why can't you get cars like this in Ireland?

greenmachine88

Sobanek

Because Ireland doesn't have $3.50/gallon gas?

JoeA3

Errrr, it's a mondeo.

bridgemond

Whats so special about it?

squod

JoeA3 wrote: »

Errrr, it's a mondeo.

Not a mondeo AFAIK. V8 RWD equivalent

They have the Mondeo XR5 model over there, which I seriously want.

Sobanek

JoeA3 wrote: »

Errrr, it's a mondeo.

It's actually the Taurus.

Guy:Incognito

You could get one if you wanted one. Just have to order or omport one. Are they made in RHD for any market though?
I doubt Ford are going to stock them for the 1 person that might buy one in the models life though.

x in the city

greenmachine88 wrote: »

nice car, no one would buy it.

the link says its a taurus...

prob a uber market v6 mondo for the yanks.

Twin-go

Because we have corners and bends on our roads.

SouperComputer

Theres no V8 Taurus anymore only a 3.5 V6 NA and a 3.5V6 Twin Turbo, the Gen3 SHO had a yamaha designed V8 coupled with FWD but I dont think thats been made sincw 99. The market for this kind of car is limted at best, not enough potential sales to justify a support network and rolling out RHD models. The latest Taurus is a fine car by any standards IMO, handles better than you might expect and the SHO is fun.

The Taurus has nothing to do with the Mondeo, zero. The closest to the Mondeo was the Contour which both used the same platform: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_CDW27_platform

blackdog2

Not to forget the tax on the thing.

More than likely there isn't a model without leather, and with an aul heater run on coal and wind-up windows. Apparently these things hurt the residuals here.

partyatmygaff

For the simple reason that no one in their right mind would pay €1,500 tax and extortionate fuel prices for any Ford but a GT or a good Mustang.

Eric Cartman

because most people in ireland are more afraid of motor tax than anything else

Pdfile

Sobanek wrote: »

It's actually the Taurus.

we are nanny taxed by a fake state. Heck we are barely a country let alone a republic, If you could strap on a huge super charger though.... im sure the gaurds would have a hard tiem doin ya for no tax :pac:

PseudoFamous

You could get some chrome spray, and your mondeo could be just like that.

samsemtex

I dont see why we cant have a Hyundai like this either? Oh wait i do, its because we are a nation of badge snobs and people wouldnt buy it despite the incredible value for money it is in comparison to a BMW or Merc.

RobertM

What's with all the chrome on american cars ?

-Chris-

As a nation:
We're afraid of motor tax
We like to buy the biggest car we can afford, rather than a smaller car with higher spec, even if that means it's equipped with a puny engine
Those who buck these trends are punished with poor residual values

For those reasons the importers couldn't be arsed pricing and stocking cars like this, so they're not available in ROI.

samsemtex

I dunno but i like it. Looks better in reality than it does in pictures. US Mercs have a lot more chrome than European ones and they look way better over there. \

thirtythirty

Twin-go wrote: »

Because we have corners and bends on our roads.

The new Taurus has surprisingly tight handling - I drove the west coast of the states in one of those and it was probably one of the nicest cars I've ever driven. The roads over the mountains into Santa Cruz are steeper and twistier than anything I've driven over here, some of them dual lane, and it felt perfectly planted the whole time.

Unbelievable stock speakers in them too randomly.

brembo26

its a ford mercury :P (number plate)

mad m

Brother in law has one of these as a company car, drove it myself during the summer, its huge inside, huge boot. Lovely car overall...

alias no.9

squod wrote: »

Not a mondeo AFAIK. V8 RWD equivalent

They have the Mondeo XR5 model over there, which I seriously want.

There's never been a RWD Taurus.

R.O.R

brembo26 wrote: »

its a ford mercury :P (number plate)

I'm guessing those are the 2 "Manufacturer's" that the dealerships sell.

There will be a Mercury version of the Taurus - Mercury are a sub brand of Ford in the US.

Owen

If you think having cars like that is depressing, you should do a cost analysis on a car which is available in both the USA and here. One specific car I did it on a few years back, the car was about 14k Euro OTR in the states, with CD, 16" Alloys, Aircon and Leatherette as standard, and here the same car was almost 25k with nothing. Even taking VRT out of the equation, it was a huge difference especially considering getting cars to the States, and across them would have been much more expensive than getting the same cars to Ireland.

challengemaster

Owen wrote: »

If you think having cars like that is depressing, you should do a cost analysis on a car which is available in both the USA and here. One specific car I did it on a few years back, the car was about 14k Euro OTR in the states, with CD, 16" Alloys, Aircon and Leatherette as standard, and here the same car was almost 25k with nothing. Even taking VRT out of the equation, it was a huge difference especially considering getting cars to the States, and across them would have been much more expensive than getting the same cars to Ireland.

That's nothing. I did the same things a few years back (before I could even drive) just to see with a 350z. Was under $20k over there, it was €70k here atleast

squod

squod wrote: »

Not a mondeo AFAIK. V8 RWD equivalent

They have the Mondeo XR5 model over there, which I seriously want.

alias no.9 wrote: »

There's never been a RWD Taurus.

Thought it was the Falcon. Never seen a Taurus. And americans don't have any XR5s for sale for sure.

Marcusm

It's either a Taurus or a Fusion. I think the car sold in US as a Mondeo is different.

Mercury no longer exists as a Ford sub brand.

The Falcon XR6 is an Australian car which I don't think is sold n the US. Not a ad car but I much preferred the Holden SV6.

