boogs Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 (edited) boogs: I don't know if you are using any special photographic technics, but your car looks really nice there. Nope...aside from a quick touch up to balance the exposure (it was a bit washed out from the sun). Nikon D3000, kit lens. oh and thanks! Edited March 25, 2013 by boogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter80 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 You're car looks great, Scooter. And your insight is very helpful. Please post more thoughts when you can. fwiw, you may need to get a rental fee from your dealer for the rear end ad space you've got there, though. Totally! My wife just pestered me about when I'm going to take that off, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluspikez Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Nope...aside from a quick touch up to balance the exposure (it was a bit washed out from the sun). Nikon D3000, kit lens. oh and thanks! I agree, the car looks great! I can vouch for the sterling grey - I love the way it looks, especially after a good wash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtenor Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 This is a photo of my car...just the hood...at sunset...taken with my iPhone Sunset reflection on Eleanor's bonnet...by texastenor, on Flickr I love the way she shines... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdn Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Picked up today - Gas Titanium, Tuxedo black - such a cool car - awesome to drive and the adaptive cruise control and lane keeping are both incredible. Kind of scary where we've not come with cars. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jared6788 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Congrats! I personally like those Y wheels better than the H. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdn Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Congrats! I personally like those Y wheels better than the H. Thanks, I wasn't a fan of the H either. Somewhat late to this game compared to so many on here that ordered cars and have waited months for deliveries. Didn't know in the beginning why we couldn't find a car on the lots with the Y wheel, then after finding all the good knowledge on this site - found that they were a job 2 addition - so cars are just showing up with them. Personally really like the look they give the car. So many things improving with build time - It was 6 weeks from order day to show up at dealer - took me two more days to get it picked up. Looks like your build is coming up soon - hang in there - so well worth the wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Last night I picked up my sterling grey Fusion Energi Titanium. I am thrilled to finally have this car. Haven't had much chance to drive it yet, so this is more my impressions about taking delivery. It took about 4 hours, including negotiating the trade-in and the financing, and getting briefed on the car. What I have learned on this forum was invaluable. The car had 150 miles on it. The car I ordered is still waiting for a train in Hermosillo, so my dealer found an identical match and had it driven down from Sacramento. Google Maps says the 2 dealers are 116 miles apart. There was a slip of paper in the glovebox that said "This new vehicle was selected at random for road testing following assembly. The odometer reading includes 30 miles registered during this evaluation." The other 4 miles must have just been joy-riding. I had a checklist, assembled from comments on this forum, and went through it carefully. Fit & finish is perfect; no misaligned panels, no problem with the dash-to-door or A-pillar alignment, no headliner problems, no door seal gaps, plastic part not missing from the camera at the rearview mirror, no paint mars on the roof, nothing I can see wrong. Top quality. The moonroof buttons are physical, not capacitive. The pedals do not have aluminum trim. No surprises there. The 12V battery WAS the wrong size. I am so glad I knew to check this, from posts here and in the C-Max forum. The factory had put in a BXT-99R-390. I pointed this out to the sales guy, who brought in the service manager, who had not heard about the issue. I said I wanted a BXT-96R-500 or -590. After a few minutes (while they researched this?), they said they would put one in and had even found one in Parts. I go back today to swap 12Vs. I got both the $750 coupon and the $1500 incentive applied to the purchase. X-Plan price was $2766 below MSRP. Together, that's $5016 below MSRP. Also, X-Plan kept the document fee down to $80. I spent a lot of time with the finance guy. I had decided to take the 0% financing instead of the $1500, because the best rate I could get (from USAA, usually very competitive) was 2.25%, and the total finance charge would have been more than $1500. But then Ford offered me 1.45%, which made $1500 cash a better deal. Took a while to figure that out. Then the finance guy offered me extended warranty and pre-paid maintenance, also at a discount due to X-Plan. The coverage is to 7 years or 60,000 miles. List price is $3495 for extended warranty and $2995 for pre-paid maintenance, but X-Plan gets me