emerrill

A friend of mine at the plant told me that they are currently making salable vehicles (they have new VINs, and are feature complete), but they are being held for QA, and any fixes that may need to be made to them.

To me is seams pretty likely for MY2013, but who knows.

Somebody else on here, who works at WAP, posted that they were moving to 10hr days this week, and that cars are leaving on car carriers. My guess is that they are just being staged off site - it's too early for them to have the 'Cleared to Ship' stamp.

Quite a few of them reviewed a manual and an automatic in various trim configs.

I meant that these documents generally end up on the internet after a bit of time - Ford makes no apparent attempt to stop it, even though there are things they could do to hamper it. Not to mention, I just walked into my dealer (first time I was in there), and he handed me a copy of the price guide and order guide and let me take them.

While they are 'proprietary', Ford makes no attempt to contain them (and why would they?) - they are generally easy to find on the internet (after a bit of time). The only reason they don't directly publish them, is that they want you to go into a dealer, they are worried that they would confuse the average buyer (they aren't meant to be user friendly). Realistically, them being out there in this form helps people who are enthusiastic about the car to be more informed about it. If Ford wanted it to actually be contained, they wouldn't provide it as a plain old PDF to tens of thousands of people across the country.

The lumbar comes with power seats, which isn't in the style package - it's only in the Titanium Premium Package - at least best I can find

Thanks for the updated files. My dealer and I had noticed that the paint and winter prices in the price list he had at the time didn't match the website, or the order confirmation.

You know, I noticed that when reading it, but forgot once I clicked reply.

Well, the FSO kicks in when you are at high speed and remove your foot from the accelerator completely. As for the feel of it, I don't know, haven't driven one.

Huh. I wonder what they mean by 'Colder Climate'. I would consider MI to be a colder climate, but we aren't on the list of states that get engine block heaters (AK, MN, ND, SD, MT, WI and WY), so I could see it going either way. Thanks for the clarification.

I found the 'no engine breaking' statement in that review interesting, as the car has fuel shutoff, while the Source Book notes will cause greater engine breaking then people are used to.

Wait, the Titanium has shutters? Ford has been contradictory, but has implied they only come on the SE SFE. Even different press has reported it both ways.

They actually turn to whatever the ambient light color selection is when closed.

I can tell you a bit about the touch interface. It works ok. The big problem is speed - while usually there is quick feedback that your touch was registered (the button will show a little animation), the next screen is usually painfully slow to load. It's just a laggy system, but it does get better with each software version they release. Other than that, it works basically how you would expect. It's a bit cluttered of an interface, but the trade off to that is there are less screens to switch between when doing things, so I don't mind it. You can test it out on a 2011 Explorer or 2011 Edge. The systems are completely identical (hardware and software), except of the single cluster screen vs dual.

Yeah, I saw that, and then some where else (I can't find where at the moment), they have said 'Standard on all models'. The sourcebook is newer, but the main reason I don't think it's standard, is the 2012 Focus parts are already over at fordparts.com, and they have both louvered and non-louvered grille parts listed.

Ford has also been really really bad about clarifying if the Gille Shutters are standard, or only on the SFE package. Some press are saying standard, while others are saying SFE only. No Ford document I've seen has been clear, but it seems to be they are only on the SFE.

Yup. They've done a really bad job at posting it in places where it would make sense, but the Source Book states 'For a flat load surface, fold the seat base forward and the seatbacks forward' There are a few other things the press has missed/got wrong, but I don't recall others off hand.

Two things: The 2012 has a standard mini-spare in all models - It's listed in the order guide if you are curious Second, the new Focus has fold flat seats in all models. You can fold them regular, or you can fold flat by lifting the front bottom seat cushion (you have to pull off the head restraints also). A number of reviewers missed this, but it is in the Packaging Guide, and I saw it in person at NAIAS. Edit: Sorry for the front/bottom type. The REAR bottom cushions fold forward

No lumbar in cloth it looks like.

I thought the reviews are pretty positive and encouraging. Yeah, some nitpicking, but I think it's going to be a good car. As for My Ford Touch, people who have it seem to love it, there is just a learning curve. Journalists don't have the car long enough to learn and get used to it. I'm interested that they are saying it upshifts on it's own, because the manual says it doesn't (says it will only down shift to prevent stall, but wont upshift). For button placement, I'm planning on installing some buttons on the back side of the wheel (behind the airbag), but we shall see. I know my dealer has some build dates, but not on my car yet

Yeah, Edmunds broke first. Frequently, they can break embargo if somebody else does (it makes it so that 'somebody else' doesn't benefit as much from breaking it.

Motor trend claims the seats dont fold flat. According to ford docs, it's a lie. The bottom seat cushions fold up first when you want fold flat (and I saw it done at NAIAS)

I found this in the 12/1/10 order guide: 17" Machined & Painted Alloy Wheel (647) is no longer late availability Edit - Woops, doesn't say anything about the polished ones, but they aren't listed as late availability either

The last order guide I got from my dealer didn't list any wheels as late availability, but that could have changed.