Hey fellow 2014 FFE owners, speak up!!

[HotLap]

:) Seems we haven't had  new post in here in some time!  Well I'll start, I purchased my new 2014 FFE Tri-White Titanium about a month ago and am really like it.  It's smooth, quiet and feels very agile for a near 4000lb auto.  The acceleration in EV Only mode is much better than I would have thought and it is also very good in Hybrid mode.  So far I have tinted the windows aligned the driver's front hood gap and rear trunk lid gap and ordered the 19" Fusion Black Chrome "H spokes".  They are coming from Detroit Tire and Wheel and will still be several weeks out.  This is a commute vehicle for me so I'm not really going to do anything further to it, I may "de-badge" the doors and rear trunk lid though.

 

What experience have you had with your new Energi and what are you doing to make your ride "your" ride?

[Ben Bruce]

Hello HotLap. I have the same color as you.  Tint the windows is on the list.  Already added the trailer hitch for bike rack.  I like the idea of de-badging.  

 

Like you this is my commuter car, so the plan is to drive the wheels off it.  My last commuter car was a Mustang and I modded that to my taste, but this car doesn't have a performance vibe to it so I am kind of at a loss as how to improve it's appearance.  (already is a good looking car)

 

I will stay tuned to see what mods you do.  Thanks for sharing.

 

Ben

[Dan's Energi]

Metallic-Black Energi Ti.  We also own a Volt with ~36K on it that we've filled up about 10-12 times and have only bought gas for once this year and we drive it about 40m/day 6d/week, IIRC.  We won't get that e-mileage with the FFE but it's worth the trade-off.

 

We really like the Volt because of it's range.  We didn't buy a 2nd Volt though because of the Volt's shortcomings.  The FFE has less range but that extra seat is awesome, the space inside is better, the features are great (I've always loved AC seats). I do wish it had the Volt's range (or better) and that it had a 6.6 (+) charger and I'm hoping that Ford comes out with one.

 

I don't want to de-badge it, if anything I'd rather it said "EV" or "EREV" louder.  That's something that the Volt, Leaf & Tesla have over the FFE.  They really stand out from the crowd.  I knew the EV-only acceleration was slow so I'm not disappointed, but I don't understand why Ford didn't put a more powerful motor in there.

 

Overall, I'm very happy, I just hope for a faster charger and better tech to decrease the battery pack size while increasing the capacity (someday).

[Cairo94507]

Hi all- I have a '14 FFET in Sterling Gray with about 3,500 miles on it now.  I replaced the stock wheels with the Ford 19" "H" spoke wheels.  I added body side molding, molded mud flaps, the low profile Ford rear spoiler (I ordered the car w/o a rear spoiler to do this), the shark fin antenna, clear bra to the front, windows tinted the lightest they make on the side windows and one shade darker on the rear window as well as a limo-tinted sun shade to the windshield.  I de-badged (doors and trunk) it and also replaced the rear valance, trim, muffler and exhaust finishers with the non-hybrid Titanium parts so my FFET now has factory dual exhaust.  I just could not abide the look of the single exhaust rear when the dual exhaust rear looks so nice.  All painted to match and installed when the car was new.  What I plan to do next is the Steeda rear sway bar and strut tower brace.  I really wish someone made a good coil over kit for the car as it really rides way to soft and tends to bounce on the freeway - like an old 70's Cadillac.  I average about 52 MPH given my 90 mile per day commute and love my HOV stickers.  

