Ford marketing strikes again

[gohogs]

I test drove a Ford 500 yesterday with the CVT transmission and all wheel drive. I don't understand who Ford thinks is the market for this car. It's like an overfed Escort with a big flat trunk, and fold down rear seats. The CVT needs tuning.....engine revs way to high for what's happening, stays too high too long, and overall the engine noise is intrusive.

Maybe Ford had second thoughts. My understanding is the Crown Vic and GM are going to be available for another two years....even though Ford apparently wanted to make the Panther fleet sales only for LEO and taxicabs.

Yet another sign of marketing genius in the Ford ranks.

[STLR FN]

Actually the "Panther" is getting life until the end of the decade. Face lift in '06 and major refreshing in '08/'09.

[cyclopsram]

I think I read on BON that a reprogram for the SVT was already being done... for "driveability concerns"..... Sorta like a Buick Dynaflow...hmmmmmm...

[ctrcbob]

Went with my sister a couple days ago to look at the Ford FreeStyle. It only comes with the CVT.

I want to test drive two Five-Hundreds. One with the CVT and one with the Six Speed Auto. (One made in Germany and one made in Japan - forget which is which). I just don't like the idea of a CVT.

One more Ford Blunder. They make a "FreeStyle" and a "FreeStar". What were they thinking giving them names that are so easy to mix up!
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[FordNut]

Went with my sister a couple days ago to look at the Ford FreeStyle. It only comes with the CVT.

I want to test drive two Five-Hundreds. One with the CVT and one with the Six Speed Auto. (One made in Germany and one made in Japan - forget which is which). I just don't like the idea of a CVT.

One more Ford Blunder. They make a "FreeStyle" and a "FreeStar". What were they thinking giving them names that are so easy to mix up!
.
Maybe another gimmick to get people to the showroom... Ford has "free" cars!

[MarauderMike]

Ford marketing strategy, all vehicle will be named starting with an "F" except for legend vehicles, i.e. Thunderbird, Mustang. Go figure how that will drive people into the showroom. There use to be an acronym for FORD as many of you may remember having to do with '_ _ _ _ _ d over raw Dodge", I'm a long time Ford loyalist but this seems to be more and more true everyday.

[2005Marauder]

Received a promo package on the 500 and I was very interested until they promoted the fact that the 500 was based on the VOLVO platform. WTF, (What the Ford) were they thinking. Were they thinking that no would by just a Ford but that they'd be buying a "FOLVO". Seems that Ford can't stand on it's own merits they have to throw in that it's an offspring of a Volvo. That was the turning point for me. When out and bought the wife a Taurus.

[Krytin]

I test drove a Ford 500 yesterday with the CVT transmission and all wheel drive. I don't understand who Ford thinks is the market for this car. It's like an overfed Escort with a big flat trunk, and fold down rear seats. The CVT needs tuning.....engine revs way to high for what's happening, stays too high too long, and overall the engine noise is intrusive.

Maybe Ford had second thoughts. My understanding is the Crown Vic and GM are going to be available for another two years....even though Ford apparently wanted to make the Panther fleet sales only for LEO and taxicabs.

Yet another sign of marketing genius in the Ford ranks. Just trying to prove that it's "no sense being stupid unless you can show it!"

[QWK SVT]

Ford marketing strategy, all vehicle will be named starting with an "F" except for legend vehicles, i.e. Thunderbird, Mustang. Go figure how that will drive people into the showroom. There use to be an acronym for FORD as many of you may remember having to do with '_ _ _ _ _ d over raw Dodge", I'm a long time Ford loyalist but this seems to be more and more true everyday.
Hanging on the wall in the marketing office:
http://us.st5.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/demotivators_1836_10335724

[de minimus]

I test drove a Ford 500 yesterday with the CVT transmission and all wheel drive. I don't understand who Ford thinks is the market for this car. It's like an overfed Escort with a big flat trunk, and fold down rear seats. The CVT needs tuning.....engine revs way to high for what's happening, stays too high too long, and overall the engine noise is intrusive.

Maybe Ford had second thoughts. My understanding is the Crown Vic and GM are going to be available for another two years....even though Ford apparently wanted to make the Panther fleet sales only for LEO and taxicabs.

Yet another sign of marketing genius in the Ford ranks.
I test drove a 500 as well. Absolutely no fun whatsoever. The fit and finish is good but this is one boring automobile. With the AWD version I think the idea was to appeal to those who would buy the Audi A4, VW Jetta, etc. You'll see a lot of these as taxis/ rental cars in the future.