those for $2220 and $1889 ($4109 total). I went into this convinced I should not take anything extra offered by the finance guy, but either he is a REALLY GOOD salesman or else this is a good deal (here it is the next morning and I am trying to figure out which). With the pre-paid maintenance, the only things I will pay for in the first 7 years are electricity, gas and tires, and I hope not to buy too much gas. I had 5 years of free maintenance included when I bought my Audi, 15 years ago, and I really liked that. Missed it when it ran out. The only thing that bothers me is the extended warranty. Did I need to buy that? The finance guy presented the 2 parts as one, and only now am I thinking maybe I should have bought the pre-paid maintenance but not the extended warranty. California does not have a cooling off period for cars, so this is all just water over the bridge. Perhaps this is how the dealer stays profitable even when selling at X-Plan... The car was well-prepped. The only sour note there was they had not charged it up. Dealers are still learning about PHEVs. They know to fill the tank, but don't realize that they should also fill the battery. I will mention this to them. Drove the car home and played a bit with the features, but there is so much to learn about this car. At this point, I am completely happy about the car, and very pleased with the dealer (despite my second thoughts about the extended warranty). Oh, I had another car on order -- a retail order which finally got built just this week. Called up that dealer this morning to cancel the order. "No problem!" he said, "we can sell that car in a minute." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neod192 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 rprobst, did you try to negotiate a lower than x-plan price on the car or just took the x-plan price? I'm struggling with that because I have a quote from another dealer for the same car for about $200 under X-plan. I just want my dealer to match that ... the car will be here next week. What does the maintenance plan cover and how much would it cost to do all that at a smaller shop? Oil changes (1 every 10k miles, so 6 @ $50/change = $300)? What else does the car need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Please tell me you didn't pay $2200 for a 7 yr 60K mile ESP plan. The factory powertrain warranty is already 5 yr 60K miles. I think you can get a 7/100K warranty for less than $2K. And you'll only need 6 oil changes and maybe an air filter or two in 60K. Is it too late to get your money back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neod192 Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 www.floodfordesp.com has the PremiumCARE, $0 Deductible, 7 year/60k miles ESP plan for $920. ExtraCARE is $740, BaseCARE is $640 and PowertrainCARE is $560. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 rprobst, did you try to negotiate a lower than x-plan price on the car or just took the x-plan price? I'm struggling with that because I have a quote from another dealer for the same car for about $200 under X-plan. I just want my dealer to match that ... the car will be here next week. What does the maintenance plan cover and how much would it cost to do all that at a smaller shop? Oil changes (1 every 10k miles, so 6 @ $50/change = $300)? What else does the car need? Nope, didn't try to negotiate less than X-Plan. If you can get $200 under X-Plan, go for it. Just check if the fees go up -- X-Plan limits the doc fee to less than $100 (and I was charged $80). Must admit I don't know what the maintenance would cost. The finance guy quoted a number of $3980, which he said came from Edmunds, as the maintenance cost for a Fusion for 7 years. After akirby's comment, I am feeling less happy with my decision... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 OK, I just looked at FloodFordESP.com, I saw in their FAQ something about canceling within 30 days for a $75 cancellation fee. Is this baked in to these ESP plans? That is, will my dealer have to cancel for a $75 fee? Or is that a unique offer that Flood Ford is making? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 And how about the extended warranty? If I wanted to cancel that, is that normal (with some sort of cancellation fee, of course)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 First find out exactly what coverage you have, then get a quote from one of the online places. Then take that to the dealer and ask why they tried to rip you off and demand a refund. If they won't give it to you then cancel it yourself and find a new dealer. Then if you still want to buy them get them somewhere else. A little extra profit isn't so bad but that sounded like a total ripoff. I'd complain to the sales mgr and GM/owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Just got back from the dealer. I cancelled both contracts. The finance guy said sure, no problem, they are cancelable within 30 days (he didn't mention a fee; I'd be willing to pay $75 for my stupidity). Then he said that there's a big meeting next week, and one of the agenda items is a price cut on these precise programs. Funny he didn't tell me yesterday that this is coming up so soon. Nevertheless, I said to cancel