DaveM

No doubt I'd love to have the built in NAV of the Fusion but I find the price to obtain it to be obnoxiously high, since I myself don't see the need or desire for the electronics either. If it all were "half" the price, then maybe. Anyway I have owned and used a garmin 660 for many years now and have come to rely on it. The biggest downside I see is that it will not allow you to "back up" and save your stored destinations and addresses so if it ever goes bad or I replace it, all those addresses need to be reprogrammed into it. When I get the new FF I will likely upgrade to a new Garmin such as the 1690 to get the interactive features such as Traffic and Weather plus the "Birds eye view" and lane assist feature too. I'll be glad to report back about a quick review after I've used it but I expect it to perform as advertised and do trust the Garmin name as one of the very top GPS suppliers. By the way, I wasn't trying to talk anyone into this new Garmin so much as I was pointing out the reasons why I myself see the value of it as compared to buying the FORD built in Nav screen. If it came off wrong, please understand that is not what was intended. The way that FORD has built their packages has forced me to rethink my purchase and I even decided to downgrade to the SEL model because of the way stuff is packaged. There are certain things I definitely want and certain things I definitely find way too high or unnecessary and having lived with a portable Garmin for years tells me I can continue to do so, knowing it will closely rival the features of the built in FORD screen.

I'm not sure where they store the info on as my wife had to have hers replaced cause it wouldn't brighten up on the cold winter days. When we got it back all her info like radio stations, heat settings and all the things like whether to unlock the doors when in park plus the last few places we went to were all still there. Now they have a hard drive in them and it is possible stuff will be stored there. Anyway I'm not sure what else you are refuring to about losing? Couldn't the same be said with your Garmin?

Allow for the price to increase without it affecting me right? My "contract" is simply a order paper that has the contract date, customer name, order#, price, fees, tax and final balance. My assumption is that since it says cash price of 29,925.00 (minus fees/tax) and that is what I signed my name to pay, that is all I am obligated to pay even if Ford raised the price 1k before mine was verified.

The big question is Do you have the dealers signature also on that contract?

I was looking into buying a 2007 AWD Fusion. I've heard lots of good stuff and reviews. I've also heard 2 not so good (negative) things: 1) mileage of AWD 2) issues/problems with the AWD system (transfer case if we can call it this).

 

1) Mileage: as per the various posts I've read in diff. forums, the AWD does use-up a (fair bit) more gas. Especially city. Won't dwell on this, but one person who tested/driven both AWD & FWD V6, said he used $20 more gas per week ($80 vs $60) for his weekly travel with AWD. For roughly same travel. Seems like quite a bit (25 to 33% more depending how you calculate).

 

2) AWD transfer case: Other issue I heard which may be more serious is there may be some problems with the AWD system. I don't think AWD use a 'transfer-case' as such (4WD used to), but someone working at a car dealer said he already has seen major repair on 2 'transfer-cases' in past months (with mileages in the 15K-25K Km or ~9K-15K Miles). I'm not sure if anyone has heard any such things.

 

Obviously, AWD systems have more moving parts, more complex, etc... than FWD. But if what I heard is true - and after only 1-year equivalent driving mileage.... what will it be later.

 

I live in cold area and would love to go with AWD model. I plan on keeping car at least 5-yrs (probably 5-10).

 

Would love to hear any comments from actual users, people in the know, etc...

I can't comment on the mileage for the Ford but we have a STS that we got on lease. It is the V6 4 wheel drive and has 265 HP. We visit my son and his family which is almost 900 miles from us. In the states that the speed is 70 I go 72 to 75 depending on traffic, 65 speed limit I go almost 70. We average 25.5mpg for the trip. In town we get around 17.7 with 70 city 30% highway. For a almost 5000lb car I consider this very good. We have had this car for almost 3 years now so this is the wway it has been the whole time. I would guess the Ford to be quite a bit lighter so it should do as well. If not either something wrong with car or more likely driver.

