Schpark

I had a relationship with a salesman that since retired so I had to find a new one. My method gave me an idea of how each dealership behaves and I am happy with my choice. I will give them the first shot for my next purchase. They did not try the monthly payment scheme or say come on in and lets see etc. They answered the question I asked and provided prompt responses to any clarifications I requested. They did not try to steer the exchange which was refreshing. All I need from the dealers is to give me their price. I can determine on my own whether to take the 0% or rebate etc. I understand not everyone is like this. For me $500 is not negligible.

I don't want to haggle or play games but I don't want to get screwed either. So what I did was email 4-5 dealers saying I wanted their best price and would place a factory order (I gave them the exact details of what the order would be). I ended up with quotes that varied by more than $500 for the dealers that answered, 1 that wanted to play games and would not give a price, and 1 did not respond until too late and also sounded like they wanted to play games. (I already placed the order). I went with the low bidder (I did not try to extract any more as it was a reasonable price) and it was low key and painless for both sides.

Unless there is an absurd additional dealer profit line on the window.....

That's one of the reasons we got the Flex since we could get heated cloth seats.

I'll take 1 and 3 then. Nevermind. I thought this was a pick any two proposal. i do not think you meant it that way.

Schpark, on 16 May 2014 - 2:30 PM, said: Perhaps I wasn't clear. I get 22 mpg average. I get about 26 traveling at 70-75 highway.

Wow. I am getting 22 on a 2003 Taurus with the 3.0 Duratec, how does the newer 3.0 Duratec get less in the Fusion?

Nice. I was thinking more along this line. No, I wasn't. Yes I was. http://www.mindspring.com/~mfpatton/sketch.htm

I feel like we are watching a Monty Python skit.

There is one piece of useful information it gives; it can show the slight drop in rpms when the torque converter locks up. I found this useful for troubleshooting when I got a P1744 code on my Taurus. Watching the Tach I could tell that the torque converter was actually locking up.

And it's awesome. But the wife rarely lets me drive it.

Disconnect the battery first.

I still have a working one (last time I fired it up was years ago). Astrosmash was the best!

Search for "Sync my iTunes"

Is there a ambient temperature range where it does not engage regardless of engine temp? It would make sense to disable it say below 0 F and above 90 F (or around there) to allow the interior heating/cooling systems to maintain cabin temps. imagine being in stop and go traffic at either extreme.

What if you are trying to get your car to warm up in sub-zero temps. Stopping the engine is not going to help.

Unfortunately your breath is not low humidity. I've picked up my kids after activities and they fog up the windows with their breath/sweat even in a warm car. If you shut the doors and let the car sit you will get frost on the inside of the windows unless you let it reach equilibrium with the outside ambient. I usually open all 4 doors to let this happen quicker and then shut them after a short time.

I argue that more acceleration is a good thing, especially with my motorcycles. I have had numerous occasions where I got away from trouble caused by idiot drivers due to having high acceleration capability.

So we all disagree with the initial premise. QED.

We are focusing on absolute speed and not relative increase of speed due to higher power cars. Speed differential is more of a problem as everyone appears to agree to. These speed differential crashes could be caused by an increase of slow driving which would also be speed as a contributing factor. Thus by Nick's premise it would mean there are more "underpowered" vehicles. So the statistic would need to be broken out between which side of the speed differential is the contributing factor; driving too slow or too fast.

I think DRL's are a contributing factor here. Many times I see drivers at night with only DRL's on and no rear lights on.

#1 - impeding the flow of traffic, especially when below the speed limit

Ok how about this scenario. Freeway with a posted limit of 60 mph and 40 minimum. Traffic as proceeding as usual at around 65-68 mph. So NickF1011 pulls out in his Yugo and gets it up to 45 (he came in on a downhill ramp) and abruptly pulls over two lanes from the ramp in front of Grbeck in his 1000HP heavily modified GT500 cruising at 66 mph. Which car is more dangerous here?

Actually I was one of the lucky ones. My transmission shipped with a sticker on it saying to contact the factory rather than work on it.

Yeah the Taurus transmissions aren't the most robust. Mine (97 LX with 3.0 DOHC) was rebuilt in the 130k's, transmission shop said many upgraded parts installed during the rebuild and still running good now at 197K. Rust just starting now for me but the seats (premium cloth) look almost new. These are the most comfortable auto seats I have ever sat in.