Ford May Stop Making Minivans

[McLaren]

Not even Ford truck dealers.

The Xtreme models are made by an independent company who "tune" them.

It's another topic though for another day.

 

[Joey D]

You mean Xtreme models like my truck? They are built...errr were built in Liden, NJ on the same line as the other Blazers. However the kit itself was contracted out to some place here in Michigan.

 

[McLaren]

I don't think so.....

The F650 Xtreme models are made by Georgia-based company F650Pickups.

They take the Mexican-built trucks and equip them with a Catepillar 7.2-liter World Series turbo diesel.

They start at $94,000 (XUV Conversion=Extra $53K) and work their way up over $120,000...

 

[Joey D]

Don't mind me I suck at life.

 

[a6m5]

Not even Ford truck dealers.

The Xtreme models are made by an independent company who "tune" them.

It's another topic though for another day.

Oh, my bad. I was referring to F-650 in general, not any paticular version.

Edit:

Don't mind me I suck at life.

We could be rivals.

 

[YSSMAN]

First they cancel the minivan, then they plan to cut 30,000 jobs by 2012... I think loosing $1.6 BILLION last year maybe got Ford thinking about surviving, not necessiarily outselling everyone else.

 

[Joey D]

Off of Autonews.com

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is saving the Ford Freestyle crossover from the scrap heap.

Last summer, Ford told suppliers it would drop the existing version of the Freestyle after the 2007 model year. At that time, a Ford source acknowledged that the current Freestyle would vanish but said that the nameplate would resurface on another vehicle at a later point.

But in the past few weeks, Ford has begun telling suppliers that the Freestyle will continue after all. Several suppliers confirmed that the Freestyle is back in the product cycle. The Freestyle, along with its sister cars, the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego, will get a front-end facelift in the spring of 2007.





It'll live.

 

[Wolfe]

I love holding up guys who ride six inches off my bumper thinking they can scare me into letting them through.

I love doing that, too. I'll also notice some guy in my rearview mirror, driving a riced-out Civic or something, speeding like crazy to get through a pack of traffic, and I'll take the effort to get in his way and run parallel with another car on a multi-lane road. This one time, some guy was on my bumper on a 30mph 4-lane undivided road. There wasn't much traffic, so I just slowed down, and was willing to stop if necessary. He moved over and passed me when we reached about 5mph.

True. But then the same can be said of almost any performance car... whether dual purpose or not. I rarely see more than one person in a four-door Evo, for example... and I rarely see any performance car driven quickly, or doing more than 20 mph on the way to the local Starbucks.

I actually clap my hands every time I see a Porsche driven... because those guys actually buy their cars to use them. I hardly ever see a Porsche driven slowly.

Very true. Ya know, last winter I saw a guy driving through the snow in his 996 -- it was positively coated in salt scum and whatnot. That was awesome. 👍

 

[Slicks]

Off of Autonews.com

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is saving the Ford Freestyle crossover from the scrap heap.

Last summer, Ford told suppliers it would drop the existing version of the Freestyle after the 2007 model year. At that time, a Ford source acknowledged that the current Freestyle would vanish but said that the nameplate would resurface on another vehicle at a later point.

But in the past few weeks, Ford has begun telling suppliers that the Freestyle will continue after all. Several suppliers confirmed that the Freestyle is back in the product cycle. The Freestyle, along with its sister cars, the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego, will get a front-end facelift in the spring of 2007.





It'll live.

Er.... Blazin? It's Freestar, not Freestyle. Wrong vehicle.

 

[Appie]

i dont like minivan's anyway

 

[niky]

Yup, the Freestyle is much different from the old Freestar vans, I think.

Maybe the US will get the C-Max?

Very true. Ya know, last winter I saw a guy driving through the snow in his 996 -- it was positively coated in salt scum and whatnot. That was awesome. 👍

Last post off-topic... (we're pretty faaaar off. ), You'd love the current articles at canadiandriver.com. They have one contributor who's dedicated the winter season to testing cold weather performance of various rear-wheel drive cars. He's actually using a Boxster in the snow. One positive point he made about Porsches in the snow is that having the engine right over the rear wheels means you get much better traction than in front-engined rear-wheel drive vehicles.

 

[McLaren]

Don't mind me I suck at life.

Eh, my appologises (sp) for that first part.

I meant it as "I'm not really sure if that's the case."

 

[Joey D]

Er.... Blazin? It's Freestar, not Freestyle. Wrong vehicle.

Damn it, futhering my belief I suck at life.

 

[Blackbird.]

Eww the freestar is ugly. Why dont ford just offer this instead.

Ford have also said they theyre going to have a design change for their lineup. They said that theyre gonna stop trying to make european looking cars as theyre not as good as the germans and go back to making american cars. I find that comment weird as Ford of europe is doing well so surely they must be doing something right.

Looks alot better than any other minivan Ford has made here. (U.S.)

 

[Gil]

True, but to get your F650 like the one in M5's post, you don't go to Ford at all. Ford doesn't even sell that type of F650.



They probably can't sell enough of them duue them being big gas hogs.

I'm gonna say this one more time for those of you not paying attention:

I actually own an '05 Excursion, and a '96 Ranger.
My 6.0 Powerstroke diesel V-8 Excursion gets nearly 20 miles to the gallon of #2 Diesel.
My 2.3 liter I-4 Ranger gets 24 MPG.
The Ranger seats two, and it takes much pre-planning to be quick in.
The Excursion seats 8, with room for 8-12 Big duffels, the GameCube, and DVD player.
Plus, it'll roll 80 MPH barely breathing hard. And I try really hard not to roll up on little cars (like Suburbans) too fast. I don't like scaring them into stupid manuveurs.