I am - and I agree.

After you get it and use a some lets have a report back here on its pluses and minuses from a real user. I don't always trust the mags as sometimes the same people who make the product also buys ad space from the mag. I have a Garmin for my HHR and motorhome as I use the same one in both but for the wifes new car we want the Nav. unit in the FFH. And as for what we paid for the Nav we are getting the FFH for invoice and have to wait till we sell the car before we can figure out the true cost of the Nav. But of course in that time we get the pleasure of using it.

Something else I just noticed... looks like they have the new price point in there as a base price. I assume I this will not be an issue as I signed a contract for the order months ago. Looks like the dealer will have to eat the difference. They better not try to pitch a fit over it.

Read your contract. Some if not all allow for that very thing.

It looks to be a good Nav but comparing it to Fords is like comparing apples and oranges. Where on it can I change the radio stations, adjust the heat settings and the many more things that are on the Ford. Also is it 8" and does it show behind the car when you put it in reverse. Being a good nav but saying it is better than Fords is another story as I have shown it just can't do everything the Ford Nav does. And everytime I get out of the car I don't have to dismantal it either like you will on the portable at least if you want it to be there when you come back and all your windows still there. My brother lost his even though he hid it each time because the thief saw the ring imprint on the windshield. He got caught because of camera's in the parking lot where he worked and it was just down the street from a High School.

well if it went to the dealer four times for the same reason it falls under the lemon law act check your states policy

Or I'd find a dealer that knew what he was doing or wanted to take the time needed to find the problem. I feel the big problem is the mechanics are paid by the job so don't want to spend the time to trace a problem down. Call the factory, explain the problem and tell them they have one more chance to fix it or you will invoke the lemon law and they have just one week to do it. Also tell them you will be putting lemon signs in all the windows to show people what you have. That is always good for business. Of course this is as a last draw.

100K miles? Brings back not so fond memories of why we started to buy imports in the first place. Thanks for reminding us of those times.... :hysterical2:

 

But seriously, don't trust any of them and keep getting opinions because all those tranny shops will rip you off badly. I've had instances where it was a simple pan gasket leak (caused intentionally by a chevy dealer to drum up service business - the car didnt leak going into the dealer but sure leaked coming out) and estimates ranged all over the place with the tranny specific chain shops being the worst. All inspected it and while the leak was in plain sight they all wanted to supposedly "pull the transmission" to find the leak (the "we got'cha" moment) when a local shade tree mechanic found it in 10 minutes of having the car and repaired it same day at very low cost. Transmissions = rip off so be very careful. Yea, you don't have a leak problem but still they will alll rip you off.

My neighbor lady has always driven small Chrysler products and planned on a new car so asked her son what he thought she should buy. He said Camry. He drives a Jeep Cherokee and his wife drives a Chrysler Mini Van. Anyway she took his advice and got the Camry. Don't know what model, engine, and it does have the automatic. About 3 weeks or so after buying it I notice she is now driving a 2009 Malibu. First few days it didn't really dawn on me but while mowing the lawn she stops over. It seems the auto tranny had to be replaced/rebuilt or whatever they do, she didn't know. All she knew was coming back to Mi. from Penn. about 80 miles from home it quit working. (her words) So I'd say 100K on this other posters tranny isn't bad. I've known lots of people in American cars with many 100's of thousands of miles with orginal engine tranny. Sometimes things happen as in the Camry and sometimes people just don't take care of them. Wife had Honda Van (2002) with lots of little things but the auto doors never did work right and that seemed to be a big problem with lots of them. I had a Datsun 240Z with quite a few problems. Only big problems with my American cars was a 81 88 Olds in which it leaked oil out of the valve covers. It took 8 visits to get it fixed right. Twice they bolted the covers back on with a wire stuck under them.

Sirius.com has lifetime for $399.00 on their website. It's at the very bottom of their packages if you scroll down. I bought it.

