You may also want to think about the '08, which does seem to address some of your interior complaints.

 

Join the Experimental Aircraft Association eaa.org they are a recognized ford partner organization. Membership is only 40$ and is well worth it if you have any interest in aviation at all. You can get a X-plan through them.

 

Wow, my husband is a member and I didn't even know that! By the way, the name is a little misleading (at least to some folks), since many members fly ordinary general aviation aircraft from Cessna, Mooney, Piper, etc. There are local fly-ins around the country where youngsters can get a free flight in an aircraft through the EAA's Young Eagles program.

And, aircraft ownership isn't required (nor, either, is a pilot's license... at least not just for membership!) We don't own an aircraft -- we rent our wings, and the most "experimental" aircraft my husband's flown is anything but -- a Cirrus SR22 (through a demo flight from Cirrus, not through an EAA function, btw.)

 

You have to be an EAA member for at least 1 year before you can get the X-Plan PIN.

 

You guys are all correct about sales people knowing little to absolutely nothing about Hybrid vehicles.

I work at a car dealer(I am the Internet Sales Manager)& until I bought an 05 FEH as my own personal vehicle I really didn't know much about how Hybrid's worked(even though my Mom is on her second Toyota Prius).

I took the FEH in trade with 21,000 miles on it at a time when I needed a vehicle that got better fuel mileage than the truck I was currently driving(05 Chrysler T&C van). I didn't even know if I would like the FEH or not & bought it without even test driving it. As it turns out, I fell in love with it & decided I liked it better than any vehicle I have driven in years.

I started researching the Hybrids more & more at that point & that's how I found my way to this wonderful message board. Now, all of our other sales people come to me whenever a Hybrid question comes up.

I recently had a chance to pick up a mint condition 06 4WD FEH that is black/black with every single available factory option & only 4000 miles on it. I snapped up the 06 immediately & dumped the 05. The only thing I don't like better about the 06 is the awful POS/outdated factory NAV/GPS setup it came with. My 05 did not come with NAV & I had added an in-dash Eclipse double DIN unit(same unit that comes in a Lexus with NAV). That unit spoiled me & I may have to dump the useless factory NAV & install another Eclipse AVN-5500 in my new truck.

~John

 

Good catch -- I just did a quick Google and that certainly appears to be the case (and makes sense, too, so people don't just join to get the discount.)

 

I get discounts for GM and Ford due to the nature of my work. I supply both with special tooling and machines, so I didn't have to look too far

 

In following the BON, I think it is more of a case of being disillusioned. First, it seems that most of the X-plan PIN requests fulfilled in BON's forum end up not being used. That has resulted in the Ford employees, who use to give them out, to go away feeling it was just a waste of their time. Second, a lot of Ford employees feel that either they, or a close friend, is getting the shaft from Ford, and aren't so "pro Ford" to bother to give out X-plan PINs anymore. I know that my X-pin source now feels that way.

However, the X-plan PINs can still be had.

Just remember that even if a dealer agrees to match the X-plan price, that the dealer doesn't try to "pad" the price back up by then adding in "required" fees like the famous Advertising Fee, or the Documentation Fee.

 

Our local dealerships just had a new car show here in Louisville, KY this past weekend. The paper reported that the '08 FEH got a lot of buzz there. I talked to a friend of mine who works at Ford at church yesterday (he works on the Explorer line) and he noted there was a lot of positive talk about the new version internally as well...I guess that is to be expected though given the current news coming out of Ford.

I wasn't able to make it out to give any first hand impressions but will be taking a close look as soon as they hit our dealerships here and will let you know how it drives.

 

I wanted to pull out my DORA to just make sure. On my '07 MMH, the X-plan price was $50 less than the invoice price.

Plus, again, the dealer can't jack up the X-plan price with "required" fees like Advertising and Documentation, like the do so very often with an invoice price sale.