This is a little out of order since I probably should have put up this thread first a few months ago. Guess i should have thoroughly read my welcome to the board letter!

I was going to buy a FEH about 2 years ago and mentioned that I wished they had something more green. A friend overheard my dismay and mentioned he thought he had read that Ford was offering a hybrid. Well, I started saving my pennies and by May '05, I am a proud owner of an '05 FEH.

I was panicking that I was never going to get one for under 35K around here since I saw them going for MSRP + whatever was bid on eBay.

I needed something to replace my KIA Sportage which was over 120K miles and could road my gear ( part-time musician with a real job).

I was thoroughly discouraged by the local dealer's price gouging and that the hybrid was not on the X plan. I ended up getting one at a price I could live with without the NAV and with leather (not a common combo, I guess) through a dealer in a neighboring city. They tracked down one with exactly what I wanted.

Now I am at 13K miles and on my second oil change. Been using the Mobil 1 5W-20. It gave me ~2 MPG improvement.

Going to try the fake shifting. The low gear explanation on the
Dearborn thread makes sense except I have a AWD and it seems it engages all of the wheels. It works for hard to get in EV times for me sometimes that does not work. The fake shifting seems logical since the transmission on an ecvt is 2 cones.

Hope to contribute more often.

BTW: I can drive slowly but not too slow. At least I am not poluting when I am stopped.

 

Welcome to the boards and to the club! I suggest that if you haven't already, check out the Learn section (at the top) or the FEH forum, some guy wrote a FAQ that some people really like, you may get something out it as well.

Feel free to ask questions and enjoy!