Ford Five Hundred to be called Taurus after all?

[ifcar]

Automotive News / February 6, 2007 - 7:00 am

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Ford Motor Co. is planning to announce that its Five Hundred sedan will be renamed the Taurus, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The news wire said Ford executives would announce the plan on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at the Chicago auto show.

No Ford spokesman was immediately available to comment.

[omicron]

I tell you; I'd like to see Five Hundred reappear as a trim-level. I'll take a dark blue Ford Taurus 500 with AWD, Falcon turbo six, and ZF automatic, thanks

[SJ_GTI]

I think this is a good thing.

As long as they don't let the product languish and don't let it become another rental queen, the 500 is a great successor to the Taurus.

Its a great platform, with a nice engine (the 3.0), nice transmissions (CVT or 6-speed automatic), and AWD all for a reasonable price. Honestly its not a car I see myself buying (just don't need something that big), but I do respect it. I think if Ford keeps the 500/Taurus up to date it will steadily get more and more widely acknowledged as the classy car it is.

[SVT666]

I think they must read our board because we've been talking about that ever since they introduced the Five Hundred.  I agree with Omi; they should make the Ford Taurus Five Hundred the top trim level (like the Explorer Eddie Bauer).

[MX793]

I tell you; I'd like to see Five Hundred reappear as a trim-level. I'll take a dark blue Ford Taurus 500 with AWD, Falcon turbo six, and ZF automatic, thanks

I doubt the 4.0L I6 from the Falcon would fit.  Gotta remember that the 500 is a FWD car, so the engine sits sideways.

[SJ_GTI]

I doubt the 4.0L I6 from the Falcon would fit.? Gotta remember that the 500 is a FWD car, so the engine sits sideways.

Doesn't Volvo use an I6 in the S80, which I think is the same platform?

[Raza]

I think, overnight, they should change all the names of their cars, spend millions on massive ad campaigns, and then, in a surprise switch change them all again!

[omicron]

I think, overnight, they should change all the names of their cars, spend millions on massive ad campaigns, and then, in a surprise switch change them all again!

Ingenious! You should work for Ford.

[93JC]

They should change the Lincoln Zephyr's name first.

[omicron]

They should change the Lincoln Zephyr's name first.

Yes! Something catchy like Lincoln MKDGFHSDGBSKDLAWSJFHLASKVNJKCZLKSLDCUHGVASILFIDSUGF.

[93JC]

Hmm... I don't think all those letters will fit on any of the body panels.

Instead of MKDGFHSDGBSKDLAWSJFHLASKVNJKCZLKSLDCUHGV ASILFIDSUGF, we should shorten it to something like MK...

MKDGFHSDGBSKDLAWSJFHLAS?

[omicron]

Hmm... I don't think all those letters will fit on any of the body panels.

Instead of MKDGFHSDGBSKDLAWSJFHLASKVNJKCZLKSLDCUHGV ASILFIDSUGF, we should shorten it to something like MK...

MKDGFHSDGBSKDLAWSJFHLAS?

Yes, and we must educate people that it is pronounced EM KAY DEE GEE EFF HAITCH ESS DEE GEE BEE ESS KAY DEE ELL AY DOUBLE U ESS JAY EFF HAITCH ELL AY ESS not Mark DEE GEE EFF HAITCH ESS DEE GEE BEE ESS KAY DEE ELL AY DOUBLE U ESS JAY EFF HAITCH ELL AY ESS

[93JC]

Haitch...

[TheIntrepid]

Omi.

I think the rename to Taurus will be good...except the bad reputation associated with the Taurus. Of course, this means the bad reputation carried over to the Five Hundred. Of course this also means that the Five Hundred will be a better seller as the Taurus.

Though I think this should have been done from the beginning.

[omicron]

Haitch...

Isn't that what Merry Cans use?

[omicron]

Incidentally, I use 'aitch'.

[93JC]

Everybody else (besides the Irish) says 'aitch'.