[Ben Bruce]

Hi all- I have a '14 FFET in Sterling Gray with about 3,500 miles on it now.  I replaced the stock wheels with the Ford 19" "H" spoke wheels.  I added body side molding, molded mud flaps, the low profile Ford rear spoiler (I ordered the car w/o a rear spoiler to do this), the shark fin antenna, clear bra to the front, windows tinted the lightest they make on the side windows and one shade darker on the rear window as well as a limo-tinted sun shade to the windshield.  I de-badged (doors and trunk) it and also replaced the rear valance, trim, muffler and exhaust finishers with the non-hybrid Titanium parts so my FFET now has factory dual exhaust.  I just could not abide the look of the single exhaust rear when the dual exhaust rear looks so nice.  All painted to match and installed when the car was new.  What I plan to do next is the Steeda rear sway bar and strut tower brace.  I really wish someone made a good coil over kit for the car as it really rides way to soft and tends to bounce on the freeway - like an old 70's Cadillac.  I average about 52 MPH given my 90 mile per day commute and love my HOV stickers.  

 

Pictures Please.  Sounds like some cool mods.

 

Ben

[Cairo94507]

Well if I could figure out to post pictures here I would...... sorry.   I take them with my iPhone and they are to big to post.  How the heck do I resize them to allow them to post?

Edited September 21, 2014 at 04:11 PM by Cairo94507

[jeff_h]

Well if I could figure out to post pictures here I would...... sorry.   I take them with my iPhone and they are to big to post.  How the heck do I resize them to allow them to post?

 

My usual routine since pics file sizes can be really big is to open my power point then insert the pic, then save to jpg and that makes the file size much smaller and quality is still fine for the purposes used here.  And then since the forum site has limits, I have a photobucket account where I hold car-related stuff.  So the pics I put here on the forum are actually uploaded to photobucket and a URL reference only is posted here on the forum.  It's not a quick one-step process but for those like me that have a pic to reference in a post every now and then, it works well.

[HotLap]

Wow, great feedback from everyone and sounds as if some of you  are doing great mods! 

 

Dan, as to your comment on the Fusion being slow 0-60 I don't find it slow in EV mode at all?  I'm a fairly aggressive driver (despite the FFE's "coaching") and generally am at the head of the pack when around town accelerating and the car mags acutally rated the FFE faster 0-60 (in auto EV/ICE mode) than the Volt?  In EV mode only the Volt may be quicker, but (not to be inflammatory) did you really buy an PLEV to race 0-60?  I only comment on this as it seems lately I've seen a lot of Volt owners posting about how fast their cars are when in reality the FFE is faster 0 - 60 (which matters not to me).  I have two neighbors with Volts and they are nice cars. I just needed a 5 seater, more conventional sedan and the FFE filled that need (for me, all subjective I know).  As a matter of fact, I'm helping one of my neighbors learn about his Volt in that he has probably never looked at an owner's manual in his life.  He was upset last week as he wanted to "value charge" his Volt after midnight at lower rates and forgot to come down and plug it in...I explained to him that I was sure the Volt must have a "Value Charge" feature similar to the FFE and sure enough it does :)

 

Cairo, sounds good, I think you've already posted pics of your 19's?  I know someone here did and as a result I ordered the 19" Fusion "H" Star pattern wheels/tires in the black chrome...thinking it will look good with my tri-white and tinted windows.  Probably all I'll do to it but may play around with the lower grille and fog light surrounds...the gloss black plastic looks kind of cheap to me.  I have a place that will put OEM paint in spray cans and may experiment a bit.  I did replace low./high./fogs with Silver Star Ultras, and they are a bit brighter/whiter.  Am used to having HIDs/Xenon and the stock halogen are really dim and yellow (IMO).  Also may change out the front parking lamps - either just disconnect them or change to amber as the dim yellow stock lights appear to make the headlamps look more dim/yellow.

 

Anyway, I'm straying off topic and apologize, let's see those mods and don't forget to convert a family member, friend or neighbor to the advantage of electric cars (FFE, Volt, Leaf, etc.)...I'd love to see fossil fuel consumption take a sharp decline in this country, not just for the obvious green reasons but also to reduce dependence on foreign fossil fuel sources...

