VonoreTn

One reason you don't see many FFH's is that Ford only makes about $100 on them, so number one, they don' t make that many, and number 2 the dealers make more selling the other Fusions. You will also notice when Ford advertises the Fusion, they brag about the FFH, but push the other models. If you go to a Ford dealer to buy an FFH, you need to be resolute, or they will talk you into something else. We had our minds made up, and ordered one factory made. It took about 7 weeks to deliver. The FFH is a lot of car for the money, essentially two drivetrain systems, electric and ICE, a lot more content on the technical side than you will get in just an ICE Fusion. Even with the loss of FE in the winter, we are still averaging 38 mpg after 28K miles and two winters. I keep complete fill-up records. While there is one other FFH in our development, I honestly have never seen another one on the road, in a year and a half. Lots of Fusions, and I always get my hopes up, but never another FFH. My trips are from Knoxville to Austin and Denver areas.

I've got 28K miles on mine, no issues. Since I was getting 19 mpg average on my previous vehicle and I average 38 now, it makes it very easy to calculate my gas savings based on my full record of gas money spent so far. I am saving as much as I spent. In the first year I saved $1360, but that will go up as the price of gas goes up. So I project in 10 years I will save $15,000 in gas. That will put me in a good position to either replace the battery pack if needed or buy a new car at that time.

It's nice to know that you still had 2 gallons, but that might not equate to another 80 miles. 2 gallons might be about half an inch of gas in the bottom of the tank, thus the car geometric plane becomes an issue, like the crown of the road, and whether you are going up or down a hill become significant as to whether the fuel pump is sufficiently submerged to keep the engine going. Since the fuel is used to cool the fuel pump, it's a good practice for fuel pump durability not to make a habit of running down to the last 2 gallons of gas. A fuel pump replacement at a dealership out of warranty will cost you upwards of $500, and it could leave you stranded no where near a dealership. I had one fail in New Mexico, on a previous vehicle at high mileage, and was fortunate enough to be within a mile of a Ford Dealer.

Interesting. At 28,000 miles we have had no issues with our heater. I am impressed with how quickly this little engine heats up and puts out lots of passenger compartment heat.

Regarding the lawnmower 2 stroke engine and gas issue, as a hobby, I fix neighbors 2 and 4 stroke small engines. Usually I don't need to buy any parts, just clean out the carb, blow out all the holes, take out the mixture screws, blow them out, run solvent through them (I have a solvent tank with a pump), pull the top and bottom off the little carbs (often Zama's and Walbros) and check for bad seals or clogged ports. I sand blast the plug, check the spark, and lately I have had several of the cylinder heads come loose on 2 strokes. Actually, they are not just heads, they are the entire cylinder. There are only 2 bolts holding them on, and they won't run with a loose head. Now and then there is one that just won't respond to anything but that is rare. While these new 2 stroke engines have been incredibly thrifted in their design, the good news is they are much easier to take apart then the older ones with more sophisticated designs. I think the best way to deal with these engines for fuel clogging is go out in your garage in the middle of winter, and start every one of them and run them for a minute. That cleans them out, and it's faster than draining all the fuel and running them dry. Also, you can probably find one station within 10 miles of you that has pure gas, no alcohol. It's almost required, since many older engines were not designed for any alcohol, like their rubber hoses won't take it. So take a 5 gallon can and fill it up there, and you will have less gas line issues. I would still start them all up mid off season though. And don't put too much oil in the gas of 2 strokes. Follow the recommendations in your manual for how much oil.

