Big Fast Fords is there a Market

[Mashedpotatoes]

A week or so ago I posted a piece about the Ford Taurus that post disappeared with out trace in no time at all. So I am bringing this back up as I think it is relevant to the C63 AMG feature.
I cant afford a £70,000 car but I still want a fast comfortable car so where do I look BMW, MERC Audi are all to expensive. The French are just to French and the Jap stuff doesn't appeal at all. Monaroes look like great fun don't get me wrong but have a whiff of medallions and perms about them.
While in Dubai I saw a Ford Taurus that looked IMHO cracking. Since home and looking on interweb it comes with (in US spec) a 3.5 V6 ecoboost churning out a very respectable 365hp and 350lb-ft at a cost in the US of $39k
So surely I am not the only fat slightly balding middle age business man that cant afford Ze Germans but would find this car most agreeable or am I ?

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LuS1fer said:

The VXR8 didn't sell - they were down to £25k new at one time so there is the answer.

I think a 6L V8 would put most off but 3.5 V6 turbo is more A La mode

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Roo said:

Why not just buy a Taurus?

My question was based more on is there a market for Ford to return to big fast Fords rather than individuals buying or importing themselves.

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Roo said:

In which case ewenm has answered your question quite well.

Ford are seen as mass market run of the cars in Europe.

Look what happened the last time they sold a big car here.

Roo in your professional opinion what would the Ford Taurus SHO cost if ford marketed it here in the UK bearing in mind it costs 39k USD

[Mashedpotatoes]

Looks like Ford are resigned to a life of hatch backs and repmobiles
Roo were you referring to the Scorpio when you said look what happened last time they tried it ?

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LuS1fer said:

Untrue.
The Mondeo is plenty big enough, it just needs to be fast enough. A turbocharged version of the 2.5 would do the job. However, history has proven that cars ike this sell far better when paired with something exotic like Cosworth or Lotus, neither of whom are really available for the task. They could always get SVT to do one and stick a shelby badge on it (shudder...).

As with anything these days, it's the CO2 which kills this market.
I wonder if their 1.0 can be bored out and blown with twin turbos?

I own a Mondeo I've always thought it more aligned to the 3 series size than the 5 what's your thinking in between maybe ?

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LuS1fer said:

I think the Mondeo is much bigger than the 3.
The point is that it is hampered by FWD but the Focus Cosworth proves that need not be a gross impediment though in the RWD sector, it probably would be for "purists". Like anything, it comes down to price.

Rather than have the expense of developing a new drive train that could handle near 400 bhp surely introducing a new model (that has allready been built) would be better.
Plus a 3.5 v6 turbo sounds like more fun than a 2.5 turbo to me

[Mashedpotatoes]

A point I have over looked is resale value being that most modern big cars are sold on lease these days the depreciation aspect is the big factor in the monthly payment . As the big German exotica hold good residuals the monthly payments can be kept lower. Sadly the residual of a big ford will be terrible making it even less attractive. It ain't looking good.

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V8 Fettler said:

For the UK, Ford are stuck with the Ford image. Ford tried to break away from this image with the Mk3 Mondeo, but failed.

For premium cars, most punters will not consider purchase costs equivalent to Merc/BMW/Audi.

Wy would they price the same as ze Germans ? The point is you by an equivalent model with much better spec at a fraction of the cost that's what ford do.