Serraph

Awesome dealer you have there. Some of us were left clueless as to our preorders and dealers weren't very informative and we had to look elsewhere for any inkling of news and info.

If I have an Impala with DRL I would turn it off too. Don't want to get caught driving in a Chevy. Maybe that's why. Ok was kidding but you do have a point with the DRL looking nice. We see them a lot on German cars.

You're the lucky one, you have DRL. Me wants..... as well as a few others on here.

Totally agree with you there.

Would this work with MLT?

Don't forget conquest and loyalty if you have it.

Curious, I was taking a look at your fuelly history. Why are you filling up every 2-4gallons?

The rocking back and forth could be from the car adjusting to the side winds instead of having you veer off.

Congrats, looking forward to the pix. Took me a few days to get the pix on my Champagne one since it's always cloudy here. Enjoy. Ooh, maybe I should take a pix with the car tinted as well. It's been really sunny here lately and give something to compare.

Yes we do remember. It was worth the wait IMO. Like I've said many times before we kept coming back to the Lexus dealer due to the massive delay on the MKZ but in the end we stuck with the Z and it was the best decision ever. We're extremely happy with the MKZ and will probably look at Lincoln again in 4-5 years for the wifey. She wants the MKC but we're going to wait for the 2nd MY MKC and not jump at it the moment it's available for preorder.

yes, I've read it early this morning. It's way one sided. Seems almost a joke of some sort. Every thing was nitpicked and exaggerated beyond belief. So I don't take it seriously. Not everything you read on the interweb is true and it's the author's opinion as with all reviewers.

That's good, last I've read it was ETA of May 12. Make sure you go over everything before you take delivery.

Speaking of night driving, can you see your headlights move as you go around corners? Some are having a hard time seeing it.

It is a valid question. If you're getting a hybrid, then they excel in city driving. If you do a lot of highway, then it's better to get gas one. Also there are some issues with the first MY Fusions about under reporting MPG. Just take a look at Fuelly and you can see where the ranges are. That should give you some idea. For me, anything over 35mpg is good. We're replacing a suv that is getting like 15mpg and have a Prius as well that's getting 45mpg. Currently now I only have about 600miles on the odometer and my lifetime average is about 38.8. Once the break in period is over, I will reset it once it hits around 2k miles and perhaps change the oil. On regarding forums, there are some that are argumentative and some are extremely nice. Every one has an opinion. Most of us here are to gather information and processing that information is up to you. It's a small community for 2013 MKZ and some of the other forums aren't getting as much traffic as this one. So, don't hate us all.

Are you actively tracking the VIN# or have been contacted weekly with status by your dealer or LCS? Most if not all preorders were delivered by now. Like some of the other posters said, it varies on trim, color, etc and dealer allocation.

