Phonzmanh20's Xanga

Reveiw ONE For the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:08:56 GMT

Here's a bulletin-type review for my new car I had recently bought, a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.

Background: I've basically commited blasphemy to my family, who had been partial to Nissans and Infinitis. I grew up being driven by a 1996 Infiniti I30 until I started driving it myself. Then, I bought a 2001 Infiniti Q45 in 2008.

It was a small V8 flagship sedan back in the days of the new millenium. I had gotten it really cheap so the value was there, but I had to deal with a 17 mpg monster. It didn't bug me though. I was gonna deploy at the time I bought it, and in that deployment time would've given the vehicle a rest. But now that I'm not deploying, this vehicle is going to run down by the time I get out of the military. So I had to do something about the car. It's driving 100-miles per workday, I have to fill the 21-gallon tank almost 3 times a week, and it already has 107,000 miles, from the 82,000 miles I bought it at. So to save the vehicle, Lindsay and I decided to give the vehicle to her, and I get myself a fuel-efficient car.... oh great.

So doing my research, I found myself this car. My first impression when I saw this car in person was, hey, it's bigger than I thought. It is much more roomier than a Toyota Prius or a Civic Hybrid. It is FAR more efficient than the Camry Hybrid and Altima Hybrid at 41city/36hwy. The older Ford Fusions had been a hit car with the company. The hybrid technology is a little more updated. And so, I'm going to give Ford a chance. But, moving from an Infiniti to a Ford does come with a price. So, I'm making a series of opinionated-bulletin-type posts on the review of this vehicle to for my benefit as well as anyone else's who plans to buy a new hybrid.

PROS

BIG

The Hybrid drive is AWESOME in efficiency and function. Even though the vehicle is rated at 41/36, you can easily top that even with less-than-mindful driving. I drove on the streets and highway(about 14 miles) today and from the point of depart to arrival, I pulled off an average 42 mpg. There'd be other instances of high average mpg, and I have been able to top it off at 58mpg.
EV mode is where the car runs entirely on the battery, even with ac, headlights, and sound on. It is set for the lower rpm ranges to assist with the efficiency while accelerating. People get the misconception of it not being very useful because they drive beyond those ranges very easily, but those people are stupid. EV mode really helps you from using the engine unneccesarily for small acceleration spurts like ones in the parking lots. Over here in California, there ARE some mighty big parking lots and shopping centers, and it's nice to know that I can track all of it without using one drop of gas. Real sweet.
The car has all sorts of surrounding notification systems on it. There's a yellow light on the side mirrors if someone's on your blind spots. There's a back-up camera with a template for the perfect parrellel parking. And with the back-up camera, there's cross-traffic detection that'll beep to notifiy you that there's a car or person coming from the left or right.
The Sirius TravelLink shows weather, 5-day weather, country weather map, gas stations and their prices, movie theatres and movie times, and sports.
The vehicle is handsome! Buying it in Tuxedo Black gives you a black car with a shimmering detail to it! The black leather comes with white stitching that makes it look nice.

MEDIUM

The right side of the shows realtime mpg. So, you get to see how you're doing at each stage of the acceleration and long runs. It is really interesting when you set the vehicle on cruise control and see how much or little it has to do to keep the cruise speed.
The voice recognition control ALOT from navigation to phone calls to climate control to volume to radio station to whatever is on the screen.
The car seems to be pretty aerodynamic or the hybrid battery kicks in as when you let go of the acceleration, it maintains it's speed pretty well, requiring less effort on the pedal.

SMALL

There's a bunch of choices for ambient lighting.
There's a volume compensation system that'll raise and lower the volume according to your speed to compensate for road noise.
Car came with 17-inch low-profile rims.
Moon roof has little side covers to help a wee-bit to keep wind noise down.
The screen greets you with the correct time of day when you turn on the car.
The car starts quietly. It can be tricky if you're not paying attention to whether you started your car or not.
Navigation and phone calls are effective in not interrupting your music while you're listening to it.

