1984Poke

murphy62, thank you for the link (I like "Car Talk" and listen to it often). However--and I can't remember where I read this, perhaps it was in one of the many reviews I read of the MKZ Hybrid--I think I read that the EPA testing of the MKZ by Lincoln was done with 91 octane gasoline. Still, I thank you for the link.

I have had my '13 MKZ Hybrid about 3 weeks now (took delivery on 20 June 2013) and I am very happy with my car's acceleration although I must acknowledge that I've never been a lead-footed driver. So far, I've not had reason to "floor it" due to some dangerous situation. Given that I have only a little more than 1000 miles on my new car, I'm trying to baby the engine a bit during the first couple thousand miles. However, relatively soon, I'll be going on vacation, putting 1000+ miles on it within a week, so I'm anxious to see what my mileage will be like and presumably at some point during that time I'll have need to accelerate very quickly. I have read that you'll get more pep from the gasoline engine if you use premium fuel. For that reason, in the very few fill-ups I've done so far, I've put 91 octane in it. I'm not sure if I will continue to use 91 octane but probably will during the upcoming vacation road trip. Later, as I settle in to mostly in-town driving, I may back off to "regular" or 87 octane (or maybe "mid-grade" or 89 octane).

I used mine in my '13 MKZ Hybrid for the very first time two days ago (Thursday of this week) and it worked flawlessly. I usually drive directly into a parallel spot as I usually arrive at work early enough to get my pick of spots but, this time, no. There were cars in at least every other spot so I thought, "Well, time to try this out and see if it works." It did. Perfectly. It was weird not to have my hands on the steering wheel, but I just followed directions and it worked perfectly. I then bragged about it to some of my colleagues at work . . . . :-)

Yes, the Lincoln version of the Ford Explorer was the Lincoln Aviator. I was seriously considering buying one in 2002 when a Ford dealer salesman told me, flatly, "You don't want one. They've got problems." I grant you, this was a Ford dealer salesman, not a Lincoln dealer salesman, telling me this, but I ended up buying a 2002 Explorer, Eddie Bauer version, that I really, really liked and that served me very well until i sold it in 2007 to buy my first Lincoln (an MKZ).