Hi Oldschool, good to hear from you. We've got 28K on our FFH now, without any issues, other than the tire I had to replace when my Wife accidentally pinched the right front tire on a sharp curb at parking speed, but that doesn't count, as I told her, that comes out of the sh__happens fund, could have just as easily happened to me. Our nav instruction does quit as expected, usually when we get within a hundred feet of our destination. Says our destination is ahead on the right or left. We use the way point a lot, like if we want a rest stop, we find the next one under destination, set it as a way point, then it reminds us when it's coming up, without impacting the final destination. This is the second winter the fuel economy dropped, not sure why the FFH doesn't like the cold. Seems to do best in the summer with full AC on. Part of the drop is as we travel more we are going a little faster, maybe 5 over in a 70 now, I did slow down to 65 for a stretch on our last 1000 mile trip from Austin and the FFH estimator showed the average go back up to a solid 40 mpg, so it is partially our faster pace on the last trip. I use a fuel injector cleaner about every 5K miles, always have, and I have never had a fuel injector issue, even on our 2000 Explorer at 187K miles. Be sure it says injector cleaner, not just a gas treatment. It's a bargain considering what a dealer will charge you if you even mention the word fuel injector to the service manager, based on what friends tell me.

Sounds like a great car. I think you will be pleased with the fuel economy, compared to what you were paying before for gas. Yeah Florida is a great place to live and drive. I lived in St. Pete, and Ft. Lauderdale years ago. I have noticed that our FFH gets it's best gas mileage when it is hot out, even with the AC working hard. In East Tennessee, I have never noticed a shortfall in AC performance. Keep it in recirculation mode for the best FE. How do you like the electric power steering? I think it works great, no high pressure groaning at the end of steering wheel travel. Do you have a picture of that wood? I didn't know dealers could add that on.

Here is full data for my '10 FFH, based on keeping every gas fill-up data for the first 23,000 miles. I saw a definite impact from cold weather. The overall average right now is real close to 39 mpg.

Vapor canister

I thought MG2 is the traction motor. Are you using the model at the link here regarding the Prius system, which says that MG2 is the traction motor? I assume MG2 is geared directly to the front drive wheels. Prius animation model Is there an error in your first two sentences below, or am I really confused now? If your second sentence said transmission motor, it would make sense to me, although different from the link model.

You're not alone. I too am obsessed with trying to get the last mpg out of every trip. But I enjoy it, and love all the mpg feedback. If I had all this feedback on my Mustang, I would go nuts, because it would tell me what a hopeless gas guzzler it is. On the Mustang the only feedbacks I notice are rpm, mph, fuel pressure and manifold boost.

Never had a traction problem when we drove it Keystone, Co last winter for a week of skiing. It's a heavy car, with good weight on the front traction wheels. My only complaint was the mileage dropped to 35 in the sub-freezing weather instead of the usual 40 mpg we are used to. City driving if anything seems to improve the mpg, even with a lot of stop lights. Of course the FFH is not a 4WD truck, so if ground clearance and traction on steep snow covered hills are issues, you might want to consider a Ford Escape 4WD Hybrid. Much more storage space, better ground clearance, but mileage closer to 30 than 40 mpg. And be aware that you can't pull a trailer with an FFH.

But MG2 is part of the system, it is active, so it must be included in the functional description. MG2 changing rpm is what gives MG1 the broad range of rpm. Yeah, I think I have noticed the reduction of ICE rpm while accelerating. Agreed, neat stuff, and repeating, my understanding is superficial at this point.

Thanks for the background. I am not surprised by this story. A similar story is William Edwards Deming and his Statistical Process Control SPC concept which was started in the US but ignored here, then optimized in Japan and finally embraced and fully implemented in the USA in the 90's, about 5 years after Japan had benefited greatly from its contribution to quality control. As you say, Toyota deserves a lot of credit, for taking the risk of putting lots of development and manufacturing money into the idea, and you have to wonder about the detailed story of how and why TRW didn't see the potential of the concept. I know from experience that corporate patents cost corporations a lot of money to procure, so they should take the time to look at the merits/application of them very carefully. And Ford deserves credit for following a pattern that they have followed in the past, rather than play games try to engineer around the Toyota patents, or fight them in court, they treated Toyota with upfront professional respect, paid royalties and proceeded with the concept with Toyota's blessing.

