I got a chance to drive the 2002 Thunderbird today.  This was a
manufacturer's sample, not calibrated or built to the required emissions
standards, but representative in every other respect to the production
examples soon to be sitting in your local Ford dealers' showrooms.

First, getting into the car.  If you think the window sill line of the TC
is low, wait until you try this!  It takes a serious & deliberate duck or
you will be meeting your new ride in a most unpleasant & attention getting
fashion! 

Once inside, the interior is roomy enough.  The leather upholstered seats
are not especially cushy, as is the current vogue, but surprisingly
comfortable.  Other interior materials seem to be of pretty high quality,
but I did spot some plastic that may or may not weather well, as proved to
be a bane with the early Cadillac Allante'.  Center armrest is chintzy,
only one of you will be able to use it at a time, & the compartment
underneath will hold a cell phone but not much more.  Very cool steering
wheel, partly a smooth, lustrous black plastic that harkens back to the
Bird's 50's roots, the other portions being leather wrapped.  Power
tilt/telescope via a toggle on the steering column, & as a very trick
feature, the wheel goes automatically to the full in/up position when the
ignition is switched off to facilitate egress.  Kind of wish Ford had seen
fit to put the ignition switch on the dash instead of the column, though. 
The slightly off-white faced instruments are attractive enough, but as is
so often the case nowadays, no voltmeter or oil pressure gauge is provided
or even available. 

Driving the car is a reasonably enjoyable enough experience.  Some creaks &
rattles even on smooth roadways & with the hardtop on to stiffen things up.
Not as many as with my TC's (much of which can be attributed to leather
rubbing against leather), but this Bird is brand new, too, so a more
meaningful comparison might be made when they have some tens of thousands
of miles on them, also.  The V-8 is very smooth, & the car doesn't feel as
punchy or fast as my Turbo-II's, especially in the mid-range, although I'm
sure it is the quicker car by far.  But it's a more disconnected sort of
performance that's somehow a bit less satisfying.  The five speed automatic
transmission had a tendency to go gear hunting every once in a while, which
may be just a quirk of this particular example, however.  Another
aggravation that is becoming endemic in present-day cars is the excessive
tire noise coming from the low profile rubber.  The stereo is excellent,
with it being very difficult to pick up where the speakers are; the cabin
just seems to fill up with music.

While I didn't take the top off, it looks to be a chore on a par with the
same process on the TC.  The resulting gap in back is not taken care of by
an integral tonneau as with our cars, but must be taken care of with a
snap-on cover that didn't impress me very much as to its appearance.  I
would bet that someone very quickly is going to come up with a fiberglass
tonneau that will rise up to meet the backs of the seats, a la' the early
1960's T-bird Roadsters. Seems like a natural to me. 

The engine compartment is very tidy, but not at all friendly to casual
tinkering as everything is shielded by expanses of plastic sheeting.  The
battery is located in the trunk, which is finished in the typical FoMoCo
gray fuzz that is good enough for Mustangs & Tauruses.  Ford might've done
better there to match the otherwise upscale flavor of this vehicle. 

But all in all, a very attractive product that will undoubtedly sell like
$40K+ hotcakes.

Stephen Lyons
TC America Member