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How To Drive For 100 MPG A Driving Expert Shows You How to Save Fuel (and Money) Posted: Oct, 28 2009 by: Rex Roy | AOL Autos We first met Gil Portalatin -- a 25 year veteran at Ford -- in Los Angeles when testing the 2010 Fusion Hybrid. In a fuel-economy competition against the media, Gil (an engineer by trade) effortlessly triumphed by racking up economy numbers that significantly bested the journalists and EPA estimates. On some runs, Gil's Fusion returned nearly 47 mpg. We immediately wanted to know Gil's fuel economy secrets so we could tell them to you. While 100 MPG might sound like an incredible number, it's not impossible. And even if you use a portion of Gil's advice, you'll immediately improve your mileage and save money. Most cars could see mileage well above 50 MPG and even up to 100 MPG with the right driver. To learn Gil's special driving techniques, we visited his group's modest offices in Dearborn, Michigan, the city Henry Ford (founder of Ford Motor Company) put on the map. After a brief interview that covered technical aspects of Ford's new hybrid technologies as well as touching on a running dispute with Toyota, we went for an instructional drive. The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid In case you missed our coverage from the 2008 Los Angeles and 2009 Detroit Auto Show, teams of skilled engineers in and around Detroit are creating great products. Yes, really. Some would have you believe that Detroit is incapable of engineering a tissue box let alone a competitive modern car, but those people are wrong. Proof comes in the form of the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, a car that demonstrates active minds are working on great cars in Detroit. The crisply styled sedan is rated at 41 mpg city, 36 mpg highway. For the record, the Fusion bests the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 8 mpg around town and 2 mpg on the highway. While hundreds of individuals contributed to the new Fusion Hybrid, Portalatin is the point man for Ford's hybrid vehicles. According to Gil, whose official title is Hybrid Propulsion System Applications Manager, getting good mileage out of any vehicle goes well beyond maintenance basics like making sure your tires are aired up. Gil believes that the driver is the key to great mileage. (Drivers control the car, not the other way around.) Following Gil's advice will help improve the mileage in any car, not just in hybrids. However, Gil also has special tips just for them. Tip 1: Easy on the throttle, then glide. Gil says, "Most people accelerate way too hard from a stop. This wastes huge amounts of energy. You'll get much better mileage accelerating gently up to the speed limit. Once you're at the limit, then you need to glide." By this, Gil means releasing most of the pressure on the accelerator so you're using the bare minimum amount of power to maintain your speed. In most cars, this will enable the automatic transmission to shift into its highest, most efficient gear. Tip 2: Anticipate traffic. "I watch people drive and waste gas every day," Gil observed. "Most drivers don't pay attention to the flow of traffic. If you're in traffic, you know you're going to stop again, so anticipate that stop by easing off the accelerator pedal early and coasting as much as you can. Looking way down the road helps you anticipate traffic flow because you can see when traffic lights are going to change and how other cars are behaving." Gil knows that this driving technique won't put you in the pole position at every traffic light, but your mileage will go up, as will the life of your vehicle's braking system components. Tip 3: Slow down on the highway. "I drive 50 miles each way to work," Gil explained, "so I've had plenty of time to study and test techniques for getting the best highway fuel economy." The advice is not complex. "People just have to slow down," Gil noted. "Unless you work in an aerodynamic lab, you don't understand how much more energy it takes to push a car through the air at 75 mph than at 65 mph, but it's huge." During our drive, Gil went on to note that most cars have a "sweet spot" of efficiency between 65-70 mph, so you don't have to drive at snail-like speeds to improve your mileage, although driving between 55-65 mph will improve mileage even further. Tip 4: Drive with the terrain, and drive smoothly. "It takes more energy to climb a hill than roll down the other side," Gil said, pointing out the obvious. "So when you're on the highway, it's OK to lose a few miles per hour when you're driving up an incline. You can regain the lost speed when you head down the other side." While this tip may seem easy, it requires constant attention. "Some drivers will be better off just driving with their cruise control," he said. "This helps those drivers who are constantly on and off the accelerator. That kind of throttle control kills mileage. A smooth, steady accelerator pressure is much greener, regardless of the speeds you travel." Hybrid Tip 1: Don't accelerate too slowly. "This is something that trips up hybrid drivers; in their excitement to use only battery power, they accelerate too slowly from a stop. While super-gentle acceleration keeps the vehicle in electric-only mode, it also drains the batteries quickly, often causing the gasoline engine to come on just to recharge the battery pack." Instead of accelerating so slowly, accelerate with a bit more vigor, and then lift off the throttle. Once at speed (up to nearly 50 mph in the Fusion Hybrid), the gasoline engine will often shut completely off, leaving propulsion to the battery powered motor to maintain cruising speed. This technique yields maximum