I’ll agree with you on Z3, but not on the clownshoe part ;)

If Hyundai would give us a different body style other than the Veloster N (Cough i30 N Cough), I’d go there in a heartbeat. But I simply went the route of nicer interior, slower speed with the Mazda3. I’ve been really happy with it, but it’s no ST competitor. Unless you tune it... 

Agreed. I’m totally cool with being average in the height department.

It goes even deeper than that I fear. It sounds like the Ford process is incredibly inefficient, to the point that without incentives, the cars are becoming unprofitable. Could you imagine how much MORE money Ford or GM could make on trucks and big SUVs if they had processes as efficient as say Toyota or Hyundai?

From the way it sounded like it went down, there were a lot of talks about importing the cars from China and Germany and then at the last minute, they just decided to cancel the car segment in the US. I feel like if Mark Fields had lasted another 6 months, the Focus would have sold here, but there was enough time for…

My problem with Ford was that instead of trying to figure out why we are inefficient and can’t make money on the tight stuff, we just swept it under the SUV margin rug. I’ve heard that Ford’s profitability is questionable on the Ecosport and Escape now too, so it’s all coming back to haunt them.

I agree, ESPECIALLY since there’s historical connection with the Mustang. The first Mustang was based on the Falcon’s frame among other things. I think that would have been a much better, subtler nod to Mustang history rather than using the actual name.

I will say I’m friends with one of the managers who was part of the naming team. I suggested stuff like Falcon (since it’s discontinued again) or Thunderbird, both of which he liked and apparently pitched in the meetings. As you can see, his vote didn’t go very far unfortunately....

I was planning on getting snow tires on during Veterans day, but I got busy, forgot to schedule and am now working from home today because my all seasons SUCK in the snow... At least I remembered to bring my computer home so I could work, right?

I bought my wife the Toyo Celcius (I think was the first 3PMSF tire in the US?) and although road noise is a bit up, snow handling is VASTLY improved over the stock tires on the Chevy Cruze (cant remember what tire that is right now). We just got a lot of snow here in Michigan and she’s been able to get way more…

Be careful with these comments. BMW designers might read it and think they really do need to make the grille even bigger....

I’m actually surprised how much the shell looks like the clay model I sat in (I sat in the 4 door version, not the 2 door one, so obviously there will be differences).

There’s Porsche’s Media site for a few. Otherwise I’d just google Porsche GT3 Touring PTS

I wish the Escape came with the Kuga ST Line’s front Fascia. It makes the car look SOOOOO much better. Also, I think the Baby Bronco will bring back a lot of the blocky styling of the first gen Escape, so hopefully that side of the market will be happy. 

I’m in body engineering, so I honestly don’t know. I’ve seen some documents that I probably wasn’t supposed to, but not those documents.

I work here, but I really don’t have much faith in a lot of Ford stuff. The truck programs? We throw so much money at them that they’re typically some of our easiest products to launch.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised ;)

Considering it wont be at Chicago and that the Ranger launch (same plant) was the smoothest Ford launch in recent history, I think it will be fine (I still won’t buy first model years though...). 

The problem is that when Mark Fields announced it, he announced the start of the development process, which is about 5 years. Basically, this thing is right on schedule. The plant launch will start early next year, so I’m actually surprised it will be announced that early.