Spy Shots: 07 Freelander

[ifcar]

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Enthusiast...S178.A9645.html

[Raza]

I was about to say "I see a lot of Land Rover styling cues" since I was thinking of the Freestyle.  Ha.

But, it looks good so far.

[giant_mtb]

Ford Rover.

[Secret Chimp]

I doubt this thing is ever going to do anything but underwhelm me. Only slightly above the Escape on the boring meter.

[BMWDave]

The front looks good, but the side is very bland.

[93JC]

Looks like an Escape/Mariner/Tribute to me.

Dave, any word on whether it is an Escape/Mariner/Tribute?

[BMWDave]

Looks like an Escape/Mariner/Tribute to me.

Dave, any word on whether it is an Escape/Mariner/Tribute?

Nope, it isnt those, I believe there has been rumor it might be built on Ford's CD1 platform (Mazda3, Volvo S40, IIRC).  I sure hope not.

[mazda6er]

Looks like an Escape/Mariner/Tribute to me.

Dave, any word on whether it is an Escape/Mariner/Tribute?

Nope, it isnt those, I believe there has been rumor it might be built on Ford's CD1 platform (Mazda3, Volvo S40, IIRC).  I sure hope not.

Why not? Those are good cars. Not the greatest for off-road though...yeah, I get it now.

[MX793]

Looks like an Escape/Mariner/Tribute to me.

Dave, any word on whether it is an Escape/Mariner/Tribute?

Nope, it isnt those, I believe there has been rumor it might be built on Ford's CD1 platform (Mazda3, Volvo S40, IIRC).  I sure hope not.

Not the C1, but rather the EUCD, which is derived from the C1.  The next Tribute/Escape is also supposed to be based on this platform as well as a slew of other cars (the next S60 and Mondeo among them).

And if you think this is a bad thing, keep this in mind:  The D2C platform that underpins the new Mustang was also derived from the C1 platform.  The platform could prove to be pretty versatile.

Or so claims Wikipedia.

[TBR]

The Mustang's platform is based on DEW98, it has nothing to do with the C1.

[J86]

Wondering: when a car is based off of a platform, what does that acutally mean?  How many parts are actually shared?  It seems like extremely diverse vehicles share platforms, at least on paper.  What does this mean in reality?

[MX793]

The Mustang's platform is based on DEW98, it has nothing to do with the C1.

Nope.  Ford was originally going to use a version of the DEW98 but it proved to be too costly, so they went with a totally different platform.  The suspension in the DEW uses independant double wishbones all the way around while the Mustang's front suspension is identical to that used in the C1 cars (same high mounted McPherson struts and lower wishbones) and the rear trailing arm is supposedly the same as that used in the C1 as well.  It's not really C1 based, as it's really its own platform, but it borrows more from the C1 architecture than it does the DEW.