mtl1977

You can extend it by two months. Same payment, same mileage allowance. There is also a 10 day grace period to turn in the car. My F-150 was almost 3000 miles under the 21k allowed for the two year lease. So, I drove the crap out of it in that 10 days.

The VIN will tell you the powertrain code. Usually each powertrain setup will get its own code. The Fusion seems to use the same for manual and auto transmissions. Here is an example: 3FAHP06Z37R000000 A VIN for a 2007 Fusion. I know it is a 2007 since the tenth digit is a 7. 6 is 2006. 5 is 2005... We know it was made in Mexico since the first digit is a '3'. ('1' is USA, '2' is Canada) We know it is a Ford since the second digit is an 'F'. ('M' is Mercury, 'L' is Lincoln) Look at digits five through eight. They will tell the model, drive type and engine. eighth digit: Z = 2.3L I-4 1 = 3.0L V-6 T = 3.5L V-6 Fusion - P06Z = 2.3 I-4 'S' auto or manual P07Z = 2.3 I-4 'SE' auto or manual P08Z = 2.3 I-4 'SEL' auto or manual P071 = 3.0 V-6 'SE' auto P011 = 3.0 V-6 'SE' AWD auto P081 = 3.0 V-6 'SEL' auto P021 = 3.0 V-6 'SEL' AWD auto Milan - M07Z = 2.3 I-4 'base' auto or manual M08Z = 2.3 I-4 'premium' auto or manual M071 = 3.0 V-6 'base' auto M011 = 3.0 V-6 'base' AWD M081 = 3.0 V-6 'premium' auto M021 = 3.0 V-6 'premium' AWD MKZ - M26T = 3.5 V-6 M28T = 3.5 V-6 AWD Zephyr - M261 = 3.0 V-6

Some of the changes could be powertain calibration, etc. that a customer would never see.

Rather than lease another car, I was gonna get a used Focus Wagon with a manual trans. Hard to find. Ended up with the Grand Caravan... The Edge is waaayy overpriced in my opinion and not much bigger than an Escape. Ford needs a sub-$20k wagon. When I price out a loaded ZXW Focus, manual trans, its $19,800. The Freestyle is too expensive for that market too. And too heavy. 4000 lbs! I had a '93 Escort Wagon that was passed down from my wife's mom...it had 163k miles when I got rid of it. Eibach springs, manual trans. It was fun to drive and still functional as a hauler. Moved everything I owned after college graduation back in 2001 with that car. Maybe Ford will get a version of the Mazda5 as a Focus Wagon replacement. Its has almost 10 more cubic feet of space behind the rear seats.

Ford is supposedly dropping the Focus Wagon for the 08MY. With the large number of wagon sales, what are they replacing it with? The Mazda6 offers a wagon...hopefully we get a Fusion 3.5L 6-sp manual wagon!

I ordered four filters for Escape Hybrids from Rock Auto. They did not include the o-rings.

Thats why you lease - cheaper than financing, new cars that stay in warranty the entire lease period, and you rarely drive the old body style... People like to BS and say leasing is no good, you won't get the resale later. Well, yes, but you also never have to pay for broken parts either! WARRANTY!

I can tell you that anyone that does know and posts it on an internet message board will get their nuts twisted off by Bill Ford personally. Ford locks out changes through most of the year. Most changes are pushed back to the introduction of new model years. Everytime something is changed, it requires the part number to change. That causes the service part number to change and down the line you go. Lots of time and money...its a total pain in the ass. Since that 6F is a new trans, they probably wanted to make sure there were enough to get in the MKXs and Edges and didn't have enough initial capacity to fill other vehicle lines.

Thanks, I went on the two supplier days. The Shelby logos were there both days. Just read an article somewhere about auto show thefts...maybe from the BON or DetNews.com sites? Shift knobs, logos, hood ornaments... For the Focus Wagon - The dealer should tack that $72 onto the labor charges for the recall work. Ford probably pays a flat rate, but tell the dealer you are a return customer and they will probably write it off if Ford is paying less than what the dealer calculates for the whole job.

Did you post at fordfusion.net? Rewire the fog light power from the parking light relay.

My '95 Escort stock wiring wouldn't allow the parking/fogs together, only low beam/fogs so I rewired the fog power from the headlight relay to the parking light relay. Now they are on anytime the parking lights are on regardless of low or high beam. On the Fusion, if you have schematics and a shop manual to find the relays, you could do the same - wire the power to the fogs off the parking light relay, or use the parking light relay to switch on another fog specific relay if you are running high power fogs. No manual? Just turn the lights on and off and find the relay that is clicking. Might be under the hood now-a-days. The factory fogs are not really functional. More for cosmetic purposes. The low beam does not come on with the high beams on the Fusion. The cars that do allow this are sweet! Freakin' daylight in front of you. Not sure about heat dissipation though. FYI - in MI, you cannot have more than four aux. lights. You can only have two fogs. Cop gave me a ticket for four fogs. Two were factory fogs, two were driving lights. Played Johnny Cochrane in court with photos and a copy of the MI Motor Vehicle Code and the bacon lost.