I am starting to get it. MG1 is motor generator 1, which is connected to the sun gear. MG2 is the second motor generator set, which is connected to the ring gear, and the ICE is solidly connected to the planetary gear arm. And by varying the two MG's either as support of the ICE or load on it as it generates electricity, you can keep the ICE in an optimum state of RPM and load. The rpms are related by: [N sun X rpm sun + N ring X rpm ring] = [N ring +N sun] X rpm arm Where N is number of teeth in each gear. Given all this, the computer guys can go crazy optimizing ICE loads and support, with a goal of keeping the ICE in the maximum efficiency mode. While I only have a superficial grasp of this strategy, my FFH with 23K miles averaging 39+ mpg is a testimony to the success of this approach so far. That's not based on my FFH gauges, that's based on recording every ounce of fuel I have put in the vehicle. Also this strategy, basically initially invented/embraced by Toyota in their Prius offers a whole new world of FE potential for every car in the world, that is probably competitive with fuel cells and other previously proposed technologies for FE. While fuel cell cars are superior for electricity generation, they have large hurdles to catch up with this system, including weight, energy conversion from battery to motors, and the hydrogen supply infrastructure.

Wow Oman, You really understand this gear ratio thing, I'm a mechanical engineer and can't quit follow how you can change gear ratios with a planetary gear setup. Normally you would need some kind of variable speed device like a variable size pulley mechanism they use in motor scooters and some lawn mowers. I've been playing with the mg1, mg2 animation that Mort supplied (below), and starting to get the idea of how it works, but it is still confusing. http://eahart.com/prius/psd/

You mention drafting, let me tell you my experience. I think that there is no doubt that drafting improves mileage. And the closer to the truck you get, the better it works. 70 feet is better than 100 feet. I'm talking maybe 2-4 mpg better. But I learned my lesson in Missouri, where a truck for an instant went onto the shoulder, threw up some gravel, and cracked my windshield. So I recommend don't draft. Factor in the the cost of a new windshield when you do you your calculation for how much you will save in gas expense. Plus it requires too much focus as you can't take your eye off that truck for an instant. At 70 mph you are one second behind a truck at 103 feet. Not enough reaction time should something go wrong. Nor can you see the truck pass over a big chunk of truck retread on the road, which also can, in an instant, do hundreds of dollars of damage to your vehicle. I am still getting over 40 mpg on trips not drafting, going 70, with speed control and the AC on, which is plenty good enough for me. Last winter my mpg went significantly below 40 for a winter trip to Colorado. Then it improved after the dealer made the "brake sensitivity" free dealer campaign adjustment. But another variable was that it was the only really cold weather trip that we have made. Maybe it was the cold weather, I'll be watching it closely this winter.

That right there is very suspicious behavior, mine will shoot up to 60( 60+ on the "i" (information tab HEV)) if I let off the gas under any condition, even going up a hill. Practice this first in your garage: move the gear lever from drive to neutral (take care not to hit reverse, without looking, practice). Hitting reverse accidentally will not destroy the transmission in a FFH, but it is solidly not recommended to hit reverse while driving forward. Hitting reverse in a more conventional car while going forward could destroy the transmission, so be very careful with the concept. OK, now that you have this down, try it on a slight downgrade at any speed on the highway. the instantaneous mpg will definitely go to 60 in neutral. If you see a huge difference, like suddenly going from 30 mpg to 60 when you go to neutral, you may have some kind of driveline drag, similar to being in low gear. Don't tell the dealer I suggested any of this ;-) You are on your own. And it is only a test, not a driving strategy, since if your FFH is working right, it almost does the same thing automatically when you take your foot off the gas. Being able to put your car in neutral is a safety maneuver, since it is the recommended procedure should a generic car ever have a full throttle failure event while driving. So it is not heresy to recommend that drivers be familiar with the concept and procedure. If your FFH still doesn't hit 60 mpg in neutral going down a hill, you may have dragging brakes, or a very bad toe-in or toe-out wheel alignment condition.

