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rprobst

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  1. rprobst
    Yes, my dad taught me to drive with a manifold pressure gauge. He put one on each of his cars, and wrote articles about the topic for car magazines. He was an automotive engineer and the son of a famous automotive engineer. I thought he was crazy to put ugly after-market gauges on his cars, with wire bundles coming out from under the dash. But now that info shows up in pretty little screens, and it all takes me back to when I was learning to drive wisely.
  2. rprobst
    Yes, this is car #3. Part of the fun of buying a Fusion Energi is all the drama of ordering it! JD, for the spreadsheet, this car was ordered on 3/1, built on 2/23, delivered to dealer on 3/23. VIN is 3FA6P0SUXDR254669. Otherwise it is identical to car #2. Except it will have a few more miles on it when delivered. It was ordered by a dealer in Elk Grove, near Sacramento. That's about 110 miles away from here. Yesterday my dealer -- Sunnyvale Ford, highly recommended! -- sent a driver up to Elk Grove to pick the car up. So it will have whatever miles they put on it at the factory, plus 110 miles to drive it down from Elk Grove. Car #1 was built this week, and may get on a train quickly, who knows? I still have not cancelled that order. Guess I will do that while driving away in car #3. Car #2 was built on 2/23 and is still on the ramp, waiting for a train. I'm afraid it may have fallen into the TBD hole. I am so glad my dealer was pro-active and found a matching car at a Sacramento dealer, delivered last Saturday. I may keep tracking cars #1 and #2, just out of curiosity, and because I like talking with Cyberdman. Or I may just get busy enjoying car #3. Yahoo! A Fusion Energi in my driveway tonight!
  3. rprobst
    Cyberdman, can you give me status on another Fusion Energi? When was it delivered to the dealer? VIN is 3FA6P0SUXDR254669
  4. rprobst
    Woo-hoo! I am a HAPPY CAMPER! My car is at the dealer tonight; I will pick it up tomorrow. The car I ordered from dealer-stock on 3/1 is still going through the "Mexican sun bake-testing" QC procedure, after more than 4 weeks. But my dealer has found an *identical* car, same options, same color, even built on the very same day (2/23), and today they sent a driver over to another dealer to pick it up. I am really really happy with this dealer, Sunnyvale Ford. They have treated me extremely well, and they deserve your business if you are in Silicon Valley. I can't believe this day has finally arrived.
  5. rprobst
    Well, that's reality. Anticipating lights and avoiding starts from zero is more efficient. It's just physics. If the Fusion teaches us to drive that way, we are doing a better job of using resources efficiently.
  6. rprobst
    What can CSM do to help? My car was built on 2/23 and is still there in sunny Mexico.
  7. rprobst
    Re deposits, the dealer who sold me the retail order didn't ask for one. The dealer who sold me the dealer-stock order asked for $500. Both were X-Plan, at $105 over dealer invoice (the dealer-stock car is $710 more expensive because it also has parking assist (which I didn't actually want)).
  8. rprobst
    I got an update from cyberdman today. Good news, bad news. My retail order is being built, right now. But my dealer-stock order, which I ordered because I thought it would get here long before the retail order, is still waiting for a train. It will be really odd if the retail order gets loaded quickly and arrives first. I'm just really glad now that I didn't cancel the retail order. JD, here are the details for the spreadsheet (if you can spare 2 lines for me): Retail order: Ingot silver Fusion Energi Titanium with all major options except parking assist -- VIN 3FA6P0SU6DR282520 Ordered 2/6, built 3/25 “In Production - Body Shop - Ford Hermosillo Assembly, SO Mar-25-2013, 00:00 EDT.” Dealer-stock order: Sterling grey Fusion Energi Titanium with all major options -- VIN 3FA6P0SU5DR254613 Ordered 3/1, built 2/23, waiting for shipment for over 4 weeks “Awaiting Shipment - Origin Received - 91mp275 (Allied Systems Ltd ) Ramp 54, Hermosillo Asy, SO Feb-23-2013, 13:08 MT.”
  9. rprobst
    Hi cyberdman, is VIN 3FA6P0SU5DR254613 still waiting for a train? I know it's been less than 7 days since my last update, but it was last calendar week, so hope I'm not asking too early. Thanks!
  10. rprobst
    Hi Cyberdman, can you give me an update on this car? VIN 3FA6P0SU6DR282520 It was supposed to be built today, I think. Thanks for your time!
  11. rprobst
    Just to the right of the train ramps, you can see the track. Must be done there.
  12. rprobst
    No plug-in hybrid option for the MKZ (sadly). Doesn't "MKZ Energi" have a nice ring to it?
  13. rprobst
    So maybe the dealer you ordered from was less worried about running out of Energis.
