Walt

I guess the difference is that around here, all highways have longer hills; many longer hills. For me the Cruise Control DECREASES my MPG over my manual driving by over 10%. I have read many others report the same thing. That's because it will suck down gas without restraint, when going up all those longer hills, in an attempt to maintain an exact speed. The ICE RPM's quickly climb to well over 3K. An hybrid-aware Cruise Control would be programmed to "give up" on longer hills, and allow the speed to somewhat drop, to attempt instead to maintain MPG over MPH.

Yea, you want to look for Mariners with the "VOGA" option (that name plate is on their tailgate).

Sorry to break it to you, but all that wonderful Ford software runs under Microsoft's Windows Automotive.

You might want to look at the Mariner Hybrid too. It offers a different option mix. That's what I did, and got a loaded MMH but w/o the big hole in the roof.

How about simply a hybrid-aware cruise control? One that will allow the speed to drop, if the RPM's get too high. On the hybrids, the cruise control really needs to monitor both MPH and MPG, and make good trade offs. I have used cruise control on highways for almost 35 years. Until I got my hybrid, and found using it, dramatically decreased my MPG.

Well, who's fault is that really? Possibly yours? Now if you purchased more vehicles, a lot more vehicles, from your local FORD dealer, there could not be any other dealers who can sell more. Right? Your local dealer doesn't turn away sales, do they? Their sales are lower than some other dealers because people like you aren't buying enough new vehicles from them. That's getting to the root cause of it, no?

At 0 miles, both parts probably weren't faulty.

Yea, I just brought mine in, and when I picked it up, my MPG avg was down by over 3mpg.

The plans can't be used with the $500 AQHA rebate either.

At least on the older hybrids, the A/C is used to cool the battery pack too. So, with the outside air at 92 deg, it is possibly that the A/C was running for the battery, and not you. I read somewhere that the battery pack is no longer A/C cooled on the '09 models. Can anyone with a '09 confirm or deny this?

Sorry, but I keep thinking of things. :D It is interesting that Ford felt an electric water pump was needed on the hybrids so that the passengers could continue to get heat in the winter even when the ICE wasn't running, but felt there is no need on the hybrids to keep the passengers cool in the summer when the ICE wasn't running.

There is already two electric water pumps; one for each independent cooling/radiator system. I don't know why there is also the mechanical water pump on the ICE itself, other than for fail-safe redundancy. I know that for the Mustangs, there is an aftermarket conversion kit, that removes the mechanical water pump and replaces its function with an electrical pump, with a noticeable increase in HP. Do the hybrids still have a 12v alternator (I don't know either way)?

Even though I don't think an electric A/C will result in any net gain, I do need to mention that I believe that an electric A/C compressor has the advantage of running at only a single fixed speed. With a gas driven compressor, it needs to be designed (over designed?) to run (ie, cool) over a large range of operating speeds.

You are correct, but the driver is then back to the gas engine running, when it would not have otherwise been needing to run.

That's it. Possibly I did not read it correctly the first time. In the Exterior Color table on that page, I guess that "/X,2" means one can order either black (85X) or white (852) stripes, except for Performance White, which has only "/X" which means only black (85X). BTW, "A" or "A,M" means for the convertible GT/CS, either black (A) or parchment (M) top.

My Mariner came with the keypad on the door too, but in two years, I have yet to ever need to use it. Matter of fact, I have no idea what the factory combination for it is, unless I get the paper for it out of the glove box. When home, my Mariner is parked in the garage, and in the garage, I don't bother to ever lock my cars. When not home, I have the keys and fob in my pocket. If I had to actually pay extra for option, I would pass.

On pre-2008 Escapes, one should have gotten two keys and two remotes.

Was that known on Nov 30? Or was it not until the last 2008 hybrid rolled off the line, someone went back and check to when it was originally ordered (back on Nov 30)?

Ain't that the truth! With my AWD, I typically get between 32 and 35 mpg driving it like a hybrid (long slow stops and slow re-accelerations).

Gosh, I hope not. Electric A/C will drain the battery pretty quickly. Any drain of the battery means less EV mode. And of course, less EV mode means the gas engine has to run and burn gas sooner that it would have had to do, otherwise. Currently, the hybrids have "gas engine drives A/C compressor". I can't believe that "gas engine drives generator, generator charges battery, battery drives electric motor, electric motor drives A/C compressor" as being all that more efficient. :rolleyes:

I just looked at the 09 Ordering Guide. If I am reading it correctly, all CS get white stripes (color "852") except for those in white which get black stripes (color "85X"). No?

I have no idea. :shrug: You need to ask ScottFisher since he was the one who mentioned it in his post.

While larger dealerships might have more allocations, they also tend to have more customer competing for that allocation. I would ask to have a copy of the DORA for your order. That will have your priority on it. Even nothing else, it will tell you were in the dealer's own queue, you stand.

Yep, not even a reverse gear. :D

The sensors are black. I have a dark brown bumper so they are not all that noticeable. However, I can see them being very obvious if one had, for example, a white bumper. Now, obvious doesn't necessarily mean objectionable.