WTF????

Thanks for the site "dwg". But I have to ask a few questions.....

 

1) Still no mention of a rear cargo cover. I have said a few times on posts that in the "honest" state of NY, something to cover valuables in the rear cargo area is a MUST.

 

2) What's with the red leather inserts on the seats? Has that caught anyone else's attention? I would love to see a pic of that when someone can find one.

 

3) I have one child and on our trip to FL it was great to have three positions for the LATCH in the backseat so I can put my daughter in the middle (away from doors in case of side impact crashes). But now I see that this site says that LATCH is in the rear outboard seats. Does that mean they removed LATCH from the middle in the rear?? Bummer.

 

4) Any pics of the White Sand? Or is it on another Ford vehicle currently?

 

THANKS !!!!

1) No idea on that one.....I certainly haven't seen it.

2) The red inserts look quite nice (one of the protos we built had them) Basically the center section of the seat is red in color....similiar thinking to what the Shelby Mustang has:

3) I highly doubt they dropped the LATCH system on the middle seats so I wouldn't worry.

4) No pics of the White Sand......we haven't built one yet in that color (at least on my shift anyway) I have a feeling it's the same or similiar to White Chocolate that's available on the MKX. The mandate sheet I read at work said White Chocolate would be shared between the Edge and MKX whereas it was exclusive to the MKX for 2007. It could simply be a name change in the public domain. For instance....Blazing Copper is not named that inside the plant on the teletypes.....it's listed as Orange Crush.

No, it doesn't. I think you're confusing 70-0 times with 60-0 times. Motorweek says the Edge and MKX take around 145 ft (give or take - don't remember exactly) from 60 while the competition is in the 130's. You can only get down to 120's with a X5 which isn't the competition.

 

It looks like they had to compromise the rolling resistance of the tires for CAFE compliance and that's being fixed for 08. I expect the 08s to be back in the 130's.

Braking could very well improve with the new tires. One of the engineering changes is dropping the Continental brand of tires. I forget what they are being replaced with but one of brands will be Michelin. Brakes could be getting changed.....I'm not sure as I didn't read very much of the mandate booklet that outlined all the new changes. Braking improvement could be made by simply changing the brake pad compound and if Ford is planning a change, that will likely be how they do it.

It's probably the Mazda color Stormy Blue. See link: http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPag...vehicleCode=CX9

 

That would be my guess.

Nope.....darker than that.

Here is the Dark Blue Pearl Clearcoat Metallic

The dark blue is much darker than that one

Is this a good representation of the light blue you mentioned?

Yes

I think the light blue is called Vista Blue as it is on other Ford products?

No, it's not Vista blue.......this new blue is very light......more like a silver/blue color.

Exactly, but I thought everyone knew that. And yes there are rumours we may go back to 8 hours starting next week. Also rumours body and stock depts wil be going back to 2 shift operation. Rumours, but many like to know anyway.

Haven't hear anything about going back to 8hrs after next week....all I've been told was it will likely happen after shutdown.....that's coming from Zoran and Shackleton

Will that Blue be darker than the Dark Blue Pearl Clearcoat Metallic that Ford currently uses? Will it be available on the Edge or are you implying the MKX gets the dark blue? I'm guessing the revised spring and strut rates might be enacted to improved braking. Are there any other braking related improvements confirmed? Things I'd really like to see are Hidden RSS, Homelink, Limited Model.

I'm not sure what Dark Blue Pearl looks like. Apparantly as far as I know it's a completely new color. It's so dark it looks like black until the sun hits it. I'm pretty sure it will be available on the Edge and MKX as 9 colors will now be shared between the Edge and MKX. I'm quite sure the only color that will remain unshared is Blazing Copper.

The revised spring/strut rates might help braking slightly but I highly doubt it.....the change is most likely due to customer and reviewer complaints of the "floaty" ride both vehicles exhibit at highway speeds.

As I said....there's a whack of new changes.....most are small engineering refinements and many are appearance related. And yes....there is now a "Limited" model for the Edge.

Thanks,

I hope we all get called back soon

50 were brought back this week. Most of which were brought back to deal with the explosion of people on restrictions and high absenteeism that goes hand in hand with good weather and 10 hr shifts. It's likely more will be called back in the future to deal with the all the booked vacations for the 3rd week of July which as you may or may not have heard was dropped as a vacation week (we're now on 2 week shutdowns instead of 3 from here on in)

A 3rd shift is NOT happening anytime soon. It's remotely possible that the 3rd shift could start this year but if it does it will not happen until we start building the Flex which we aren't slated to start building production prototypes until late in the year with Job 1 slated for April 2008. A 3rd shift will never happen as long as we're building just the Edge and MKX.....the sales numbers simply aren't anywhere near where they need to be for that to happen. As a matter of fact we're slated to go back to 8hrs shortly after shutdown unless sales go through the roof in the near future and if fuel prices stay as they are that is gonna hurt sales so I doubt we're gonna see a sales boom. The only reason we're working 10hrs at all is thanks to the slow launch which put us well behind with orders.

Everything hinges on sales at this point as to how things go and right now Ford sales are down across the board for all models. If we're still selling 12,000 Edge/MKX during the peak months of summer that will have an impact on a 3rd shift because quite frankly if sales stay that slow, we could build the Edge/MKX combined with the Flex working 10hrs with no problem whatsoever and the company will gladly run 10's before going 3 shifts as it's cheaper for them to run the plant that way.

Any more news on expected changes for the '08 model? Do we confirmation on Headrest DVD Entertainment System. I'd much prefer that. Plus any word on improvements to the braking system? That alone is making me hold off on the '07 model. Not to mention I'm not jumping up and down about any of the current paint colors.

We built some production protos this week of some 2008's. I quickly went through a mandate list of some of the changes:

A few new colors.....a very dark metallic blue, light metallic blue and a new silver. White Chocolate will be available on the Edge.

Power liftgate optional on Edge

Suspension tweeks on all models with some revised spring and strut rates.

Voice activated navigation

20" wheels optional on MKX.

There's a whole whack of small changes.....too may to list (or remember)

Other changes coming for the '08 that I've been told about at work:

New liftgate design for the Edge. It will now have a lower mounted handle just like the MKX

power liftgate will be made available on the Edge.

And yes, ALL Edges will have the tan headliner. It's a costcutting measure. Look at just about any other Ford and the headliners are beige/tan despite the color of the interior.

Actually there are two colors for headliners on the Edge.....Camel Tan and Sandstone are the official names. The Charcoal interior has Sandstone. Both are basically a tan color except Sandstone has a more greyish appearance.

OAC Trim shop worker here:

Congrats on your new Edge and happy you are pleased with it. We're pretty proud of them.....it's a great vehicle and it's been a long time since we had something to be this excited about building. They've taken longer than we hoped to finally get to the public due to some vendor issues that crept up during the launch process but you can rest assured we're just shy of running full production speed and trainloads of units are shipping out daily now.