Answering number 2 question only, there are 4 mpg feedbacks. I found the leaves rather useless, and changed them 2 minute MPG bar graphs the first day, using the steering wheel buttons on the left. That's the first mpg feedback. They can be every 1, 2 or 5 minutes per bar. (10 minutes, 20 minutes, or an hour for full width of ten bars). You set that up. The second is the resetable mpg, that displays in the information page, HEV tab, and above the bar graph on the dash. You have to reset it manually with the steering wheel buttons, I reset it at every gas fillup, or at the beginning of a trip. It will not reset itself. The third feedback is the long term mpg. It also will not reset itself, unless the battery is disconnected, or the computer shut down for some reason. You can reset that also with the steering wheel buttons, but it is harder to do, it's deep in the menu, and you definitely want to be stopped with a minute or so on your hands to do it. The long term mpg displays when you turn the engine off, but don't take the key out. And the 4th mpg feedback is when you turn the engine off, and wait a few seconds before taking the key out, you will get a summary of mileage for just the last trip from when the engine was started the last time. If you forget to look at it, (as we often do since we are in a hurry to do something whenever we stop), you can bring it up again by turning the key on, all the way to just before start, then back off one key position. Once you hit start again, you wipe out this 4th feedback. If you just got your car, and you have the 502A package, I bet you didn't notice that on the "i" (information) tab, it gives you the altitude above sea level. On mine it is in rather small type, too hard to see while driving, but as a passenger, I have found it interesting, especially on a trip. I now know which towns around me are higher and lower altitude, and this does impact my mpg going to and from them. I'll take a guess on your first question that your heated seats pull about 8 amps, and hence would have about the same impact as having your bright lights on versus no headlights. I think the impact of daytime sun load increasing your AC requirements in the summer would be a greater impact, since that would bring in a higher compressor load and more ventilation fan. But I am speculating and I wait to be corrected by some other forum members who might have the actual numbers.

Something is definitely wrong. Change your leaf screen to a bar graph, so you can start getting real feedback on your driving techniques. I have 23 thousand miles on my 2010 FFH and I keep full records based on every fill up. I can send you the Excel sheet with all that info. I never got under 35 and I am averaging 39 for the entire year. I usually get over 40 on trips.

Here's what it says in the FFH owners manual, page 205: TRAILER TOWING WARNING: Never tow a trailer with this vehicle. Your vehicle is not equipped to tow. No towing packages are available through an authorized dealer.

Yeah, these days if you have plans to tow a trailer, you should be thinking about buying a cross-over or an SUV. I think the Lincoln Towncar would still pull a class 3 trailer as late as 1997, when they went to electric radiator cooling fans in 1998, which are better for cooling the AC condenser at idle, but worse for pulling a heavy trailer at low speeds. Ford figured if you were serious about pulling a 6000 lb trailer, you should probably be looking at an Explorer, Expedition, F150, or an E250.

Thanks for the heads up on the owner's manual warning. I kind of assumed that, and never had any intention of pulling a trailer. I have too many friends with pickups and trailers who owe me favors to ever consider using my FFH as a trailer hauler. I guess when I was describing the definition of a class one trailer hitch, I was thinking that other non-hybrid Fusion owners might benefit from my experience, and they might land at this topic in a general fordfusionforum search. Maybe this topic should be moved out of the hybrid section, I don't know how to do that at this point. The installation pictures are at: My link

If you want to get a more positive perspective on the Volt, go to: My link And then if you really want to study the situation of the Volt merits, read the 4 pages of comments. Keep in mind that the 127 mpg is for a short trip, a trip where the real gas savings is a couple of dollars, assuming they really did get 54 mpg for the after 40 mile portion of the trip (not substantiated by any other Volt testers). I know that I have saved over$1700 in gas in the one year I have been driving my FFH versus the car I would have been driving otherwise, and I haven't had to plug anything in at night.

I did not have to drill any holes. It used existing holes. And the way you get the bolts and washers inside the closed channel is really clever. Both bolts on each side go through the larger of the two existing holes. They send you special wires that attach to the bolt thread to accomplish this. You can get the muffler out of the way pretty quickly, it is just supported by two rubber hangers. (actually I probably made that sound too easy since there is a trick to that). Now that I know all the tricks I bet I could do a second one in 20 minutes. And if I had some help, like someone to hold the hitch in place as I get the nuts started, 15 minutes.