nice thought to bring old names back, but i worry that all the change might confuse people even more...

Well said, I agree with nearly everything. I am pretty sure that the Freestar is actually getting scrapped. I agree the Freestyle sucks, theres no actual point to it. Overweight station wagon is the best description for that thing. The Fusion is a great car, they have a chance at shocking the market by giving it around 270 horses. That would be awesome.

Now like I said before mechanical things that jus flat out suck in Ford products that need to get better and wont: Transmissions- Ford builds a horrible automatic transmission. Itll never get better cause of cost. Also when a Ford automatic goes bad instead of sending the bad trans to Ford and gettin a trans in a box, Ford insists everything be overhauled. Japanese car lines want bad transes sent to them so they can find the problem and make a fix on it. Fords attitude is we jus built em fix it and eat it when you lose your shirts.
Wheel Bearings- I have no idea where Ford gets the wheel bearings for the Explorers from but they must be made by blind drunk people.
Rear Ends- How many years did Ford make 8.8s that seemingly had no problems? Now with the IRS were overhauling and changing them out constantly. Even the 9.75s in the F150 are gettin overhauled for noise.
Balljoints- These typically wear out in around 60 k. Japanese cars go way longer then that.
Interior panel quality- take apart simple panels in Ford interiors and watch how many clips you break
Intake Gaskets- Plastic intake manifolds suck! My 5.0 has an aluminum manifold and 3 nice big gaskets. none of them have blown. Gee, I wonder why?

Out of their current lineup the Mustang is the only car they have that really is a good car. Its built quite well, the design is good. Granted theres been build quality issues and I think its related to AutoAlianceInc. The Fusion is good too they jus have to fix some issues before its too late.

The New Explorer is super nice, but I dont know what the reliability is gonna be like. Theres already been a coolant hoseclamp recall. The main problem with this new one is that its jus grossly overpriced. For 40k I want a lexus not a ford.

QUICK91LX · Jan 8, 2007

yup, for the 10+ months i worked for toyota, there were only a handful of trans jobs...and each one was a replacement with a new unit. the old one was sent back with a very comprehensive check sheet to detail what went wrong.

i should add this about the trucks = MORE POWER

toyotas new tundra V8 will have 400+lb-ft

yeah i keep going back to toyota but whats everyone buying? yup. toyotas.

but even the nissan titan has over 300hp. 300 is ok for the F150 5.4 but the super duties need more.

the powerstroke seems to be a good motor, as much as it sucks to work on. welcome to the world of diesel.

but i guess people are OK with the power ford trucks make, everywhere you look is an F series...how many fleets do you see using dodges? some use chevys but the vast majority has fords.

310stanger · Jan 8, 2007

the f150 is a total turd, and not even jus in comparison to the other makes. That 5.4 may be a good engine but its entirely too weak for a truck that size. It gets outgunned by both the chevy trucks and the nissan titan. That f150 is a pretty solid truck, when it came out for 04 it was definitely the best pickup. But guess what? All the other carlines redid their pickups. Ford is stupid to arrogantly think they are still top dog. But thats Fords biggest problem. Arrogance. You could call me a blue oval guy, and I love my 5.0. But its very likely to be the last Ford I ever buy. If I get a new one it wont even be new, more then likely an 03 cobra.

Ford....what they should be doing

1990Coupe

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