Now that the weather has started to warm up, I've been able to better observe the under calculation of fuel used by my MKZ Hybrid. I haven't used remote start in over a month. For the first tank of gas while it was still relatively cold, the car was about 1 gallon lower than I added at the pump. The most recent tank has seen a greater number of 50+ degree days, and the car was only about half a gallon off from what I added at the pump. At least I finally got a tank of over 40 MPG on Fuelly, while the car has been estimating around 44 MPG.

"We hate Fords. Why? Because we do. We don't care if consumers have had good experiences with them. MyFord Touch ruins the whole experience. It was buggy and crashed a lot 3 years ago when it first came out so it must still suck. Maybe if Ford moved their headquarters to Japan we'd like them more."

Sounds like a nice replacement. You get to maintain the utility of the Flex while picking up a few nice upgrades. Good luck with the transaction and post pictures when you get it!

No, only the Hybrid and Energi do.

Yes, they are all configurable in the settings menu on the left dashboard screen. For collision alert, you can select different sensitivity levels. My dealer recommended setting it to low to reduce false alarms when he was delivering the car. I have only had it trigger three times. The first was on the freeway while using adaptive cruise. A car changed lanes in front of me and the adaptive cruise didn't slow down fast enough on its own. The second and third were last week on the same drive. One was a car turning into a restaurant that was never really a risk, but the other time traffic was slowing down faster than expected and it did prove helpful. Overall, I'm satisfied with the feature.

Dark Side has a bit more of a blue tint to it but isn't all that different from Atlantis Green in it's black-like appearance.

The best part of my experience getting the MKZ over my previous Ford was the lack of any sales pitches or finance manager. My salesperson handled all the paperwork signing, and did not pressure me to buy any add-ons. I'm not sure if this is typical of all Lincoln dealers, but the buying experience alone made it easier to justify the price premium over the Fusion.

The red leather looked very nice in person at the auto show. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

Even though BLIS (and cross-traffic alert which is also tied into it) can be prone to false positives, I can't say I've noticed false negatives. The whole intent of the system is to get your attention to a potential hazard before changing lanes or backing out of a parking spot. I'd rather have it alert me more frequently to keep me in the habit of checking rather than not go off when I'm counting on it.

Of the 3 fill-ups I've had so far, one was around 2.5 gallons more than the car indicated, one was .1 less than the car indicated, and the most recent was about 1.8 gallons more. I still think a large portion of this is attributable to the gas used during a remote start not being counted. The best proof I have of this is my MPG readout stays the same from the time I got out of my car until I get back in, even if I was running remote start for 10 minutes or so before getting in. This is completely illogical, as the miles per gallon should drop since I'm using gas while not traveling any distance. The middle tank where the numbers were equal or slightly less was during the holiday break when I was not using remote start as much since I mostly use it while at the office. I'm not overly concerned about padding my MPG numbers since I know they will greatly increase once it warms up. I'd rather have a warm car when it's well below freezing. Even last weekend when it warmed up to around 40 I saw 50+ MPG for several longer trips I took. If anything, this is a good lesson in how much energy various systems use.

I'd rather they make a hybrid or Energi Edge than a Fusion wagon.

I suspect you are correct, and the car did not leave the dealership with a full tank despite the gauge being full. I did reset the trip computer when leaving the dealer but in hindsight I should have also topped it off at a gas station to ensure an accurate count. Even if it was only 29.5 MPG that's still 50% more than I was getting before so I'm not complaining. It's also good to know the remote start fuel usage is counted. I assume the timer is counting as well, since it registered about an hour more than I use to represent 100% city driving. Now I'll just have to guesstimate how often I drove on open highway.

I just filled my car up for the first time and was shocked by the results. The trip computer had reported 9.88 gallons of fuel used and I was down to just a sliver of yellow on the fuel gauge. I didn't pay much attention to the gas pump while filling, but when it clicked off I looked at the screen and it reported exactly 12.000 gallons. My normal procedure for tracking fuel economy would be to slowly fill to the next click, but since I had already exceeded the trip computer by over 2 gallons and theoretically only had room for about another half gallon of gas given the tank size I just left it there. The net result is while the trip computer told me I was getting 35.8 MPG, the calculations only came out to 29.5 MPG. I have never experienced such a discrepancy in any of my previous cars. The only thing that comes to mind is that I have been using the remote start to pre-warm the engine so I can enter EV mode sooner (and since it has been very cold out). I could see this potentially burning through 2 gallons of gas if every time it used 1/10 a gallon that wasn't picked up by the trip computer. I might try running this tank without any remote starts, then go back to it next time and see what the difference is.

It's based on the Escape platform, but the dimensions have all been tweaked. The Escape and MKC have far fewer similarities than the Fusion and MKZ. It more closely resembles a jacked up MKZ rather than any of it's C-platform counterparts. I was holding out hope for a MKC Hybrid but went with then MKZ Hybrid when they didn't announce it. Everyone I talked to at the dealership agreed that they should be offering a hybrid, and hopefully they'll add one for the second model year.

