Juris

I also filed via Turbotax and had no problem, for my FFH ordered in May and delivered in June. The form itself states that it's for a hybrid/electronic vehicle, even if the name of the auto on form 8910 reads 2010 Ford Fusion -- without saying "hybrid" on it. I got my $1700 credit without a problem; possibly the IRS figured it out by the time I filed (April 6). Got my refund today.

Agree on that. It makes me startle more often than not. And as far as I know, it's a pointless inquiry. Ford should either set things up to automatically do the VHR or just get rid of it. Right now it's stupid and possibly dangerous.

I've now had a second display glitch. I first got a reset when the car had about 3000 miles on it last summer. My mpg dropped to 0 even though I had not reset it. About week ago, now with 10,500 miles on the car, and after the "service update" had been performed (a month ago), the same thing happened for the second time. Back to 0 mpg. Then a few days ago, the setup switched from Empower to Engage without any prompting by me. The first time that has happened to me. I'm not bothered much by this but it's still annoying. The only commonality I can see between the first and second time I got the reset was that in both cases I had turned the key on, put the car in reverse, and hit the brake just after the car started rolling but before the mpg gauge had run up to the prior level (ca. 35.0 mpg). So possibly under some circumstances this reset might be more likely to occur. If my hunch is right, then I should wait a few seconds after putting turning the key for the mpg to run up, and then put the car in reverse. And thus the need to hit the brake (as often happens in backing out of a parking lot stall) wouldn't stop the regular cycling of the gauge. But with an N of 2, I'm just guessing what went wrong. And I have no explanation for the setup change from Empower to Engage.

I've owned cars with power windows for 40 years and never had a problem with them: VWs, Chevys, Fords. I hardly think this is a major reason not to lower the windows for a few seconds to cool off the car. The advice given above about sensible use of the AC is golden. Winter weather is a far far greater detriment to MPG's than sensible use of the AC.

I wonder whether the driver of the Civic shown in the picture is still sitting in the exact same position she was prior to the accident -- and whether prior to the accident, just as shown in the picture, she was glued to her telephone and forgot to stop her car.

I read an interview recently with a Garrett (Honeywell) engineer who said he thought we would be seeing hybrids with turbochargers (on the gasoline side). It would be interesting to have such a boost on my next FFH. Here's a link: http://www.acarplace.com/cars/turbochargers.html

I experienced the MPG reset once last August. Started the car after parking it in a garage, and it reset to zero -- I hadn't made any changes to the setup after I left the dealership with my new car in June. This happened just that once, and I now have over 10K miles on the car. Except for that reset, my FFH has been completely bug free.

For the FFH, they could find ways to reduce the weight, including the size of the battery. It's also possible to add eco-boost to the hybrid design. I read a recent interview with a turbocharger engineer from Honeywell (Garrett turbos) who suggested this as a possibility -- turbocharging the gasoline engine in the hybrid.

I like the ticking of the turn signal in the FFH. It reminds me of the ticking clock inside the crocodile in Disney's "Peter Pan" cartoon. About the same cadence. It makes me happy.

The "Change Oil Soon" light came on shortly above 9,000 mi on my FFH. I also got a warning for low air pressure, which turned out to be a nail that was leading to a slow leak -- but fortunately not a flat. Not sure what other warnings are programmed in.

True enough but it's not a $6,000 difference.

@Oldschool1962: Figure out what kind of car you want and don't overthink things. Of all the models you've mentioned, what gives you more confidence in one than another? The 2010 Taurus hasn't been out that long, for example. On the other hand, the FFH for most people is a trouble free car. Mine has been, my best friend's FFH has been. Both of these were produced before July 2009. Each has > 10 thousand miles and gone through the Michigan winter.

While water and ice/snow may be a factor in your experience, I live in Michigan and my FFH saw plenty of snow and ice (not that much rain) over the past 9 months that I've owned it, and I have had zero problems with the car. Even letting the car sit in the driveway while 6" of snow accumulated on it never caused me any problems. So whatever gremlins are causing your car's problems, I doubt that they are generic to the car's design -- or we would be seeing a lot more complaints of the type you've made. (BTW/ I was quite pleased with the car's handling on snow and ice.)

Correct, you have to be careful when comparing the price of the FFH to non-hybrid. It is about $3500 more for an FFH compared to a FF Sel, which is pretty much the equivalent setup to the basic FFH. But of course you can add even more bells and whistles to your FFH than the base model. I never considered the non-hybrid Fusion. At the time I was shopping (May 2009), I also benefited from a $1700 federal tax credit, which further reduced the "premium" on the FFH. As for getting your money back in the long run, that depends not just on resale value but also on what happens to gasoline prices over the next few years.

I get my best mileage staying in the draft of a semitrailer. Not recommended as a general strategy. But this is just to indicate that the surrounding traffic affects your mileage, too, and sometimes positively.