CONS

BIG

It's either the Sony speakers are plain awful or they haven't been broken in yet (I'm hoping for the latter) but the sound system SUCKS. I'm part audiophile and I've grew up with Bose, one of the best products out there, and compared to it... well, there's no comparison. The tweeters are harsh and loud instead of clear and concise. The bass has no range. And, songs I once enjoyed in the Infiniti are unbearable to listen to in the Fusion. The system does get much louder than the previous car, but the quality is so much worse that it doesn't even matter. So, being broken in better be the excuse and I'm going to give it time to do that. Otherwise, "Sound Designed by Sony" is going to be "Sound Replaced by Bose".
The standard 225/50R17 Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus tires SUCK too. Although, I shouldn't be expecting much from OEM tires. With little-above-average turning conditions, I don't feel too confident that the Ford will stay on the road, but more like it's going to tip on me. And, one of the tires had already blown up on me. But, I have been adulterated by the top rated Passenger All-Seasons tires that I currently have on my Infiniti. It's kinda expensive. But to me, safety and handling is nothing to skim on. I've traveled 3,000 miles with some rain, snow, and wintry mix and owe my life and Lindsay's to the Goodyear tires.

MEDIUM

This is probably not a medium problem to most, but I use cruise control very often. One problem is that you cannot really tell if you cruise control system is on until you try to set it to a cruise speed. There's no blip or icon to let you know you can start your cruise control. So, it gets a little annoying when you try to set a cruise speed, but cruise control is off when you thought it was on.

SMALL

No cancel button for cruise control. You have to brake or turn it off entirely.
Steering wheel requires more effort to turn a mid-sized car compared to the steering wheel in the Infiniti that requires less effort to turn a large-size car.
Trunk does not have auto-snug closing like the Infiniti. But then again, I am comparing to a luxury car. But then again again, the luxury car is 2001 and this is a 2010 car with less "luxury" features that would've been standard neat features by now.
The steering wheel is a bit slippery. I had to put a steering wheel cover for me to grip the wheel better.

Alright then. More on the way as I come across more noticeable pros and cons.

If I Could Vote...

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:06:50 GMT

I would vote to kick ass.

Lots of money would be poured into Star Wars Battle Front games.

Horseradish would taste like candy apple.

I would not work on weekends.

My niece's and a-new-one-on-the-way's father will die after drowning in his own blood flowing from various dismemberments of his body (He doesn't love my sister anymore and wants to end it.....oh I'll end it alright... the right way....muahahaha......freakin' piece of shit)

Feet not smell

Flies die upon touch of anything

Clothes magically cover up during indecency

Star Wars Battlefront 3 magically appears on my lap.

Oh there it is! Hey Kyle!!!!

We the People??!1

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:28:18 GMT

I don't know too much about politics and economy, but I try to keep up with it from time to time.

From what I'm seeing right so far. People are defaulting on their mortgages and loans and can't pay for what they can't afford. So they file bankruptcy.

So, bank are collecting "bad assets" and they are starting to do bad due to all the people not being able to give them back the money they borrowed. And because of this, banks are failing and filing for bankruptcy themselves.

The government sees this and tries to help out. They spend day and night working out legislation to buy these bad assets and try to give banks a new and better start. A $700 billion dollar plan. And they work quickly because this is a hot matter.

Now, these people, (probably not the same ones who defaulted.... then again... probably so...) didn't like the plan and spammed the lawmakers with phone calls and emails. Telling them "NO! DON'T PASS THE LEGISLATION!" or asking details, "WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT?"

Listening to the people, lawmakers rejected the rescue plan for them, WHICH WAS MADE UP TO HELP THEIR OWN ECONOMY THEY DEFAULTED ON, and the DOW dropped 777 points within mere minutes.

To we the people:

GOOD JOB

PhonZ

Oh Yeah....

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:06:25 GMT

I love her!

Her B-day's coming up and I hope I can figure out something nice to do for that. What's even cooler is that I'll get a long weekend for that time too.

To me, and only to me, Lindsay's that kind of girl that makes my entire existance a lot more purposeful, as if God hasn't done enough already... which He has...by the way. I can't quite explain our relationship by anything else other than "a step in the right direction"... or perfect, as we like to call each other.

Because that's what we think it really is. Perfect. We can figure any lesser term to describe it other than that. So that's what we're sticking to. My days can be awful. I can get yelled at, or stressed over work.. but I overcome because I know that sooner or later.. I get to see my darlin!

I dunno the point of this post than just to mumble about her. I just wish she's with me right now. She's such a cute thing. She does this thing where she paws at me like a kitty and I really can't do anything except squeeze her to death. Then whenever she makes a sad face, I can't really leave her until I kiss it away... she kinda does that on purpose though... but I'm not complaining.

She's perfect for me. It's gonna suck during deployment, but I know that sooner or later... I'll see her after that.

Well. I guess I'll sleep now.

PhonZ

Warren Kittler Has Been Totally Owned By The Mere Fact His Entire Family Is On Facebook

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:41:21 GMT

Warren's mom is on facebook.