 

For those who didn't know though, HD Radio is/was commercial free also. I listen to KBPI in HD all the time. Sounds a helluva lot better than satellite also. The only problem is it has the same range as conventional FM.

Didn't know about the lifetime plan as I've always had XM but the new FFH will be Sirius so will look into it. I have never had or even heard HD but if it is like the movies it should be great. It never really caught on where I live and I just hate the 2 songs about 6 min. and then 6 or 8 min. of bull. I haven't even programed in any AM/FM buttons in either of our cars and can't remember the last time I listened to FM. Thanks for the tip.

Ok thanks for that but that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Also some of us have good radio stations in our areas and don't want to waste $20+ every month on radio. Local sports radio is also better than satellite.

 

With that said I have not done this but am also interested. I've heard HD radio is actually dying though and lots of stations are shutting down their HD radio broadcast because no one listens to them. I don't know if I would lay down $300-500 for hd radio knowing that.

Sorry to ruffle your feathers. Sat radios are the new breed and more and more are going to it. Thats why HD never made it to prime time. Of course they have XM packages with 60 stations for 9.99 so your $500 will get you 50 months. If you buy a 3 year package it can be even less.

I have followed this topic with great interest having been on the fence as to purchasing an extended warranty from Ford. I must say that akirby’s arguments have been enough to push me over the top.

 

I will be purchasing the 7 year, 100,000 mile, $50.00 deductable warranty. I will be gamboling that by doing so I will keep this thread going for several more days. I haven’t purchased a car in 30 years that hasn’t had two or three thousand dollars of work that could have been covered by the extended warranty if I had the funds to purchase it with the car. This time I do have the funds and I bet it won’t be much of a gambol that some expensive item will get me my money back plus.

Don't worry I started this thread and I'm guessing my car will be here in 8 to 10 weeks +/- so I'll get it going again then

So far I haven't gotten anything in writing from the dealer. I'm going to stop in tomorrow and ask for a purchase order and a copy of the DOR. If I don't get either one, I'm canceling the order and going to a different dealer. I suspect that he doesn't care if I cancel, since I have the X Plan and he could probably easily sell it at MSRP if I don't buy it. I've always owned Fords but my wife prefers Toyotas and after the problems with this dealer is wondering if we should get the Prius or Camry Hybrid instead.

Just because there is a Toyota dealer doesn't mean he is any better than your current dealer. I'd cancel, call Ford and explain what went on and make sure they cancel the order so he doesn't benefit from you. The hybrid is a great car and why penalize the people at Ford for the stupidity of one dealer. You will always wish you had the Milan

Driving home on Friday afternoon I noticed that the speedometer wasn't working. All of the other gauges were working fine. I left work early for the holiday and now I have to deal with a car issue Called my Ford dealer via SYNC and asked if I could swing by. No problem they said. They had the car for less than an hour and the problem was fixed. They had to reprogram the computer per TSB 09 13 09. The service guy said a glitch in the software program was casuing the problem. Off I went a happy camper.

 

Kirkster

Maybe you even got a few free miles if they didn't register.

Copy and past the below link and enter you vin#. It works great.

 

http://services.forddirect.fordvehicles.co...ticker.pdf?vin=

I think it only works once your car has either been scheduled to be built or is being built. I have my vin but it ain't working.

I noticed that in the custom accessories page of the 2010 fusion brochure there is a HD radio option..I'm assuming this is a dealer add on..anyone have this setup?

I have been a XM person for so long I can't remember the last time I listened to real radio with nothing but ad's and the same song over and over. No thanks, we will be activating Sirius when we get our new ride. Besides being an old fart and wearing a hearing aid I'd not know the difference anyway.

I ordered my Milan Hybrid on 7/11 and was also told 6-8 weeks. After 8 weeks I called Ford and it still hasn't been scheduled for production and no VIN. I already missed out on C4C and hopefully will get something to show that I ordered before 9/30 to get the full $1700 tax credit.

