Performance aside, this car is an absolute knockout.
We tested the T-Bird on California highways and coastal mountain roads recently, and whether we rushed it along straightaways at 100 miles per hour or swung it hard into hairpin turns, it showed effortless composure, with only a little body shake on rough pavement. It gets a potent, 3.9-liter V-8 cribbed from the Lincoln LS (see " Test Drives: 2001 Lincoln LS V-8") that hardly ever breaks a sweat, and a fully independent suspension tuned especially for duty on this car. This new Ford, however, is something in between a sports car and luxury vehicle, with agile handling even in tight turns, but enough give in the suspension for comfortable everyday driving. In fact, in many ways it's nothing like the 1955 original, which-contrary to popular belief-wasn't designed to go after the Corvette, but was meant to be a "personal luxury car," meaning it was very fast in a straight line, but not made for competition-level cornering.
#2002 THUNDERBIRD MANUAL#
Sub-luxury interior trim quality would be even better with a manual transmission.īut the 2002 Thunderbird isn't anything like the oafish beast discontinued five years ago. That's giving Ford an awful lot of credit, especially considering how badly the T-Bird was selling (and looking) by the time the last-generation car was finally killed off in 1997.įantastic looks handling that defies big, soft, American-car expectations. And, unlike the New Beetle, we think people will stay interested in this car for years to come.
It's an instant classic, a real car with great lines, excellent engineering, superior handling and just the right dose of the 1955 T-Bird (see " The Birth Of An American Legend") to make buyers go crazy for it. Why bring up the PT Cruiser in a review of the new 2002 T-Bird? To get something straight: The new T-Bird, which goes on sale this August, is not a styling exercise, or a made-up retro-mobile like the PT Cruiser.
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