There's nothing bad about that. I think is VERY cool (I wish MY mom was on facebook). In fact, that his entire immediate family members are all on the same social website.

But good things makes things even greater because now in any further "your mom" competitions and showdowns between Warren and I, for here this point on out, I automatically have THE trump card. Yes... THE with all caps, no spaces, but with so much impact.

What Warren? My mom's face?

What's that you say? My mom should be contained for viral sideburns?

Wait... Did you just say "Your mom can't sit right?"

Oh no Warren.

My dear best friend Warren.

Dear buddy of the french horn yet-so-naive-to-see-the-big-picture

Please.

Sit down.

This may make your heart jump a bit.

Your mom is on facebook.

PhonZ

Meow

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:46:20 GMT

So I'm here at Lindsay's place waiting to suprise her for the 2nd time this week. She's at work babysitting a child and I got off early, for once. She doesn't know I'm here, but with even one hint, she knows I'm here... in a way.

We love each other very much. I've already driven almost 3000 miles since I bought my car just to see her all the time up at Long Beach. I originally planned to drive every weekend, but I guess I just didn't measure how much this girl has come to mean to me.

Lindsay's father made it. She didn't have to go through with removing life support, because he's made it. He has no recollection of what he did, but he asked for forgiveness. His daughter has forgiven him and now comes the journey of getting right with God. What Lindsay's dad did to himself, he should've died. But in a miraculous nature, he made it. Someone upstairs said he's not done yet. He's got so much more.

Anyways, Lindsay and I plan to be in Las Vegas on November 1st for the Battalion Marine Corps Ball. We are excited... and I find it suprisingly difficult to keep from making things "official". But in keeping from being so blinded by love, I need to wait. There's so much she has to do with school, father, Christ and so much I have to do with finances, service, and family that it's simply too early for vows.

I'm still claimed though.

I'm going to rest now, I got a hike tomorrow morning and I have to be up at 4am to do that, so I need all the rest I can.

But I need all the Lindsay I can, so there's got to be a balance right?

Maybe.

Anyways, before I close tonight, I'll post some portraits we took of us for everyone.

Pray for the Battalion strength on the hike. Pray for Lindsay's dad. And thank you so much for stopping by.

PhonZ

Suicide

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:23:54 GMT

For those of you who pray, please do and if you don't, please keep in mind of my girlfriend Lindsay Bourne's dad, Clint Myers, who is intense care and life support.

He tried to commit suicide by overdosing in insulin and various drugs and anti-deppressents this Wednesday. He's in ICU right now under a coma and really isn't doing too well. With the damage he's done to his heart and brain, doctors said they'd be surprised if he opens his eyes again. Families of both sides are taking this really hard because he was a really likable guy. He suffered a stroke earlier in life and became angry and depressed over his loss of ability to support himself.

So he really didn't die after this incident, but he told his daughter, with advance directive, that after his stroke he become vegetative with inability to support himself, he does not want to be supported with anything by hydration.

So sometime soon, my girlfriend has to decide when to end the support for her father. Lindsay is currently angry with her dad because she feels is such a selfish act, which it really is. But I am here to comfort her and soothe her that she doesn't dwell on anger or bad thoughts too much.

I knew God would bring good and bad times to our relationship. I realize that, and now I hope that with this situation, Lindsay, her family, and I can pull through really well and countinue to praise Him. Lindsay's dad was Christian, so we're not to worried about where he's going. Lindsay just hoped it wouldn't be this way. She just hoped her dad wouldn't miss the future things in life like his daughter's wedding, first born, and so much more.

I've dealth with the deaths of my grandmother and grandfather, but this is the first time I'm in a situation with suicide. It's a gloomy thing and it's really a selfish act. But I'm not here to be angry over the selfishness. I just really pray for Lindsay and her family to overcome with the event and I pray for Clint Myers. God's Will shall be with him if he live or dies. But I wish for you guys to keep us in their hearts.

Let us be in your prayers.

PhonZ

It's HERE!

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:37:48 GMT

This right here is the 2009 Nissan GT-R, the coolest piece of metal and wheels that I am most enthusiastic about. I've been "into" the line of Nissan Skylines, GT-Rs 32, 33, 34, V-spec, M-spec, Nur, GT500s, and Nismos, since highschool and it's great to see the latest iteration, GTR35 finally here in America!

