akirby

And then what do they do? Bitch and moan about it or quit and go back to that $8/hour job at McDonalds?

If their only other choice was $8/hour with no benefits working at McDonalds - they'll probably be happy for a long time.

If you hit the 3/4 button after entering the code it will unlock the other doors. If you press the last 2 buttons at the same time it locks all the doors. You can download owner's manuals here: https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/owne...als/default.asp

First rule of owning an Expedition - never look at the mpg indicator. My 99 was pathetic (5.4L). Don't think we ever broke 20 on the highway. But then again I didn't buy it for fuel economy.

$50 to $150 under invoice is ballpark - it varies by vehicle. But that's not the whole story. The dealer is not allowed to add "documentation" fees or other fees. So if you compare X plan to a regular sale at $500 over invoice plus $400 doc fee you are saving around $1,000. If you can get a vehicle close to invoice then the savings will be less but remember you'll save at $500 if you include the doc fee. Perhaps you've been hearing about X plan price versus MSRP which can inflate the perceived savings.

I have a Fusion with the wiper controls on the turn signal stalk. It works perfectly. I don't see why having two stalks is better than one.

Fusion was at 49% after 3 years, better than Camry and only 2% behind Accord at 51%. I think the Edge and MKX are similar. Since the incentives have stayed in the $500-$1000 range without big rental fleet dumping I don't see any reason for that to change.

Sounds like the original plan was for the Fusion to keep the PIP 3.0 instead of getting the 3.5L, but somebody put their foot down and decided to move ahead with the 3.5L instead. I don't see a need for both unless the 3.5L is only for a special limited edition and the 3.0L PIP is needed to fill the rest of the volume.

The head of Audi USA said a few weeks ago on Autoline Detroit that the cost difference between a gas engine and diesel engine is around $4,500. You'd think he'd know.

Hold on a second. When you're talking trucks fleet sales ARE actual customers (damn good ones, too). These are commercial fleet sales to companies that use them as work trucks. They are not daily rental fleet sales and they don't hurt retail sales.

Camry and Accord only sell about 20% V6 models, or around 80K Camrys and 70K Accords. Fusion sells 40% V6 models and Milan is 60% which combined should be about 80K. 240 hp with BETTER fuel economy than the Camcord V6s would be fine. Nobody buys a Camcord over a Fulan because of a few extra HP. When camry upped their V6 to 268 hp did sales increase? No. Will sales of the 2008 Accord V6 go up because of the extra 28 hp? No. People decide whether they want a Camcord or something else, then they decide whether they want the I4 or the V6. AWD OTOH would sway someone to a Fulan over a Camcord.

Go to forddirect.com, put in your zip code and start searching yourself. You'll have to put in new zip codes to get new dealer lists. I just checked and there is one FWD V6 SE at Friendly Ford and one at John Hopkins Ford. Happy hunting.

You must have stopped reading on page 4. This is from page 5 of the Edge owner's manual:

The auto v6 gets 19/29 thanks to cylinder deactivation. The manual must be tuned for performance instead of mileage.

Including your brother, I'd say 7. Maybe 8.

It was never dropped. It was optional and only on the sport package. 00-02 had optional sport packages on both the V6 and V8 models. 03-06 it was only available on the V8.

I think people saw the manumatic shifter and automatically assumed it was the powershift tranny. Not sure why - you can put a manumatic on almost any modern tranny since they're now computer controlled. The LS had it on the 5R55 back in 1999.

The 2000 Lincoln LS had a 221 hp Duratec 3.0 in June of 1999. I think that predates the Mazda6 version considerably.

Go find an engine fairy to wave his magic wand and make 500,000 3.5L engines appear out of thin air and it will be a piece of cake. If it was that easy to do it would have been done already.

Powershift is a clutchless manual. You don't need that to have a manumatic. The MKS will be debuting next year with SelectShift (first available on the 2000 LS but never made it to any other vehicles) on a regular tranny. It's just software at this point.

Typically it's 1-2 months after job 1 but I don't know in this specific case. Could be as late as January.

Engines don't just appear from the engine fairy - they have to be manufactured. And you don't just build a new engine plant or convert one overnight, especially when you're in financial difficulty. Other products need them more right now.

The 2001-2003 Lincolns also came with 3 yrs/36K mile free maintenance. That was reduced to 1 yr/12K for 2004.

It should, but there is a definite psychological aspect to paying for Premium. I bet tons of folks got rid of premium fueled vehicles when gas prices rose, losing thousands in depreciation just to save $2/week. People just don't look at the facts.

That's no different than leasing - you're still paying the depreciation for the first 3 years of a car's life, then getting a new one and never building up any equity or having no car payments. A lot of people just look at whether they can afford the monthly payments and that's it. For them it's a never ending monthly expense like rent or mortgage payments.