One thing you guys missed, give the USB connector inside the center console power, so it can charge stuff! I was so upset when my phone had died and I had to make a two hour trip. My charger has a USB adapter on the end and then a separate USB to AC adapter, well I didn't have the adapter, no problem, just plug it into the USB port in the FFH and it'll charge. *NOPE* it doesn't charge, also how about moving it to another location, like by the rubber "ashtray" and adding a second one in the back, underneath the AC socket. Folding mirrors are a must for people that parallel park their cars on the street regularly. In the three years I've lived downtown DC, I've personally seen two cars get their mirrors knocked off and the people just keep driving, and I've seen countless others damaged. I always try to park on the one-way streets since they usually have more room for traffic to pass. I wish there were cup holders built into the back passenger doors, or maybe swing out from the bottom of the console. We have a car seat and it's a pain to have the fold out down between you and the baby. A rechargeable, removable flashlight inside the glovebox. My mother-in-law's BMW 335i hardtop convertible has this and it's pretty handy. And a way to lock the car from the outside with the keypad! One of the most annoying things is when I just want to pop the trunk I add a 5 at the end of my code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 + 3 (unlocks all doors) or 5 (pops trunk). But if I just want to pop the trunk, after I put in the code and pop the trunk, I have to open the car door and hit the lock button. I know you could just use your car key button, but that defeats the whole purpose of the keyless entry, if say you leave the keys locked in the car while you're out.

Massive props! I've maxed out my 10 minute guage and am working on the 20, but my commute is literally too short! My furthest commute is less than 10 miles, but with DC traffic I can definately get the average MPG up, mines sitting at 36.1 right now, up from 28 six months ago when we were living in Delaware.

Just thought I'd share something. It's going to the body shop on Tuesday, but in the mean-time we've been driving it. Obviously, the BLIS is damaged so the left blind spot stays on and when it's in reverse the beeps conflict since the other sensors are fine. Kind of a struggles between the beep-beep of the good sensors and the constant beep of the blocked sensor, which is fine and to be expected. Well today, we put something in the trunk and I had to slam the trunk pretty hard to get it to latch; after I did that, my dash *freaked* out. In the left warning window it had a constant scroll of: Trunk Open Door Open Cross-Traffic Blocked Rear Sensor Blocked (not sure of that one, it was different from the Cross-Traffic) Tire Pressure Monitoring System Emergency Brake and on top of all that, the dash brightness kept switching from lit to dim, like the daylight sensor was messed up. Obviously, all the alerts were false, the doors and the trunk were closed, the e-brake wasn't on, and none of my tires were flat. I haven't started the car back up yet, but we'll see tomorrow if the sensors are still freaking out.

Yeah I bought mine in May '09 and have had similiar problems with my Left sensor staying on or reporting "blocked". But it's only happened a few times and I think it mostly correlates to curbed medians, even when I'm stopped at a traffic light.

Hey the sales person from the dealership said that the AC had a separate electric motor to run the AC so the ICE doesn't have to run when the AC is on. Is that true, if so does it impact MPG?

I agree with the whole "did not understand the concept that construction does not close entire highways", I've just stop doing the "Avoid" unless traffic is already stopped. But on the whole, Preperation H feels good, j/k, I think Travel Link does a great job here in DC metro area.

Tru-dat. I didn't realize the tax break either, but I'm still incredibly happy with my FFH. I always get tons of compliments from my passengers.

Yeah that's exactly what happened. I was able to drive it home, but she needed a tow.

I haven't had any problems with being bumped yet. I'm more worried about it getting side-swiped by cars driving down the street. I've personally seen two different cars knock off somebody's side mirrors and they just keep driving; that's almost the only thing I wish my FFH had, folding side mirrors. As is, I try to park on the one-way streets since they tend to have more room for traffic and parking. I also try to either be the first or last car in the line. I've been living downtown for three years now and overall I haven't had any problems with people bumping my car. Now, being rear-ended on the other hand, I do have experience with that. . .

Yeah, it's nothing I haven't been through before and my car is almost a year. That's why auto insurance in DC is so high, but I carry even more than the minimum. The trunk is dented too and obviously my blind spot / backup sensors are jacked. My insurance company said I could wait a week and have them fight the other company to get them to pay for everything, including my deductible! So yeah, I'm just going to hang tight for a minute, plus we have other cars to drive in the meantime.

The same thing happened to me about 2 - 3 months in, but that was it.

Built Ford Tough baby!

Tru-tru. Their stock is only up 426% from a year ago; $3.25 (30 Mar 09) - $13.86 (22 Mar 10).

Yeah I noticed it's hard to get a good shot of the dash, especially with a cell cam; it took four to get the one I posted in my gallery.

I bet you get good use out of those heated leather seats though!

Yeah, when I was there they also had one Red and one Green. 'I was like what is this, you celebrating Christmas early?' They said that's just what the factory sent them and the silver one was the only one with the 502A. Besides it being a hybrid, the backup camera is what sold me. I live downtown DC and the only available parking is street-side, which is still hard to find. Circling the block for 20 minutes looking for a spot is not uncommon, even then you may have to park three blocks away; now i can get into spots I never even would've dreamed of before.

32k out the door. May '09 Annapolis, MD. Silver with 502A - $0 down.

My travel-link pops up alerts such as 'construction', 'one-lane shutdown', and 'accidents'. But it also has the traffic flow too, blue for normal, yellow for slow, and red for heavy. Where were you when you got stuck? It might just be for major metropolitan areas that shows the traffic flow colors.

It's funny to me that you should mention that, my dad and I just talked about the very same idea a few days ago. I have yet to put it to use though.