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Comments
We still love our Freebie, already at 9000. It's a joy to ride around with.
Unfortunately, late May was a rough time for us. We had a stillborn loss, Daniel Matthew, almost at the 8 month mark. Our plan was for him to be the official resident of Freebie's second row. GOD had another.
I certainly believe Freebie is the best vehicle I can get Bang/Buck wise for family use. It handles far better than a minivan, it's way safer w/AWD, and fits everyone and the St. Bernard too
Sam
I like the painted calipers too. Sharp car.
Thanks for your help
John
tidester, host
youre splitting up the Town car into two vehicles, you have the new zephyr, the new aviator, the new freestyle based vehicle in 2009(since the phil martens I believe said Lincoln would be completely different by 2010), and a new navigator(although the ones Ive seen dont look that different on the outside).
IVTs hah...
Am I Just getting too worried, or is this a legit. concern? Lincoln must be spending a large part of its budget expanding which makes me wonder how theyre going to have enough money come refresh and redesign. Is this part of Fords new spreading the risk approach?
The Lincoln Freestyle cant end up like the Zephyr. 40% sharing of parts by value should be the max. that any lincoln ford counterpart share. What class leading edge will the Lincoln add that the Freestyle doesnt at this present time. The crossover market is going to continue to gain in competitivness and so the Lincoln Crossover will need to be Competitive as well, and that means significant changes.
Have you drove the Zephyr at all? That "real" wood is so cheap, you can bend it by just pressing it and that door panel materials are exactly the same type as in the Fusion. A smart consumer will be able to recognize the similarities and the better deal.
I have another question regarding some of the future hybrid systems coming out, but I think it might be slightly secret so is there a way I could write you?
2010 Lincoln
Zephyr(small sedan)/and hybrid
Continental(medium sedan)
Morning(large sedan)
Aviator(midsize crossover)
Freestyle(large crossover)
2010 Mercury
Milan/and hybrid
Montego
Meta One
Messenger(medium sedan)
Mariner/and hybird
2010 Ford
EcoSport based car
Focus/SVT
Fusion/AWD/35/Hybrid
Sport Trac/Adrenalin
Five Hundred
New F-150
Edge
Explorer or Freestyle
Expedition or some large crossover
http://www.fordaccessoriesstore.com
I am considering vinyl floor mats, the cargo protector and cross bars for the roof rack.. Any opinions on best place to by online or whether I should go first to dealer?
Thanks..
Sorry to hear about Daniel Matthew. My deepest condolences.
Lincoln isn't receiving much money (as I would have liked) to introduce totally extraordinary vehicles just yet. What it does is count on synergies with other brands (mainly Volvo) to bring new products to light. And concentrate on interiors as well to bring out the luxury aspect in a vehicle.
I have really enjoyed reading through this forum. I feel better prepared to purchase the Freebie. Thank you for all of your advise!
Sam, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.
looking forward to your posts about the freebie, or anything else.
So now that Ford went to "employee pricing" in July, I did something I've never done before: I sold the '02 Taurus (with only 33k miles on it and 4 payments left) and traded it in for a Five Hundreed Limited (AWD with all optins, in Titanium Green).
A few comparisons, for those who might be tempted to do something similar:
1) The 500 sits a tad lower than the Freestyle (seat height), but significantly higher than Taurus
2) The 500 has more wind noise than Freestyle, but significantly less than Taurus. I'm guessing this extra wind noise is due to the chrome around the top of the windows?
3) The 500 seems to drive almost the same as the Freestyle. Other than the lack of the DVD-player hanging down in the Freestyle, and more windnoise in the 500, I'd be hard-pressed to tell them apart. (Again, both have the CVT, which is what I was after).
4) The 500 has a lot more chrome and extra fake wood-grain in it, I guess to make it more "upscale". We would've preferred it to look more like the Freestyle, actually. The little clock in the center of the dash looks a bit cheap, IMO, and is not needed since there's a digital clock on the radio. I also prefer the wheels on the Freestyle . . but the 500 wheels go better with all that extra chrome they've stuck on it.
We were able to get the 0% Financing at 36 months, but had to give up the $500 rebate in order to do that.
On the plus side, the employee pricing on this particular vehicle was $200 LESS than employee pricing on some other seemingly identical vehicles (other than color). It seems to be a function of when it was made, though, and not the color.
I drove 250 miles to get it, and 250 miles back. Got about 24-25 mpg, in mainly highway type driving (though some stop and go due to traffic jams and also because some of the route went through small towns).
Hope this helps.
Allan
Just to be a bit different. Mercury has quite a loyal following of customers mainly because there IS a market for people who want a specific vehicle (take the Explorer), but are tired of seeing 5 of them at every stop-light, and instead prefer something a bit different (Mountaineer). So this is the emphansize of Mercury in general, to offer vehicles that aren't commonly seen at every stoplight.
