akirby

I was correct in that they were not doing anything wrong or illegal in the testing process. Ford could continue with the current labels if they wanted to and it would be perfectly legal. That said I'm with everyone else - this is a stupid thing to do and what's worse is it wasn't necessary. If I know Mulally then heads are probably already rolling starting with the highest ranked person who either knew or should have known this was happening.

If there was something wrong with the testing they would be lowering the Fusion Hybrid too. They're not and there isn't.

I predict Ford will not admit anything with regards to the current EPA testing because there is nothing wrong with it. What I expect is that Ford will voluntarily lower the MPG to either a) be more in line with what the consumer expects or b) be in line with the new testing procedure if it changes as jason says. Your lack of understanding of how the EPA tests work and the law is epic.

The key question is whether the EPA test results changed or if Ford is simply asking for a deviation from the EPA test figures to report a lower number.

Lighten up Francis

All that because I said don't get your panties in a wad. Good grief. Grow a pair.

One of my favorites. I'd get it on a t-shirt but that would be just a tad too geeky..........

All YOU had to do was be KIND to Hoser768 who was KIND enough to do a SEARCH that you seemed unable to do on your own to answer the question YOU posted. Stop playing the victim card and accusing everyone else of bullying you when you're the bully.

That link was not put there by the poster and there is no such thing as an "archive" here on BOF. It was put there automatically by the forum software based just on keywords. So if I just type check the archives here it should put in the same link based on the keyword. Hmm....I don't get the link.

The only negative attitude was yours. He was just trying to be helpful and simply noted that the thread he found was a year old. Geez.

There was nothing mean spirited about it. You can unwad your panties now. And BTW - that "link" in post #2 was not put there by the poster - it was put there by the forum software based on keywords.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

I can neither confirm nor deny that information.

Not a dud - it's an improvement over the current vehicle and will probably appeal just fine to current owners but it certainly won't raise the bar or leapfrog the competition.

Oh I'm not sure I can say what vehicle it was but I have a feeling you'd recognize it immediately if you saw it in a commercial.

I bought my son a 2005 ZX3 and I thought discs came standard with the ABS option. I guess that was only on the ST.

Obviously it's not the usb stick and it's not the SMR servers since they seem to be working for everyone else. I wonder what that leaves...........

I was going anyway but if I was on the fence that probably would have swayed me. It could have also just been a boilerplate template they use for everyone including the ones that include test drives.

I think you're overestimating the market potential for Tesla vehicles and underestimating the investment and costs. Until you can sell them for $35K or less and make a profit it's going to be a niche vehicle.

We already had to email a copy of our registration and bring the original to prove vehicle ownership.

We did 2 exercises with flash cards. They had different traits and features like exterior styling, safety, mpg, engine power, individual safety features, etc. and we had to rank them in order of what would influence our purchasing decision. Exterior styling was always #1 while safety and fuel economy were near the bottom. Not because they weren't important but we all felt that all the cars in this class were acceptable from a safety standpoint and that none had a huge advantage over the others on fuel economy. Interesting that those 2 things are the ones that mfrs seem to advertise the most but none of us really cared. We had to complete a homework assignment before the meeting which was to write, draw or paste pictures to tell them what WOWed us. The collage was done with 3 things: 2 pages of adjectives printed on stickers - did not seem to be slanted good or bad - there were numerous choices that were good, bad and in between. 6 pages of pre-printed stickers with random images of people and things - again, not slanted. Numerous magazines where we were allowed to cut out pictures or words. Cooking, style, sports but no automotive rags. We also answered questionaires on what we did or didn't like on our current vehicle and what we would or would not consider when buying a new one (brands, features, etc.). Interestingly enough we did not rate or rank the prototype individually or assign any scores to specific parts of the design - we just discussed it as a group. I still don't understand why we had to bring proof of car insurance if we never even touched a vehicle.

Last week I mentioned I was going to a Focus group this morning and I was all but convinced it was for FoMoCo and that we'd be driving a new vehicle. I was wrong on both counts (even though they made us bring proof of car insurance and driver's license). There were 6 of us in the room and we answered questions about why we liked certain things and certain car features. Then they showed us a prototype of a midsized family sedan (exterior only, no interior). We had to stay 3 ft away and couldn't touch but we could walk around it. Then we saw pictures of the interior and exterior along with the competitors' vehicles and discussed what we liked or didn't like and why. Then we made a collage of words and pictures to describe the emotions we felt viewing the prototype. I can't give any details - let's just say we were unanimous in our opinions. And if it hadn't been for the $150 it would have been a complete waste of a Sunday morning. It will be interesting to see if the mfr makes any changes before it arrives. I doubt it.

Actually this is one thing Lutz does understand. The majority of EPA tests are done by the mfrs with their drivers. They follow the EPA test parameters but it is possible for one driver to get slightly better numbers.

I didn't like surround at all so I just keep it on stereo anyway.