They name The 2002 Ford Thunderbird 2002 Car of the year. How much did ford pay them to say that. My god the car is only looks and looks only. It has no performance and is built by ford so right there it is bad. Ford has not won this kind of an awardin years so i guess they paid them a shitload to make them give it that award. I hope Car and driver does not do this to or i will have no respeck for them either.

 

I agree ... but you gotta give them some class points for the design. It will turn heads. I am losing faith in these "Yearly Contest" deal things though as they are not as true to overall picture of what a consumer wants in a car that it seems to have once been ... my 2 cents

 

I love it when people make comments like that. What are you talking about? There's a waiting list a mile long for those things. And the people who buy them are EXACTLY the type of people who want to be seen and don't care about how fast it can do the 1/4 mile. I don't know if it's COTY material but it's making money for Ford.

 

Motortrend might have been payed a little extra on the advertisements by FoMoCo, but either way you can't deny the appeal of the car. I hear stories of it sellin 10k over list .
Also i don't think that there was much competetion.

Last year the Cl should of won, but Motor Trend went for the trendy PT Cruiser. That is when i lost respect for them.

 

2002,

Motor Trend is amongst the least useful automobile publications available to car enthusiasts.

Motor Trend's testing methodology has always been geared toward subjective impressions of styling and performance, with no great emphasis placed on quality.

In addition to the Thunderbird example you've cited, think back a couple of years. Didn't this same publication once rate the Caprice Classic car of the year??? Think back even further. Remember the Renault Alliance???

The more recent complete failure of Motor Trend to detect any problems with the CL during their long term test was par for the course.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up a copy of Car & Driver for performance data and a copy of Consumer Reports for quality reviews.

I suspect that the owner maintenance records in CR covering the CL or the CL-S would make interesting reading. Last time I checked, they only had the TL though....




QuickSilver
'01 CL-S (No Mods)

 

I like Edmunds, although their resale values for the CL-S was waaaaay to high. I have access to the car dealer's database on ACTUAL auction sales.

I'm sorry to report fellas that the CL-S's resale value is in the dumpers. I got mine 11/6/01 w/ 4000 miles on it for $25,500 w/ teflon coat, tint, wheel lock, mats, car cover included. That's about $29000 new. But at the time, dealers were auctioning it off to each other for about $23000 for cars w/ about 4000 miles. Here's the data from Manheim. If i'm buying one used, I'd show them these numbers and negotiate accordingly. And I got a guy w/ Black CL-S w/ Navi + chrome rims ($1700) w/ 7000 miles to sell it to me for $27,000 back in October. It was in SD and I was in SF at the time and I couldn't get to it in time and he sold it for $27,500.

Here's the actual figures for CL-S
11/02/2001 MANHEIM $ 19,100 58,051 6G A X NE
11/09/2001 MANHEIM $ 22,300 8,832 WHITE 6G NE
11/12/2001 CEN FLA $ 20,900 33,183 WHITE 6G A X SE
11/13/2001 FAAO $ 25,100 495 BLACK 6G A X SE
11/20/2001 BALTWASH $ 18,500 45,580 BLACK 6G NE
11/28/2001 BAY CITI $ 23,400 16,110 BLACK 6G A X WC
11/29/2001 GTR TMPA $ 23,100 15,441 SILVER 6G A X SE

Here's the actual figures for CL-S w/ Navi
10/25/2001 SO CAL $ 20,000 6,007 WHITE 6G A WC
10/25/2001 CHICAGO $ 21,900 23,718 WHITE 6G A X MW
10/31/2001 NADE $ 19,500 29,510 COPPER 6G NE
11/02/2001 MANHEIM $ 17,900 34,777 BLACK 6G A NE
11/06/2001 BALTWASH $ 24,500 3,420 BLACK 6G A X NE
11/06/2001 BALTWASH $ 24,500 6,693 BLACK 6G A X NE

If anyone wants help in appraising the value of used STOCK cars, I'd be happy to help out.