rprobst

If you can't find someone on the forums willing to give you an X-Plan PIN, simply join the Mustang Club of America for $50 and get your PIN from them. With X-Plan, I paid about $100 over dealer invoice, with no haggling. But did have to call a few dealers to find one who would accept X-Plan for a Fusion Energi.

Sounds interesting! Let us know if/when you hear from either one.

Well, that's an interesting thought! Should be possible to remove the 2013 passenger seat and replace it with a fully-adjustable one. So this might also be a change that could be retro-fitted. But not as easily as a software update...

Oh, thought of one other change I'd like to see: Ford shouldn't give up on working to reduce regen brake-grabbing in future years. The Fusion is better than the Prius in this regard, but the Tesla is better than the Fusion. Maybe this could even be a software change that could be retrofitted to my '13?

1. No, I don't need the tension rods adjusted. My problem is that I have stood up when I was looking in the trunk and clobbered my head into the trunk lid. Eventually I learned not to do this. I think the trunk lid is poorly designed (or maybe, more accurately, is well designed in an over-constrained space, due to the sloping roofline). I would definitely prefer a lift-back, if offered in the US. 4. I love the easy access function that slides my seat back. Great feature! But even with this, the door sill is large and the seat is set back so that I have to swivel my feet out and then stand up. The very first reviews of the Fusion commented on this, and I do find it to be true. The Fusion is harder to get out of than the Accord. All that said, I love this car.

What a great topic, and what a lot of good ideas! Here are 6 changes I would like to see retro-fitted to my 2013 Energi: 1. Change MFT home screen audio quadrant to show last 9 source/channel combinations that I have listened to, rather than 9 channels of the current-selected source, so I can easily tab between my favorites, wherever they come from 2. Change moonroof button operation so that when the roof is tilted and I want to open it (or vice versa) I do NOT need to push the close button first -- make it work the way my Audi's moonroof works 3. Make AppLink work with Sync gen 2 4. Make the numerical read-out of cruise control set-speed much easier to read (currently in extreme lower left, in white letters, in small font size) -- ideally would be on speedometer itself, but at least should be larger, more intense color and closer to the speedometer 5. Extend adaptive cruise minimum speed down to 0 -- not sure if this can be retrofitted or might require hardware changes 6. Agree strongly that parking-assist forces you to pull too far forward before it engages -- creeps can pull up behind you and try to steal the parking space Here are changes that will be impossible to retrofit but I hope future Fusion buyers can benefit from: 1. Fix the trunk lid so it doesn't hit people in the back of the head! 2. Agree that the ideal solution would be to import the Mondeo lift-back 5-door 3. Steerable / shapeable headlight patterns 4. Easier access to both driver and passenger seat -- currently have to swivel around to get out 5. Fully-adjustable 10-way power passenger seat 6. Agree that night vision would be cool 7. Agree that true auto-pilot steering will be tablestakes during Fusion's lifespan 8. And of course a higher-capacity battery with a smaller envelope and better placement in the car -- but this will have to wait until battery technology improves significantly

Instructions for turning off the seat-belt warning are in the owner's manual

It's just screwed onto the base; easy to remove. I took mine off the base right away. Mine is silver because Greenlight didn't have sterling grey then (boo-hoo). So it doesn't quite match my car.

Like the interior color! Where did you get that?

Yes, agree in principle, except I went the other way and decided to suffer the black interior in order to get the Intelligent Access. In the end, I am very glad to have the Titanium, but I do wish it came in a lighter interior. Still, I wouldn't trade; Titanium really satisfies me.

So when is the NorCal owners event going to be scheduled? Or if it has been scheduled, how do I get an invite?

You should see my wife put something in the trunk now, after banging her head really badly last month. She ducks down like she's crossing an obstacle course with live rounds overhead. Once you clobber yourself on that trunk lid once or twice, you don't forget.

