jeff_h

I can only speak from the perspective of a Prius owner (soon to be FFH owner), but I suspect the answer would be the same if the systems are similar. The answer is "no", that it will not start, because it's the 12-volt battery that gets all the electronic gizmos going (see how tech savvy I am?) and powers the solenoid to connect the HV battery to be accessible. In the Prius the 12V battery was only about 1/2 size (I don't know if the same holds true for the FFH, will have to look when mine comes in) and so leaving a dome light on for overnight would tank the 12V battery. However a simple jump start would get the gizmos going and make the HV battery accessible again and thus power the 12V back up in no time. I never experienced a dead 12V battery at all, but I did provide a jump start to another car twice and had no issues.

Who sets the eligibility for the x-plan pricing? Is it each dealer or Ford? I surfed around and found a few details, it mentions exclusions for large trucks and SVT but nothing about any hybrids. http://www.brienford.com/default.aspx?html...tml&s=xplan Oops, as soon as I submitted I see Grey was posting about this at the same time. I agree with Grey, if they won't honor the x-plan price if you are eligible, hunt around for a dealer that will.

Because I have always bought American brands and in 2005 there was not a suitable alternative that would qualify for the special license plates to drive in the HOV lanes, so I went with the Prius. Now it's time for a new car (I drive 3,000 miles per month) and now there is an American brand model that I tried out, the FFH. I now have 1-2 carpoolers each day so someone sits in the back seat about half the time, my wife has told me how uncomfortable it is to ride in the back seat of the Prius, the FFH is much better. Also, I looked at the 2010 Prius on TV commercials and personally I think it is UGLY, even worse than my 2005 that is shaped like a taco.

I think maybe you (and the person in Dallas who also posted above you) maybe need to widen your horizons a bit, for me it's always been worth a little bit of distance to save several hundred bucks, to get just the car I want, or both. I just went to fordvehicles.com and did a "search dealer inventory" on zip 78701 which is Austin TX. There are 5 dealers on the dropdown and all of them have at least 1 FFH in stock, the last one I think had 6. Anyway, if you find any of those models that match what you want, go to that dealer's web site (rather than through fordvehicles.com) and write to them that they are ONE OF SEVERAL dealers that have a FFH model that you are willing to buy, and ask for their best price, and note that if they have the best price they will get your business. If you approach a dealership as the customer that really wants the car and they know they have the upper hand, they won't budge on price. If you let them them know that they are not the only game in town and that you are willing to take a quick road trip to get what you want for the price you want, I think their business sense will get the better of them when they know they could lose the sale. And if you do this and don't get cooperation from your local dealer, it might be useful to drop a note to the sales manager of the dealership(s) that wouldn't budge and tell them you are happy with your purchase and it's a shame it wasn't from them. I did this very thing with my local dealer, my current salesman is great but I told him "ya see that guy over there? I test drove a car with him in 2005 and he refused to come off MSRP and I went an hour away and saved $700". So I say turn the tables a bit and make them earn your business by giving you the best price, rather than you being at their whim and them thinking you are all starry-eyed over some car (which is often the case with new-car fever). If nobody is willing to budge when you inquire on the prices, you've only wasted a little search time and a few emails, no big deal. Another benefit of using this method is that any small bit of haggling (of which there should be very little, if you don't like their answer then move on) is done online and not in their dealership in person, where they definitely have the upper hand. Good luck!

That's pretty good! I have maintained an excel spreadsheet for every single fillup on my Prius over 127,000 miles, and the average is 51MPG. I formatted it in a way to calculate the cost of the gas at that MPG, and compare the costs savings against 20, 25, and 30 MPG to see if in the long run it was worth the extra money that was shelled out in the purchase price. I have a copy of the spreadsheet ready to go for the FFH, now I all I need is the car! :)

I have looked at many of these stickers online for in-stock cars to try and determine if this is the build date, and my best guess is that it is, it's become a bit of a game trying to figure it out. Another poster said it might be the Monday of the week of the build, but I've seen dates on the stickers of 4/23, 4/28, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20, 5/28, 5/29, etc (not all Mondays). This tells me it could be the build date, and I also wondered if the 4-digit code to the left of that was the order in line on that build date, who knows?

I wasn't sure on the income thresholds and didn't want to give out bad info, thanks. On the "cash for clunkers", I wonder if there is a ownership restriction on what is sold off to buy a new car? In other words, I suppose there may be some type of restriction to keep someone from (for example) buying an '82 Suburban with 10 MPG for $300 and then trading it in under this program shortly after for $4,500 for the purpose of buying a new fuel-efficient car?

Remember there are 2 tax incentives in play right now -- first is the current $1,700 credit (figured after you compute taxes owed on the back page of the 1040) which would apply to most everyone (I don't know if there is an income threshold for this) and is $1,700 until Sep 30 then goes down to $850. The the second is the state tax deduction on the federal form (whether that is on the front page of the 1040 or in sched A, I guess we will see; this is deduction that reduces the amount of income that your federal tax is computed upon) which would apply if you actually paid sales tax (depending on your state, of course) on a new car purchased this year (not just the FFH, this should be any new car and again check for the income threshold).

Well this is good news, this morning my salesman called me and had checked on my order placed on Friday 5/22, his system says that the build will be next week, during the week of 6/15. He said normally it takes about 2 weeks after that, depending on scheduling of the rail/truck. He said there's a good chance I will have it before July 4th. :happy feet: When I ordered the car, I asked his best price and after discussing with the sales manager he said they would go 3% under MSRP, which in my case was $970 off of MSRP and they went the additional $30 to make it an even $1,000 off. This morning I asked him if I brought in a referral would they also give him/her the same deal, and he said "absolutely" and that applies to the 3 he has on the lot (one of which I test drove), the 2 allocations currently on the way (he said both are 502A), or a custom order. So if you are having trouble finding one, or your local dealer will not budge from MSRP (or above), I am in central/northern VA and you can get a better deal here. If anyone wants to go that route, PM me.

There is one way to "wait" for another car and ensure that it has EXACTLY (color & options) what you want -- custom order it. Also, I suggest that you contact many dealerships in your area (or beyond if you are into road trips as I am) and ask them "what is your BEST price policy on a custom-ordered FFH?" Collect the answers (those that won't give a number such as MSRP, MSRP -500, MSRP -1,000, etc I would not do business with). I asked this of my local dealer and they knew I was ready to buy/order and I also made it clear that I was looking at various dealers for the best price and that I WOULD go elsewhere. The salesman checked with his sales manager and 2 minutes later told me they would go 3% under MSRP on my custom order. I don't begrudge someone making a profit, that is what they are there for, but in my case they are gonna make $1,500+ for watching my car come off a truck and doing PDI. I placed the order 3 weeks ago and I am waiting patiently, I suggest you might want to do this too. For the trade-in, I found during my last new car purchase that I got $800 more by selling directly to CarMax, so you might want to check that route out too, if possible. Good luck!

I ordered mine and got $1,000 under MSRP, which was probably about $1,500 above invoice, so you did great compared to others! I test drove the FFH and asked the dealer what their bottom line was for pricing policy if I ordered, the salesman checked with the sales manager (geez, they probably have to check with them to get permission to use the restroom too, they can never say a darn thing without checking)... he came back and said they were willing to go 3% below MSRP, and later that day I said OK.

I placed my order on May 22, at that time the salesman said it would be 8 weeks. If your salesman said that yours would be built on Wednesday, did he already get the VIN# from the ordering system? Seems like that should be available by now, right?