Well it has been just about 6 weeks and my Escape is scheduled to arrive today. Will it happen?? Will they call?? Only time will tell. I am told the truck is shipped from MO to Tampa FL, by train and then it is trucked in to my local dealership from there.

I have done some research on this site. I printed out an owners manual from the myford site. I requested the navigation supplement manual from Ford (which they mailed to me at no charge within a week). All this was done to help me know the Escape better before it arrives.

Now it just needs to arrive. perhaps it will be today.

This will be the first vehicle I have ordered "my way". It still amazes me how sometimes we will settle for "what they have" or "what we can get".

In a "I want it now" world, waiting for the truck has been both exciting and informative!

Perhaps it will be today.

Sean

 

Tampa Eh? who's your dealer. I lived in Clearwater for 30 years until last month when I moved to SLC Utah. I know all the dealers there.

 

Hopefully, it will show up at your dealers, within a few days.

BTW, if it turns into a week or more, be very careful. Any delay like that, means it got diverted to the shipper's body shop. Since such body work is done by them, and not Ford, niether Ford nor your dealer gets notified. The only "hint" is the extra delay.

 

Thanks for the reply Walt,

Still nothing yet .

The interesting part will be when the truck does arrive, if the dealer will still honor the two rebates that expired 07/02.

$500.00 bring your own financing (or pay a high percentage thru Ford)
and
$545.00 customer cash.

It would be a shame to turn down the dealer and walk away from the order if they don't, but they will probably sell the truck to someone else the same day!!

I have brought this delayed delivery issue up with him on several occasions and he has said they will honor the rebates because the sales order was before the deadline, but we ALL know how salesman are.

Jerry, the dealer is way down here in Sarasota County, but the salesman tells me that all the Fords are brought into a hub in Tampa by train. Does this sound factual??

Thanks,
Signed, still waiting...

08FEH

 

yes. all vehicles in the region come to florida via rail or port to Jax. then shipped by truck.

 

Ok, The truck came in at about 1:30pm Today.

It was pdi'd and we picked it up at 4:30pm.
The $500.00 rebate was still available, but the $545 was not they said. So they added another $545.00 to my trade, which made the bottom line a dollar less than the purchase agreement I signed on the day we ordered it.

Thanks for the concerns, I looked over the vehicle closely and it "appears" to be ok. It had 9 miles on it. We are still working thru the nav system and trying to figure things out.

I worked at a Ford dealer when I first got out of high school and I am a fan of the Ford Extended Warranty, but I did not purchase it today.

It can be purchased during the initial 3/36 bumper to bumper--- The warranty I looked at makes the 3/36 bumper to bumper become 5/60 bumper to bumper for $1400.00

It's tempting, but I'm not sure $1400.00 for two extra years and 24000 extra miles is worth it.

The things I think of are window motors or sunroof tracks....

I am open to any thoughts on this stuff!!!


Thanks
08FEH

 

08-
I purchased a factory extended warranty on my 1998 Olds Intrigue (I purchased the vehicle at 31,000 miles with about a month left in the 3 years). It was worth it--I had to have the radio replaced twice and the transmission. After the first radio replacement (it was a Bose system) it had paid for itself. I didn't purchase it on my last Ford Escape and didn't seem to suffer for it, though I traded it in at 43,000 miles. So, I'd say, it's totally up to you and how you drive. As I am a cheapskate, I always keep this in mind: can I sav e up more for the repairs than the warranty costs? And with the Olds, the answer was no.

 

Sean- As far as the extended warranty goes.... the most common problems I have heard of over the first 3 years of production are water pumps going out fairly early, and air-conditioning systems going bad fairly early. Both repairs are under $1400 if you need to pay cash, so it's a tough call. Consider as I did, that this is a car you probably can't repair yourself, like you could with older cars, and an extended warranty looks more attractive. Plus there's about 50 extra miles of wire in this car. I got a 6 year/60,000 mile bumper to bumper ESP in 2005, and I think it was $1400 from Ford back then also.
I had my A/C condenser replaced 2 weeks ago. Would have been a $120 part with $250 of labor if I had to pay cash. Plus ESP gave me a rental car for 3 days ( the part had to be ordered ) So I've gotten about $500 out of my ESP already.
-John

 

So,
We picked up our 08FEH on Friday 07/06/07. We had ordered the truck we wanted and waited about 6 weeks for it to arrive. The deal went as planned with the exception of a rebate period expiring during the waiting period, so the dealer reduced the selling price to make the numbers work as originally quoted.

