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Getting the fever...any downsides to Fusion Energi?


willsyaya57
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I had an epic birthday-- not in terms of nice round numbers, but by way of a grand adventure. I purchased my new 2014 FF Energi Titanium in Deep Impact Blue a week before my birthday. As it was 9 hours away, I was offered the choice of paying the dealership $1000 to have it delivered to me, or pick it up myself. I opted to pick it up myself. Why should I pay someone else to put the first 650 miles on my car, when I could do that and get to know the car at the same time? I flew from Little Rock, AR-- leaving my much loved Mustang tagless in the airport parking lot for the dealer to retrieve. I arrived in Cincinatti about 1:30, and took a taxi to the Alexandria, KY dealership- about 20 miles. Then, I drove the 650 miles home, all on my birthday. I was disappointed that I only got 38 mpg, but I am chalking that up to my novice driving. I used cruise control most of the way, going 72 on the freeways. Kentucky is hilly, but no more so than the Ozarks of Arkansas where I live.

Will post pictures of the journey, as soon as I figure out how to do that.

Thank you, forum members, for your support and advice as I went through the research and purchase process of this very fine vehicle.

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I had an epic birthday-- not in terms of nice round numbers, but by way of a grand adventure. I purchased my new 2014 FF Energi Titanium in Deep Impact Blue a week before my birthday. As it was 9 hours away, I was offered the choice of paying the dealership $1000 to have it delivered to me, or pick it up myself. I opted to pick it up myself. Why should I pay someone else to put the first 650 miles on my car, when I could do that and get to know the car at the same time? I flew from Little Rock, AR-- leaving my much loved Mustang tagless in the airport parking lot for the dealer to retrieve. I arrived in Cincinatti about 1:30, and took a taxi to the Alexandria, KY dealership- about 20 miles. Then, I drove the 650 miles home, all on my birthday. I was disappointed that I only got 38 mpg, but I am chalking that up to my novice driving. I used cruise control most of the way, going 72 on the freeways. Kentucky is hilly, but no more so than the Ozarks of Arkansas where I live.

Will post pictures of the journey, as soon as I figure out how to do that.

Thank you, forum members, for your support and advice as I went through the research and purchase process of this very fine vehicle.

 

1) I know you were disappointed that you only achieved 38 mpg, but if you stop and think about the size of the vehicle, traveling on the freeways above 70mph (not exactly the wheel house for this car), and add in the time of year (colder temps) that is still pretty impressive.

 

2) You are correct, if you follow some of the advice on this board you will learn driving tips that will increase your mpg's even further.

 

3) Ready to see your pictures from your trip, try checking out this thread on how to post the pictures: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/1203-how-to-use-this-site-post-photos-your-control-panel-etc/?p=6462

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Mileage (and "EV mileage") will greatly increase in warm months and drop in the colder months.  It's a function of battery physics.  However, no matter what, you'll still get ridiculously good mileage compared to most drivers on the road.

 

I suggest you plan your drive, no matter what the length, so that you get back home with the traction battery empty, since electric power is cheaper than gasoline.  Playing with the EV Now / EV Auto / EV Later buttons on the center console is the trick.  

 

You can also set the left-side dashboard display to show you what your car is using at any given moment.  My son and I tend to use the "double arc" display i.e the simultaneous display that shows use of the gas engine and the EV motor display, as the most informative.  Once selected, this display can teach you when and how to drive in the most gas-saving way possible.

 

Enjoy!

Edited by FusionDad
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I had the exact same experiance driving my car home from Seattle to Portland. The dealer had left the car "On" to keep it warm till i arrived on a cold day, so i started with no battery. So yeah, cold day, brand new car, thats all your going to get. I just took a 130 mile round trip drive, including several miles of steep hill (30mph), and averaged 43.3. So the MPG will come up. Overall, compred to my old TL getting 20mpg, im getting 60mpg. Nice improvement.

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I had the exact same experiance driving my car home from Seattle to Portland. The dealer had left the car "On" to keep it warm till i arrived on a cold day, so i started with no battery. So yeah, cold day, brand new car, thats all your going to get. I just took a 130 mile round trip drive, including several miles of steep hill (30mph), and averaged 43.3. So the MPG will come up. Overall, compred to my old TL getting 20mpg, im getting 60mpg. Nice improvement.

 

Nice, my previous car was also a TL. What year did you have? Mine was a 2006, I did a little better on the gas mileage usually getting 21 (unless I was having a little too much fun and it dropped to 19).

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  • 3 months later...

just a comment on battery life:

 

I do not own a FFE yet - it's ordered and should arrive mid-June.

 

I am currently driving a Toyota Camry Hybrid (7 years, 195,000 miles) and never had any ptoblems with the hybrid system or the batteries. The batteries still charge as if they were new (at least that's what it feels like). There is no indication that they would need to be replaced anytime soon.

 

Now, 7 years later, battery technology has improved much more and their reliabilty/life time should be no major concern, especially after the switch from nickel-metal-hydride to lithium-ion batteries. Regarding the much publicized potential fire hazard of lithium-ion batteries, there is an interesting article about this at http://highvoltagehotrods.com/arent-lithium-ion-batteries-a-fire-hazard/

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