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But, before that happened, we in desperation had looked for a 2009 Sable (since we had had Sables since 1988) . Nope, they didn't have any, and were not particularly interested in searching for one at other dealerships. O.K., how about a used Sable/Montego? Oh, well, they had one 2007 Montego, which they said was in "like-new" condition with only 7 k miles. Except it turned-out that the same car just had a front axle replaced, according to its Carfax history(occuring after they had first attempted to sell it to us as in "like-new" condition).. The salesman, claimed that he knew nothing about that, and then downplayed the significance of the axle replacement. Riiight. On a 7,000 mile car - needs a new axle? Doesn't mean a thing....Riiight. Hmmm, so if I had bought that car and was going down the expressway at 60 mph - and the faulty front axle failed.....not a problem???!!!
So, after 22 years of solely owning Mercurys, the attitude and behavior of the local Mercury dealerships finally blew us out of their market.
Hopefully they improved the handling and traction control on the Prius, the 2007 I had was lousy when on the highway with crosswinds, and loss of traction put everyone in a dangerous situation since it cut power 100% to the drive wheels, and if you are trying to get out into traffic, and there is sand or gravel on the road, any slippage and the TC cuts in. This has put us out into traffic with no power. Among a few other things, this was the major thing that caused us to get rid of the Prius. If your a city folk, the Prius is a great car, but live in the country, fergitaboutit.
As for 2010 Prius reliability, you are quite correct that the car was (almost) totally redesigned. However, after searching for as many reviews as I could find that included test drives, I could not find any substantial criticism of its design and performance. To the contrary, they were generally quite favorable.
An exception to the overwhelmingly favorable acclaim might be CarandDriver.com which somewhat grudgingly admitted that the Prius was technologically superior to most other comparable HBs, but described driving it as "boringly normal" (paraphrase). This is probably true - by their standards - which view the ideal cars as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Corvettes, etc. Unfortunately, I (and most other car buyers) are not playing in that league!
Regarding your reports of handling problems with the 2007 Prius, I did not find similar concerns in the reviews that I found (which were mostly about the 2008, 2009 and 2010 models) However, such handling problems may also apply to other hybrids of that size. If the problems that you described are caused by the HB drivetrain, then other brands that are using licensed versions of the Toyota HB design (which include Fusion/Milan and Nissan) may also have that problem.
In any case, as you pointed-out, the 2010 Prius is a redesign and is therefore a "new 1st year" car. Therefore, comparisons to the problems that you reported on your 2007 may not apply at all to this new design. Time will tell (for all hybrids).
According to various forums, Ford Fusions seem to be taking about 8--10 weeks to deliver _once the order is confirmed_, and my Milan hybrid may be delivered as early as 16 weeks. (Others who have ordered Milan hybrids seem to be getting theirs in 10--12 weeks after retail order confirmation.)
I don't dislike the car, when I took a trip to San Jose CA last year, I rented a Prius, frankly because I couldn't get a Camry Hybrid. It was a 2008 model, and it drove a little slower, and got a little less MPG than the one I had, but drove pretty much the same. I didn't hit any gravel or sand, so I don't know if the TC was any better in it.
Now to the question, does anyone know when your headlights are on, is there an indicator on the dash anywhere? When I turn my headlights on, unless it is dark, I cannot tell that they are actually on. I normally have them set on "Auto" and difficult to know when they come on when it is not actually dark. I have turned the Headlights on in complete darkness, and do not see an indicator of any kind on the dash. Any help will be appreciated. :confuse:
40.5 overall mpg!! What's your terrain and how often do you run full A/C, even for a short time.
I'm still keeping all my gas receipts and the mpg reported by the car is 1-2 mpg more than the total miles (about 6500) divided by gal. of gas bought. I understand that we should get better mileage after 10k. I wouldn't be concerned if the car's reported mpg was less than gasoline bought, but when it has consistently been the other way, I started to question the validity (honesty) of the equipment, and the company. Measurement error should be less than 1 mpg.
I'm still very pleased with my FFH, but ....
Overall terrain here in Central IL is mostly flat & we have been driving with the A/C on most of the time with few exceptions, not full blast but where we are comfortable.
I updated my Excel Spread Sheet today including all the gas used thru 7/28 which is the last fill-up at a total of 3598 miles and used total of 95 1/2 Gallons.
My average calculated by actual gas used is as follows;
Avg. MPG Cost per Mile
37.67 $0.0659
So comparing with vehicle calculations and actual gas used, about 8% off.
Not perfect by any means, but I'm happy with my MMH. Even if gas goes up to $5.00 plus per gal, my cost per mile will be in range of 0.132 per mile. Not bad.
Used the fuel price' and thought we had 2.42 a gallon here in DC that was 12 cents cheaper then anything. Upon arrive it was 2.49 a gallon. As the attendant how prices are transmitted via the SIRIS travel link. They said they are transmitted on Friday and that they raised prices over the weekend and that is why it was off.
The mpg calculated by gallons bought and miles driven for the last 1908.9 miles is 36.71 mpg.
The mpg calculated by the gallons bought (198.2) and miles driven since leaving the dealer's lot (7340.8) is 37.04 mpg.
I'm very pleased with the car's equipment and mpg, but there's a difference in what the car's indicator reports and what my wallet says.
Wyatt
I think that is probably within the margin of error. Of course, how the car is driven, terrain, AC/heat, etc. could make a difference in how the mpg is calculated by the car's computer.
The point I should have made in my initial post was that since the first fillup, the car's reported mpg has always been above the miles/gals figure. As I understand margin of error, it should be + and -. But since Toyota owners have said that their hybrids got different/better mpg after 10K miles, maybe the margin of error will become more evenly distributed when the engine is really broken in.