I wonder if they are mounted differently on the MKZ vs. the Fusion. Are you talking about the curbs that are about 6 inches tall in the front of parking spots? Mine don't appear to pick anything up that low. As for the recycle bin, it's possible that the sensors detected it but since there is no visual indicator of where the object is being detected (which other cars with front parking sensors I have seen use), there's no way to know if it's something the corner is seeing or the front is seeing.

I am thus far unimpressed with the forward parking sensors. I was planning on skipping them if I went with the Fusion, but they were included as part of the Technology Package on the MKZ. They seem to pick up stuff on the side of my garage and go to a steady beep when I still have several inches left that I could pull into my garage. The one time I did have my recycle bin positioned in front of my car, it was too low to be picked up by the sensors and I proceeded to crush it with the lower part of the bumper. My guess is the sensors are useful when you have a car or a wall in front of you, but for smaller objects they are less than ideal.

My car seems to be settling in around 35 MPG (according to the computer) in the cold snap we are currently having. I have yet to fill up for the first time to do a manual calculation, so it will be interesting how far off it is.

Yes, I would like more BEV options on the market now but I realize the technology involved in making a practical electric vehicle is still expensive (see Tesla). Adding more hybrids and PHEVs is key in shifting more drivers towards electrified options and increasing their popularity. The problem remains that auto companies already have billions invested in developing gas power trains that sell well, giving them no incentive to develop alternative energy if not mandated to do so. We have come a long way since the early hybrids that carried hefty premiums that exceeded potential gas savings, but plug-ins are still in this boat. I came very close to purchasing a Fusion Energi, but could not justify the price premium they were asking knowing that I would need to plug in more than once per day in order to cover the 30 or so miles I drive per day in pure electric mode, especially in cold weather. The Volt's range would have been ideal for me, but the car was too cramped and felt cheap. I think the sweet spot for a PHEV would be 40+ electric miles in all seasons. Once you experience the thrill of driving with nothing other than road and wind noise, it's hard to put up with the hum of a gas engine. The best approach for now is to continue expanding the availability of hybrids, particularly to vehicles that share platforms with existing hybrids (i.e. Focus, Escape/MKC, Edge/MKX). Dealers should also be better educated on who best benefits from hybrids, as well as the potential cost savings. I'm sure there are many buyers who may not conventionally consider a hybrid because of association to cars like the Prius, and salesmen likely won't direct them towards one if they aren't already asking for it. I appreciate Ford's continued commitment to hybrids especially when compared to the other Detroit automakers, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

It really depends what your city/highway driving mix is. Diesels don't come close to the stop-and-go city mileage of hybrids. On the open road or longer trips, they become much more advantageous and are often a better choice than a hybrid. With a 10 mile commute that rarely sees the freeway, a diesel would never pay off for me.

It's amazing how people get desensitized to gas prices. $3 a gallon gas is not low. 5 years ago people were panicking when it first hit that mark. Truck and SUV fuel economy may be slightly improved over where it was a decade ago, but anything under 20 MPG real world is still abysmal. A lot of people may not even give a second thought to the price of gas, but I think it's ridiculous the games oil companies play with the prices. The sooner I can get completely off gas the better, but in the meantime hybrid options need to increase. Car companies still aren't expanding electrified options as fast or wide as they should. There should be more in the crossover realm by now, but they never seem to show up other than pointless mild hybrid setups. I'm happy with my new car, but I would have loved to have bought something for the long term rather than leasing another hold-me-over hoping there are more options in 2 years.

Thanks for correcting my math. I know it sounded too good to be true.

There is supposedly an exit mode that my dealer enabled when we were going through the settings on my car, but nothing moves for me when I get out. I already have the steering wheel as far up as it will go and the seat as far back as it will go so that probably has something to do with it.

I logged into MyLincoln yesterday for the first time and the recall notice was the first thing I noticed. I also saw them mention it on the news last night. Doesn't sound too serious, but it looks like they'll be able to address it while my car is in the shop getting the bumper fixed.

I had a total of $3000 in incentives on the car I picked up last week. I know the three items you listed - $1000 owner loyalty, $750 X Plan, and $750 brochure were 3 of the items. I'm not sure where the extra $500 came from but perhaps it's a general incentive that is currently running. My guess is the $750 brochure and $500 Facebook offers would not be combinable as they are both forms of private cash, of which you are typically restricted to one. Asking your dealer would be the only way to know for sure.

I'm still learning my car, but so far have been very pleased with the numbers I've been seeing considering it's a brand new engine and the temperatures have been at or below freezing. The numbers are obviously worst when the car is warming up, but after that is behind me I have no problem getting 40+ MPG. Today on the way to lunch I only recorded 30 MPG since the car was warming up for half the trip, but on the way back from getting carry out I got 60 MPG! That averages out to 45 MPG, or exactly what the car is rated at. I can't wait for winter to pass so I can see what the car is truly capable of.