[Dan's Energi]

Dan, as to your comment on the Fusion being slow 0-60 I don't find it slow in EV mode at all?  I'm a fairly aggressive driver (despite the FFE's "coaching") and generally am at the head of the pack when around town accelerating and the car mags acutally rated the FFE faster 0-60 (in auto EV/ICE mode) than the Volt?  In EV mode only the Volt may be quicker, but (not to be inflammatory) did you really buy an PLEV to race 0-60?  I only comment on this as it seems lately I've seen a lot of Volt owners posting about how fast their cars are when in reality the FFE is faster 0 - 60 (which matters not to me).

If you don't ever find it slow in EV-Only then I'm happy for you.  We're not in the same boat.  Most of the time it is fine, it's just a weaker motor compared to the competition (16 sec v 8 sec) and burning gas to make the FFE faster is a poor compromise IMHO. But, yes, with the engine burning gas it's the fastest in it's class - I just don't want to burn gas.

 

We're really happy with the FFE, but Ford should have done some research on the competition.  I'd also like it better if they'd included a 6.6 charger (20+ mphc!) and built the battery to the "roof" of the trunk for even better range.

[HotLap]

Dan, I'm just happy to see manufacturer's stepping up and making fairly practical cars that we can afford and drive to reduce our carbon footprint AND eventually reduce our dependence on fossil fuel.  They all have their quirks and I'm hoping that in the next gen FFE, Ford has the Energi in mind during the initial development stages so the battery can be bigger and more integrated into the car.  I had my trunk liner out the other night and you can see the battery box just sitting in the middle of the trunk area, not recessed into the flooring area at all.  I suspect that was because the Fusion was already designed and then Ford decided to come out with an Energi model for the Fusion so they weren't really designed to efficiently house a large battery pack?  In turn, let's hope GM can make the Volt a 5 seater and  change the roof design so to accommodate a roof rack.  They all have their pros/cons but they are all great cars as well too!  Enjoy your FFE!

[Hybridbear]

HotLap, on 30 Sept 2014 - 5:39 PM, said:

They all have their pros/cons but they are all great cars as well!  Enjoy your FFE!

This is the key. Every car has its compromises, but any car that uses electricity and less gas is a truly great car.

[HotLap]

Hybridbear, right on!!

[HotLap]

Oh, neglected to mention, my stock Fusion H spoke 19's (in black chrome) arrive this week (Friday evening) and I'll try and post pics this weekend, but as I'm over 50...posting pics is a gamble for my technical prowess :)

[HotLap]

One more thing, (and no I'm not purposely trying to increase my post count :)), have any of you looked into the factory Ford LED/HID headlight units that are available on the Mondeo (same as Fusion just different name in China and Europe)?  I really don't care for the stock halogen headlights and am wondering why Ford neglected to make them available for the US Market?  I've heard it's due to price point but call BS on that since I had HID's on my 2011 Edge, 2012 MKS and 2013 F-150...I think they goofed somewhere and didn't have them ready for the US Fusion in time?  Anyway I'd expect to see them as an option or part of the Titanium package by late 2015 or with the 2016 model year.  IIRC, there was a link in the Fusion Hybrid forum to a picture of the Chinese Mondeo with the more modern LED/HID lights and they are awesome!  Anyway, anyone check into getting these for the US model?  Would be expensive I'm guessing, but something I would seriously consider having had HID or Xenon in my German cars for years...

[Hybridbear]

HotLap, on 08 Oct 2014 - 11:48 AM, said:

One more thing, (and no I'm not purposely trying to increase my post count :)), have any of you looked into the factory Ford LED/HID headlight units that are available on the Mondeo (same as Fusion just different name in China and Europe)?  I really don't care for the stock halogen headlights and am wondering why Ford neglected to make them available for the US Market?  I've heard it's due to price point but call BS on that since I had HID's on my 2011 Edge, 2012 MKS and 2013 F-150...I think they goofed somewhere and didn't have them ready for the US Fusion in time?  Anyway I'd expect to see them as an option or part of the Titanium package by late 2015 or with the 2016 model year.  IIRC, there was a link in the Fusion Hybrid forum to a picture of the Chinese Mondeo with the more modern LED/HID lights and they are awesome!  Anyway, anyone check into getting these for the US model?  Would be expensive I'm guessing, but something I would seriously consider having had HID or Xenon in my German cars for years...

Could it be a regulatory issue? Each country has different rules governing car lights and it's possible that the European lights don't meet the US spec.

 

Also, we've been told that how the car design process starts is that Ford says: "We want to sell the Fusion for $X. This means it can cost us $Y to manufacture. What content can we put in there for that price? What content will buyers want at that price?" Apparently Ford felt that HID lights were not as important for Fusion buyers as other features such as memory seats or dual power seats. Those features are both missing on the C-Max. They're also missing from our Focus Electric which has HID lights. The Focus also tells you when your windshield washer fluid is low whereas the Fusion just lets you run out.

[HotLap]

Hb, you might be right, but if Ford made them an option then folks could either get them or pass and save the $$'s...typically, the top of the line model will have these available and since the Fusion starts at about $25K and tops out at $42K then it seems there is a lot of room (pricing wise) for folks to save on a lower priced model or opt for the fully loaded Titanium model...can't see why Ford would say this for the Fusion when you can currently get an entry level F-150 for low to mid $20K's all the way up to $52K...same with the Edge, Explorer, etc, all with HID lighting available on the higher level models...seems to discredit the thought of cost consciousness for the US market?  I still suspect it was more of a supply issue for the US market, but I may be way off!  Either way, I'd really like the HID's on my Fusion, I head to the gym most mornings in the dark (and now with days getting shorter) and I'm always disappointed with how dim the stock halogens are compared to the F-150 HIDs that I just traded in...hmmm, wonder if I could retrofit F-150 HIDs into my Fusion...might look cool with F-150 fenders/grill/headlights :) 

[FusionNAZ]

One more thing, (and no I'm not purposely trying to increase my post count :)), have any of you looked into the factory Ford LED/HID headlight units that are available on the Mondeo (same as Fusion just different name in China and Europe)?  I really don't care for the stock halogen headlights and am wondering why Ford neglected to make them available for the US Market?  I've heard it's due to price point but call BS on that since I had HID's on my 2011 Edge, 2012 MKS and 2013 F-150...I think they goofed somewhere and didn't have them ready for the US Fusion in time?  Anyway I'd expect to see them as an option or part of the Titanium package by late 2015 or with the 2016 model year.  IIRC, there was a link in the Fusion Hybrid forum to a picture of the Chinese Mondeo with the more modern LED/HID lights and they are awesome!  Anyway, anyone check into getting these for the US model?  Would be expensive I'm guessing, but something I would seriously consider having had HID or Xenon in my German cars for years...

 

There are a lot of Mondeo parts for sale on ebay.com. The only thing is that the headlights and other Mondeno parts are not compliant for the rules of the road in the US. THey need to be made of certain material and have certain colors. I came across this issue with getting Japanese Domestic parts for my Honda. Also, the quality can be very poor for the headlights. I bought a set of aftermarket lights and had to uninstall them one week later. I would avoid the LED or other off brands due to the inconsistency in quality.

 

I ended up going and getting a "brighter bulb" from ebay. They ended up being the easiest (and cheapest) fix. Per Sylvania the low beam bulb for a 14 Fusion is H11. This act alone will brighten up any dark night  :) .

 

here is an example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PHILIPS-H11-5000K-12V-55W-Diamond-Vision-White-Light-fit-FORD-Low-Beam-/361386943436?fits=Year%3A2014%7CMake%3AFord%7CModel%3AFusion%7CSubmodel%3AEnergi+Titanium%7CEngine+-+Liter_Display%3A2.0L&hash=item54245723cc&vxp=mtr 

[Stevefm2003]

I just bought a used 2014 FFET. 20 k miles. Only 1 mod so far but I am looking forward to more and open to suggestions. Considering plastidip the grill and tires. What is the best place to get aero/body kit installed?