Yes, I would definitely have bought a Fusion hatchback if it had been available. Like that feature very much. Of course, with the big Energi battery, there would not be a flat trunk floor, but a hatch would give nice access to the trunk space that you do have.

That's nothing, for my car ETIS said "Less rear seatbelts" -- but it still had them.

It is trivially easy to remove the existing antenna. It just unscrews. It is also super easy to attach the shark fin to the base; just screw on the coiled wire from the fin. I'm a software guy and all-thumbs with hardware. I had no problems at all. The only challenge I faced was getting things lined up straight. Murphy's template is a great idea. Should be very easy to make one (until VG gets the idea to include that in their product!). Just take your time and measure multiple times to make sure the template is centered around the base and pointed precisely north-south along the car axis. I used masking tape segments to make an outline instead of cutting out a template, and I re-positioned the tape segments 3 times before I was confident I had it lined up well. Minimal manual dexterity required!

That is such a good idea that Visual Garage ought to ship a paper mask like that with every shark fin! Hey, VG, are you listening?

Really good point. Once a gas car has shipped, that is as clean as that particular car is ever going to be. But for an electric car shipped to a state that uses coal to produce some of its electricity, that car will "magically" become cleaner when that state's energy mix shifts over time, with coal generation being decommissioned and replaced by natural gas or wind or solar.

That's what I did. I ordered the screen protector and the VG shark fin before the car arrived. I had a little pile of homecoming presents waiting for the car.

There is no place in the US where an electric car is worse for the environment than a gas car that gets 30 mpg or less (and the average for all gas cars is less than 30 mpg): http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/images/cv/electric-cars-global-warming-emissions-fact-2.jpg So unless you are driving a very small gasser that gets above 30 mpg, an electric car would be better for the environment, no matter where you live. And for much of the country, electricity is so clean that an electric car beats a gas car that gets 50 mpg -- and how many of those are there? The idea that electric cars strain the power grid is another myth. Maybe that might be true after years of robust sales of electric cars... but that would give the power distributors plenty of time to adapt to the anticipated increased load. That all said, I never want to worry about range, so I prefer a plug-in hybrid and I am very happy with my Fusion Energi. But Tesla has been incredibly successful. I see many more Teslas on the streets than Fusions.

Don't know. The instructions from VG stress that you want to line it up carefully before pressing it on.

I have the VG shark fin and have had 2 car washes so far. No problems. As has been said, you will not have a 2nd chance to align the fin, the tape on it is REALLY sticky, so line it up carefully. Measure twice, cut once. Except not "cut" but "stick". I placed the fin where I thought it should go, put tape around the fin to outline it, then measured the distances between the tape segments and the antenna base and realized I had not properly centered the fin the first time. So I moved the tape segments and measured again. And then adjusted again to get it really centered. All this before removing the protective cover over the fin's sticky tape. Once you touch the sticky tape on the fin to your roof, you are committed. But you could still get a slight angle as you place down the back of the fin, so keep it carefully centered until it is all touched down. Then, as the instructions say, press firmly for a couple of minutes.

I covered the nubby on the dash with the silvered envelope my Fastrak transponder came with, to block the signal when going through tollgates with a carpool full. This did not affect my GPS reception at all. I really doubt that nubby is the GPS antenna. In fact, I think the GPS antenna is in the base on the roof. Can anyone who really knows please confirm?

My screen protector shows a few fingerprints, but many many fewer than the bare screen. I count it as a win. But you're right, it isn't perfect, and I still need to wipe off the prints every day or so.

OK, could be. All I know is that Visual Garage told me the shark fin would not affect my GPS reception. I assumed that meant the base of the antenna on the roof was the GPS antenna. Of course, if it's not, then they weren't lying, because putting the fin on wouldn't affect reception of the nubby on the dashboard.

Yes, it is a do-it-all antenna (in 2 parts, base plus buggy-whip, as shaggy said). There is no antenna in the windshield or rear window.