Also, I've always wondered if gas pumps accurately measure the fuel pumped, or do they tend to report slightly higher amounts pumped than actually makes it thru the hose; of course within the legal margin of error.
Your comment about how the car computes mpg is interesting. I assumed it was by fuel flow meters.
I forgot the gas pump issue - they can also be inaccurate although they do require periodic calibration.
Bottom line - there are a lot of variables on both sides and expecting the computer to be more than 5% accurate is probably optimistic.
I'm satisfied with the long-term reading of 38.1 mpg. When the car is driven with a minimum amount of concern for mpg, the long-term mpg is 39+.
My only concern was the consistent lower mpg by the miles/gals measurement vs the car's readout.
Yea, it should only be an issue if others are getting the same results.
However I did verify that when you turn the wipers on during daylight hours the lights do come on after a few wipes.
The bottom line is if you are worried about having the lights on during the day then you must turn them on. The auto lights come on at night and when you use the wipers during the day they will also come on. That is ok but still it would be nice to have an LED light to verify when they are on.
I am getting long term MPG of 38 without doing anything. When i want to have fun and watch the EV I get over 40 mpg. When my son drives he thinks it is a game to keep it in EV mode and he is getting 44-46 mpg.
is around 30. Not unhappy since this is Miami and we have long traffic lights
that are badly mistimed every few blocks. Motor has to cut in to support A/C
which is very effective. Did have one late nite opportunity to run thru relatively
rural area with A?C off and computer indicated 49.5 mpg.
My current car is a 2009 Camry Hybrid, 32000 miles in 16 months. My previous was a 2007 Prius, 24000 miles in 10 months.
Last night I got the pleasure to road test a 2010 Fusion Hybrid, loaded to the gills. As far as the car itself, quality, trim, comfort, handling, ride, Far better than the Camry, and as a lot of reviews go, that's about the norm, the Ford is a better car for the money, so enough review on that.
The actual test drive, the first thing I noticed was that moving off from a stop was rather quick on pure electric, but the pedal is very light, and the engine kicks in almost immediately, where the Camry and Prius you can get up to speed without the ICE with pedal manipulation, the Ford tended to not want to do that. Now the battery SOC was at or below 50%, so that may or may not have contributed to it. The engine cutin/cutout is seamless, you really have to be tuned to it to notice if its cut in without looking at the display. Acceleration appears to be on par with the Camry, no noticeable difference between the two, so power is negligible. In the Camry regen appears to be much quicker, on the short trip we took the Camry battery would have been close to 75%, the Ford was only at 50% up from about 30% when we started. Again the SOC may have been the big trick to this whole test, on a fully charged system, the results may be different. On a slight incline, it would not even attempt to stay in EV, and maintaining speed, even on level road was difficult, the ICE kept kicking in.
At highway speeds, 55MPH, I noticed that the MPG readout is above what the Camry would report, the Ford was showing close to 60 MPG on the same stretch that I have trouble with in the Camry maintaining 40 MPG. There's a plus for the Ford! The display is fantastic, very informative and easy to comprehend with a quick glance. Unlike the Camry where you have to scroll through the display unless you have Nav, the readouts are all right there. SOC, MPG, ICE state, etc. Over the 4 mile course I drove I managed to grow a bush, but was not able to determine how well the MPG is since you need at least 10 or more miles to get a decent average. Is the system better than the Camry? That I have yet to determine, I would need at least 100 miles of my usual daily transit to know that for sure, but the preliminary test drive, I can say, the car is more comfortable to drive than the Camry is. It would take me at least a couple days to learn the pedal position before I can get it to drive the way the Camry does.
In summary, the Fusion is a very good car, the quality, materials, ride, handling, and comfort are much better than the Camry. However, I don't think the EPA ratings are correct, on the Camry I can easily exceed EPA for both City and especially highway, easily 35+ city and well over 40 on the highway. In my short trip, I didn't get the feeling that I could exceed EPA on the Ford, which for the hybrids, is rather rare, The Prius I met the pre-change EPA numbers, and far exceeded the new EPA numbers. The only way I would know for sure would be to buy it, and I am about 85% convinced that I want it, the hold out for me is the price, and how well the resale is on it. I have been lucky with the Prius, and hopefully the Camry as far as resale, where I have stayed ahead of the payments as far as equity, and I would like to stay that way. I put a lot of miles on each year, in 16 months I put 32000 on just the Camry, in 18 months, I have over 46000 miles between the Camry and the Veracruz. The main thing is, I am BORED with the Camry, or as I call it the Silver Slug. It handles like a row boat, and rides like Vega.
So right now I am looking for something fun, but practical, and if it wasn't for having two children in car seats, I would be buying a Genesis Coupe right now, but I don't think I can fit the seats in and have the kids sit without having their feet against the seats. I really liked the Fusion Hybrid, but I don't think it has the fun factor I am looking for, it sure is nicer to drive though. I am going to road test the Sport tonight, and then decide on which one to negotiate on. The dealer has the Hybrid, and other than the color, has all I would like in one, but they don't have the Sport model I want, but I can still test drive what they have and if I like it, order one with what I want. The drawback of the Sport is resale will be drastically different from the Hybrid, so if I buy it, I had better like it, because, like the Veracruz, I will have to keep it at least until it is paid for. At least with the Hybrid, there is the $1700 tax credit still, and the resale should remain high, maybe not as high as the Toyota Hybrids, but much better than the non hybrid Fords. Tough decision to make.