Same issue with the Zephyr. It gives Lincoln an entry vehicle to sell, introduce some people into the brand...The V6 LS is being dropped to get some of those people into a Zephyr. Zephyr will have different suspension tuning, NVH, much quieter, thicker glass, THX Premium Sound system with Navigation, better interior materials, etc. The drive is very different from that of the Fusion, that's for sure...
I've had a few techs say something about a service interval of 75k to 150k miles, but I haven't seen ANYTHING official.
ANT14, do you know Ford's plans for servicing the CVT? Is there a service life in miles and/or years? Do you know what's involved and the cost at that point?
The caliper paint I did myself with the calipers still on the car. It was a kit from Amazon. I wanted red, my six year old wanted yellow (his favorite color) and pointed out that it would look like a Steeler's car. He and I are avid fans. Not hard to do, by the way. The paint is absolutely the worst to get off your hands though. Tough stuff! I had some on that took over a week to finally flake off my skin. If you do it, I recommend gloves.
Thanks for your fast replies!
Dave
According to Ford there is no need for a dipstick because the CVT consumes no transmission fluid!
I haven't checked it out but Maintenance Schedule may provide the information you need.
tidester, host
If you need to determine level, the fluid needs to be at a certain temperature - a special tool is called for to check it supposedly (goose neck thermometer?). It is best if you have the correct amount captured so that you can ignore this step. There is a torque requirement for tightening this plug, so it is obviously threaded on. Good luck! :shades:
http://www.autospectator.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=53&page=0
JJ
This will be a bit long, but hopefully, it'll save someone else a little time. On the CVT, there is indeed a dipstick... you just have to take some stuff off to get to it. It's located just about directly below the charcoal canister & the air intake tube. Basically, you have two options.
First (recommended), you can remove the battery and the battery carriage. There's one 5/16th "hold-down" screw you need to remove to pull out the battery (after you've disconnected the battery terminals, obviously). Then the battery carriage has four 10mm mounting screws you'll need to remove. There are a couple wire bundles attached to the carriage, just push the tabs out and remove the carriage. You should then be able to see the dipstick on the top of the transmission clearly. It will look like the charcoal canister is in the way, but it moves freely if you push it aside.
The second option would be to remove the air intake tube from the air cleaner housing to the throttle body... Taking this route would involve several clamps, electrical connections, etc... Nothing that can't be done easily... Just more work than taking out the battery, in my humble opinion... so take out the battery!
Now, here's where I have a slight deviation from Northlake's advice... My CVT didn't have a "fill plug" anywhere near the dip stick... I went to the dealership and had a tech pull up the schematics for the CVT on their computer. They too found no fill plug and the mechanic said that his training indicated that the fluid should be added via the dip stick tube. There's a site glass near the dip stick, but of course, I forgot to ask exactly what I should be looking for... but it's there nonetheless...
Easy enough... well, so I thought... the dip stick tube is VERY narrow... more narrow than those on any of the transmissions I've ever worked with before... the standard transmission funnel won't fit... I used a turkey baster with the bulb pulled off and it worked perfectly (put another funnel into the top of the baster and added it that way). 10 quarts is the capacity and it's very slow going due to the very narrow tube.
Northlakes is correct on the CVT transmission fluid (blue-green in color and DEEP GREEN in price). Ford says that anything else will damage the CVT and void the warranty... But, of course, none of the auto supply stores are carrying it yet (if ever), so you have to get it from the dealership... Funny thing though, my dealership had to actually order it from the plant (luckily located here in town)... so call ahead to be sure they have it if you're ever looking for it...
So, I'm up & running... a bit humbler than before... but with no apparent problems with the CVT after my 1000 mile flush & fill... hahaha!
Thanks for all the posts!
Dave
The info you provided here is extremely valuable for future reference. My question is, why would you change the CVT fluid at 1000 miles if Ford recommends a 60,000 mile interval. I can see maybe cutting that number in half for safe measure, but 1000 miles. If you were experiencing a problem, the CVT is covered under warranty for a minimum of 3 years/30,000 miles. Again, thanks for the info but I think I'm going to wait to change mine.
I now see and understand the complaints originally posted and would like to offer MY solution to this "problem" and all it requires is a little bit of "re-training" so to speak.
When opening the drivers side door to exit the vehicle, "bump" the unlock button for the doors and everything will be taken care of. I am still training myself to do this but it is convenient once you get used to it...and it still maintains that safety level of having all of the dorrs locked if you so choose.
I know ericksons will respond, but I think he (or she) was attempting an oil change, and undid the "other" drain plug by mistake. :shades:
If you still want to sit in the vehicle - engine off and in park - with the doors all locked you could just as easily hit the lock button on the door rest if all the locks automatically unlocked. I'm sure you'd do that a whole lot less than what you have to do now. Every day, every time!
I tried training myself. It was easier to train my spouse to hit the switch.
I usually try to hit the unlock button the instant I hear the locks engage when I start driving, because I never remember after I stop the car.
I too am sort of a hobbyist-mechanic... this was a new low even for me! ha!
Best of luck... at least we've learned something about the new vehicle. ha!
Car Audio in the 21st Century
Steve, Host