Nissan Skylines are known as a "poor man's" supercar... very loosely touched because the vehicle is still about $80,000. But the best thing about it is that it performs viciously beyond a Porsche 911, Lamborghini, or even Ferraris, 0-60mph is a mere 3.2 seconds!!! These cars have been reserved for all over the world but USA and it is so striking to me that it's finally here in America!

I saw this red one pass by while I was making my way up to Long Beach on I-5. It's supposed to be out in Fall, but I'm not sure if someone got the hook-ups on it or what, but it's so fantastic to see this legendary line of cars finally make it to America.

I thought it over some more though. Nissan Skylines have been a enthusiast's car with a strong band of culture behind it. There's racers, there's family, and there's the good ol' fanatics over it. In Japan, there are countless events for the GT-R and it's a tight group behind this beast. I'm just pondered of how all the rich, grubby well-doers will react to the car. It IS a cheap, powerful car and I can already picture rich kids gettin' it for their 16th birthdays... I would not react very well to that.

I see more life past the car itself. There's so much enthusiasm in this car that I think lost rich boys should better understand before owning such a thing. I would love to be the one to pull up next to a guy in a Nissan GT-R and ask "Are you sure you understand what you are driving? Because I really doubt it." This ain't no "ordinary" Porsche, Mercedez, Lexus, BMW, or Audi. This is a Nissan and Nissan made it for the spirit of race and speed and I think we better keep if far from the category of just another rich guy's car... because it aint,... if that made any sense.

I'd like to get one myself.. If I ever did well after the military. But I don't know... this will come 7th to whatever I would care about most like God, family, wife, kids, friends, etc.

PhonZ

The Support of My Life

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:28:30 GMT

In time of desperation, my friends, co-workers, and 2nd-to-God-most-of-all, my girlfriend Lindsay has supported me througout this nightmare.

I lost my wallet at a phone-booth at a Walmart nearby. It was crazy hard for me because it had EVERYTHING in there, including my military ID, social security card and green card. I lost a big part of my identity and ANYONE could've used it to there full advantage.

So without my driver's license, I could not get back onto base... but a great buddy co-worker helped me out and let me park my car at his apartment complex.

So without my Military ID, I could not get onto base, but the same buddy drove me into base everyday.

Without any of my credit or debit cards, I could not buy anything to eat, but I had a brilliant girlfriend to pick me up after driving hundreds of miles that week, just to be with me and support me.

The past week was all about being humbled to be supported for me. I've always been the one to not ask for help because of shame and pride. But with everything lost, I was humbled to be supported by the people I knew and the person I love.

Lindsay has seriously been a tremendous help in the situation I faced. I was praticing for rifle qualifications and had an 8 mile hike that week, so she did so much for me to prepare for all those events. Not only she helped me, she came down to visit me every single day of that week, also helped alot on the day we got my wallet back from an nice Phillipino family. I know she had to drive up and down long beach so many times that week, and each drive back and forth is about 100 miles... so I know she must really love me!!

I'm so blessed to have people help me.. especially my girlfriend. I thought to myself, man... I could not have anyone less or more mature... younger or older... I mean.. if I were to date someone younger and less mature... would I really have been helped the way I did?

More and more I realize, this girl seems to be just... perfect for me. And I don't me flawless perfect... but so suitable... so complimenting... that you really can't call it anything else.. other than perfect.

I am back here now.. able to talk to her and y'all again thanks to ,still, my perfect Lindsay. She is so wonderful to me that I thank God for a girl like her. She really has me blessed.

PhonZ

Two Words of the Day

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:41:54 GMT

Godincidence
noun
God + coincidence - co.

Definition: A coincidence that happens, but because of your belief that there is no coincidences, but pre-determined destiny, you refuse to call it a random event.. but a delightful act of God.

"It's such a Godincidence that this girl I met at the aquarium would go on romantic dates with me to the library and museums."

Glucky
adj.
God + lucky - od.
Definition: To be lucky, but because of your belief that luck is not related to any part of random chances, but predermined destiny, your refuse to believe that object, number, or event was ever there by chance.. but a delightful act of God.

"
Linds: babe! you're lucky that you aren't here because you would so get attack with kisses....

Linds: wait...

Linds: I guess that means you'd be lucky to be here

Linds: hmm

phonzmanh20: lol

phonzmanh20: I'm very Glucky

Linds: oh well, attack will wait until I see you

phonzmanh20: Glucky = God-lucky

Linds: Glucky! Adorable!

Linds: I love you so much!

Linds: I love my wonderfully weird nerdy boyfriend
"

PhonZ