2002 Ford Thunderbird | Retro Review

4.698gt

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Interesting concept. Poor execution and jaguar X/S (don't remember which) under pinning did it in. Any do an LS swap on them?
 

Riddla

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I liked them, but they should've had the cobra engine
 

BlksvtCobra01

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I like the looks but I hated when I worked on them at the dealer and these came in. It was like working on the space shuttle a PITA. Not to mention my line of sight was right at the edge of the windshield so I had to duck down or look above if they came in with the top down. I always hit my head getting in them too.


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CobraBob

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I've never driven one, but my wife and I always liked the exterior styling of the 2002 T-Bird. Unfortunately, overall it had too much going against it. Lack luster power for it price point and intent. Too much plastic trim inside and not enough leather, again consider the price point (this would sticker for $50K today). It also had some strange cost-cut features, such as a power seat that only had power moves forward and backward. Up and down....manual operation.
 

SecondhandSnake

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Looking back it was such an odd choice to reskin a Jaguar and make this retro looking Thunderbird based on an American classic. But at the time throwing a retro body on an existing platform was all the rage- trying to cash in against the more successful PT Cruiser and HHR.

I suppose it could have been worse though. They could have just slapped the "Thunderbird" nameplate on the Escape.
 

kevinatfms

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I loved/hated these depending on the owner. If they did their maintenance and kept it garaged/clean the things wouldnt require a ton of deep repairs. The abused/neglected ones were a royal nightmare to work on.

Owners either took exceptional care of them or let them rot.

Highs:
The 3.9L DOHC was beyond amazing. 300hp and the thing absolutely purred around town and on the highway. Not super fast but felt matched to the car.

The exhaust note while cruising was awesome. They had these dual exhaust with an h-pipe after the mufflers which changed the sound quite a bit.

They got surprisingly good gas mileage for a small V8 in a somewhat heavier coupe. IIRC they could knock off low 20's quite easy in the city and mid to high 20s on the highway.

True cruiser of a car and almost no odd NVH issues like the Mustang. They were extremely relaxing to drive and the quality of the materials used was more than premium.

Seats were great for the occasional nap while work was slow. More comfortable than most of the SUVs and large Ford cars. Again, super comfortable.

Lows:
The hydraulic engine cooling fan was beyond idiotic. They also failed at an alarming rate. Jaguar used the same stupid design and it caused so many headaches.

3.9L was absolutely crammed into place. Trying to do any motor work required skinny ass arms or pulling everything apart far deeper than you really wanted to go. This also lead to the coilpacks being right under the cowl area. They had a recall/TSB to add foam into the cowl area but it was only good for so long before it would leak again and cause misfires.

The rear mounted battery and trunk release. So many owners would let the battery die then would have the car towed in because they didnt know about the trunk release button behind the drivers seat. I think Ford finally made the button yellow so people could see it.

There was also some very odd electrical issues due to the QC related to the car. Bad grounds, splices and the occasional PCM issue were very hard to diagnose. The MAFs were also another electrical item that would go bad at random causing hard starts, no starts or other wacky codes. Same as the Lincoln LS issues.

Wheels used to peel the chrome coating. I know they recalled/TSB issued on the flaking chrome to be replaced.
 

Riddla

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I suppose it could have been worse though. They could have just slapped the "Thunderbird" nameplate on the Escape.
Oh gawd, dont give them any ideas. Thunderbird already has an electric themed name.
 

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