mogur

Thanks! -Tom

From where did you order the DVD and what did it cost? Thanks!

Indeed. Ours is there now, never to be resurrected.

Thanks! That's where I originally read it. It was one of the MANY documents I download and read when I was first shopping... They certainly sounded more delicate than traditional allow wheels and finishes...

It was in one of the documents that I read and it indicated that the 18" wheels had a special coating that could be damaged by some cleaners and processes. The 17 and 19 inch wheels don't use this process. It's in one of the many documents that I have on the computer and I'll try and find it and post the text of it here later. I do remember that it pertained to one of the two or three 18" wheel options that are available on the Escape, but I can't remember which one off the top of my head...

One of the reasons we went with the Titanium package - in addition to the HIDS, as previously mentioned - WAS the 19" wheels and tires. Having driven a SEL with 18s back to back with a titanium with 19s, the improvement in handling with the 19s was clearly palpable. Plus we think the vehicle looks much better with the 19s than the 18s... One other consideration was the finish on the 18s that apparently is a little finicky in how it has to be treated, according to the manual... We also liked the interior trim better on the Titanium. By the way, our previous two vehicles also had HIDs and once you have them, it is hard to go back...

It seems what orders the dealer has in place and how creative they are has a lot to do with when you get your special order. In our case, they were able to simply modify a dealer order that was already in place at the factory to reflect what we wanted. By doing so, we got our vehicle in 35 days from the time we visited the dealership and entered the order, to when it showed up at the dealer.

For a precision approach in an aircraft, one needs five satellites, RAIM, and WAAS...

Just one comment about the number of satellites shown by a GPS system... To obtain a 3D fix only requires three satellites (assuming good geometry). The number of satellites necessary to obtain a high accuracy fix is five; accuracy is little improved by more than that number. The advantage of tracking more than five is that as one or two is occasinally lost due to obstructions or the satellite passing over the horizon, you still maintain the minimum number needed. GPS units that advertise 12 or 24 channel receivers are simply marketing tools as it means nothing in the real world and, in fact, rarely will more than about ten sattelites ever be in view anyway.

Someone sent me the answer to my query so I thought I'd share it here: - Make sure there is no CD in the system - Set MFT to AM/FM - Press and hold the eject button and... - Immediately after, press and hold the right arrow on the center wheel while still holding the eject button - Hold both buttons pressed for about 12 seconds - Screen goes black and MFT enters diagnostics mode The system defaults to a speaker tone test which starts immediately. You can cancel it on the screen. This prodecure pertains only to the Sony System.

On all the other cars I have owned that had display screens, there was always a combination of button presses that would get you in to the diagnostics screens which contain a plethora of data and information. For example, on my Leaf, it is radio once, map three times, radio twice and on my MDX it was Nav once, Menu twice, map twice. Anyone know what it is on the MFT systems?

Correct!

Yep, we have seen the loss of GPS lock and/or location on ours a number of times now, for as long as 45 minutes on one occasion. It appears to be yet another MFT bug... I draw solence from the fact that it has also happened to at least two automotive journalists during their review drives of the vehicle, and they have reported the fact in their reviews! This is my fourth OEM nav system and I have never had one with this issue before... Ford really needs to get a handle on these issues soon, before they completely destroy what is left of their scores!

Sorry, I should have been more clear: Navigation and the other features it brings (Traffic,Travel Link, etc.) is an upgrade to the standard MFT system on the Titanium we bought. We paid dealer cost for it ($694).