MadManMoon

Hello, strangers! Long time no see! Once upon a time I frequented this forum, waiting for my Maxine, my beloved 2013 C-Max Hybrid. I ended up keeping her for three years, but the "spirited driving" bug bit me and my wife, so we traded in her Focus and poor Maxine for his-n-hers Fiesta STs. It was fun...for a while. As the traffic in my area gets steadily worse, the daily slog with a manual transmission, even one as light and smooth as the FiST's, was getting to be too much. And while I loved the Recaro seats that kept you in place during, ahem, "spirited" maneuvers, the angle it forced my left leg into for the clutch was doing a real number on my knee. I finally had enough...and wandered to a local Ford dealer this weekend to test drive an Escape Hybrid. And a few hours after that...I drove her home! I've never been a fan of the new Escape's styling, but it's slowly growing on me. I fell in love with the Dark Persian Green color immediately - it always looks more teal or blue than green to me, but I'm red-green color-blind, so I'm not the best judge of colors anyway! I thought I'd prefer the lighter Sandstone material, and while it did make the cabin feel lighter and airier, it also highlighted the cheapness of the materials in the bottom half, especially around the HVAC controls, so I went with the Ebony. The driving position is perfect, and the extra acoustic quieting of the Titanium is greatly appreciated. I miss the details of the C-Max's displays, but the EV Coach is still very helpful in learning how to best recover 100% of the braking energy. I'm happy to be back in a hybrid, and I'm looking forward to many years of relaxing and efficient commuting! As much fun as the FiST was to flail around corners, I find my commute to be much more relaxing and soothing now. I guess I'm just getting older!

It appears the entire SHO Forum site is down at the moment. Should be back up and running eventually.

That's unfortunate, but thanks for the reply! I do appreciate you passing on the feedback. In case you want to see it, here's the forum post about the Taurus SHO backfit I was referencing: http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=128950

Having seen a forum post about a 2013 Taurus SHO owner (and presumed Ford employee!) who backfitted the new Sync3 system (vehicle was previously equipped with MyFord Touch), I'm wondering if Ford is considering a kit to convert MFT-equipped systems to the new Sync3 standard. Given the improvements in the underlying operating system (QNX vs. Microsoft Windows Embedded), the use of a multi-touch capacitive screen, and improved processor and hardware, this is an upgrade I would gladly pay upwards of $1,000 for. For our Ford employees that post here, please let me know if you've heard anything...and if you haven't, please pass on to the SYNC team that you'd have at least one guaranteed customer for an upgrade kit!

Received my check yesterday...found it on my doorstep after a long day at work. Oh, and I got 51mpg on the commute home! :happy feet:

I wanted to combine Costco member pricing and X-Plan, so my main criterion was finding a dealer that would honor both. My local Ford dealer has an exceptional service department, but the worst sales department I've ever seen, so even if they WERE a Costco-participating dealer, they would not have earned my business.

Well, after a 1,700-mile trip from southern MD to Orlando, FL and back, I can safely say that, while Maxine is a very comfortable car for long road trips, she does NOT like spending many hours at 75-80 MPH! The first leg, from the house in Waldorf, MD to the southern border of VA, netted 38.9 MPG. The first 40 miles or so were 55-MPH roads with stoplights, which helped. The remainder was interstate at 60-65 MPH, with plenty of stop-and-go to help with regeneration. The second leg, from southern VA to central GA, netted 34.7 MPG. This was more sustained cruising, broken up with some traffic here and there, and probably at 65-70 MPH. The third leg, from central GA to Orlando, including some in-town driving and a side trip to Cape Caneveral, FL, netted 35.3 MPG. This was faster highway cruising, at 70-75 MPH, combined with lots of very short trips in town near the resort where the ICE stayed on most of the time. This was my lowest tank to date. The fourth leg, which includes the rest of the in-town driving and the first bit of our return trip (Orlando to St. Augustine, FL), netted 33.7 MPG. Unlike the downward trip, I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, so this time I was keeping up with traffic, and not worrying about maximizing fuel economy. I wanted to see how bad it could get. I would say the last third of this tank was 75-80 MPH. The fifth leg, from St. Augustine, FL to Florence, SC was the low point in poor Maxine's life. She was asked to do things no hybrid should ever do. Not even her cute, color-matching GasPods could overcome hour after hour of wind resistance at 80-83 MPH. The result? A frighteningly bad 29.1 MPG. Not much traffic, so no regeneration. The sixth leg was more or less the same, from Florence, SC to Bowling Green, VA -- 30.0 MPG. So, there you have it. She put forth her best effort, and got us home in quiet, relaxed comfort, but she would obviously much rather take her time! I'm tempted to take my wife's EcoBoost F-150 on road trips from now on, if only to save poor Maxine's rapidly declining lifetime mileage, but that would net us around 16-17 MPG...not exactly a good cost-benefit trade-off there!

I will add that Lombard Ford, unlike Anderson & Koch, also carries the same genuine Ford ESP for used vehicles -- I just renewed the PremiumCARE ESP on my 2007 Shelby GT500 whose ESP was about to expire (purchased new on 12/31/2006, 7-year ESP expired on 12/31/2013)...I picked up a 5-year, 48,000-mile, $200-deductible PremiumCARE ESP for $1,470. That will cover me until 12/31/2018 or 98,516 miles. I'm pretty pleased - that car is expensive to repair, so it's nice to know I'll be fully covered for another five years! As long as your car has an existing genuine Ford ESP, they'll waive the inspection requirement when you buy the used ESP contract. Something to keep in mind 5-7 years from now as our extended warranties run out!

My wife and I are driving tomorrow from our home south of Washington, DC to Orlando, FL to spend New Years with my mother-in-law at her timeshare near Disney. It's about 850 miles one-way. I'll report on the mileage when we return. I'm hoping for at least 40.0MPG, but I figure I'll set cruise control at 70MPH, so that may not exactly be attainable. We'll see!

Came back from a break from this site for a while, and see this glorious news! Congrats. Jus! So glad she's back in your capable, loving hands! Give her a hug for me, will ya? :)

Welcome to the forum, Ashley! It's fantastic to see Ford's commitment to excellent customer service. You guys go above and beyond to help us out, and this really sets you guys high above the rest. I used your colleagues from Twitter to help in my order process, but direct contact here on the forum is even better! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Made a payment on the C-MAX! :happy feet:

I have received my GasPods and have done the same! As you can see, plenty of clearance with the hatch fully open! These look great, and the paint matches perfectly!

This is awesome! Do you have the pipe sizes and dimensions you cut to? I want to make one of these!!

Check came today! :happy feet: