fmorriso

Will the 2012's be built at KCAP? Where will the 2013's be built or has that decision even been made yet? I thought I read somewhere (Detroit News?) a few months ago that the replacement Escape would be built somewhere other than KCAP.

KCAP should be very proud of the work they did in building my 2009 Escape Limited Hybrid AWD back in the Summer of 2008 (delivered 2008-10-21). It's been going through the metro-DC's worst blizzard this past week with great traction and no wheel spinning at all. Sane driving speeds help, but a lot of credit goes to the people who designed and built it. 11800 miles and going strong. Job well done guys and gals.

My vehicle was delivered in October 2008 with Sync 1.1 already installed. I subsequently downloaded and installed Sync 1.2 myself. Once Sync 2.0 finally came out, I scheduled an oil change and the Sync 1.2 to 2.0 upgrade with the dealer, who initially wanted to charge me $88, but subsequently marked that part of the invoice N/C (no charge). I have successfully used the Vehicle Health Report and activated the 911 Assist feature via the new screen on my NAV system. I was never aware of a Sync 1.3, only 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0.

My 2009 FEHL has Sync 2.0 installed (dealer upgrade from 1.2) and here's that I found from my limited testing: If Bluetooth device is auto-paired or otherwise recognized (the symbol appears on the two-line display at the top of the "stack") when you put the key in and either start the engine or go into accessory mode, you'll never see the "two time display" issue, where the bottom-center one is frozen in time, no matter if there is a CD or DVD in the slot ahead of time or not. In my case, my iPhone 3G auto-pairs with Sync when it's near the vehicle (even if the phone is in the living room directly above my tuck-under garage). If Bluetooth is off (turning off my iPhone 3G does the trick for me) you might see the "two time display" happen under the right circumstances, all of which begin with something in the CD/DVD slot of my Nav system and toggling power button on/off until the "two time display" issue occurs. It has nothing to do with when the car was started, although I can see why many in this forum topic believe that to be the case since that's what they see when they leave a CD or DVD in after turning the engine off, leaving the vehicle, return the vehicle and resume playing the CD or DVD. Once you "achieve(?)" the "two time display", as long as you don't take the key out and open the doors, you can turn on your Bluetooth device (iPhone 3G for me) and let it auto-pair with Sync (can take a minute, so be patient) and it won't disturb the "two time display" (assuming you like that sort of thing). You can switch to radio, juke box and back to CD/DVD and the "two time display" should stay up. If necessary, you may have to turn the Audio system on/off via the button on the dash to "toggle" the "two time display" back to life (assuming you wanted it to stay alive in the first place). Personally, I don't expect to experience the issue much since my iPhone 3G is auto-paired as soon as I'm within range. In most cases, it never "unpairs" from Sync because it charges near my computer which sits no more than 15 feet above vehicle in the tuck-under garage. The only time it has ever occurred was when my wife borrowed the truck and noticed the issue after playing some CD's. Her iPhone 3G has the bluetooth setting turned off because....well that is another long story about 20th century women living in the 21rst century worthy of its own conversation thread. I know the above is not an exhaustive set of tests but from my experience it only occurs under some pretty weird (and uncommon for me at least) sequence of steps that you have to perform with Bluetooth devices off, something in (or soon to be) the CD/DVD slot and (if necessary) turn the audio system on/off. For those of you who live in states with laws requiring hands-free device usage (which usually, but not exclusively means bluetooth is involved to support that requirement), you'll probably never experience the issue of the "two time display" merely because of how bluetooth tends to keep it from ever happening in the first place.

You folks at KCAP did a great job on 1FMCU59349KA42261 too. Love my first Ford bought in Oct 2008. Kickin' myself for waiting so many years before buying a Ford product. Wife loves her 08 Focus too, which she picked out in May 2008. She got a great rate from Ford Credit too.

Looks like me and the wife made a good decision to switch to buying Ford products for the first time in May and October of 2008 ('08 Focus SE bought in May, 09 Escape Hybrid Limited bought in October) after 30+ years of buying various GM and Chrysler products. Not only are the vehicles fun to drive and (so far) worry free, but knowing that Ford isn't beholden to President Obama like Government Motors is makes me even happier. Special thanks to the workers at KCAP for building a great SUV, which I see are back in high demand and short supply again.

When I wanted to combine a SYNC 2.0 upgrade (I had self-upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2) with a free oil change for my 2009 FEHL, the dealer initially said it would cost $88, the amount the 3rd-party that job was out-sourced too charges the dealer, plus tax. I mentioned that some dealers were charging only $25 and some were performing it for free. It seemed to fall on deaf ears. However, when I picked up my vehicle, the letters "N/C" were penned on it and I ended up paying nothing at all. I had to pair my Apple 3G iPhone again, which asked if I wanted to turn on 911 Assist, which of course I answered Yes. The Vehicle Health Report remains a bit of a mystery, but as soon as I can devote more time to it, I hope to figure it out, at least the part where I find out what the results say.

Winter driving in the Virginia suburbs of DC brought mpg on my AWD '09 FEH down to about 24 mpg. Now that Spring and slightly warmer temperatures are on the way, I'm seeing more like 27-28 mpg. The first nearly 3000 miles have been 90% city driving. As the traffic lights along my main route to/from work are slowly removed as it turns more and more into a limited access highway, I'm not idling at as many traffic lights. I did a "reset" on the Navigation system's fuel economy screen at 2000 miles and plan to do it again around 4000 miles to see what effect that has on the reading.

I finished my federal tax return with TurboTax Premier and the $1950 credit did not go up or down. I performed a Save To PDF and looked at the resulting form 8910 and saw a form that looked nothing like the old 2007 Tax Year form on the IRS web site. The form I saw had a bunch of checkboxes for model year (including 2009) and which drive train (2WD, AWD) and places for date of purchase, inservice date and percentage of business use. When you boil it all down to how the eFile system works, it's just transmitting encoded character strings, not the forms themselves. For electronic filers, it probably won't make much difference if the offical paper-style form is on the IRS web site or not, only whether there are any changes in either the stimulus plan or the omnibus spending bill that would affect the credit. From what I've read so far, it doesn't sound like anyone who purchased their hybrid vehicle in calendar year 2008 needs to worry.

I just started doing my taxes with TurboTax Premier and so far, it looks like I'm getting about $1950 of the credit for my 2009 FEHL AWD. I still need to enter more information, so that may change before I'm finished. The IRS web site still doesn't show the final 2008 PDF edition of form 8910 has been posted, but in looking through the update information for TurboTax, I see a mention of a preliminary updated form being part of the first set of updates it downloaded after the initial installation. Since I owe additional taxes, I'll wait until near the filing deadline to submit in order to lessen the need for a subsequent amended filing.

A welcome announcement that will hopefully be used for the 2010 model year to help consumers have a better ordering-through-delivery experience.

Are you using the online version of TurboTax or the one that installs on your computer?

I haven't started my taxes yet (using TurboTax) because according to www.irs.gov web site, form 8910 (Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit) is still the one for tax year 2007 and is dated January 29, 2008. The value 2007 appears in the upper-right corner of the form, which tells me that the tax year 2008 edition of the form is still not available, at least not on the web site. Perhaps the people at TurboTax have arranged to get the unofficial version of the tax year 2008 form early? Try doing a "Print to PDF" of "All forms" from TurboTax and then view form 8910 to see what it looks like and let us know what it says.

My money is on providing a red exterior color for the hybrid models. For '09, there were two different colors of black available, but not red, for the hybrid models.

Finally, an intelligent person of color (my assumption - correct me if I'm wrong) that has figured out "it's OK to leave the plantation" of liberal government programs that are nothing more than a modern form of "share cropping" designed to keep people of color in their place, at the bottom of the economic ladder. Please tell me there are others out there with similar smarts.

We currently get over 50% of our electricity from coal. No new nuclear plants have been built in decades. President-elect Obama wants to put the coal industry out of business ("make it too expensive" to quote him accurately) by implementing a cap and trade program designed to make it virtually impossible to build any new coal fired electricity producing plants here in the USA. The new car czar will have the power to order car manufacturers to produce more electric cars, regardless of whether the market (that's you and I) want them. Where is the electricity needed to recharge all the new electric cars going to come from if it will be too expensive to build new plants to produce it? How can we become energy independent if we are not going to use the two best ways to produce electricity?

If by chance your vehicle is on a Norfolk Southern rail car, they have a toll free number that allows you to speak that information into the phone and it will tell you where in their system the rail car is (or is on its way too). Mine took the "great Midwest whistle-stop tour" as it made its way from KC to the final rail destination of Jessup, MD. Here's the information copied from their web site: Voice Trace is a speech driven system that provides callers a railcar’s current location, ETA, destination, next scheduled event, and weight. A voice operator serves as a guide through word and letter recognition prompts. For Homeland Security purposes Voice Trace does not release information on hazardous material shipments. Voice Trace – 1-800-635-5768 (Customer Service), option 1 Voice Trace Direct – 1-800-241-9230 (Norfolk Southern’s most recent deployment of the Voice Trace platform (November 2007) utilizes what was widely regarded as the industries most advanced speech recognition software and top rated product support vendor.)

It took about a month to get the plates.

Ask the dealer if they plan to file a Price Protection Claim after you pick up the vehicle and pocket the $1200 instead of charging you the original price. My dealer tried to pull that little "trick" until I set the Virginia Attorney General "pit bulls" on him. Next thing you know, I'm paying the April 21 price, not the the October 21 price.

As I close in on 1000 miles and colder temperatures, the ICE is running more, and takes longer to get to a point where EV mode kicks in and/or stays on for any length of time. I recall reading elsewhere in this forum about a guy complaining about the mpg in his 2007 or 2008 FEH (don't remember) dropping as the weather got colder. One of the replies assured him that, come Spring, mpg would go back up. Sure enough, a few months later, the original poster chimed in with a reply that indicated that his mpg did indeed go back up in the Spring. It will be interesting to see how the 2009's perform when the weather warms back up again.

Dittos on the applause. Looking specifically at the ratings for the 2009 Ford Escape, I'm glad I waited for the 2009 model with it's Good rating on the Frontal offset test compared to the Acceptable rating for previous model years.

Back in February, when I was looking at 2008 configurations prior to the availability before the pricing guide for the 2009's, I too skipped the Chrome Package and might have been just as happy if the 2009 FEHL didn't include it. I've grown accustom to it now, probably because I don't see it so much when I'm inside the vehicle. The other odd thing about the 2008 Chrome Package was that it was the only way to get color-matching door handles. Keep us posted on how much it cost to get that "issue" resolved.

I can't speak for anyone but me and the wife, but I hope the following facts help partially answer your question as to whether Americans will support the Big 3 in their time of need. Brand new 2008 Ford Focus SE purchased May 8, 2008 by my wife. Brand new 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Limited purchased October 21, 2008 by me.

If you live in Virginia, your Escape (or Mariner) hybrid is eligible for Clean Special Fuel plates. You have to download the PDF form from the dmvnow.com web site and mail/fax it in because it's the one transaction that cannot be completed online or at the DMV offices. You can even combine the application for CSF plates with personalization. Try out various ones online first to make sure the ones (you have to specify five choices) are still available. I must have read the directions wrong because I thought I could get ESC-HYB, but since the special clean fuel emblem must remain visible on the far right, the DMV folks removed the hyphen to make it just ESCHYB. The plates arrived in the mail today and are a nice finishing touch to a very well built vehicle. Good job KCAP workers!

I let the Miles To Empty indicator reach 30 miles before I filled up for the second time. I put as much in as I thought, but still barely reached 13 gallons after driving 380 miles. I'd be interested in knowing what others experienced in terms of how accurate the MTE value is for you.