  14. rprobst
    Boy, that is so frustrating! Maybe it was held up for additional inspection, but I suspect that these "ramps" that cars sit on while waiting for rail cars are managed on a last-in-first-out basis, so if cars built later get parked in front of my car, they are likely to get on a train before my car does. At least, that's what I heard people say last year when so many gas Fusions disappeared into "TBD hell". I'm a Buddhist, and patience is something I am supposed to be cultivating. This situation is certainly giving me an opportunity to practice that. As I have laid out in another post, I actually have 2 Energis on order. The one waiting for a train is dealer-ordered, the other is retail. It's supposed to be built next week. So it will be fun to see if the 1st-ordered-2nd-built car can get shipped faster than the 2nd-ordered-1st-built car...
  15. rprobst
    If only. Rail cars seem to be in short supply right now. My car has been waiting for a train for 17 days (so far).
  16. rprobst
    Hi cyberdman, is VIN 3FA6P0SU5DR254613 still waiting for a train?
  17. rprobst
    I am interested in lightweight 17’s, to keep the tires that come on my Energi Titanium, but improve the look of the wheels.
  18. rprobst
    I think it may also depend on when you ask. When I started asking in January, possibly the dealers were unsure about how rare the Fusion Energi was going to be, how their allocations would be spread out, etc. With uncertainty, the natural answer is no, we want MSRP or more. But once they had more information, they could relax that stance. I don't work for a dealer and could not tell you that this is how it works. But I can say that Sunnyvale Ford told me no for X-Plan on an Energi in January and then yes in March. And they even allowed X-Plan for dealer inventory, not just retail orders. I am now very happy with Sunnyvale Ford's X-Plan policy.
  19. rprobst
    Question: If I get a flat and don't squirt the fix-a-flat goop into the tire, but just wait for the truck to arrive, is there any reason to replace the TMPS? The old one should still work, right?
  20. rprobst
    "We're going to need a bigger boat" It's simple, just give me 2 lines. What I'm struggling to figure out is how I could put all this into my signature...
  21. rprobst
    I see Teslas every day. Of course, their headquarters is literally across the street from my office, but also, there are a lot of people in Palo Alto who want and can afford a car like that. But I am not willing to buy a pure EV when the infrastructure is not there yet. I don't have "range anxiety", I have range sanity. The right answer for today, IMHO, is a plug-in hybrid. With the right-sized battery: the Volt's is too big, the Plug-in Prius has too small a battery, only Ford and Honda have sized this right. And I prefer a Fusion to an Accord.
  22. rprobst
    I got my second window sticker today. Why would anyone need a second window sticker? Well, it's a story... When I decided in January I was ready to order, my nearest dealer would not honor X-Plan pricing for a Fusion Energi. It took calling 3 more dealers before I found one who would, and then only for retail orders. So on February 6th I ordered the precise car I wanted -- Fusion Energi Titanium, ingot silver, moonroof, adaptive cruise, navigation, driver assist. With X-Plan, $105 over dealer invoice! On February 8th, cyberdman said it was "unscheduled clean". But then the sales rep started to manage my expectations downwards. First he warned that I shouldn't expect the car until April. Then it was April or May, then May. Then he said May or June. I started to think that the dealer had more retail orders than they had allocations, and was trying to see how long I would wait. And just then my nearest dealer called me and asked if I was still shopping for a Fusion Energi. Only under X-Plan, I said. Hold the phone, she said, and then came back and said the general manager had changed the policy, X-Plan was OK for Energis, and even for dealer stock. So I found a car in their inventory with all the right options plus one extra -- parking assist -- that was already built and ready to ship. On March 1st I ordered my second Energi, also under X-Plan. On March 4th, cyberdman told me it was "awaiting shipment on ramp 54". And there it has stood. I just checked with @FordService and it is still on ramp 54 in Hermosillo. I planned to cancel my original order as soon as I placed my second order, but when I got home I realized I didn't necessarily have to, I could just let it ride. And now the original retail order has been scheduled for production, has a window sticker posted, and the sales rep tells me it could be here by the end of April. So there's a race on. Will the dealer-stock order get on a train and get here before the retail-order car gets built and shipped? Or will the dealer-stock car sit under the Mexican sun for a month? Stay tuned...
  23. rprobst
    Thanks, ice-capades, helpful info. Any idea what could be causing the long delays between "Released" and "On Rail Car"?
  24. rprobst
    Techtoys, are you going ahead with this mod? I am interested in hearing about your experience. Hope that you do go ahead, and Jeff, I hope you do it too. I would not be willing to be the first person to do this -- I'm risk-averse about mods -- but where you guys lead, I may follow. Thanks for exploring this option.
  25. rprobst
    BMW has this. Not from start to finish, but you can watch your ordered car go past certain points on the line.
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