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<blockquote data-quote="P51 Pilot" data-source="post: 92053" data-attributes="member: 2489"><p><strong>Cobra 2003</strong></p><p></p><p>The only reason to speculate that fit and finish will be improved is due to changes being announced by Ford itself. </p><p></p><p>According to an article in the March 12, 2001 Blue Oval News, "...sources close to Ford Motor Company's assembly plant realignment team have (said) that Ford will transfer all Ranger production to the Dearborn Assembly Plant ("DAP") in 2003. The Dearborn Assembly Plant currently produces the Mustang; however, its production will transfer to the Auto Alliance Mazda-Flat Rock Plant in 2003." (source <a href="http://www.bonforums.com/plants/plant_closings031201.htm" target="_blank">http://www.bonforums.com/plants/plant_closings031201.htm</a>)</p><p></p><p>While the tiemtable may have slipped some, Ford has recently confirmed that DAP will phase out completely the Mustang build, which is to be relocated to a more modern plant. The key issue here is that DAP is antiquated - and it shows in the products coming out the door. Otherwise, why would Ford be spending billions (and they are) to renovate it?</p><p></p><p>Given that the new Mustang will share the platform being used for the Lincoln and Thunderbird, a good way to somewhat experience the potential quality would be to look at and drive the Thunderbird. As it's a convertible, the coupe version would only be better. In this way, not only can the ride be checked out but the likely interior systems, fit, finish and materials can be assessed. As these are all base systems and design technology shared across the same platfrom, just check out the huge strides made in all the mentioned areas against the current 'Stang. </p><p></p><p>granted, the Thunderbird is pitched to a bit segment than the Mustang. However, the effect of 20 years of development is still HUGE - as I was reminded today when I picked up my rental base-level new Focus while the Cobra is in the dealer shop. I was shocked to see the positive difference in interior fit, finish, materials and HVAC systems this econobox has compared to the Mustang. This is all coming from the same manufacturer!! So, it's a good bet that the Focus and Thunderbird box the ends of what can be expected dynamically and fit, finish and materials-wise from the new platform.</p><p></p><p>This, then, gets down to the key issue for me: Depreciation. When you combine such huge improvements in the base product (chassis, interior, etc.) with the impact of a truly high performance large cube DOHC engine, everything that came before will pale. And, I will very likely REALLY want one. Since many people will, the impact on depreciation for an '03 (or whatever the final year old-platfrom model will be) and earlier will be HUGE. And, there is nothing more depressing to seeing 10 large (which will be only about 25% of the all-in '03 cost) evaporate almost overnight when the new models hit. Now, that would not be so bad if the product was not desired - but who would not want something that has:</p><p> - huge improvements in chassis and powertrain</p><p> - real handling and significant 0-60 improvements (can we say easy - not stretched) ~4 sec times?)? </p><p></p><p>I would also bet that the hot selling nature of the current style would indicate that they will not want to mess too much with a good thing. Moreover, given the care they have shown with another icon, the GT40, I don't think they would screw things up.</p><p></p><p>So then, depreciation becomes a real cost when the you get the keys of the new car. Unless you're livin' large, it takes quite a while to save up that kind of dough. Personally, when spending that kind of coin, I want to be able to keep the thing long enough to get some real value out of it - in addition to looking good and going fast...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="P51 Pilot, post: 92053, member: 2489"] [b]Cobra 2003[/b] The only reason to speculate that fit and finish will be improved is due to changes being announced by Ford itself. According to an article in the March 12, 2001 Blue Oval News, "...sources close to Ford Motor Company's assembly plant realignment team have (said) that Ford will transfer all Ranger production to the Dearborn Assembly Plant ("DAP") in 2003. The Dearborn Assembly Plant currently produces the Mustang; however, its production will transfer to the Auto Alliance Mazda-Flat Rock Plant in 2003." (source [url]http://www.bonforums.com/plants/plant_closings031201.htm[/url]) While the tiemtable may have slipped some, Ford has recently confirmed that DAP will phase out completely the Mustang build, which is to be relocated to a more modern plant. The key issue here is that DAP is antiquated - and it shows in the products coming out the door. Otherwise, why would Ford be spending billions (and they are) to renovate it? Given that the new Mustang will share the platform being used for the Lincoln and Thunderbird, a good way to somewhat experience the potential quality would be to look at and drive the Thunderbird. As it's a convertible, the coupe version would only be better. In this way, not only can the ride be checked out but the likely interior systems, fit, finish and materials can be assessed. As these are all base systems and design technology shared across the same platfrom, just check out the huge strides made in all the mentioned areas against the current 'Stang. granted, the Thunderbird is pitched to a bit segment than the Mustang. However, the effect of 20 years of development is still HUGE - as I was reminded today when I picked up my rental base-level new Focus while the Cobra is in the dealer shop. I was shocked to see the positive difference in interior fit, finish, materials and HVAC systems this econobox has compared to the Mustang. This is all coming from the same manufacturer!! So, it's a good bet that the Focus and Thunderbird box the ends of what can be expected dynamically and fit, finish and materials-wise from the new platform. This, then, gets down to the key issue for me: Depreciation. When you combine such huge improvements in the base product (chassis, interior, etc.) with the impact of a truly high performance large cube DOHC engine, everything that came before will pale. And, I will very likely REALLY want one. Since many people will, the impact on depreciation for an '03 (or whatever the final year old-platfrom model will be) and earlier will be HUGE. And, there is nothing more depressing to seeing 10 large (which will be only about 25% of the all-in '03 cost) evaporate almost overnight when the new models hit. Now, that would not be so bad if the product was not desired - but who would not want something that has: - huge improvements in chassis and powertrain - real handling and significant 0-60 improvements (can we say easy - not stretched) ~4 sec times?)? I would also bet that the hot selling nature of the current style would indicate that they will not want to mess too much with a good thing. Moreover, given the care they have shown with another icon, the GT40, I don't think they would screw things up. So then, depreciation becomes a real cost when the you get the keys of the new car. Unless you're livin' large, it takes quite a while to save up that kind of dough. Personally, when spending that kind of coin, I want to be able to keep the thing long enough to get some real value out of it - in addition to looking good and going fast... [/QUOTE]
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