elle

Oh, never mind on that. I'd be giving up more than I'd be getting

Maybe I'll drop Mike and his sales manager a line today and see if they want to take an order. The only other problem I'm having now is that I'm starting to want the appearance package, which gets more affordable for me with the X-plan. Oh, the agony of indecision Better go take another look at the pricing before I commit.

Power and the fact that the one I test drove had window noise. But everyone has assured me that this is a real fluke, and not something to worry about. Plus I am still working on getting the X-plan PIN but it looks like that may happen in the next few days. I think I do have to have the PIN before I order, is that correct?

Wow. After reading this review, as well as the above comment about max torque, I'm wondering if I really need to test drive the hybrid at all. Maybe I should just place an order now so that I get mine sooner.

I've always been favorably impressed by the relatively good pickup I have in my Prius. It's better than I expected from a hybrid, but I don't have much to compare it with other than my previous cars. It has better pickup than my '97 Subaru Legacy did, but is not quite as peppy as my old '91 Legacy (which also got 35MPG, btw). The '97 Legacy seemed heavier and more sluggish in general than the '91 and I do have to say that the 2.5 Fusion that I drove recently felt similar. It also reminded me of my old '95 Volvo 960 in terms of weight and power. So, not bad, but the Prius and the '91 Legacy both had better acceleration. As far as top speed, I can't say. She cruises just fine at higher speeds of, say, 75 to 85mph as long as the windows are closed. Open windows in a Prius create an odd effect and I don't recommend driving that car with the windows down, ever

My experience with my own hybrid (Prius) is that you will get less than the estimated mileage unless you are willing to completely change the way you drive and think about energy consumption in a vehicle. I am not willing to do that, so I average about 38 to 44MPG. Two things seem to have the greatest impact on mileage. First, as was pointed out, is AC. Summer mileage is a lot lower for me, always. The second thing seems to be the quality of the gas I put in the car, which varies a lot from tank to tank, as it turns out. I've had no increase in mileage with higher octane gas (in fact, the mileage goes down) but there is definitely a lot of variation in quality from tank to tank which affects the mileage, even when I purchase gas from the same vendor. Basically, I'll be happy if I get 40-45 MPG consistently out of the hybrid Fusion, as that will about match my range compared to the Prius range based on estimated mileage. Hope this all makes sense.

The color looks nice in a sports car, but not in a midsize sedan!

It's beautiful!

Yup, you are right. Where I worked they always gave them to the salespeople, which is the honorable thing to do. I can only hope that they'd do the same thing for Mike, but I guess that isn't up to me.

Morning all! Thanks for all the suggestions. I used to be in commissioned sales so I am very familiar with how a salesperson thinks, which is why I laid out everything I want and told them from the start that I was very interested. My thought is that it is going to take a lot less of a saleman's time to just write up the best quote he/she can offer and send to to me, just like akirby said. EWF, you are right that Mike is the dealiership's "internet sales guy" and I was just contacted yesterday by another dealership's fleet sales manager. I do understand that they don't want to waste time with a customer who is going to buy from someone else. I was in musical equipment sales and it used to annoy me to no end when I'd spend a couple of hours showing a customer everything they wanted to know about the latest and greatest studio mixing console only to have them call me the next day asking me to beat a price from the local box dealer, but that's the nature of the business. So with this purchase I did all my research up front, learned all I could about the car and made one test drive, not of the model I wanted, being up front to that salesman that he was not going to sell a car that day and that I was still making a decision about which car to buy. He graciously took me for a test drive, but was not aggressively working to sell me because he knew that was not going to sell that day. Now I am waiting for the hybrid, to test drive it. That dealership is the only one nearby that has one on the lot, but I am not going to go there to drive it. I am waiting for Mike to write and tell me that they have one I can drive and will work with him. However, I did find someone who may be able to give me an X-plan PIN. Mike's sales manager got in touch with me to follow-up and I told him I may get one and he said, no problem, they would be glad to order under X-plan if need be. He mentioned that the salesperson gets a spiff from Ford for those saies, which makes me happy, because that means Mike may be better compensated for that sale than if he sells it to me for the original quoted price. I also have a friend who contacted me about my Prius, and may be interested in buying it. So I think the stars are all aligning for this to happen... now I am eagerly awaiting the hybrid test drive and, assuming my original problems with the first test drive don't crop up again, I am ready to place my order.

Really? I see a steering wheel in both of them!

I was offered a very good deal by one of the local dealers, but my worry is that, come time to sign the paperwork, the hassle will start, anyway. I've had a bad taste in my mouth for car sales for a long time now. Sales people can say anything before the car is available, and they can also say anything once they get you in the door. With the X-plan I understand there's no haggling and nothing hidden. I haven't received any responses to my request, but I hope I do. If not, I'll go with the low quote and pray that the pain is minimal, come time to sign.

This is very helpful. I'd been wondering exactly how much navigation I would get without going to "voice activated." Now I know! Thanks.