From wikipedia:

The English name of the letter is generally pronounced /eɪtʃ/ and spelled aitch (or occasionally eitch). Pronunciation /heɪtʃ/ (and hence spelling haitch) is usually considered to be h-adding and hence nonstandard. However it is standard in Hiberno-English. It is common in Australian English, often identified with those educated by Irish emigrants in Roman Catholic schools. In Northern Ireland it is a shibboleth as Protestant schools teach aitch and Catholics haitch. The pronunciation affects the choice of indefinite article before initialisms beginning with H: for example "an HTML page" or "a HTML page". The pronunciation /heɪtʃ/ may be a hypercorrection formed by analogy with the names of the other letters of the alphabet, most of which include the sound they represent.

Authorities disagree about the history of the letter's name. The The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language derives it from French hache from Latin haca or hic, from which it can be argued that the pronunciation /eɪtʃ/ is a result of h-dropping. The Oxford English Dictionary says the original name of the letter was /aha/; this became /aka/ in Latin, passed into English via Old French /atʃ/, and by Middle English was pronounced /aːtʃ/.


The only letter Merry Cans regularly bugger up is the last one. Kind of funny to get vapid responses to 'zed', actually.

[GoCougs]

What utter desperation.

[omicron]

It is common in Australian English, often identified with those educated by Irish emigrants in Roman Catholic schools.

Interesting. I'm an Australian, taught in Roman Catholic schools all my life, and I can't say I recall people using 'haitch'.

Zed

[93JC]

Zed

Don't know where they got that silly 'zee' non-sense from.

[SaltyDog]

I've always thought the pronunciation of "h" was quite strange.  It really sunk in when my math teacher would say it over and over.  It's like the way it's said doesn't fit the letter.

Regarding the Ford, I don't understand why they are bringing back a name with a crappy rep.

[omicron]

Don't know where they got that silly 'zee' non-sense from.

What's with 'erb' and 'otel', might I add?

[MX793]

Doesn't Volvo use an I6 in the S80, which I think is the same platform?

It's not impossible to put an I6 sideways under the hood of a FWD car, but it's quite uncommon given the difficulties posed.  Besides I6 Volvos, the only other car I can think of that uses a transverse I6 for FWD is the Suzuki Verona / Chevy Epica.  The new Volvo I6 is only 3.2L and was specifically designed to be mounted transversely for FWD application.  According to Volvo, it's about the same length as their I5.  The Aussie Ford I6 wasn't intended for transverse mounting in a FWD, so I doubt they made the same effort in keeping the length down.

[omicron]

It's not impossible to put an I6 sideways under the hood of a FWD car, but it's quite uncommon given the difficulties posed. Besides I6 Volvos, the only other car I can think of that uses a transverse I6 for FWD is the Suzuki Verona / Chevy Epica. The new Volvo I6 is only 3.2L and was specifically designed to be mounted transversely for FWD application. According to Volvo, it's about the same length as their I5. The Aussie Ford I6 wasn't intended for transverse mounting in a FWD, so I doubt they made the same effort in keeping the length down.

The Oz V8 is certainly a fat bastard of an engine, and I would suspect the I6 is too.

[SJ_GTI]

I think the VW "V6's" (or VR6's as they used to call them) are actually closer to I6's when you look at them.

[omicron]

I think the VW "V6's" (or VR6's as they used to call them) are actually closer to I6's when you look at them.

Weren't they insanely small - 15 degrees or something, compared to the 60 or 90 of other V6s?

[93JC]

What's with 'erb' and 'otel', might I add?

I don't know. It's 'herb' and 'hotel' to me.

The only explanation I can think of is that they borrowed from French: 'herbe' and 'h?tel' are 'airbe' and 'otel'.

[SVT666]

I've always thought the pronunciation of "h" was quite strange.? It really sunk in when my math teacher would say it over and over.? It's like the way it's said doesn't fit the letter.

Regarding the Ford, I don't understand why they are bringing back a name with a crappy rep.

It's got more name recognition then "Five Hundred" especially when Chrysler has the 300.  This way they can put ads on TV that say, "Introducing the new and improved Ford Taurus".

[SJ_GTI]

Weren't they insanely small - 15 degrees or something, compared to the 60 or 90 of other V6s?

Yep.

[Raza]

What's with 'erb' and 'otel', might I add?

You mean "hotel"?