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akirby

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Everything posted by akirby

  1. It's $750 good if you're paying cash. Maybe they're just cutting back on incentives - happens all the time.
  2. Just to clarify - using Nitrogen doesn't affect your mileage. Keeping your tires properly inflated does and Nitrogen helps with that because it leaks out more slowly. But as long as you check your tire pressure regularly you'll get the same results with plain old air.
  3. There is some type of change available but nobody's sure what it does but others have reported an improvement.
  4. It has to be thin - otherwise it wouldn't be able to roll up.
  5. Perhaps I overreacted, but when people make statements like "I like to fiddle with my nav system all the time", "I'm a good multi-tasker so it's not a problem", and "it's my right to do whatever I want" it tends to set me off. I'll simply reiterate another poster's suggestion - please don't enter destinations while driving. And don't watch DVDs or read books, either. It's dangerous. End of discussion.
  6. What a stupid, selfish statement. I couldn't care less what you do in the privacy of your home, but when you're driving on a public street where your actions can affect others then you do NOT have the RIGHT to do whatever you please. I was simply pointing out that making this modification so you can enter addresses while YOU are driving is dangerous and that the "need" to do this is overstated. I can understand allowing a passenger to do it and have no problem with it. I just hope when you do wreck that it's a one-car accident and your selfishness doesn't affect other people. I'll even nominate you for a Darwin award.
  7. Why do I care? Because some idiot who's trying to type in an address might just cross the center line and hit me or my family head on. And typing in an address takes your eyes off the road much longer than most other distractions. You can't prevent a driver from eating, reading or otherwise not paying attention to the road, but this is one feature that can be controlled. I understand it's a nice feature for the passenger to use - unfortunately they can't reliably tell whether it's the passenger or driver using it. There is only one mfr that offers this feature from the factory according to Ford - all others use the same type of safety lockout. My point is that it's such a trivial inconvenience to pull over to the side of the road or get off the interstate once or twice a year compared to depending on drivers to be mature and responsible and not take their eyes off the road. We let 16 year olds drive now - would you trust one not to be playing with their nav system?
  8. Are you filling the tank with the car completely off? Or do you leave it running or in the ON position?
  9. Try New Jersey - it's still illegal for drivers to pump their own gas. It's a "safety" issue. Yeah, right.......
  10. I just don't understand why you would need to enter a NEW address while moving so often that this becomes an issue. Don't you have the address before you start? Given that you can store multiple addresses and select them as destinations while you're moving - I just don't see the NEED to do this more than once in a blue moon. Or is it just a case of being lazy and not putting the address in before you leave?
  11. Wow - you're correct. The sensor does default back to ON when you restart the vehicle. This is definitely a bug in the software. However, please note that all you have to do is hit the Reset button when you put it into Reverse to turn off the sensor. So, in effect, there is a dash button to hit.
  12. $75 is the limit for X plan - I assume A plan is the same. Unless it's a lease - I think there can be an "acquisition fee" on a lease around that amount. The rules are on the employee website where you manage your pins - go look it up and print it out if necessary.
  13. The new Nav system in the MKS, 2009 Escape and I'm sure many other 09/10 models allows you to input a destination by voice command while moving. THAT is the safe way to do it, not by allowing you to type in an address while driving at the same time. What functions (other than typing in a new address) do you need to do while moving that you can't?
  14. Stop thinking about it as $18/month and think about the total cost. As an example (YMMV): My last 3 vehicles were kept 2 years beyond the factory warranty. 2 rangers and a Lincoln LS. No repairs out of warranty other than maintenance items. My wife's last 2 vehicles were kept 2 years (Expedition) and 1 year (Aviator) beyond the factory warranty. No repairs, although the Aviator probably would have required some work over the next 2 years if we hadn't traded it in for a new Edge. If I had purchased extended warranties on these 5 vehicles it would have cost me $7500 ($1500 each). Right now I'm $7500 ahead. Even if I had to buy a new engine for $4K tomorrow, I'm still $3500 ahead. The only time I advocate buying an extended warranty of any kind is if you simply cannot afford to pay for an unexpected larger repair out of pocket. Then you buy the warranty up front and finance it so you're making a small monthly payment rather than a single large repair bill. If it somehow gives you "peace of mind" to have a warranty then fine. Just understand that the odds of recovering what you spend or even breaking even are not in your favor. If it was, the warranty providers would go out of business.
  15. Make sure they replace the entire WHEEL, not just the RIM.
  16. akirby

    MPG??????

    Wider? If you notice the tire sizes above, they go from 235 to 245 so you're only gaining 10 mm of width (4.2%) going from the 17 to the 18 or 20 inch wheels. That is not enough to make a noticeable difference in fuel economy. In fact the tire compound and tire pressure have WAY more impact than 10 mm would. Most of the friction comes from the air and trying to push a brick through it rather than from the tires. That's why the mileage drops so much when you go from 65 to 75 or 85 - takes a lot of power to push that air out of the way.
  17. akirby

    MPG??????

    Larger diameter tires (has nothing to do with the wheel size) cause the engine to run at a lower RPM than smaller tires at a given speed. Therefore, everything else being equal (rolling resistance, weight, etc.) a larger tire should yield better FE than a smaller tire. However, I don't think the difference would be noticeable under most conditions. The point was that smaller tires won't improve fuel economy and could actually decrease it.
  18. akirby

    MPG??????

    What makes you think a smaller tire yields better mpg? There is less than 1" difference in the overall height of the tires: 235/65R17 27.4" 245/60R18 28" 245/50R20 28.3"
  19. The PTU gasket is showing up within the first year so it's not a long term concern. I was basing the quality estimate on other similar new Ford vehicles like the Fusion which has been out for almost 3 years and is built on the same platform. The problems that are being seen now are normally parts or engineering issues that show up under warranty and once fixed do not reoccur. Squeaks, rattles and chronic parts failures are not common. There are no guarantees of course, and every mfr puts out a lemon from time to time. Personally, I'd rather keep the money in my pocket. The odds are always in your favor over the long term (over several vehicles). If it wasn't then warranty companies would go broke.
  20. That's why you should take Wikipedia info with a grain of salt. It's just plain wrong on this one.
  21. Everyone??? :shades: Glad you got it working.
  22. The powertrain warranty is actually 5 yrs/60k miles. 100K extended warranty should be in the $1500-$2000 range. As reliable as these vehicles seem to be (PTU gasket notwithstanding) I would pocket the money and take your chances.
  23. The way you posted it - yes, but you took them out of context. One post was referring to how the autounlock feature works relative to opening the driver's door. The second was a response to Williston about being able to open the *passenger* door even when the doors were locked. I should have added the caveat that Ford's allow you to open the front doors whether they are locked or not and that opening them has no effect on the rear door locks unless the autounlock feature is enabled - if so then opening the driver's door will unlock all the doors.
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