In Canada, as of the 2003 model year all Crown Vics are now either fleet sales or for the police. And as Mercury is no longer a name sold here the only Panther option is the "Ford" Grand Marquis. What are you going to do.

[dwasson]

I worry about the fragility of the CVT. There are lot of parts that have to slip just right and the history of CVTs in passenger cars isn't that good. Couple that with the underpowered engine and the 500 and the rest of them aren't that attractive.

[Eric91Z]

Well, with the talk of the 500, thought I would put a little input here. I, personally, kind of like the styling of the car - especially compared to the Taurus. And, we recently decided we were going to trade the wife's high mileage Durango in on something that would get better gas mileage but still have enough room for a family of 4 (new baby due in June). We wanted something that would ride nice, look good, have a decent interior, and hopefully last a while.

The wife wanted something FWD, traction control, automatic, and bigger than the Ford Controur she had before the Durango. We test drove a Chevy Impala LS, looked at the Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Sebring, and at the end of the day thought we would stop and look at the 500 as another option. We looked at it together and both liked it for what we need. I had to go to work and she was going back to work with the salelady. Needless to say, we will be picking up our new Ford 500 SE (base model unfortunately) on Monday. It does have the 6-speed auto, not the CVT and is black with grey cloth interior.

So, it does fit a certain market. But then again, on the styling, I seem to be different than most on this site as I like the styling of the 300C - so I guess that says a little of my tastes.

On the other hand, we also saw a MM out driving today that was dirty and had it's winter wheels/tires on it. I still hope to make the MM my replacement for my Accord daily driver!!!!

[duhtroll]

That was probably me as I am likely the only one of those in the state. (MM with snows)

-A

[Eric91Z]

We were up in Ankeny at the time. First saw the car sitting at the drive through of McDonald's and then turning next to us when we were heading to Karl Chevrolet.

Oh yeah, and forgot to add - not only do we have a brand new car with full warranty, but we will be getting free oil changes, too. Just keeping my fingrs crossed that we don't run into too many first model year problems.

[Krytin]

We were up in Ankeny at the time. First saw the car sitting at the drive through of McDonald's and then turning next to us when we were heading to Karl Chevrolet.

Oh yeah, and forgot to add - not only do we have a brand new car with full warranty, but we will be getting free oil changes, too. Just keeping my fingrs crossed that we don't run into too many first model year problems. Good luck w/the new car - keep us posted!

[Eric91Z]

I will definitely keep the list updated on the car. We ended up with a black SE with shale (grey) interior and the metal accents - no wood. Currenty, they all have the same Durotec 3.0 V6 and we got the 6-speed automatic.

Now, I just need to get some new Zaino supplies from my buddy and get this car covered up as soon as the weather will permit.

I think our garage would look pretty good with the Five Hundred and a Marauder in there. Both in black with tinted windows!!!

[jabird56]

Took the "soon-to-be other half" to my local friendly neighborhood LM dealer in December to look and test drive a AWD CVT Montego in dark maroon with slate interior, since her basic 7 year old STRATOS was dying. Car rode and handled well but being CVT AWDs are hard to get (only 20% of the production run for 500s/Montegos this year), they were not willing to barter to much. So, we looked around a bit and then took a Mariner for a spin and she loved it. As mentioned in my signature block below, we left that night with a Norwegian Blue Mariner with beige interior which is now parked in the driveway. And got it at 5K off the sticker.

The "soon-to-be" part comes off the day after April Fool's Day....http://www.mercurymarauder.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Eric91Z]

The "soon-to-be" part comes off the day after April Fool's Day....http://www.mercurymarauder.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Congrats and good luck on this part!!!

Now, the Mariner is the Mercury version of the Freestyle, right?

We got it worked out that we got about $2500 off the sticker on the 500 and a really good interest rate on financing. Again, this was the base SE. The salewoman said they are not getting much off the price on the SEL and Limited.

After finding this website: www.myford500.com last night, I do kind of with we had looked at the Montego just to check out the interior differences. Otherwise, I personally like the exterion on the 500 better.

And something else I found out is that the 500 is actually about 4 inches longer than the Chrysler 300 and the 500 has more rear legroom and trunk space than the CV/MM. Can't wait to see this truck as I thought the MM had a HUGE trunk. Guess that will be a good thing when carting around a stroller, diaper bag, etc when the new one comes. Only downside my wife had is that with the Durango we would have been able to take us, the 2 kids, and the 2 dogs all in one vehicle. Now if we want to do that, it will be a 2-car affair.