Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Ford needs a new mass appeal CAR!

No worries! Actually I agree it does look like the Taurus. The ones I saw when I was over there where the 2000-2001 ones and they were not quite so Taurus looking. I even told Chris they looked like that when I posted.

The 4.0 four door you are referring to is a Ford Falcon with a straight 6 engine. It's rental fleet and taxicab stuff. The V8 is the 4.9 Windsor motor.

The only thing the Falcon has going for it is that it is RWD, which maybe enough for some of you. But overall, it is not a very good car when compared to more modern japanese or european midsize car. It doesn't have independent rear suspension and have so so handling. I drove around in Australia for 6 weeks in one and I think the Contour offers a more rewarding driving experience than the garden variety Falcon. The only interesting models are the top end V8 powered XRs and Tickford-tuned versions.

i have a cougar on my car lot and it has a moonroof and the v6(slow) AND i am short and fat and my head almost hits the roof. still a really nice driving car. just seems to slow for all the style and looks that it has. girls car for sure. is this the mazda motor or the ford motor. i know it is built at the flat rock mazda plant but it looks like my regular contour v6?

Last time I checked, ford had three mass appeal cars. Mustang, Taurus, and Focus. Each with its own set of trim levels. They may need to freshen up their Taurus to elevate it to 2003 expectations, but they do have mass appeal cars. Perhaps the addition of the mondeo in Mercury's lineup would cure some of the problem? And the Falcon would be an awesome, although improbable replacement for the Taurus.

By 2005, Ford will supposedly have a new 500 and a 2nd gen Focus.

Also, a lot of the sales srop is fewer rental cars being made.

I for one am waiting to see what the 2nd gen focus/protege will be like. Evidently, mazda is going to do a bit of the design work for the engine so hopefully it'll be a bit less prone to recalls and such. Evidently a new 2.3 is in the works that will be fairly potent and much more refined then either the zetec or the mazda 2.0. Just waiting with fingers crossed on the mazda 6/ford/mercury mondeo though. Part of the sales drop may be in competition with the new dodge and chevy trucks, the f150 while still pretty nice is 6 years old and desparetly needs refreshing to compete with the "bigger" chevies and dodges.