We spent at least an hour at the dealer going over the truck and features blah,blah. I felt as if I already knew the truck inside and out thanks to this site and the manuals I had already obtained while the truck was on order.

Anyways the truck had 9 miles on it and the tank was almost completely full. We ran the truck with the AC on during the whole time the salesman was showing us the features and helping me get the NAV system disc installed blah blah (it has been in the 90's).

My wife and I drove around town for a little, just enjoying the truck. This was mixed electric and gas... I was learning the modes blah blah. The mpg showed 34.8 avg. I don't like the bar graph thingy, it's too much to look at. I like the avg mpg and the "inst cons" helps you along "live time".

Someone gave me two NASCAR tickets to the Pepsi 400, so we took the truck to Daytona yesterday. It was a 212 mile trip each way. We got there on the original tank of gas and it still had 68 miles to empty. I drove about 78mph, varying speeds between 70-80 with the AC on the entire way and the temp set at 74.

The truck drives great and steers well. The ride is acceptable and it does not appear top heavy. I also noticed the truck is very "sure footed" and is not blown around by drafts when passing T-T's or by the wind. Most impressive was the LACK of interior noise on the highway. (wind noise).

I have heard many complain about the nav system, but imo it works FLAWLESSLY. The sound of the sat radio, FM radio and cd's is impressive. Very good quality audio, and I like it at higher volumes (especially on SR "big hair band" channel lol)

The mpg showed 29.6 when I arrived in Daytona, I was very impressed that the hwy mpg almost matched the window sticker. Not only because the poor truck is brand new, but also because of my 70-80mph range with the cruise control.

I filled the truck up and calculating my mpg I got 28.79 using the gallons I put in. I filled it up so much the gas spilled out of the neck a little. I'll have to stop after the first "click" on this truck I guess.
I am thinking the extra gas (loss in mpg) was due to running the truck so much at idle at the dealer and in my driveway playing with the Nav. Also I think I probably pumped more into the tank than the dealer did.

On the way home (212 miles back) I drove 70mph religously. I pulled in the driveway (3am) and showed 32mpg avg. this includes driving thru town alot on electric to get to my house.

Things I noticed and I am wondering if they are "normal".

It seems when the truck is on electric and the battery is charged, at 30mph it drains the battery in about 1 mile. Then the ice turns on even with minimal or no pedal pressure.
Should I be getting more distance out of the battery?

I am very impressed with the way i can manipulate the cvt. at 70, if conditions are right, I can get the engine to run at just over 2k rpm and almost lock in there (maybe 2200-2300). I am not sure what is actually happening there on cruise but the rpms move up and down just a little as if the software programing is actually performing the pulse and glide. While the truck is doing this, the inst cons is moving in sync between 28-38ish.
This is while cruising on a flat surface, very interesting.

It is also interesting that as long as you don't push too hard, you can keep the rpms very low for your vehicle speed. It's almost as if "don't let it slip" or "keep it where it is grabbing". What is this that I am feeling in the cvt?

All in all, what a great time we are having so far with the little suv from Ford.

Oh, there is a catch... my wife likes to have some heat on her back while riding. We noticed that the seat heaters DO NOT work. The seats never got hot, and the seat heater(s) are supposed to shut off after ten minutes but the light on the switch never went out.

Hopefully that is NOT going to be a big problem for us.

Thanks for reading and I will keep you all posted.


08FEH

 

In my 06, the light never goes out. The seats get VERY VERY hot almost immediately when you turn them on (& there's no temp adjustment) & then cycle on & off but the light stays on the whole time.


~John