...and I can't tell you how much I hate my FEH.

I went into this with total excitement for the FEH, and Ford couldn't have let me down more.

Despite trying every driving trick in the book, I've never gotten a tank over about 26 mpg. And now that the cold(?) San Francisco weather is here, I'm getting about 21 or 22 mpg per tank. Ford can't/won't fix it - in fact, every time we take it in to complain, they tell me nothing's wrong with the car. And since there's no guarantee of fuel economy, I can't use it as a reason to turn it in via the Lemon Law. So the entire reason I bought the car is moot.

Then there's the overall quality. When I got the car it had door weatherstripping falling off. I've only had the thing a year and already the cheap plastic pegs that hold down the back carpet are coming up constantly. Today, the screws in the driver's side visor fell out, and the passenger ones are just about to fall out. And I had someone barely bump my rear wheel well and it splintered off the entire cheap plastic wheel well cover. If all this has happened after just 10,000 miles, I'm afraid to see what happens by the time I hit 20k. (IF! I hit 20k).

I will never buy another Ford again. And if I know anyone who's considering it, I'll tell them to buy a Toyota or Honda hybrid instead.

 

The silver lining might be the resale value for a hybrid would be higher, esp. in The Bay Area. I'm not in the small SUV market, but I'm wondering if there's any that are diesel-powered? I realize California might not allow them.

Hope I got lucky and stumbled across some viable options....

 

Boy. I have had the totally opposite experience with my '05 FEH AWD.

We are getting just below 30 mpg over the past year. Our weather here in NJ is a bit colder that that in the SF area, but on a recent trip through the mountains of Pennsylvania, fully loaded, with a bubble type luggage carrier on top, I got 31.4 mpg for a 324 mile trip. It was *very* cold.

We have 20K+ on our FEH, and so far has been rugged enough to handle our small farm's heavy chores. 600# of horse feed, hay, shavings, you name it. The only thing I agree with you on is that the cargo area carpet came up in my vehicle, also. I can live with that.

I wish I had a magic wand to swap the vechicles for a day and try to figure out what is wrong. It has my curiousity aroused.

 

It's funny how many of us wish we could try your FEH for a day or a week and see how it peforms.

I'm on month 7, and I still love it. Though with winter rolling in here in Michigan, I've had a drop from almost 35 MPGs to around 30 MPGs, it's hardly anything to cry about.

The way your vehicles have held up (as you've said in past posts), it seems like you've got some really bad karma.

 

more details about your daily commute would be helpful. What tricks did you try? AWD or FWD? Don't give up yet!

 

People in the Western US tend to drive faster, and that would apply in general to the Bay Area. I don't know if you drive with the pack or not, but that would definitely take a hit on your fuel economy.

 

Having lived on both coasts now, that's a silly thing to say.

Certainly, though, his general usage comes into play. Personally I've been getting around 28 or so, but recently my commute dropped to 1.6 miles, and about 30 degrees. My mileage dropped to around 23. It annoys me, and I want to move farther from work just to improve my mileage. Ok, maybe not, but without changing driving styles, my mileage definately was affected.

 

I could be guilty of a massive stereotype, but the members here that are in "The Need For Speed" group tend to be "West of the Rockies" as Art Bell would say.

 

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While I don't agree with Copy Boy in total, I like my FEH, I do have to agree that for whatever reason I don't see any hypermilers in Nor Cal. I get 27-29 MPG consistantly season in and season out. This is up slightly from the first 5,000 miles, but not by much. Our Gen I Prius seems to get closer to the advertised MPG and that is in a fleet use. Speed is a big factor for me. If I go slow and drive "like an egg is under the gas pedal" I can crack 30, but that is about it. But at that speed (~60) I am a hazard on the road. If I stuck to the 2 lane mountain roads I could see the high 30s, but that is not a viable communiting option (the Freeway is the ONLY road to work).

Copyboy, if you are out there, I wonder how your FEH compares to mine -

Silver 05 FEH AWD - "early build" (i.e. August - November)
Leather and NAV option
Mine was orginally put up for sale by Novato Ford, but Ukiah Ford swapped with them.
My sale date was 11/25/04 and I have 27,000 miles
I have had 1 major warranty item, which was the failure of the aux. coolant pump (the coolant pump for the electionics), otherwise I had a few trim items.
When the pump was replaced my software was flashed to the "latest version" (this was early in 2005).
I use primiarly Low grade Gasoline (87), most of our local gas is from the Chevron Refiniery in Richmond.
I drive nearly 90% of the time on the highway (freeway and mountain roads) and 10% of the time in "city driving" (crowded rural driving).
I have used the Low Gear trick for about 2 months now (not much improvement)
Let me know how your's specs up.

Chris Brown
Mendocino County