There's a rumor that Ford will announce next week that they're pulling out of the minivan market.

Fortune thinks Ford is fighting for survival.

Smart move, no way they can compete with Dodge or Honda. I have mixed feelings about Ford. I purchased a 1991 Ranger new right off the lot and replaced it 1999 with a 96' Honda Accord. At 70,000 miles the Ranger had everything falling off, the Accord on the other hand seems to have a better fit and finish. Still rolling strong at 117K. I got the wife a 2001 Honda CRV no problems yet at 71K. The only American vehicle I would consider buying would be a GM or Chevy Fullsize Truck, they seem to hold up better over time. Can't say I miss Oldsmobile, Plymouth, or soon to die Buick.

I can't say that the minivan segment has ever been the breadwinner for any automaker (except Chrysler in the '90s), much less Ford. Most suburbanites have long since transitioned to SUVs, however impractical they are for hauling kids to soccer matches and shopping malls. That this marks the beginning of the end for Ford is probably true enough, though. I expect to see Ford execs calling for the end of the Mercury brand any week now.

My first car was a Ford Taurus. Not as well-made as a Japanese car, but a pleasing design. Comfortable and attractive (though maintenance was a pain - unlike with Japanese cars).

I don't care for the current Tauruses. The original Taurus had such a striking design everyone copied it. Today's Taurus is just kind of generic-looking. It also seems more cramped somehow.

I now drive a Corolla, and don't expect to own another car. I'll either drive this one into the ground, or live in it when there's no more gas available.

I have a 2000 Taurus now, 87k miles on it & I'm coping with a few problems now, namely the speed sensor (which controls the ABS warning light; traction light; parking brake light, etc...) is out and I think an O2 sensor is out, which renders the car uninspectable come May.

In a normal car, I might spend the grand or so to get it fixed, but when the KBB says its only worth $3k in 'good' condition, why even bother?

I think I'm getting a Jetta TDi in May.
Or I'll ride the bus. (there's no train in Austin )

For what it's worth, you can almost certainly replace the O2 sensor yourself. Go down to AutoZone (or whatever you have locally) and buy the sensor and an oxygen sensor socket. Total should be well under $100. Depending on where on the exhaust the sensor is located, it should be pretty easy.

Yep, thats what I plan on with the car my wife and I share now. Mine got wrecked a year ago but in retrospect thats ok cause I don't need two to put gas in. We use the public transit and share a car, now.

Thanks for the advice, JeeB. I'm pretty sure that the intermittent display of driving warning lights that I mentioned originally will also render the car uninspectable as well, and that's the costly fix (~$500 at least).
I'm not sure I'd be able to pull that one off.

It doesn't take much to convince me that a new 45+ MPG Jetta makes more sense, even with PO coming, than my 19 MPG Taurus.

I've owned 8 fords in my life, got two of them now.

They should do what they do best (F150's and mustangs) and leave the boring rental-car fleet vehicles to somebody else.

Evidently they also do a good job on cop cars (a.k.a. redneck limousines) because plenty of them around. When is the last time you saw a cop try to pull someone over in a honda? That'll be the day.

I think Ford is really hurting from the big vehicle sales or lack thereof I should say. Their econoline and F-series are very profitable vehilces. The F250/350 sold like crazy because of the tax loop hole for vehciles over 6000 pounds being major tax deductions for business. That worked until we hit $2-3 gas/diesel. Now, these vehicles are costing more than the tax deduction savings in a year's worth of fuel if you are a commercial entity.

The private car buyer is also staying away from buying an F150 just for the heck of it when he does not have to have one to live for the obvious fuel cost reason.

Now with cars, they do have success with the Crown Vic and Mustang but is this sustainable? Crown Vic is almost all fleet sales to corporations or govt. The chasis does double duty in Mercury/Lincoln format but it's not a stellar seller. Mustang simply sells because if the heritage and name plate. The fact that they had to retro the car's looks to such an extreme they copied what Lee Iacocco conjured up in 1963 for a 64 model is a bad sign. Other companies have done it with cars like the VW bug but that was not at a time when the company was neary broke.

Ford needs to shut down Mercury, end all minivan production, and gut Lincoln's lineup to keep only the towncar and a few sedans like the 06 Zypher. The Lincoln SUVs and trucks will be completely in the red as soon as gas surges over $3.50 a gallon if they are not already.

For their cars that will come out in the next 3-5 years (if they are still around) they need to develop turbo diesels in 4 or 5 cyl configuartions. Those engines do wonders for mileage. Way back in the early 80s Mercedes offered a 5 cyl diesel on their S class sedans in the US and compared to the same car powered by a gas engine it was a big difference. The W126 chasis sedans weighed over 4500 pounds and got about 12-14 mpg on gasoline but closer to 20-22 on turbo diesels.

Of course, I'm sure Ford will not do this. They will just keep adding airbags and sensors to their cars to pitch the safety thing. I'm disgsuted when I see Bill Ford in that commercial with the mom and her kids as he talks about safety and innovation. Bill, all of those dirty F series trucks and SUVs you build are going to pollute the air so much those kids will have calcified soot on their lungs before they hit 30 if they live anywhere near a major city.

Both Ford and GM are done. Ford just announced 25,000 worth of layoffs in the US and massive restructuring and they say that this is only the beginning.

Like it was said before GM and Ford made their money on their large vehicle line up, GM just came out with an all new large vehicle redesign that they hoped would save them.

With the high fuel costs coming and the fact that neither company has been able to come up with a decent small car to compete with the Japanese they are screwed. Neither one knows how to make money selling small cars.

Already, having serious financial problems poor small car designs top heavy production in large vehicles that have slowing sales and 3.00 gas expected to make an extended appearance is not good time to try and turn around an auto company.

Was I the only one who thought this thread was going to be about Gerald Ford?

I am currently driving a 98 Taurus. I hate this fucking car. I mean, for a first car it isn't terrible. But ultimately, it's a Taurus. You might as well be driving a Chevy Cavalier. It has all of these weird glitches. Nothing major, yet.


Hopefully, I'll be bringing in more money in the next few months. As soon as I pay off my parents, I'd like to buy a Jetta.

Why buy a car when you can learn to build your own, which would have far better performance and efficiency for a lower cost?

Say, a Datsun 1200 sedan with a 2.8L Nissan diesel engine in it, turbocharged. You'd get over 70 mpg and see a 150 mph top speed and 0-60 mph < 5 seconds. It would be capable of seating five adults. Such a car would cost you about $8,000 to build if you do your own work... A 20 gallon tank of vegetable oil would take it halfway across the U.S., and post peak, so long as you have land, you could make small amounts of fuel for it.

Right on cue, 2006 Jetta TDi sitting in my driveway tonight.
Now, where's my tax credit?
j/k - I've heard a diesel credit is in the works for 2007, tho...

Datsun 1200 sedans - they ran till they rusted.