Found a great post by Hybridbear that summarizes efficiency in hybrid cars. We all know that our hybrids are more efficient than a gas only car, but have we really thought about why? I believe that understanding why will make all of us more efficient drivers. There are 3 main ways that our hybrids increase efficiency over a gas only car: Driving in EV mode Turning off the ICE when not needed Regenerative Braking I will examine each method and how it increases the efficiency of the car. Driving in EV mode Given that all of our energy comes from gasoline, why is driving in EV mode better than driving with an ICE only? The answer can be found from examining the EPA ratings for PHEVs or BEVs. The MPGe ratings of these vehicles are often around 100 MPGe combined, with numbers as high as 120 MPGe in city driving. So, what is MPGe? Saying that the Fusion Energi gets an EPA rated 108 MPGe city means that on 33.7 kWh of electricity a Fusion Energi can go 108 miles on the city test cycle. 33.7 kWh is the amount of energy contained in a gallon of gasoline as measured in kWh. Each gallon of gas contains 125,000 BTUs, or approximately 31,000 calories if we think about it as a source of energy like we measure food. 125,000 BTUs equals 33.7 kWh of electrical energy. Why are the MPGe ratings so high? Electric motors are much more efficient than gasoline engines. According to the Dept of Energy (http://www.fuelecono...v/feg/atv.shtml) only about 15% of the energy in each gallon of gas is converted into kinetic energy in city driving and about 26% in highway driving. Using an electric motor to provide propulsion means that about 60% of the energy is converted into kinetic energy according to the Dept of Energy (http://www.fuelecono...eg/evtech.shtml). This is why driving in EV mode is better and why PHEVs and BEVs can drive much farther on a lesser amount of energy. The battery pack of the Nissan Leaf stores less energy than is found in a gallon of gasoline and can still carry that car almost 100 miles between charges. The C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi store 6.5 kWh of energy in the battery to drive about 20 miles; that is equivalent amount of energy to 1/5 of a gallon or 24.7 ounces of gasoline. With that tiny amount of electrical energy those cars can go farther because an electric motor is much more efficient. Electric motors do not waste as much energy as heat losses compared to an ICE. They are also not affected by varying atmospheric conditions since they are not using air to initiate combustion. Since as much as 75% of the energy in a gallon of gas is converted to heat energy by the ICE this is a big advantage for the electric motor. What does this have to do with a hybrid? Our cars do not plug in to an outlet to charge and get EV only driving, but they do run for upwards of 50% of the miles in the city using only the energy stored in the battery. This means that when we are running in EV mode we are seeing much higher efficiency than if we were driving an ICE only car. When designing a vehicle the ICE must be large enough to provide sufficient power for maximum acceleration conditions. This means that the ICE is much too big for everyday driving and that there is a lot of inefficiency when running an ICE with a low power demand. The hybrid turns the ICE into an electric generator by artificially increasing the power demand when driving with the ICE to a level where the ICE is more efficient. Hybrids also include a smaller ICE that is able to more often run at its peak efficiency. This means that the car is most efficient in EV mode at lower power demands, and more efficient running the ICE under higher power demands. For us to maximize our EV mode driving and our fuel economy we want to use EV mode as much as possible when the power demand is low, and use the ICE when the power demand is higher. Turning off the ICE when not needed Since our cars can turn off the ICE when it is not needed we don’t waste fuel idling unnecessarily. When decelerating there is no need for the ICE to run and burn gas, yet in gas only cars it does. When stopped there is no need for the ICE to run and burn gas, yet it does in gas only cars. This doesn’t mean that we can sit and leave our cars turned on for long periods while stopped because this will use up the hybrid battery and make the ICE come on to generate electricity. Regenerative Braking Another big inefficiency with gas only cars is braking. Brake pads and rotors turn momentum into heat energy, effectively wasting that energy. The regenerative braking system in our cars seems to recover about 70-80% of the kinetic energy the car has when we begin braking. That is a huge improvement over the 0% recovered by traditional friction brakes. This helps our efficiency in city driving. Driving conditions for peak efficiency Based on the above information we see that for peak efficiency we want to accelerate using the ICE, then back off once reaching cruising speed and use the electric motor to maintain our cruising speed. Since the electric motor’s efficiency advantage over the ICE is highest at lower power demands we see the highest results at lower speeds in the city. At 25 MPH the power drawn from the battery to maintain that speed is minimal. I’ve cruised for miles without using the ICE when cruising at 25 MPH without stopping. This is the logic behind the hypermiling technique known as DWB (driving without brakes). The DWB technique involves trying to drive in a manner than you brake and stop as little as possible. While braking is much more efficient in our cars than in a gas only vehicle, it’s still better to brake as little as possible since an electric motor only converts 60% of the electrical energy stored in the battery into kinetic energy and regenerative braking only converts 70% of the kinetic energy back into electrical energy. For example, 1 kWh of electrical energy pulled from the battery would only get you 0.6 kWh of kinetic energy and the 0.6 kWh of kinetic energy would be converted into 0.42 kWh of electrical energy back into the battery through regenerative braking. It is much better to use that 1 kWh to drive 5+ miles without stopping than it is to stop and only recover 0.42 kWh of electrical energy. There are certain routes I have found where I can consistently get better than 60 MPG because I don’t have to stop very often and I can maintain a constant rate of speed. Such routes are the pinnacle of efficiency for a hybrid. I imagine that on those same routes I could get 75 MPG out of a Prius and over 130 MPGe in a C-Max Energi or Fusion Energi. Edited by hybridbear, Today, 11:34 AM.

Does any one know how many destinations it can remember for EV+ ?

We're hoping it was AWD as well. A lot of newer SUV type are or already have AWD. On another note, Lincoln sent us another postcard on the MKC.

http://www.chron.com/cars/article/Why-Prius-owners-drive-like-that-4270897.php It's a great funny article that I've come across on the FFH forums. Ever wonder why hybrid drivers drive like they do? Here's a glimpse into their world.

I know that's why I like reading your posts when I run across them.

I guess you failed to see the humor in the extreme range which you tend to do and plus I put a winky.

So you're basically saying every one who don't wax their car once year is not maintaining their car? To me, it's a preference or a choice if they want to. It's like those swimmers who shave their hair to get that extra oomph. I can see that but that's just not me. Just because they don't do it your way doesn't make it not right. Something you similarly said to XG.

What was my cost on the MKZ Hybrid? It was around 39k and change about 3k off MSRP before tax and license.

I know when it's cold, it's a bit slower to respond but you get use to it. It's not like a smartphone where it's instant. MFT/MLT takes a tad bit longer to register. No more than 1second from what I can tell and that's still pretty fast to me.

Check fuelly.com. Although a lot of the cars are new and under the 2-3k break in period. You can see a lot of them are in the 39mpg+ and that was with winter blend when we first took delivery. A few have gone over 40+ and should pick up more on the summer blend fuel if that's any indication.