rprobst

1. 10, easily 2. Audi A4 3. Yes, but if Audi had their plug-in hybrid on market when I was making the decision, I would give it a test drive first

I will NEVER buy another car without ACC. It is absolutely addictive. And I do have to remind myself that my wife's Prius doesn't have it... But her next car sure will.

My last flat tire was 2 cars back and 20 years ago (I keep my cars a long time). I get a kick out of the pictures of cars from the 20's with 2 spares mounted on the front fenders. They must have been changing tires all the time.

Ditto. My driver's window is regularly losing its mind. Have to keep re-programing it. i asked the dealer about this and quoted a couple of TSBs that had been mentioned on another thread. That was a mistake, since neither TSB applied to my car.

Yay, hooray! At last!

I am using a hearing-aid case that just barely holds my Fusion fob, the fob for my wife's Prius and the ChargePoint card. It zips open, but I almost never open it -- both cars can see the fob through the case, and for ChargePoint I just hold the case up to the reader. Every once in a while I zip open the case to open the windows and moonroof to cool off the car before getting in. I never have a problem with accidental button pushes.

I'm in. But I'm surprised California looks so light. C'mon folks, put in your pin!

I love my Energi. My previous car was a 1998 Audi A4, and my wife has a 2005 Prius, which I drive whenever we both go somewhere. My shopping criteria were simple: better mileage than the Prius, as much fun to drive as the A4, and around $50k rather than $100k. The Energi meets and exceeds my expectations. Mileage (computed as miles driven vs. gas purchased; I don't use MPGe) is 25%+ better than the Prius, and about 3x the Audi. Driving the Energi is a blast. I really enjoy the feeling of cruising electric. I brake carefully, but my foot is heavier on electric than I used to drive in the A4, just because it's guilt-free acceleration. Maybe it won't blow off a BMW, but that's not what I want to do. And the Fusion is very attractive, very comfortable, and loaded with satisfying gadgets. All told, I'm super satisfied.

The best source of facts I have found is the Union of Concerned Scientists. Their study shows that 45% of Americans live on grids that deliver power produced cleanly enough that a gas car would have to get over 50 MPG to have a smaller carbon footprint than an electric car (or PHEV in EV mode). http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/images/cv/electric-cars-global-warming-emissions-fact-2.jpg So would a bicycle be cleaner still? Sure. I guess I am still contributing somewhat to the deferred cost you mention. But I want to drive a comfortable car that looks good and goes well. I love my Fusion Energi, and I'm really happy that, given my average driving distances, it's producing less greenhouse gas than anything but the most extreme tiny diesel gasser could. Even if it is more than a bicycle.

It will not charge higher? I understood that EV Later mode won't let the state of charge go lower than it is when you enter that mode, to reserve as much battery as possible for use later, but I didn't think it prevented the battery from going higher. Suppose you were coming down a 10,000 foot hill in L, in EV Later mode. Wouldn't all that regen energy go into the battery? Seems to me that if the car has the input to be able to charge the battery, it would do so.

This is actually one of the questions on the customer-satisfaction survey: was the car charged up for delivery?

I wonder what ginger ale and Bordeaux would taste like?

Could have put the pizza on the shelf and put a brick on the pizza to keep it from sliding. Or maybe glue Velcro to the bottom of the pizza box.

Well, that's a good point. I paid $105 over dealer invoice under X-Plan, but Ford's document fee was only $80. But, I had to join Mustang Club to get X-Plan, and that was $50. So I paid $235 over invoice, including ALL fees except those to DMV, which was just over $400. X-Plan can't help you save money on DMV fees, but it seems like a net win if Costco pricing can include $700 in fees. It's pretty easy to get X-Plan. There are detailed instructions on another thread on this forum.

Thank you for a great analysis. Yes, I would like to play with your spreadsheet, if you can figure out how to attach it. I realize that we are paying a premium for the experience of zipping around on electrons. It's worth it to me. In my town, people don't challenge the decision to buy a car because you value it. I see at least one Tesla every day, and I often see Porsches, Maseratis, Ferraris, and other fancy icons. So nobody blinks about seeing an FFE. But if anyone ever did ask me to justify the economics of my purchase, I would ask "what is the payback period for a Ferrari?" Still, your spreadsheet gives me a better answer. Nice work.