 

[1X83Z]

Did Ford decide to cancel the Excursion permanantly or are they updating it anytime soon? It was a pretty popular truck up here in Michigan, and although the gas versions were costly at the pump, I see diesel powered ones around all the time.

gone. ford badly needed a lesson from chevrolet, whose suburban and tahoe own the segment, on that one. ford debuted a gigantic, outdated truck whose only purpose seemed to be to take the full force of environmental groups' complaints. the thing was really just a super duty truck with an suv motif, which is not what buyers want. poor all around.

That's only because its only Ford selling them rather than two or three companies selling the same truck ie. Chevy, GMC

another good point. ford claims top sales over chevrolet, but when you add together sales of the chevrolet silverado and gmc sierra (which are the same vehicle), it's much closer - if gm's not ahead. ford simply has the advantage of one single name, while gm does not. another reason why the f-series is not the best-selling vehicle in the united states.

Did you forget about the Linclon Mark LT xXSilencerXx? I believe that is exactly the same as the F150 other than the Navigator interior and the big Linclon grille out front.

it would add a couple of sales to ford's total, but i stress a couple. mark lt is failing just like its predecessor, the blackwood, failed so publically three years ago. regarding your example: as you probably know, escalade ext would not serve to add any sales to gm's total as it is based on the chevrolet avalanche, rather than the chevrolet silverado/gmc sierra, gm's top dogs.

 

[YSSMAN]

...Funny think about the Blackwood, I can remember Ford saying their sales goal was 12,000 Blackwoods per year, but in the first year alone they (if I remember correctly) sold just shy of 1000 units.

...Kinda reminds me of the Cadillac Cimarron, or the "Caddiler"

...Worst pickup truck, ever...

...Worst Cadillac, ever...

 

[Blackbird.]

That Ford Minivan looks not all that bad. Why not bring it here?

 

[Tornado]

I'm gonna say this one more time for those of you not paying attention:

I actually own an '05 Excursion, and a '96 Ranger.
My 6.0 Powerstroke diesel V-8 Excursion gets nearly 20 miles to the gallon of #2 Diesel.
My 2.3 liter I-4 Ranger gets 24 MPG.

That doesn't nescesarily mean engine effiency. This is very similar to the Suburban 454 and the S-10 Blazer 4.3: Similar mileage. One can pull stumps out of the ground. Doesn't mean the big engine is very efficient. It could mean the smaller engine sucks, which is the case with the Ford Ranger (not nescisarilly with the Excursion though, I don't know).

...Worst pickup truck, ever...

Actually, I would give that to the Chevrolet SSR. At least the Blackwood costs $50,000, looks nice and seats 4 people. The Chevy can only manage 2 of those (arguably 1).

That Ford Minivan looks not all that bad. Why not bring it here?

It's too small and dates from the 90's. And it probably wasn't desinged to be left-hand drive.

 

[Blackbird.]

Designed from the 90s? Seriously. Would have never thunk it.

 

[VIPFREAK]

That Ford Minivan looks not all that bad. Why not bring it here?

It's too nice for us.

 

[Blackbird.]

Well, no minivan ever proposed to be sold in the US ever looked as aggressive as that van.

 

[VIPFREAK]

we did get the o so mighty Aerostar.

I still miss the Previa, that's probably the greatest Minivan with style around here.

 

[YSSMAN]

...The Mazda MPV has always been the anti-van van that is sold here in the US. With the "Zoom Zoom" attitude and "sport" suspension, it would run circles around the other "sporty" models like the Grand Caravan Sport and Saturn Relay.

 

[Joey D]

This is very similar to the Suburban 454 and the S-10 Blazer 4.3: Similar mileage.

Some how I wouldn't doubt that, I get pretty crappy mileage.

Actually, I would give that to the Chevrolet SSR. At least the Blackwood costs $50,000, looks nice and seats 4 people. The Chevy can only manage 2 of those (arguably 1).

The SSR isn't a truck...it's kinda like a El Camino throw back thing.

 

[VIPFREAK]

...The Mazda MPV has always been the anti-van van that is sold here in the US. With the "Zoom Zoom" attitude and "sport" suspension, it would run circles around the other "sporty" models like the Grand Caravan Sport and Saturn Relay.

That would be my second choice. 👍

 

[Blackbird.]

Yeah but the MPV just isn't that stylish, IMO.

 

[VIPFREAK]

Has more character and other great things for cheap than the others.

 

[YSSMAN]

I'm a diehard GM guy, but I still cant understand why anyone in their right mind greenlighted the SSR... The origional ones with the 5300 V8 were HORRIBLE, and really the only thing they have going for them are their good looks.

Now that Chevrolet has dropepd in the 395HP LS2 and have the optional Tremec T56 manual available, it is the truck it should have been from the first place... But if this was supposed to the the "poor man's Vette" that the Camaro was, the "$40,000+ sticker didnt help to move these, well, trucks.

Berger Chevrolet is known for selling the faster, sportier models of Chevrolets in large quantities, but they have been unable to sell these SSRs. Why? Dunno... They have sat, and sat, and sat, and sat. The last of the $40K+ Berger SS Camaros went before the new SSRs (and those Camaros have been poping up since 2002)...

 

[Blackbird.]

I, personally, think the SSR looks like crap. I can only barely see what it was supposed to resemble in retrospect.