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The Taurus X made us hope for a true alternative to an SUV or a minivan. Something that delivered their functionality without the image problems both other classes of vehicle suffer. Instead, it compromises on ability while carrying over too much height from an SUV and the family-man image of a minivan. More »
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The Taurus X has an identity problem. By trying to be part station wagon, part SUV and part luxury car. It aims to draw from the best qualities of each, but so far, I'm afraid it might be doing the exact opposite. Take the economy for instance. Ideally, the Taurus X would provide SUV versatility with lower fuel consumption. At 18mpg combined and the inability to haul truly large loads, it does the reverse. More »
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Yesterday, we introduced the 2008 Taurus X — which is in Jalopnik's garage for a week — telling you it made us look like dads. Today the big Taurus gets a chance to shine, hauling unwanted doors from Ray's pied-à-terre to his glamorous storage facility in Jersey. More »
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I had high hopes for the 2008 Ford Taurus X. My earliest memories of a car take place in the way back of a 1982 Caprice Classic station wagon. I would sit in the rear-facing seat, waving enthusiastically at whomever happened to be held up by my mom's slow-as-syrup driving. For nearly a decade, the Caprice served as primary transportation for my family and our assortment of stray dogs, adopted lambs and injured turtles. My memories of the Jeep that replaced it, however, aren't nearly as fond. More »
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After being berated for the crappy quality of my pictures here, and here, and many other times, I've decided to upgrade to a Lumix FZ18 from the three year old Exilim that had horrible fading, limited dynamic range, and no optical zoom. The ironic part is that though this new piece of kit takes gorgeous pictures, the first you'll be seeing from it are full 18x zoom at speed looking through a mirror. So, in a word, crap. Nonetheless, look what we found running up and down Detroit's Woodward corridor this weekend, a Ford S-Max, fully kitted with chassis data collection equipment. We caught it sprinting through the the bougie neighborhood of Palmer Woods on it's way to making one of the many loops north to south we witnessed this weekend. We haven't heard anything yet about a true minivan replacement for the ill fated WindFreestar, but given the direction of GM's Saturn strategy lately, one wonders if the Blue Oval is thinking of taking a cue from the General and importing Euro product. Far be it for the progenitor of automotive standardization to do so again 90 years after it was considered de rigeur, that would just be madness. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=328893&view=rss&microfeed=true Autoblog likes to live live on the Dave-engineered Freestyle Taurus X-uh! Our verdict: My, what pretty teeth you have...and what an ugly rear-end. [Autoblog] More »
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Aww, that's just adorable. Car and Driver added their "watermark" to one of their photos. Our little baby's becoming all grown up and stuff. – Ray Wert More »
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Paukert the Exclaimer, in collaboration with Bothan spies, has uncovered photographs of what's believed to be a development mule of the new Ford Fairlane. And okay, fine, it's a mule, there's preproduction, subterfuge and whatnot, but it appears to lack the pizzazz of the really-quite-cool concept Fairlane. Or it could just be an example of the Freestyle refresh. Literally, we're getting more and more annoyed with this whole Dave business. Not since Cheech & Chong's "Dave's Not Here" gag have one man's words hurt so many Daves. Mrs. McCave is pissed. –Davey G. Johnson More »
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Car buyers looking for a largish, wagon-like crossover SUV-ute may soon be able to put Mercury on their lists. Paukert and his merry pranksters at Winding Road caught what they believe is a test prototype of Mercury's version of the not-at-all-discontinued Ford Freestyle, as it ambled along some midwestern stretch of roadway or other. Apparently FoMoCo is proud enough of its new, 3.5-liter Duratec 35 V6 that it aims to slide it into as many models as can be conceived, including those with dubious market value. Those at the Road that performs an opposite function from that of unwinding have dubbed the proto-Mercury "Monticello," likely after Jill Wagner's own collection of Franklin D. Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson paraphernalia. – Mike Spinelli More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=208805&view=rss&microfeed=true This is what happens when you agree to go on the air sick as a dog and hungover. That's right — nevermind the "crazy eyes" of past performances — instead, you get the "close your eyes and pretend to sleep" thing Wert's got going on. So despite actually saying something this time (Wert's been coached very well by Spinelli this time) — his freestylin' comments on FoMoCo are less enjoyable than watching him go all "Eyes Wide Shut" on us. We feel like we should add a rule to the drinking game — one drink each time an Associate Editor, Detroit closes his eyes for longer than what normally is necessary to blink. Wert's random eye movement notwithstanding, anyone want to count up how many drinks that was? And yes, you can count one drink for each time "Freestyle" is mentioned — regardless of the form of the word. Just wanted to clear that up. More »
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We're not sure we're okay with the new trend toward calling artists' renderings of upcoming vehicles "spy shots." Considering these fakes run the gamut from Baby's First Photoshop to elaborate sketches culled from spies' eyewitness accounts (a la Germany's AutoBild), their precision can be as ill-documented as White House guests on naked bingo night. In this case, it's the application of Ford's toothy "Dave" safety-razor grill on the recently reprieved Freestyle for 2008. Actually, it's an improvement. More »
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Ford's got an announcement to make. (No, you'll have to wait until this coming Monday to hear it from the Boss's mouth.) But press outlets are already reporting that company will divulge its upcoming minivan stratagy, which, according to USA Today, involves flight from the minivan segment altogether, leaving plant closures, layoffs and executive departures in its wake. The Detroit Free Press's message is more optimistic — that the company will announce a minivan replacement based on the Fairlane concept (pictured) unveiled last year. One Jalopnik tipster, a Ford insider who says he knows some of the project staff, confirms the story. Good news. Bad news. Old news? Hmm. More »
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Today's Hoons — most literally hoons, seeing as they're from down under — prove the fine line between stupidity and genius rests on a few, well-executed 360s (or 720s, as the case may be). Put another way, these downhill racers, whose motor skills are far more developed than those of their chosen vehicle's target demo, know how to use an e-brake the way Marx intended. (Not Karl, Louis.) More »
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Ford, in re-examining its future line of crossover SUVs and minivans — recasting the lot of them as "people movers — confirmed plans to discontinue the current-model Freestyle after 2007. The poorly selling crosso-wagon-ute, apparently obsolete in Ford's paddock before it was introduced, will be dropped to make way for a new model of the same name. Still, as AutoWeek reports, a Mercury version of the current model will be produced in 2007, as planned. Other product changes in store include Volvo-derived minivans and new sport wagons based on the Mazda6 platform for Ford and Lincoln. More »
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