greghodg

Wow that is insane. Is that 842 miles downhill or something? My FFH is averaging slightly under 30MPG on its second tank. And while I'm not staring down at the EV gauge all the time, I am driving it VERY conservatively, at least compared to most of the cars around me.

I've had mine almost two weeks now, about 800 miles so far. I don't have specific numbers, but some general observations. Averaged 42mpg yesterday over 30 miles of nearly flat highway with the cruise control set at 65. City is a different matter. All the major streets here have 45 mph speed limits, and lights about every half mile. If I work at it, I'll get high 30's. That's with relatively gentle acceleration up to 40-43, then lift and hope I get enough EV to sustain my speed for a bit, the coast when possible up to red lights. But it's not magic, I've got to keep my eye on the EV gauge. If I drive it without regard for the EV gauge, I get closer to 30. I'm in Phoenix, so the AC has been on all the time so far, and on days like today (113 degrees), especially if the car's been parked in the sun, it's cranked to the max. I'm hoping the non-AC numbers this winter will be a bit higher.

Anyone know roughly how long after ordering it would take to get a VIN on a FFH? There's a new twist in the Clunkers program that lets you apply the money to a car in production, but it looks like you have to have a VIN before you can do it. Thanks, Greg

Cost, mostly. The $1700 tax credit vs. the $1500 cash back/rebate on the other models is essentially a wash, so the base hybrid comes out over $4k more than a 4 cylinder SE with a SYNC package - closer to $5k here actually when you take the additional sales tax and registration costs into account. That comes out to about $85/month at 4.5% for 5 years. If I drove 12 or 15k miles a year, I could easily justify it, but I typically only drive about 6k miles a year, so the fuel savings aren't as great as they could be. It looks like about $600 a year less fuel than the explorer I'm currently driving, at current gas prices. So anyway, I hadn't originally considered it, but it's looking more like it might be an option now.

Man I'm having a heck of a time finding a Fusion. The cash for clunkers program seems to have created a huge shortage in the last two weeks. I spent a lot of time last weekend looking at dealer inventory online in the evening, then visiting dealers during the day. Bad idea, the dealers apparently don't keep their online inventory up to date and Ford's inventory search isn't right either. One dealer I went to was supposed to have 14 Fusions on the lot. I got there and they had 4 left, all Hybrids. They were so busy that it took a while before I could find someone to confirm that was all they had. Most of the other dealers only have V6's, which loses me $1k of the CFC money in addition to the higher price of the car. Is this pretty much the scene around the country right now? I'm torn. I really like the fusion, I really want to buy one, but there's hardly any to be had. And these are big dealers in a major metropolitan area (phoenix). The dang honda dealer's got plenty of accords to pick from, I could go up there right now and get exactly what I want (except it would be an accord). I don't know if I should wait it out and hope that the CFC traffic tapers off a bit or just bit the bullet and get an accord.