alfredck Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 (edited) Hi everyone. I'm a new member and have been reading some of the posts on here for a week or 2 now. I ordered the 2009 FEHL in early June but have yet to receive a VIN. My question is about the Energy Flow Monitor. I know that the Navigation System is highly praised but I really would prefer to not dish out $2000 for it. And I have been okay with that thought mostly because I have a GPS system on my phone that does most things that the Ford Nav would do, except of course the Energy Flow Monitor... How essential is the Energy Flow Monitor? How do you know if you're on gas or electric without the Energy Flow Monitor? I've read before that there is an instantenous MPG gauge under the speedometer. I happen to have rented an 08 Escape (gas) this week, and it does have an MPG gauge, but it was highly disappointing. All it was was a gauge that consists of 5 bars, and when I use the cruise control on the freeway it was almost always at the 5 bars. Is this the same gauge that Escape Hybrids have? I certainly hope not... If 5 bars indicate an average of 25MPG, then I'm very concerned that it's not going to give me an accurate reflection whether the car is using gas or electric... And I know that I can probably buy an aftermarket gauge reader, but I just wonder what the OEM products offer... Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!! Edited July 27, 2008 by alfredck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryG Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 Hi everyone. I'm a new member and have been reading some of the posts on here for a week or 2 now. I ordered the 2009 FEHL in early June but have yet to receive a VIN. My question is about the Energy Flow Monitor. I know that the Navigation System is highly praised but I really would prefer to not dish out $2000 for it. And I have been okay with that thought mostly because I have a GPS system on my phone that does most things that the Ford Nav would do, except of course the Energy Flow Monitor... How essential is the Energy Flow Monitor? How do you know if you're on gas or electric without the Energy Flow Monitor? I've read before that there is an MPG gauge under the speedometer. I happen to have rented an 08 Escape (gas) this week, and it does have an MPG gauge, but it was highly disappointing. All it was was a gauge that consists of 5 bars, and when I use the cruise control on the freeway it was almost always at the 5 bars. Is this the same gauge that Escape Hybrids have? I certainly hope not... If 5 bars indicate an average of 25MPG, then I'm very concerned that it's not going to give me an accurate reflection whether the car is using gas or electric... And I know that I can probably buy an aftermarket gauge reader, but I just wonder what the OEM products offer... Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!! I keep my '05 Nav sys on the Energy Flow Screen most of the time to monitor state of charge (SOC), charging, discharging, regen and the warm-up strategy. The warm-up strategy is when the electric motors provide all the torque while the PCM retards the engine timing at an idle to heat up the CAT converter quicker for emissions purposes. The old Nav sys is not that good and wasn't the reason I purchases the thing. The new 2nd Generation Nav Sys together with Sync and Sirius that comes in the FEH/MMH is top of the line and state of the Art. It has a 10 Gig hard drive for down loading CD's and can also play DVD's. The new system can also be reprogrammed for future technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocargo Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I have loaded '08 MMH with all goodies and seldom to never use the flow monitor. BUT I imagine that if I ever ran out of gas that I would want to know the charge level of my battery so I could EV mode to a gas station. Yes, I ran out of gas once in my Prius and drove EV to a gas station. AFA the Navigation system in the '08, I would prefer to buy my own since No Bluetooth for cell Phone. No Backup reverse Camera. No HD Storage. I will say that of all nav systems my cars have, the MMH is the best of all mine for user features and ease of use. I can actually set destinations while driving, as long as it's in the nav's address book. If it were an option, I would replace mine with one from an '09. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazjedi Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I have loaded '08 MMH with all goodies and seldom to never use the flow monitor. BUT I imagine that if I ever ran out of gas that I would want to know the charge level of my battery so I could EV mode to a gas station. Yes, I ran out of gas once in my Prius and drove EV to a gas station. AFA the Navigation system in the '08, I would prefer to buy my own since No Bluetooth for cell Phone. No Backup reverse Camera. No HD Storage. I will say that of all nav systems my cars have, the MMH is the best of all mine for user features and ease of use. I can actually set destinations while driving, as long as it's in the nav's address book. If it were an option, I would replace mine with one from an '09. Maybe the nav system from the 09 will become an item off of Ebay and you could possibly replace your 08's with the new 09 nav system and sell your old one. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donaldo Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Don't worry about not having the nav/energy flow screen. You still can get the same MPGs as everyone else does. The flow screens can help you learn how to adjust your driving to maximize MPG, but after a few months it becomes automatic anyway. Your FEH will have a text-based Message Center that displays most of the critical info you'll need. If you want more info than that, you can get a Scangage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyk24 Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Don't worry about not having the nav/energy flow screen. You still can get the same MPGs as everyone else does. The flow screens can help you learn how to adjust your driving to maximize MPG, but after a few months it becomes automatic anyway. Your FEH will have a text-based Message Center that displays most of the critical info you'll need. If you want more info than that, you can get a Scangage. You can purchase a scanguage II unit and have a lot of information at your fingertips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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