All -

My husband and I were there for the 11:30 session on Saturday and it was great to see all the other FEHs - we don't see many in Kentucky - in fact we've never seen any others here. The sessions yesterday and today included 288 people from 24 states & 2 Canadian provinces. The sessions were broken down as such: valet parking so the engineers can inspect your cars while you're in talking with other engineers. The inside engineers will be with you for the interview session and the ride-along. They have a questionnaire to fill in and were very appreciative of any information you can give - in fact, they wanted copies of the suggestions and information that I had brought along. Then there was a session in a small auditorium that included an introduction by Mary Ann Wright, powerpoint presentation of technical aspects of the car, another powerpoint presentation of driving tips and techniques, and then a way-too-short Q&A session that I thought could have gone on for hours. After that is the ride-along where the enginneers - we had 2 go with us - take you on a road trip outside the plant in what looked like a FEH parade. BTW the engineers are not allowed to give out their last names. Then everyone comes back to look at some proposed dash board layouts and the voting there-on and then the goody bag. We received 2 shirts a bag, a ball cap, 2 pencils, a water bottle, and a Mariner CD. Warning: the shirts come in all sizes and you are not given the chance to get the size you want. If anyone received a "Hybrid Driving Experience" shirt that was an extra-large and would like to trade it for a medium, my husband would be eternally grateful. Outside there was a new fusion hybrid that you could look at and some cut-aways of the hybrid engines and the battery. Some of the interesting facts I got out of the presentations, which they could not distribute, were the degradation of mileage by using the following electrical accessories are as follows:
Radio .1 MPG
Rear Defrost .8 MPG
Headlights .9 MPG
Fan on High 1.3 MPG
Also they have tested and at 80 degrees driving 60 miles per hour it is more fuel efficient to have the windows rolled down for cooling than running the A/C in any mode. Also when climbing long hills it is better to use the cruise control. Tire pressure is very important and that you lose 1.5 MPG if your tires are 10 points below the recommended 35 psi. Also I found out that driving in low does help you mileage. They didn't say how much but that, after you get used to it, it will improve your mileage. They said that there are 2 milage bumps as you break-in your car. The first at 1000 miles and then again at 3500 miles. After that there are no known mileage bumps. If I remember anything else I will let you-all know. We thought it was a great event.

Sadie