Man I think something is wrong on your end as I ordered a FFH on Sept. 27th and stopped in to the dealer this past Friday and he gave me my Vin but no build date yet. From the way I read the rules on the credit off of the Ford site you have to take delivery by Sept. 30 to get the $1700

That would be a (very well calculated) gamble, and for this particular vehicle I'd say the odds are more in your favor for the reasons you described. And going to a high deductible plan is the right way to go to minimize the overall cost. As you said - the goal is to avoid a $4k repair bill, not to pay for every little thing.

 

What kills me is when I hear people pay $1500 cash for a warranty, have a $900 repair that's covered and exclaim "I'm SOOO glad I had that warranty!". Dude - you just paid $1500 to save $900. You're still out $600. People just like the idea of not having to pay for something now and totally disregard the fact that they already paid for it previously (and then some).

Go with the $50 deduct over the $200 as one claim will almost wipe out the difference. What I mean is for 7/75K the $200 will cost $845 and if you take the $50 it will cost you $1055 which is $210 more. But if you have one claim you will pay the $200 instead of $50. So now take away the $150 from the $210 and now you are down to $60 and counting. Now figure that you have a repair for $195 you pay it all but if you had bought the $50 you'd only be out $50. So you just saved $145. Of course this all goes around to the will you ever have a claim. Thats the big question. I know I can't speak for everyone, just myself but if I can afford a $30K car and 845 for the $200 deductable warranty I think I can come up with another $210 and get the $50 deductable.

Wow never thought I'd see this, but sounds like you're opening up to the idea of ESPs (price dependent, of course). Look at it this way, you're a big believer in law of averages...you're 5 for 5. Maybe this is the one that pays out? No doubt the previous vehicles were OK due to proper care and maintenance but those electronic failures may come out of nowhere and definitely can make it pay for itself in a hurry.

 

As far as the high deductible option it is entirely up to the buyer, but the reason I'm buying the $50 option is because I want to fix every little thing that may be wrong before I sell it or before my warranty runs out. Difference of the insurance plans between the two deductibles is about $280. Assuming there is one warranty work that exceeds $200 during the plan (scenario you stated above), you recoup $150 of that difference. I'm sure I'll find something else that may need replacement ($150-$200) that would make up for the rest. Remember, the dealers want to make money too...they charge Ford for warranty work that I request and my portion is $50. I happen to have a contact that works for Ford as a mechanic. I'm sure he can pull a favor or two for me (some cosmetic work etc.).

As far as the difference in deductibles for the most part there really isn't that much. For example 7yrs. 75K 0 deduct=1285 50=1055 100=975 200=845. So between the 200 deduct and the 50 deduct is 210 dollars in which just one claim will almost wipe out the savings. I too will pick the 50 dollar deductible.

Dave,

 

His thread (post) was something that really only he and I would understand, unless you also followed the other thread he referred to. Believe me, it does make sense to Deathlok and myself and possibly a few others too but wouldn't make much sense to someone just reading this one thread. Sorry for the confusion but I am partially to blame on this one.

You are right somewhere I missed the boat cause it sure don't make sense. For that I too am sorry. The part of his post about the usb may make better sense if he started a new thread cause I'm sure alot of us don't pay a whole lot of attention to this thread and thats how I got in trouble. Of course yours and his comments to each other didn't help either. Notice, I'm trying not to take all the blame.

Most (the exceptions being SVT's and the Luxury cars) American vehicles are limited around 120mph. The manufacturer sets the limits on the car during the design phase. The tires are put on with consideration to the governed speed, and EXCEED the governed speed at all times, like the 1991 Escort GT. Governors are usually electronic, and on the Fusion it's in the transmission/transaxle while it's in the differential on the Mustangs. My 2009 SEL cuts out at 117mph. The Michelin HX MXM4's are "H" Rated which means 130mph...the car doesn't do that. I don't think 221hp would get that going 130 withOUT a governor either due to the 6speed.