I have that worry, too. Right now my Prius has a little over 28K on it. I don't drive too far each day, but in a couple of months I will probably push it over 30K. That's going to affect the value. On the other hand, I can't just sell it now and wait two months without a car. I could carpool with my husband to and from work for a little while, but only having one car between the two of us will get old quickly.

Thanks! I just made a request on the X-plan forum, so we'll see if anyone is able to help. I hope so!

Did you notice the sarcasm dripping from the title of this post? I've been emailing dealers to get pricing information for the Fusion hybrid in the configuration I want. You'd think this would be easy-- these are professional salespeople, right? You ought to be able to tell them exactly what you want and have them give you a competitive price for exactly that configuration. But, nooooooo... One guy (Scott) gives me a price for the base model without any additions and says he'll allocate one of his dealer stock orders if I order it within the next week. I write back and ask him to price out the additions I asked for... hmmm.... not a word back from him, and it's now several days later. The second guy (Mike) actually gives me an awesome price, right out of the gate, and it's for exactly what I want. I write back to verify that there won't be any additional fees beyond destination and ADVA, and he says, nothing extra, just the fees I already know about. Sweet. I like this guy Mike. Another guy (Nick) gives me list price on a fully loaded model with the driver assist stuff and moonroof that I don't want. He writes me back to follow up and I tell him I want a real, out the door price for the actual car I want to buy. Fine. He writes back with the proper configuration and a price that's $500.00 higher than Mike's price. So I write back and tell him that he's high, and I tell him what Mike has offered on my trade in (and that I like Mike's offer on the Fusion but not on the trade) and ask him if he can do any better. I have a feeling I will be selling the Prius myself, but after looking at similar cars on local Craigslist, I'm a little concerned that I might not do much better than Mike's offer on my own. It's kind of depressing to realize this. Another guy writes me to tell me that he's having his assistant contact me. She contacts me and says the salesman wants to talk to me and asks for my phone number. No WAY am I getting involved in phone conversations with seven different car salesmen! I say, sorry, no phone calls, just let me know if you can actually help me. The next day the salesman sends me a brief, annoyed e-mail asking exactly what he can do for me and whether I am serious about buying a car. So I tell him that I'm very serious but need to test drive the hybrid before I am 100% ready to place an order and am just trying to figure out who is going to give me the best price and deal straight with me with no surprises and no pain. And I tell him that I have a couple of decent quotes already, but to make an offer if he wants to. Still haven't heard back from him. So far, Mike is the guy who is earning my business, and he's done it by simply giving me an awesome deal and paying attention to exactly what I want. I don't understand why is it so difficult for these other guys to just write up some decent pricing from the start. They must know that people shop around. The pain I'm dreading most is selling the Prius. I'm bummed to think that I might have to dig a little deeper into my own pockets if I can't get the price I thought I might get for it. But, oh well, such is life. Hope I get to drive a hybrid soon so I can get my order in, since I can't be without a car for very long. Oh, the pain... but it's a good pain

:P

Welcome, I am new here too, planning to order the Fusion Hybrid as well, but still in shopping mode. Hope the new Fusion delivers everything you want and does not take too long to get to you

That's where I am with this car. My current Prius is the Barcelona Red, which is similar to this Ruby Red. I loved the color when I bought it but want something a little different and more subdued this time around. Since red is by far my favorite color (and since I've had three blue cars in my lifetime) the Bordeaux seems like a good choice. The only other somewhat colorful choice that isn't a blue would be the Ginger Ale, but I'm just not loving that color.

I really like the Bordeaux Reserve. I saw this color in person last weekend and, in the bright sunlight, it is stunning. My husband says it will be hard to keep clean; he's probably right. My second choice would be the White Platinum but I kind of like a car with a little bit of color to it. If you look at the cars on the road, there are so many blacks, whites, and various versions of gray and silver-- I want something that's just a little bit more colorful but not bright. This color will fit the bill.

Thank you, Delnatha!

Yeah, the more I am reading, the more it sounds like I made the decision to purchase about 12 years too late. I think I'll just go back to my original strategy which seems to have generated a couple of pretty nice offers already. Maybe not Z-plan nice, but pretty nice, nonetheless.

Both of them are deceased. I'm on hold with Ford right now to find out what I can, will let you know what I learn (if they ever pick up the phone).

Am I still eligible if my dad is deceased? He's been dead since 1996 so it's unlikely I'll get him to go to that website

I'm sure glad I found this forum, because every day I learn something new that might actually be useful. Today I saw a post that mentioned the Z plan, which is apparently for families of Ford retirees. My dad worked for Ford Aerospace for a while in the 80's but I am not sure he was there long enough to receive a retirement deal. I'm also not clear as to whether this plan is truly for all immediate family, or just for spouses (both of my parents are deceased). Does anyone know more about this plan? It sounds like a very good discount, from what I can gather on the website.