thinkcooper

If you want to see the adaptive cruise control in stop and go mode, in action in bumper to bumper traffic, check out this video I shot driving into San Francisco tonight.

It was all-in - stop and go traffic... and amazing. I ended up adjusting the follow range from 1 to 3 bars to test, at speeds ranging from low (30mph) to high (60mph). Traffic rolled to a complete stop, but never for more than a second, but completely stopped. The resume feature was great and worked exactly as advertised, it followed the car in front as soon as it started moving. It wasn't as smooth as I would drive in traffic, nor could it brake to a complete stop as smoothly as I would, but it was totally usable. All I did was manage the steering wheel. As close to a self driving experience as I've ever had. Loved it.

How right you are on the prior location of the fuel door button. On my 2015 I pressed it a couple of times mistakenly when trying to toggle through EV now to use battery later in my commute. On the 2017, the fuel door button is besdie your left leg, on the driver's door panel. Took a little scanning to find it yesterday at my first refuel, but no worries hitting it by mistake.

I just turned in my two year leased 2015 Energi Titanium with 35K miles for a new 2017 Energi Platinum a week ago. It's equipped with the full Platinum options, obviously, and the larger 18" wheels. What an awesome upgrade. - I'm really digging Carplay and Android Auto - I carry both an iPhone 6 and Samsung Edge S7, and the transitions between listening to my local NPR streaming station and sending a text or taking a call always seemed to drop the NPR app's audio when using the 2015's version of Sync. Now it just resumes without hesitation in the 2017. And the sound? Decent bass, crisp mids and not overly bright highs. Very nice. - The suspension felt very underdamped in my 2015. I commute over an extremely twisty mountain highway (CA state 17) in the SF Bay area called one of the deadliest highways in the US. The 2015 would sometimes wallow in corners and oscillate 2-3 times before settling. Not confidence inspiring on a damp, 60mph hairpin. Conversely, the 2017 is a single squat then it settles. Excellent. - My 2015 Titanium did not have adaptive cruise control or front collision detection. These are game changing for commuters. I drove to SF last night for a meeting, in bumper to bumper on 280 up the peninsula, and adaptive cruise was epic. I experimented with distances between the car in front, medium speed sets, higher speed sets, and I really dig it. - Outward appearances aren't massively different between the years, but the subtle face lift is nice. I like the led headlight brows. The chrome headlight surrounds and fog light housings are a nice accent as well. Interior changes? The climate control layout is much improved, the toggles to enable hill assist, EV now, etc. are well placed. The electric steering wheel switch makes for a precise adjustment. - Exhaust note is improved too. I understand there is better insulation between the years, but I also think they modified the shift points when climbing a steep fast grade, and the exhaust doesn't sound like the engine is wailing as it it drops a gear. Anyway - I'm stoked with the change.

Hunting scopes! Very cool.

My commute ends in Mountain View at a company called Lytro. We make a camera that captures light, color and depth to produce what we call Living Pictures. I tried embedding the media in a post to share here but it only works in the Post Editing pane, and doesn't show up in the actual post. Bummer. Reason for the bummer? I have a gallery of some Living Pictures I shot of my 2015 Energi's interior. Here's that gallery if you want to check it out. You can refocus the image on various areas by clicking. Or you can click and drag to shift perspective on the image. Enjoy. https://pictures.lytro.com/thinkcooper/albums/176125

The GO time sync took hold yesterday. Very neat to get in and find the temp at 72 and all the Santa Cruz mist gone from the windshield.

bummer - the embedded content in the iFrame looks great in the editing window, but doesn't actually show up in the post. [media][/media]

embedding test below. <iframe width='600' height='434' src='https://pictures.lytro.com/thinkcooper/pictures/935637/embed' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen scrolling='no'></iframe>

Love that!

I'm using 110 at home for now, and a ChargePoint at work that my office subsidizes. I set-up Go Times to pre-heat, but for some reason it didn't sync to the car. Need to be sure I'm doing it right.

One thing for sure - I love this car.

Here's a screen cap from my iPad of yesterday's commute data from my three week old 2015 Fusion Energi. I bought the car specifically to commute via HOV for a new job at the camera technology company Lytro. Started the job this week, so I'm just getting used to the 39 mile trek each way. Both going to and returning from use the same route (Hwy 1>17>85), but there's a slight variation in mileage, not sure why on that. I drive mostly in Auto mode - except when ascending the summit on 17 (about 2000' accumlated of climbing to the summit). For the climb I switch to EV Later mode, and switch back to Auto for the descent and the rest of the commute. Interesting point though is how many more watts are used in the morning with similar braking efficiency for power recovery. Pretty sure that's due to using the heater and defroster to counter the AM chill. Today I wore a sweater to minimize use of the heater, and ended up with about 6 miles of range left on the battery once I got to the office. I'll keep updating this adventure.

Yeah - I dig 'em as well. Getting the windows tinted in the next few weeks as well, should be a sweet looking combo.

My 2015 Titanium from North Bay Ford in Santa Cruz came with a set of CA HOV stickers. I applied them as low and discreetly as possible. The green stickers aren't as contrasty on the platinum white as they seem to be on colors like dark grays or the red.

Another Green Sticker SF Bay Area Energi driver here. I start a great gig in Mountain View on Monday February 9th. I'm commuting from Santa Cruz (about 35 miles each way). My local SC dealer had a couple of Titanium Energis on the lot, so I picked one up, along with the stickers two weeks ago, in anticipation of the commute. Wow I'm digging this car. And to get stickers out the door was a complete score. I'd been lusting after an Energi since they were first released, hence my early join date, now I'm stoked to have one, and have a real reason to need it.

I'll be looking at a two year, 12,000 mile lease. If the Energi proves to be the car I think it will be, I'll drive a 2013 for two years, then do purchase on a 2015 model if the tech seems to have improved. I test drove a Fusion SE Hybrid yesterday to see if the vehicle footprint fits my needs, which it seems to. The dealer and I spoke about leasing costs on the Energi and it does seem like the leasor takes the tax credits off the top.