AlexC

Thank you for your input. Our family needs 1 big car (we have an Odyssey, will not change it) and 1 small(er) car, that would be used for commute and regular in-town trips. I don't need 3 cars, but the FFH is paid for and basically free to run, will not depreciate much more at this point. Sure, it doesn't have the bells and whistles of the 2017 FFE, but it works. Money is fortunately not tight, but if value-for-money would not be a consideration I would probably ditch it for a Tesla 3 or Tesla Y. Your points confirm keeping the newer car for that price is a good option. What I'll do is likely clean up the old one, put it up for sale and maybe get closer to 4-5k for it in the next 4 months. If there is a change in the need for a commuter car, will then revisit this in October and see then next steps. There might be some crazy incentives on some 2020 inventory at that time or even some changes in incentives for a full electric car, or who knows what else...

I am not sure what to do with my car when the lease runs out, will appreciate any ideas / suggestions / perspectives. I leased a 2017 FFE Platinum and will be hitting the 30,000 miles mark by November when the lease runs out. I got a very good deal on it (paying 315$ per month including taxes) and will need to pay ~15k to purchase the car in November. Since 2017 the travel & commute pattern has not changed - 50 miles return with the PHEV making a huge difference given HOV lane access. In the last months though commute was zero, so the car is piling up dust in the driveway. Car has been running great and still looks brand new. Battery still holds very close to the 21 miles charge - if it's lower it won't be very noticeable. In the last 3 months is has been collecting dust mostly, since I moved to working from home. This is expected to continue for at least another 3-4 months. I have another 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid fully loaded, with only 80k miles, fully paid for. The battery definitely does NOT work as well as before, using mostly gas these days. The car would need a new set of tires and some TLC here and there, but otherwise runs great, especially since it is used ONLY for drives <10 miles, no commute or family long trips. To sell it would be getting maybe smth like 3-4k for it, and at this point I think it makes some sense to just keep it around as the daily grocery car. When washed the car looks great! Which of these options you think make more sense? What would you do? 1. Keep the 2010 FFH and let the 2017 FFE go back to the dealer. Save/keep 15k for other expenses / investments. Keep driving the 2010 FFH. When the commute situation changes, lease/buy a new car, in a market full of inventory and newer technology. 2. Keep the 2010 FFH and lease a new 2020 FFE. Get a 2020 model vs my 2017 model. I am not yet sure this makes any sense since there has been any kind of evolution between these models, and my car looks and runs great. The only thought would be around the fact that a new car comes with warranty that will run through 2023... 3. Sell the 2010 FFH (~3k) and buy the 2017 FFE. 15k is a good price to pay for a 30k miles fully loaded PHEV car, with a HOV lane sticker. Keep it as the daily grocery car until commute resumes and I can properly use it on commute trips.. Thanks!

I have the 2017 Energi Platinum and I have a handle on the driver's side of the trunk. I did not have one of the 2010 Fusion, happy to see they actually included one here. Could it be that they were so cheap to include it only on the highest trim?

I think you have 2 choices to make: 1. Energi vs regular Fusion - Electricity is not free, so the 25 miles commute will not be completely free. Overall you will get about 55-60mpg combined, compared to ~30mpg out of the regular 2.5l. - Only you can tell if the $3k is worth the difference. - SE trim has different features between gas and Energi Fusion. Make sure you compare them properly. 2. Used vs new. I think you can get that price lower, as the difference to a new car is not that high. Take into account few aspects: - differences between 2017 and 2016 models - price of a new car. A new 2017 FFE SE has some serious discounts and I'm sure you can get it at around 25k. - tax credits / deductions for a new car, and when you can get them. I would go for the used one at that price if it were a full options Titanium, not SE. I would also go for a new 2017 Fusion Energi SE as you get very close to the used price after you factor in the tax credits.

I think you need to get that 4250$ to zero. Your current total cost with the car in 3 years (excluding any incentives) is about 28k. If you check truecar.com (not perfect, but good guidance, the cash price for a 2018 FFE SE in SoCal is ~27500 - 28000 before taxes. I would use that as my upper negotiation limit and try to get the sale price at 27.5k. You apply the 4500$ leasing rebate to that (this is the federal incentive for the plugin car so Ford gets this money back) and you get to ~23k. If residual value is 12k then you would pay 300$ x 36 months but no money down. The car looks awesome on Burgundy Velvet with light interior!

No brainer deal indeed, congrats! Do you mind sharing the details of your new lease, and what equipment came with it (assuming Titanium + some options)?

Thank you so much!

I have less than a week with a 2017 FFE Platinum, and it's growing on me :). I noticed since I got it that there is a bar full of LEDs that lights red upon start, right behind the steering wheel by the windshield. Anybody have any idea what is it and what does it do? I could not find any info about it.

Plug-in Hybrids will take a while to make sense in Europe, where people tend to use a Full Size Sedan as family car and trunk space is important. It would be good though to see more of them, even if that will drive value of our cars down over time :)

After a (long) month of negotiations I got this weekend a 2017 FFE Platinum, and love it so far! Worked the rates a lot to get to 3k down + 314$/month lease rate for 36 months. The differences to a fully-loaded Titanium are some minor changes to the exterior and a huge difference to the interior: different leather on the seats, stitching on the seats and brown leather-covered dashboard.