them both, and I signed a cancellation form. I won't be surprised if he keeps the form in his desk until next week, calls me with a new lower price, and only then submits the cancellation, if I still insist on canceling. At least that way he would end the month with better numbers. Sorry to be so cynical, but I know how people pump their numbers in my business, and I suspect the car business is similar. Got to say, this guy is a good salesman. I didn't feel pushed. I actually felt like he was doing me a favor. It was only this morning that I doubted my decision. So I will have the option to buy one or both of these contracts next week, at new lower prices. At what price would it be smart to buy PremiumCARE 7/60,000? What is a good price to pay for extending the warranty to 7/60,000? (If there is any price that's a good one for an extended warranty...) And once again this forum has given me great info when I needed it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I *LOVE* adaptive cruise control! Just drove 10 miles through suburban rush hour with hardly ever touching the brake pedal. If you have not yet ordered or picked out your Fusion, get one with adaptive cruise control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 How many miles do you drive per year? If you really want coverage figure out how many miles you'll drive in 7 years and get the Premium Care plan for that length and mileage. A 7 yr/60K mile premium care from Flood Ford is only $740 with a $100 deductible. But remember you get a factory 3/36K bumper to bumper and 5/60K powertrain warranty and the ESP will only cover things not covered by the factory warranty. So your chances of having an expensive repair is minimal. I'd definitely skip the maintenance plan. Just get the stuff done that's required in the owner's manual (not the dealer's $300 we'll inspect everything ripoff service). I don't think it would cost you more than $400 over 60K miles. And you don't have to pay for it all up front - keep your money and only pay for services rendered (No more than $100 the first 3 years). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I do 8000 to 9000 a year. But 7 years from now I expect to be retired, which I guess means I will be driving less. I have done some research (better late than never) and find several ESP offers for 7/60,000 and zero deductible for around $900, about $1000 less than my dealer offered it at. Let's see if their new lower price point next week is competitive with the various online offers -- it will have to be if they have decided to go after the ESP-online business. The pre-paid maintenance sounded good because it reminded me of the offer Audi made (back when they were desperately trying to win market share in the US), but $400 over 60K miles is a trivial amount to cover when it comes up. And a lot less than $1889. Thanks again for good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckokie36 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Last night I picked up my sterling grey Fusion Energi Titanium. I am thrilled to finally have this car. Haven't had much chance to drive it yet, so this is more my impressions about taking delivery. It took about 4 hours, including negotiating the trade-in and the financing, and getting briefed on the car. What I have learned on this forum was invaluable. The car had 150 miles on it. The car I ordered is still waiting for a train in Hermosillo, so my dealer found an identical match and had it driven down from Sacramento. Google Maps says the 2 dealers are 116 miles apart. There was a slip of paper in the glovebox that said "This new vehicle was selected at random for road testing following assembly. The odometer reading includes 30 miles registered during this evaluation." The other 4 miles must have just been joy-riding. I had a checklist, assembled from comments on this forum, and went through it carefully. Fit & finish is perfect; no misaligned panels, no problem with the dash-to-door or A-pillar alignment, no headliner problems, no door seal gaps, plastic part not missing from the camera at the rearview mirror, no paint mars on the roof, nothing I can see wrong. Top quality. The moonroof buttons are physical, not capacitive. The pedals do not have aluminum trim. No surprises there. The 12V battery WAS the wrong size. I am so glad I knew to check this, from posts here and in the C-Max forum. The factory had put in a BXT-99R-390. I pointed this out to the sales guy, who brought in the service manager, who had not heard about the issue. I said I wanted a BXT-96R-500 or -590. After a few minutes (while they researched this?), they said they would put one in and had even found one in Parts. I go back today to swap 12Vs. I got both the $750 coupon and the $1500 incentive applied to the purchase. X-Plan price was $2766 below MSRP. Together, that's $5016 below MSRP. Also, X-Plan kept the document fee down to $80. I spent a lot of time with the finance guy. I had decided to take the 0% financing instead of the $1500, because the best rate I could get (from USAA, usually very competitive) was 2.25%, and the total finance charge would have been more than $1500. But then Ford offered me 1.45%, which made $1500 cash a better deal. Took a while to figure that out. Then the finance guy offered me extended warranty and pre-paid maintenance, also at a discount due to X-Plan. The coverage is to 7 years or 60,000 miles. List price is $3495 for extended warranty and $2995 for pre-paid maintenance, but X-Plan gets me those for $2220 and $1889 ($4109 total). I went into this convinced I should not take anything extra offered by the finance guy, but either he is a REALLY GOOD salesman or else this is a good deal (here it is the next morning and I am trying to figure out which). With the pre-paid maintenance, the only things I will pay for in the first 7 years are electricity, gas and tires, and I hope not to buy too much gas. I had 5 years of free maintenance included when I bought my Audi, 15 years ago, and I really liked that. Missed it when it ran out. The only thing that bothers me is the extended warranty. Did I need to buy that? The finance guy presented the 2 parts as one, and only now am I thinking maybe I should have bought the pre-paid maintenance but not the extended warranty. California does not have a cooling off period for cars, so this is all just water over the bridge. Perhaps this is how the dealer stays profitable even when selling at X-Plan... The car was well-prepped. The only sour note there was they had not charged it up. Dealers are still learning about PHEVs. They know to fill the tank, but don't realize that they should also fill the battery. I will mention this to them. Drove the car home and played a bit with the features, but there is so much to learn about this car. At this point, I am completely happy about the car, and very pleased with the dealer (despite my second thoughts about the extended warranty). Oh, I had another car on order -- a retail order which finally got built just this week. Called up that dealer this morning to cancel the order. "No problem!" he said, "we can sell that car in a minute." Where did you find posts on the Fusion battery size being wrong? I have searched forums and can only find posts about dead 12v batteries being replaced? I also did a google search, just not using the right words I guess. Your help would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Never do $0 deductible - do at least $100. And why on earth would you buy the warranty from the same yahoo that tried to rip you off in the first place? But it from Flood Ford or some other dealer. It doesn't matter where you buy it - any Ford dealer can service it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Never do $0 deductible - do at least $100. And why on earth would you buy the warranty from the same yahoo that tried to rip you off in the first place? But it from Flood Ford or some other dealer. It doesn't matter where you buy it - any Ford dealer can service it. Exactly -- you have a dealer that was fine & dandy with taking you for an extra $1,000 or so profit, why should the reaction to that be giving them only $100 or so profit? I say go buy from the source that offered the low price up front and the dealer can get zero profit on it for their attempt to take you for a ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Where did you find posts on the Fusion battery size being wrong? I have searched forums and can only find posts about dead 12v batteries being replaced? I also did a google search, just not using the right words I guess. Your help would be appreciated! Well, I am trying to find this now, but can't remember where I saw it, and my searches are also coming up empty. Frustrating! But there's more: I took the car back to the dealer and told them the wrong battery was in it. A tech tried to put in the battery I claimed was the right one. It doesn't fit. The 12V battery in the trunk has to be vented (or else hydrogen gas could build up; not a good thing). The battery that came with the car fits the vent, the battery I claimed was the right one does not. So I was wrong, the car was delivered with the right battery. I apologized for the confusion and slunk away. Naturally I came home and started searching for where I got this idea, so I could see how I mis-read it ... Or find out who had said something that isn't right. But now I can't find it. I will keep looking, because this is bugging me. In the meantime, don't worry about your battery size, seems like Fusions are being delivered correctly after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rprobst Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Exactly -- you have a dealer that was fine & dandy with taking you for an extra $1,000 or so profit, why should the reaction to that be giving them only $100 or so profit? I say go buy from the source that offered the low price up front and the dealer can get zero profit on it for their attempt to take you for a ride. Yeah, good point, akirby and jeff_h. If I buy ESP, it won't be from the dealer who sold me the car. Flood and Champion seem to have the lowest prices. And I plan to tell Sunnyvale that their asking price for ESP is a joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pers69 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 And is the battery issue limited to the plug in hybrids? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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