I've one a fair bit of car rental in the last year and in the US, my preferred vehicle was a Buick LaCrosse which has the same chassis as a Saab 9-5. very comfortable car and (for Octavia lovers) a boot like no other. FWIW, the other high selling Buick is the Regal which is a rebadged Insignia and was very popular. Buick is GM's mid range exec range.

si_guru

Owen wrote: »

If you think having cars like that is depressing, you should do a cost analysis on a car which is available in both the USA and here. One specific car I did it on a few years back, the car was about 14k Euro OTR in the states, with CD, 16" Alloys, Aircon and Leatherette as standard, and here the same car was almost 25k with nothing. Even taking VRT out of the equation, it was a huge difference especially considering getting cars to the States, and across them would have been much more expensive than getting the same cars to Ireland.

Maybe, but the TAM is much, much larger in the US. The market determines the price.

Mr Benevolent

Eric Cartman wrote: »

because most people in ireland are more afraid of motor tax than anything else

You're right there. I wonder why?*

*Genuine question

Matt Simis

Firstly I cannot understand how so many of you failed to simply look at the filename and then Google image to confirm it, secondly it is a Ford Taurus.

1more min looking at the spec for the 2011 model reveals:
Assuming its 3.5l model (263bhp), its about 33mpg (Imperial) on the motorway on the most efficient model.
Its available as both FWD and AWD.
http://autos.yahoo.com/ford/taurus/2011/?sort=fuel&sortdir=desc

I would suspect it might squeeze into the second highest CO2 tax bracket here.


IMO though, there is nothing interesting about this model. It may not be platform shared with the Mondeo, but its a similar A:B cookie cutter commuter.

galwaytt

partyatmygaff wrote: »

For the simple reason that no one in their right mind would pay €1,500 tax and extortionate fuel prices for any Ford but a GT or a good Mustang.

Would it even qualify for the €1500 band ? ...might be the €2200 band.....

R.O.R

Matt Simis wrote: »

IMO though, there is nothing interesting about this model. It may not be platform shared with the Mondeo, but its a similar A:B cookie cutter commuter.

From my time dealing with US hire cars, the Taurus was a Group F - Full Size 4 door, so was the equivalent of the Granada / Scorpio at the time.

One size up from the Mondeo equivalent (can't for the life of me remember the name) and one size down from the Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis which shared a floorpan with the Lincoln Continental, but didn't have the bling.

Nothing special tbh, sure Hertz car lots are full of white Taurus's all around the US.

partyatmygaff

galwaytt wrote: »

partyatmygaff wrote: »

For the simple reason that no one in their right mind would pay €1,500 tax and extortionate fuel prices for any Ford but a GT or a good Mustang.

Would it even qualify for the €1500 band ? ...might be the €2200 band.....

You're probably right. I was thinking of the old tax bands.

cjt156

R.O.R wrote: »

One size up from the Mondeo equivalent (can't for the life of me remember the name)...

Ford Contour.
Agreed, 3.5L and 263 bhp may sound impressive in a country where any thing over a 1.9 Diesel with 120bhp is thought powerful enough to rip a hole in the space-time continuum-thingy...
Reality is its a big soft wafty American car for American roads and over there it's about as special as an Opel Vectra feels here...

alias no.9

R.O.R wrote: »

From my time dealing with US hire cars, the Taurus was a Group F - Full Size 4 door, so was the equivalent of the Granada / Scorpio at the time.

One size up from the Mondeo equivalent (can't for the life of me remember the name) and one size down from the Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis which shared a floorpan Ladder Frame with the Lincoln Continental, but didn't have the bling.

Nothing special tbh, sure Hertz car lots are full of white Taurus's all around the US.

The Crown Vic is dead, the Taurus is now the biggest Ford and has been bumped up a little in size.

G Luxel

R.O.R wrote: »

I'm guessing those are the 2 "Manufacturer's" that the dealerships sell.

There will be a Mercury version of the Taurus - Mercury are a sub brand of Ford in the US.

Mercury is dead too.......the last one was made in January and was a Grand Marquis. Ford dropped Mercury as it only accounted for 5% of total sales.

Last week the last Crown Victoria was built
http://www.inautonews.com/video-last-ford-crown-victoria-rolls-off-the-line

and the Lincoln Towncar is scheduled to end soon.....:mad:

squod

I think we're getting closer in terms of specs to the Americans. The standard puny family car might just 'get the road' if any of the latest models are taken into consideration.

That new Peugeot is going the same way as the Citroen. Offering a 200bhp AWD diesel/electric hybrid. Nearest we're gonna get to the Aussies or Yanks power wise for a standard family car with reasonable tax rates.

VolvoMan

JoeA3 wrote: »

Errrr, it's a mondeo.

squod wrote: »

Not a mondeo AFAIK. V8 RWD equivalent

It's actually based on the platform of the last generation Volvo S80 (FWD).

si_guru

VolvoMan wrote: »

It's actually based on the platform of the last generation Volvo S80 (FWD).

Was there a S80 V8???

VolvoMan

si_guru wrote: »

Was there a S80 V8???

That's the current model which is based on the Ford EUCD platform, which underpins the current Mondeo among many other things.

Ford utilised the P2 platform which Volvo Cars developed before they were taken over in 1999. Nearly all of their bigger US market cars are based on it these days, from Lincoln's to Explorer's.

mandrake04

Marcusm wrote: »

The Falcon XR6 is an Australian car which I don't think is sold n the US. Not a ad car but I much preferred the Holden SV6.

Yeah me too.

I have a new Series II SV6 which is the 281 bhp version. (series I was 261 bhp)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70360435&postcount=1887

My mate has a XR6 Turbo (tuned) which is nice but I still prefer the Holden

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=72366284&postcount=2014