A few pics. http://mlav.com/car/07autoshow/

Apparently the Zephyr had an O/D lockout button. Not sure about the MKZ, but it probably does. The reason for not adding it to the Fusion - most likely the cost of adding a button and the necessary wiring, but they added complexity to manufacturing by having two shifters. Cost of the parts must have won out. Plus, they probably consider the market when determining these things. Some research could have proven the average customer wouldn't use it. What are the effects of the L position? Does it dump down into second gear at higher speeds or just a gear or two? (i.e. - six to fourth?)

Import? It is built in a Ford plant. Its not like they are building them in a Toyota plant and bringing them over.

Yep...its in the - Fusion V-6, Milan V-6, Zephyr, Montego 2WD, Five Hundred 2WD, Mazda CX7, Mazda6 V-6, Volvo XC90, and some others that are not in production yet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisin "There is something fundamentally wrong with the automotive picture if Aisin can build a cheaper (better?) six-speed transmission than FoMoCo. Henry Ford has got to be spinning in his grave." Why is there something wrong? Aisin AW specializes in making transmissions. They can make them cheaper than Ford in many cases because of this. Pretty much all industries outsource parts. Look at a circuit board. You will see many names on the capacitors, ICs, etc. Same applies for cars. Ford's Suppliers don't even make every component in their parts. Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4....For transmissions, The Tier 1 might supply the final product to Ford, but a Tier 2 might supply aluminum castings, etc. When it comes to electronic transmission controls, a bunch of Tier 4s supply to T3, which supplies T2, and T1 assembles all of the pieces into the final product.

So, I guess this is actually the SE appearance thing with the red stitching?

Just posted some pics. Nothing special, pretty basic setup. Still need the antenna adapter. Don't bother getting the Audiophile system if you care about sound and plan to add aftermarket stuff. Save the $$ and get a set of MB Quart or Boston Acoustics components for the front doors. Alpine CDA-9813 - 60 watts of built in power per channel (SWEET!) Rockford Fosgate Punch 400s (about 400 watts into the sub, 4 ohm mono) Rockford Fosgate Punch HE12 sub Gonna throw in the two Rockford Power 12s from a vehicle in storage for the winter. http://mlav.com/car/fusion/010507/

Man, do I hate these stupid cartridge filters. The oil drain plug is useless. Keep lots of rags nearby to clean your hand and the side of the filter housing after you unscrew it. $11.99 for a filter!?!?!

Not sure, I just dropped in the Alpine from my expired lease truck. No loss of any functions or speakers, so it must not be important. Dimmer signal for the display? The lighting on my Alpine (CDA-9813) looks sweet with the dash lighting. A little info. from my audio mods last week... I tried using the rear 6x9 subs/factory amp. Sounded alright until I added the Rockford 12. Couldn't tune the low end well having only one low pass sub output, so I axed the factory stuff. Sounds much better without it. One interesting note. The adapter harness for the factory sub amp has RCA connectors. Only one of the two RCAs actually send a signal to the amp. The subs are 2 ohms, so they are likely running the two speakers in series (four ohm load) from a one channel amp. This info might be important if you rewire those speakers from an aftermarket amp or receiver only designed to run at 4 ohms. To any Fusion shoppers - don't waste your money on the premium sound system. It's just as horrible as all other factory Ford systems (like the Mach 460 POS that WAS in my Mustang). If you do get it, a nice aftermarket receiver really makes those factory speakers rock. The front doors use separates (6x8?? + tweeter in the A-pillar). The Fusion interior is easy to rip apart and put back together. Just don't expect to run an amp power wire easy. I had to drill. If you have an ATX car, there is probably a plastic plug for the missing clutch components on the firewall. You can run the wire through the plug after drilling a hole. Thats what I did for my parents Fukus Wagon. For the Fusion, I ran the wire though the firewall on the passenger side, behind the splash shield and up through the fender. Maybe some day I will finally carpet that sub enclosure (built it in 2003).

"that far too many eggs were placed in the SUV and F150 pickup basket" The F-150 is the best vehicle Ford makes. Its amazing how well a 5500 lb vehicle can perform.

Holy crap, they tested an SEL I-4 manual? Thats surprising to see.

I was rotating tires earlier and noticed about 1/4" of play in the wheel at the top of the tire. Passenger front wheel. The nut that holds the end of the half shaft in the hub and preloads the wheel bearing was loose. The staked section was no longer lined up with the keyway in the half shaft. I pulled out the 32mm socket and got more than a full turn of the nut before reaching 150 ft-lbs on the torque wrench. The nut rotated about 450º (1 1/4 turns, the staked part lined up with the keyway again). Make sure you check the nuts the next time you rotate tires! The build date on my car is 10/28/05. Hopefully this is a rare case...

Got my I-4 manual SEL to 108 but had to get off for an exit. Pretty good acceleration with four people in the car! The V-rated tires are good for 149, so I doubt there is a limiter.

Check out the goods at - http://mlav.com/car/fusion/ I'd really love the Fusion with a V-6 manual option. The I-4 manual is too underpowered for the nice capabilities of the chassis. But, It is nice getting high level SEL trim package with the manual trans. Unlike the Escape bare bones POS manual they offer. Can't imagine what a Limited package might offer...maybe just a cheap downgraded SEL version that the Limited will replace.