timf

As of this week lincoln.com now shows the 2016 MKZ.

Is there a start of production date for the Platinum yet?

I noticed one parked in front of my local dealer last week, and several in their inventory lot today.

Dealer orders will certainly start showing up before August, but it's highly likely that a custom order won't arrive before August. Custom orders don't start getting scheduled until after the OK to buy is achieved. If that happens early June, you are probably looking at production mid July and delivery in early August.

Do you know if the Platinum is going to have delayed availability? I haven't seen any pop up as dealer orders yet, granted we are still very early in production.

You have until the end of January to order a 2015.

The 2015 MKX is already on dealer lots. It is nothing more than the 2014 model with a different year. The all-new model will be introduced as a 2016 model sometime around summer-fall 2015.

That would be Bronze Fire. It's a new color that is showing up on most larger Ford models as well as the MKZ for 2015.

The flow rate is tied to the direction. You can either have full flow when aimed directly at you, slide the lever all the way to the side to close the vent, or pick something in between. However, there is no way to have it aimed at you and reduce the flow without adjusting the fan control for the whole car.

2015 Taurus Build & Price is available on ford.com. http://bp3.ford.com/2015-Ford-Taurus?branding=1&lang=en#/ChooseYourPath/

The Transit Connect takes a bit longer to get than that since they're built in Spain - probably in the neighborhood of 4 months +/- 1.

The Lincoln order guides are harder to come by since our usual forum sources only have access to the Ford order guides. However, the 2015 information is available on kbb.com and you can build and price them using the "See what you should pay" button. http://www.kbb.com/lincoln/mkz/2015-lincoln-mkz/ The key things to know are: * The Preferred (top) equipment package has been eliminated. Heated rear seats and steering wheel are now included with the Reserve package. All other features of the Preferred package are available as standalone options. * The Premiere (base) package now includes leatherette rather than real leather, just like the MKC, and is late availability. You must order at least the Select package in order to get real leather. * Sunset, Dark Side, Sterling Gray, and Ice Storm are out. Bronze Fire, Guard, Magnetic, and Luxe are in.

I used the elevation information from Google Earth. Checking again, it's actually 150 feet between home and work, and then 300 feet between the golf course and home. The hills around here may not seem that big but they add up.

I'm now 6 months into ownership and have seen just about every condition and my car performs just as I'd expect it to fuel economy wise. In mild weather with little need for climate control, my average fuel economy was right on the advertised 45 MPG mark. As the weather has continued to warm up and I've been using the air conditioning more, that number has dipped back to 44 MPG. During the dead of winter, I was lucky to see 40 MPG and the actual fuel economy was even lower if I used the remote start function to preheat the car. The car has made me aware of elevation changes I never realized existed before. The elevation at my office is about 200 ft higher than my house, and I generally see around 40 MPG coming in and over 50 MPG going home. Certain routes have even a greater elevation change and I can regularly see over 60 MPG on the downhill legs of these trips, while only getting in the low 30s on the way there.

I've seen Bronze Fire in person (on a 2015 Navigator) parked next to my Sunset MKZ. The color reminds me most of the Cinnamon color Ford offered a couple years ago. There's not really any orange to it at all. It's more of a maroon color (brownish red) and a bit darker than Sunset. This was in cloudy conditions so I can't comment on how the metallic flake might affect it.

If it was priced at the proper $50,000 they'd probably be looking at two month's worth of inventory rather than two years. All the reviews I've seen have been positive, aside from the fact that the performance you get is not in line with the price they are asking. It's not a matter of if GM drops the price, but when. And I'm not talking about silly $3000 incentives, but a major price correction to the proper market value.

I would not recommend removing them. There is most likely nothing but an unfinished surface under them. Rather, you can wrap them in 3M film or a similar product in a variety of colors and styles. This would also be completely reversible if you sell the car or change your mind later. Frankly, I wasn't a big fan of the appliqués either but after a while I forgot they were there.

The dual screens are included as part of the MyFord Touch system. All Edges with MyFord Touch will have the dual screens. Those without only have a single screen in the center of the dash, with analog Tachometer and Fuel Gauge. Edit: MKII covered it above.

It's in the 2014 Edge thread below. http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/53426-2014-edge/?p=872542

I find it amazing that even with the "One Ford" strategy, a model that debuted in mid-2012 in North America is not available in Europe until 2015. It seems like they could have used a contingency plan to import them from another plant if their European plants weren't prepared to make them.

It looks like they used the same design team for the Camry as the NX with that oversized black expanse of a grille.

That's the build week, not delivery week. Allow an extra 1-3 weeks for delivery depending on how close to Mexico you are.

The only hint I've seen that there might be changes coming is the order bank opening was pushed back from mid-March to mid-April. It now falls after the press days for the New York Auto Show, so it's possible some new options may be announced there. I wouldn't expect a major refresh yet though.

"Scheduled to Date" is the date your car will be built. "End Date" is the last date they are producing 2014 models, and not really relevant to your order since your car is getting built this month. You should see your car by mid-May if it is built on schedule. As to why it took a month an a half from ordering until scheduling (VIN assignment), that's anyone's guess. It could be dealership allocation or supply restrictions on a feature you ordered.

Current range and charge speed limits are not the problem, it is people's perceived needs versus actual needs. Even though someone may only have a 30 mile a day commute that accounts for 99% of their driving, they think about the rare occasion where they may go on a 200 mile road trip and immediately think "this won't work for me". The whole philosophy behind quick charging is it's not something you use on a daily basis, but is there for those few occasions where you may want to drive farther than a standard charge will take you. The sweet spot to EV range is to provide range to easily cover a day's worth of local driving, and provide fast recharging at intervals where you'd likely want to stop for a break anyway. All of your regular charging will be done at night when time isn't an issue, and you avoid ever stopping at a gas station. Sure, there will always be a small group of people who regularly need to travel long distances in as short a time as possible, but that is the exception. EVs may not be for everyone, but Tesla's approach works for far more people than those who realize it. The greater issue is that no one else has made an EV that goes over 100 miles because they make gas vehicles that can cover that portion of the market. The range and charging speed needed to make EVs viable is there today, perhaps battery costs do still have to come down a bit to make it a profitable option for conventional automakers, but the conception that EVs need to get over 300 miles of range in less than 10 minutes of charging to become viable replacements to gas vehicles is unwarranted.