CometFlash Report post Posted February 1, 2011 It's official, she's all mine now. Goodbye F-150 @ 14MPG, hello FFH @ 41MPG. :party2: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BleacherEd Report post Posted February 1, 2011 Congratulations! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fuze-ion Report post Posted February 1, 2011 Congratulations, You'll miss the truck at times, but not the frequent gas fill-ups. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kelly Trusz Urban Report post Posted February 1, 2011 congrats. need a new avatar now :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CometFlash Report post Posted February 1, 2011 Thanks everyone. :) Had her out today in the snowstorm. Is ok, but thinking hard about a set of winter tires. Without 4x4 it's scary worrying about getting stuck and looking like an idiot. Almost got stuck getting out of a parking lot with several inches of snow on the ground at the exit. Would rather have all the tools to drive safely in this crappy NE weather I have to deal with all the time. So far the only thing I miss about my truck, other than 4x4, is the field of vision. It was so easy to see things in the truck, be it at a stop sign or in traffic or parked with vehicles on either side of me. Strange not having that wide field to see everywhere. Got to be a lot more careful in a car. Hopefully the CTA will help with one of those issues, the others is just slowing or stopping, and inching out to see what's around the bend. But I love how smoothly the car drives, the quick 'n easy acceleration, no back n forth with hard shifts, and of course just starting to look more at the MPG & HV displays to see how to drive her even more efficiently. So far I've only had time to program the radio presets and the homelink. It's too cold to spend time out there messing with everything in this horrible weather. I'll have to fiddle more with the seat, as right now when I get in my right knee/leg always hits the steering wheel when I get in. And I shut off the HD Radio function. I don't know if it's the weather or what, but it gets very annoying when the volume goes up & down all the time switching between HD and standard signals when it loses reception with one. I know, it probably sounds more negative than I intend, just in this weather and with such a major switch for me (been driving 4x4 F-150's since 1996) it's a lot to take in; and the weather on my first day of ownership is a complete disaster e.g. 4x4 pickup weather. :P Crazy timing, I guess. But there was no way I could pass up the deal I got, and I am sure she will save me a ton of money. It's also the first time I've ever walked away on Day 1 with a brand-new vehicle completely paid for. No way I can possibly knock that! :woohoo: I know I've seen some complaints about the seats, but I find them to be comfortable. Perhaps if you don't have power seats and can't adjust them to your liking? She warms up fast, and I haven't noticed any issues with heating not coming on as necessary, and she goes into EV mode on occasion, though not often with the cold and heating requirements. Doesn't bother me, to be expected this time of year. I think the avg. MPG is like 24 or something right now, between the previous owner's 1.5 months of driving and my 1.5 days of driving, all of it winter of course. I know it's not the right weather for it, but after my drive the first thing I did after getting home was squirt a crapload of Rain-X all over the windows, especially the front and rear. I do not understand how anyone in their right mind would drive a vehicle without it. The ice/snow buildup is just terrible without it, nevermind how ineffective the wipers are without it. Hopefully it will take, as I was doing it in the freezing weather with heavy snowfall. But there was ZERO chance I'd drive in inclement weather again without it on there. :rant: Pure insanity. How do people see without it? I was in a friend's car a couple weeks ago in the rain and she didn't have any either, and I told her straight out I'd sneak into her work parking lot and Rain-X her windshield and she'd see the night & day difference. Crazy. Hmmm, what else. I have the manual inside with me, so I'll go thru that as I usually do with each new vehicle. Will have to get my cell synched to this car like my truck. Will check out the 4 diff display modes, see what I'd like best, all the other LCD options, etc. Anyone else have issues with the HD Radio, or was it just the insane weather today wreaking havoc with reception? All for now, shall report back later as my exp with this car increases! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rfruth Report post Posted February 2, 2011 rain-x, some swear by it & others (like me) at it - I wouldn't use that stuff if it was free, maybe if I had melting snow/ice to deal with who knows, think it would work on the back-up camera lens or would it make a gooey mess ? Can't comment on HD radio cause I don't have one. But hip pocket green is always good ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaradel Report post Posted February 2, 2011 Woohoo! :woohoo: Congratulations! I'm really enjoying mine, even with the winter weather we've been having here. For a car at that price point, it really has a lot of high-end features, doesn't it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CometFlash Report post Posted February 2, 2011 Yep, you certainly get a lot for the price. And I wouldn't suggest putting the Rain-X on the reverse camera, I'd be afraid to muck it up with anything. I had my '09 F-150 since March '09 until a day ago, and in all that time never had any rear camera troubles at all, in any type of weather condition, and all I did was avoid the camera while waxing & cleaning, so basically it never got touched by me 'casue I didn't want to smudge it or mess up it's visibility in any way. Looks like tomorrow will be even worse than today, so another test of crazy winter driving with the stock tires tomorrow morning, & late afternoon after work... :burnout: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zzyzx Report post Posted February 2, 2011 Yep, you certainly get a lot for the price. And I wouldn't suggest putting the Rain-X on the reverse camera, I'd be afraid to muck it up with anything. I had my '09 F-150 since March '09 until a day ago, and in all that time never had any rear camera troubles at all, in any type of weather condition, and all I did was avoid the camera while waxing & cleaning, so basically it never got touched by me 'casue I didn't want to smudge it or mess up it's visibility in any way. Looks like tomorrow will be even worse than today, so another test of crazy winter driving with the stock tires tomorrow morning, & late afternoon after work... :burnout: Congrats and be safe! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buster1 Report post Posted February 3, 2011 Congrats Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CometFlash Report post Posted February 4, 2011 Got my phone synced and a bunch of other things calibrated to my liking today. A lot of the stuff is very similiar to what my truck had, so pretty easy there. What's crazy, is the guy who owned her for those 6 weeks or so, didn't take out any of his personal information. Not only did I find some forms with his info in the glove box within the manual, but also in the NAV system and his phone still synced up. I deleted it all, but if someone of poor morals had bought the car, they could have driven to his "Home" address and then used his universal to open the garage door and have at everything in his house. :fan: Not smart. I made sure everything was deleted and back to defaults before I traded my truck in you can betcha. I know I've only had her a couple full days, but she's been great so far. The biggest thing is learning the best displays to use and then how to use those to help me drive better for increased MPG. I will say that when traffic is moving along, I find myself just driving normally so as not to piss anyone off. But in the bumper-to-bumper crap, or in the bad times when everyone is inching along due to snow & ice, I've been trying to keep her in EV mode and seeing how best to drive her to do that. I'm not one of those people who will shut off my heat just to save an eighth of a tank, so I won't go there. I've found keeping the LCD on the 4th option, Empower I believe, is the best option for optimal driving. The gauge that shows the EV and Engine, with the moving red line, is the most helpful. That way you can see what you may be doing to ask for too much power, causing the ICE to kick in. Keep it below that line, and only the EV goes. Green for EV, brown color when the ICE is going. I found with this Empower mode, you don't need to use the HEV screen on the NAV screen, since you can use that gauge I just mentioned to see if the ICE or EV is in operation. As I am getting used to her, I get more excited for the good weather to truly see what I can pull out of her. :) She sure is a lot easier to get the snow off than my F150 was, that's for sure. She feels tiny compared to my old girl. I also can't wait for the good weather to hit so I can give her a proper once-over, wash, polish, clay-bar, wax, etc. It'll take no time compared to my truck! I like how the console bin has the top portion that snaps to the cover, allowing you to open the bottom portion for other stuff. That way any pens, gift cards, whatever stay in the top bin where you want them while you go searching for something in the large bottom bin. Good forthought there, Ford. Surprised they didn't put an ambient LED in the glove compartment. I also think the aqua blue color is probably the brightest, the white color doesn't seem to illuminate as much as the aqua blue or the yellow color either. Just an observation. Not sure what else for now. :happy feet: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akirby Report post Posted February 4, 2011 Funny thing is I'm probably going from my 06 Fusion to a F150. I only get 17-18 mpg in my 3.0L SEL so it won't be a huge drop, plus I have other vehicles to drive. I just miss having a pickup. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CometFlash Report post Posted February 5, 2011 I've started noticing that between the fun of working towards driving even better for increased MPG, and between the fact my new car is so tiny compared to my trucks, that I've really been focused more on myself, my driving, and enjoying myself while driving. My truck was so huge that I could see everything, and felt as if everyone could see me, so I always drove paying attention to everything around me and with such a wide field of vision I always wanted to keep up with everyone else, so I'd drive with the pack. With my little car, I can't see much of anything, so I just concentrate on driving safely and for great MPG. I never considered that switching from my truck to this car would change my driving experience so much, making it so much more enjoyable and less stressful for sure. I don't care what anyone is doing behind me or in other lanes around me unless I need to - I just do my own thing now. :) I did a 6 mile trip today, got 33MPG. That's the best I've done so far in one trip. :) Looking forward to better weather more n more. Another thing that's surprised me is that going from a die-hard F-150 fan for 15 years, I thought the first time I saw one near me on the road I'd have major regrets. But surprisingly, even though I do notice them (especially '09+'s), I don't even them or regret my decision at all. Unless you actually NEED a pickup truck for work or whatnot, the only thing they do better than my car is with visibilty and 4x4 in winter. And the visibility actually causes worse driving habits and increases the road rage frustration. In a pickup, people are always trying to cut you off, cut in front of you to slip into your lane, etc. They know you can't accelerate worth a crap. I am SO glad I'm done with that. Arriving at my destination happy is a nice thing, and can actually help start your day off right when going into work, and rubs off on your co-workers and customers as well. :) Oh yeh, she's also WAY easier to park and maneuver in tight spots. She also heats up faster than my truck, which surprised me considering she's a hybrid and I wasn't sure how well things like heating and A/C would work. My truck did have a MUCH bigger center console, although the glove box seems bigger in my FFH than it was in my truck. Then again, the FFH has the USB port INSIDE the console, which is awesome! The F150 has it in the center stack, which sucks. She's a lot quieter than my truck, and I had the top-of-the-line PLATINUM edition with every option possible. Think that's all for now. :headspin: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coolghoul Report post Posted February 9, 2011 Congratulations! I bought mine about 2 weeks ago. I selected the 2010 FFH at 0% interest. Works for me! I too have an F-150 since 1997. I kept mine as part of the "fleet". It's really nice to have a truck around. It still runs great. So I didn't see any reason to sell it. I live in Atlanta. I've been getting 45+ mpg on my daily commute to work. (30 miles ea. way -- 60 miles total) One day I got 49.167 mpg! I like using the different LCD's for the dash display. The empower mode is very useful to see how to "drive" this vehicle properly. Also, take advantage of the HEV display found under the "i" (information) panel on your navigation screen if you have that. Enjoy!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