Thanks, I'm begining to understand this better. :happy feet:

I found that the USB port gives me a "connection error/see dealer" message when I plug in a USB flash drive. Have tried several different types.

I may be fairly new here but most of your posts don't make a bit of sense. Now you are making a comment about your usb on a thread about some stupid tennis shoes. On another thread a poster called you a name and later said he was sorry. You commented that how does one learn if they don't post. He responded then by saying he was sorry. We are all here to learn but I just don't see what we can possiblely learn by your thread on tennis shoes. Now I have to wonder if he still feels sorry.

Today I had the opportunity to test drive a Sport model and afterwards I asked the Salesman if he had a brochure. He found one for me and I just flipped through it at home and made a few discoveries.

 

1. The $295 priced 18" wheels shown as an option on the build it website are gone. On the spec page, there is no mention of optional (stand alone w/ sport suspension) 18" wheels for the SE or SEL models.

 

2. In place of item 1 above, they now list the "Appearance Package" and "Monochrome Appearance Package" as options for the SE and SEL. Both packages include the newly designed 18" wheels in place of the older 18" ex-optional wheels. Also mentioned will be included a chrome fog light bezel (on the SE since the SEL already has them) which I do not believe was mentioned in the PDF that was posted earlier about these packages. (Personally I think I liked the older optional wheels better but that's all that's available.) Both packages also include the Spoiler and sport tuned suspension plus interior changes too.

 

3. Under"accessories" on the inside back cover are shown an 18" Chromed Wheel that are available as an accessory purchase. They are NICE!!

 

What amazes me is that this is obviously the latest information since we all know that the Appearance packages are Job 2. Catalogs such as this are usually out of date and here in this case the brochure supercedes their own website. Websites are easily meant to be dynamic and easily changed and kept current. Why Ford cant find that simple to do is beyond me. Anyway, that's what is in the brochure itself, # 10-2FUSCAT Hire a webmaster Ford.

Is it possible that the Build it ONline has the latest up to date infor as those brochures are printed even before they start producing them and they change things as the year goes on.

no no no no no...and no again. The governor setting is not based on what tires are on the car, and the tires on the car aren't based off of when the governor kicks in. The 1991 Escort GT came with "Z" rated tires, and it wasn't coming close to the need for those.

So then how do they come up with the governed speed? A number of the HiPO GM cars are governed by the tires put on during manufacturing. For example my wife's STS didn't have the performance package so was govered at a lower top end eventhough there was no difference in equipment, only a heavier duty suppension and tires.

I watched that video too and if you recall that Engineer said that many changes were small, saving them TENTHS of an MPG so you really don't know what impact changing wheels will really have. He did say that less air flow was needed and that's why parts of the lower grill were closed over. I think if you look for similar wheels without allot of opening that your mileage impact will be very small, if noticed at all. Just my 2 cents.

After more thinking (if you can believe that) I too am thinking more about aftermarket wheels as I talked this morning with the sales manager and he said if we wanted to chrome over the stock wheels he would set us up with the people who do it but they didn't want to be involved as they don't want us complaining down the road that they flaked or whatever. So I think I too will look into aftermarket wheels and save the stock ones for snow tires if needed.

You can't go wrong with a "Fat Boy" that's for sure. I don't think that is still a production bike but you can get what is called a "Fat Bob" which has a bobbed short rear fender and dual headlights. The Road Glide is the best Harley that Harley makes (in my opinion) and a true long distance touring bike. It's the last of it's breed though as Harley is not making this bike for 2010 and replaced it with a Street Glide calling it a "Road Glide Custom" and adding the traditional Road Glide fairing only. (Two different bikes for sure.) Here's a photo.

You can't go wrong with a Fat Boy. Thats what I keep telling my wife. :hysterical2: