Hi Salsbr

I'm about to put two of the '09 Michelin Latitude Tour tire on my '05 FEH now that my parts manager has stocked 8 of them. I wanted to wait to compare them to my '09 to make sure they were the same tire and they are. They list for $177 each, but my parts man says I can have them for $159. What I notice about the tire when I lifted it up to put on the counter to get a closer look was its light weight. I was shocked! On my ride home in my new '09 it road so smooth I thought they really needed air. Ford again put 35psi on the door but when I checked them all, they all had 44psi sidewall Max from the factory. Strange! With that smooth of a ride these tires are very special IMO. Coasting in neutral was also much better than the Eco-Plus at 44psi. This is a perfect tire for the FEH IMO!

For those that ordered Black Pearl Slate on their '09 FEH, I was shocked that there is no black pearl color, it's slate or dark grey in color. My wife and kid loved it, but I have to say I thought someone screwed up my paint job color. So did my Broker!

Just drove my new '09 home with a starting OD of 4.5 miles and now have about 15 miles on it. This is a completely different animal than the '08 I drove and my '05. If you shift to "L" the engine idles up and if your in EV, the engine will start. No LGA anymore it looks like, but you would love how fast (almost instantly) it goes EV at 40mph when you let off the gas in "D". EV speed is easy to maintain in the upper 30's and there should be no problem holding 40mph after I air up the tires. This thing has to have the new VVC because the HV battery holds a much longer charge in EV, even at high speeds. The power of the new 2.5L allows much better control of the RPM's with much better torque at low RPM's. Hill climbing will be much better at low RPM's now. I was averaging in the low 50mpg range while testing EV modes above 40mph. Also, I was having problems with it jumping out of EV for no reason sometimes.
Very impressed on my first test drive and I can see the '09 is going to be the one FEH to beat in MPG until plug-in's. More latter with pictures during the daylight.

GaryG

 

It does. The cable that is cranked down is connected to the big wing nut that goes through the center hole of the spare. I expect that they added some type of lock nut to hold up the spare in case the winch cable wears/breaks/comes loose.

 

YEP!

GaryG
"For those that ordered Black Pearl Slate on their '09 FEH, I was shocked that there is no black pearl color, it's slate or dark grey in color. My wife and kid loved it, but I have to say I thought someone screwed up my paint job color. So did my Broker!"

From what I saw on the '08 Black Pearl this is the color I wanted. Like most things in life beauty is in the eye of the bla bla bla... Anyways. Have you parked it under a big tree on a sunny day it turns a nice green! Must be the metal flakes in the clear coat.

Now only driving a '08 for a test drive. I'm glad to hear GaryG talk about the easy EV reached at 40 mph. I was reading how hard it was in the past to do this. And was thinking Ford did a great job this year too.


GaryG did you get a 6 disc in dash? with Nav or the single with Nav? or did i forget you told us all already and now just look stupid

 

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the info, and experience! Now my quest is to learn as much as possible about them and their non-dry pavement handling.

And congrats on your '09! The jealousy is firmly setting in.

-salsbr

 

Most of the claims by Ford said their new Michelins have improved stopping distances, improve handling, are much quieter and are LRR for better mileage. Today I increased the tire PSI to 50 and they road much better than the Eco Plus at 35psi, you can't hear them, and I'm getting excellent mileage.

Today on my 40 mile commute from a cold start I averaged 49.4mpg with E-10 and hot weather. I was holding 40mph in EV more than a few times today and this FEH had less than 20 miles on it. This thing has fuel cut when you let off the gas in "D" also. I need to stop shifting to "N" when the engine is running to get better FE now. When I figure out all the changes I need to make, this FEH will rock!

Not sure yet, but I think my Nav sys only is a one disc system. To much to learn for this old man, but I know SoC on my SGII is working fine. I was dropping the SoC to 39.3 at 35mph in EV before a restart of the ICE. I found out why I was getting restarts for what I thought was for no reason. The Nav SoC gauge had 4 bars when this was happening and I found out with my SGII this is 40%. So each bar is 10% on the new Nav SoC gauge.

Sorry folks, but my priority is to learn how to adjust to all these changes in the '09 to keep my lifetime mileage up the best I can. I'll get some pictures posted asap, but many of you have seen pictures and want the meat of the mileage. I still have to see what I can push this thing to on the highway. ALL THIS BEFORE BREAK-IN!

I LOVE THIS FEH!

GaryG

 

 

If you want to see some pictures I took of my '09 FEH today:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/showg.../500/ppuser/36

GaryG

 

great pics Gary...thanks for sharing

 

Great pictures Gary. I know your busy playing with your new 09 but if you get a chance, could you let me know what software version is loaded in your Nav system?
Thanks

 

Great pics, Gary.

Looks like there's not going to be an easy way to add the sway bar to the older models. It looks like the center housing changed as well as the trailing arms.

On a good note, I think the rear tire spoiler could be added but I'm not sure just how much that little feature adds. It's got to be worth something as the Ford engineers wouldn't have added such a small piece for giggles (or would they?).