junehhan

As promised, here is what that air filter restriction guage looks like on my 05 Ford Focus. Just got a shot of it now It is supposed to be good for the life of the engine according to Ford at 150k miles or greater.

Here is a description of it that I yanked from a Ford Focus website. It is dark outside right now, but i'll try to snap a picture of it from my Focus sometime this week if I have a chance. It is kind of neat looking and it took me a while to figure out what in the hell it was. The red, yellow, green button thingy is called a vacuum monitor, I think, anyway it measures the life of the filter. The air filter is a huge monster that is located under the driver's fender, and does not need to be changed until that vacuum monitor (if that's what it's called) reads in the red. According to Ford, that won't happen for 100k miles.

Here is what i was talking about. Here is the vehicle summary that I made just a day before placing the order, and another one done just a week ago.

I remember the price of the hybrid went up in July, but I believe it went up again just a week ago by $400-500 somewhere in between. When I placed the order for my Hybrid 2 weeks ago with the 502a package, heavy duty floormats, and remote start, the MSRP came to roughly $400-500 less than if I configure a Hybrid the same way now.

I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that prices went up again for the 2010 Fusion Hybrids. The cost supposedly went up roughly $450-500 per FFH.

Yes, you are right! I forgot about that bigass battery pack in the back which would definately help even out the weight distribution problems inherent in FWD vehicles. However, I think having fresh tires does play a role as well. Right now, everyone has a newish car and we will see once the high mileage club starts coming into play here.

I have owned multiple sets of Goodyear RSA's on multiple vehicles and have to say that i've been VERY happy with that tire. It does everything you would expect from a basic tire and does it at a decent cost. They have a tendency to get hard fast, but that didn't bother me too much. Some people buy a basic touring tire like the RSA and expect it to perform like a Goodyear Eagle tire and end up getting disappointed.

I hope that is a good sign for me. This wait is so frickin painful and long, and it has only been 2 weeks since I placed my order.

I agree. I believe the handling the original poaster experienced has more to do with the condition of the tires than the actual vehicle. The vehicle is new and probably still has nearly all of its tread available to help channel away water. 10k miles from now, I would be willing to bet that it will be like almost any other vehicle after the tread starts wearing down. I remember when I first got my 06 Chevy Trailblazer SS(I sold it to order my FFH) and was thinking while driving through heavy downpours how well it was doing in the rain. 20k miles later, I noticed it hydroplaning more than ever.

Where do you live? I am wondering whether they are prioritizing Hybrid orders depending on which market area you live in.

On the 05+ MY Focus' that have these supposed lifetime air filters, there is an actual restriction guage that is hooked into the air filter canister thingie. With 77k miles on my Focus now, the guage shows that I am still doing very fine. I don't see anything in the under hood shots I have seen in the Fusion Hybrids which makes me wonder whether they don't come with a restriction guage. That would make life a bit difficult, although technically the Fusion Hybrids will have their ICE running less frequent anyway.

Do you engage the parking brakes when you park on a slope? It took me a while to figure it out on my 2005 Focus, but I noticed that it also squeaked when getting in and out. I realized that it was from the parking brake as I also park on a slope. I parked one day without engaging the parking brake, and sure enough it didn't squeak.

Ford has been using these supposed lifetime airfilters for a while now. I have one of those on my 2005 Ford Focus. These air filter canister things from my understanding are considered to be a vital component of the evaporative emissions system as they are used and designed to prevent any evaporative emissions to be emitted. On my Focus, I have 77k miles now and it is still doing well. There should be a restriction guage that should indicate when the filter needs to be replaced. I believe the estimated service life of these lifetime air filters is 150k miles on average.

I have to admit that I almost voted the new Taurus SHO #1. Having owned 2 Taurus SHO's in the past, this is the Taurus SHO that many of us SHO enthusiasts wanted from Ford. 0-60 in 5 - 5.2 seconds is just incredible.

Light blue is a chick color? I ordered mine this way as it reminded me of a Suzuka Blue Honda S2000 I once had. I also ordered it this way as I thought it wasn't going to be a very popular color option, only to see that many people here have ordered it with this color. I did the light stone interior exactly for temperature purposes as I hate frying my ass on a hot summer day when the car has been sitting out on a lot all day long. I am also not a fan of dark interiors.

Congrats as that is an absolutely beautiful car. I just ordered my FFH exactly as yours with the exception of a light stone interior instead of black. I just hope mine doesn't take 5 months to arrive. It has been half a week and it is clear the wait is going to feel like it is longer.

Well, I guess you can add me to the list. I just ordered today a fully loaded ice blue metallic Fusion Hybrid. I went to several Ford dealers in the area and only one was willing to order me one on the x-plan. I always thought my Ford stock was worthless, but it proved me wrong here. I am replacing my 06 Chevy Trailblazer SS which is significantly modded and likely producing over 500+hp at the crank.