mileage. Hybrid Tip 2: Keep the batteries charged. All hybrids have two fuel tanks; one holds gasoline and the other electrons (the hybrid battery pack). Both "tanks" need to be kept full to go the farthest distance, but the process for filling up on electrons is a bit different than stopping at the gas station. "Coasting and gentle braking are the fastest and most efficient way to recharge your hybrid's batteries," Gil said. "On our Fusion, you can see by the gauges that when you coast or apply the brakes that the hybrid system is using the car's kinetic energy to recharge the batteries. The longer you can coast or gently slow down, the more energy you can store. Keeping the batteries above 50-percent full extends the distance you can run on battery power, saving fuel." Ford versus Toyota -- The Hybrid Technology War of Words There's a rumor going around that Ford is using Toyota-patented technology in their hybrid vehicles. The insinuation is that Ford is incapable of engineering their own competitive hybrid, so they are using Toyota's. According to Gil -- and this represents the official Ford Motor Company stance -- the rumor is completely untrue. "When we started developing our hybrid system, it was the normal course of business to do a patent search," Gil explained. "We realized that some of our ideas might infringe on Toyota's hybrid patents. We contacted them. It just so happened that Toyota was developing some diesel engine technology that might infringe on existing patents owned by Ford. The companies decided to allow the patent infringement as kind of a trade." More on Hypermiling: - The Pursuit of Hypermileage - 100+ MPG Cars: Six Cars You'll Drive In The Future |
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Hack My Ride: Ford Opens Up Sync Software Development Kit for In-Car Apps BY Chris DannenWed Oct 28, 2009 at 4:20 PM Ford is planning to open its Sync in-car computing platform to third party app developers, the automaker tells FastCompany.com. The idea is still nascent and there is no hard-and-fast timeline for release, says Prasad Venkatesh, who leads Vehicle Design & Infotainment at Ford. Just how drivers would use in-car apps is still being researched as well. (Below, a present-day Sync system in a Ford Mustang.)  "The way we're developing the toolkit, you could sit in the comfort of your home and plan a roadtrip," he says. Using a smartphone or computer, you'd then add points of interest or other plans. "At the click of a button, the cloud would make all that available to you in the car, and it would broadcast it to your social networking groups." Future Ford vehicles may include mobile broadband, he says; current Sync systems pair with a driver's mobile phone to download updates. Ford first hinted they might open up the Sync platform to developers at CES in January 2009, but has been researching the idea since November of 2007, said Venkatesh. The company has been experimenting with building its own apps, like the voice-activated Traffic, Directions and Information (or TDI) app that it made available to 2010 Ford owners in May.  The apps will work on a new a new open-source in-car OS Ford is developing for its Sync system, which has been available in cars since model year 2008. That open-source layer will be built on top of Microsoft's Robotics suite. Ford is seeding the platform by partnering with universities and other developers. The first collaboration: a competition for student app developers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Students will be encouraged to build cloud-connected apps in almost any computing language they want: Java, C, C++, and so on; Ford hasn't decided what kind of language it will ultimately use for its apps. Winning student ideas will be sent along to the Ford labs, where they'll be looked at for implementation. As a prize, the students will get to present their app at the Maker Faire Convention. Venkatesh says Ford doesn't know whether they will pursue an app store model ala Apple, and no firm plans have been made about monetization. The potential is there, however; he says he is encouraging the students at UM to pursue their apps with an entrepreneurial mindset. |
Ford Gains while Rivals Faulter
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OCTOBER 26, 2009. Ford Gains While Rivals Falter Car Maker Is Closer to Turning a Profit as its Market Share Rises BY MATTHEW DOLAN Ford Motor Co. has weathered the car industry's downturn better than many competitors. Now some analysts think the company has turned the corner so far it could report break-even results for its core North American operations or even an overall profit when it releases third-quarter earnings Nov. 2. At the heart of Ford's relative success has been its ability to minimize its year-over-year sales declines while taking advantage of its competitors' weakness and grabbing market share. According to CNW Marketing Research, Ford gained more than five percentage points of U.S. retail market share in the third quarter compared with the ... [/end of available text] |
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Ford reports surprise $1 billion profit Automaker now expects to be ‘solidly profitable’ in 2011 David Zalubowski / AP updated 2 hours, 3 minutes ago Ford Motor Co. earned $1 billion in the third quarter, fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the government's Cash for Clunkers rebates. DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011. The automaker said Monday earnings were fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the Cash for Clunkers program, which drew flocks of buyers to showrooms this summer. Ford's shares rose 68 cents, or 9.8 percent, to $7.68 in morning trading. The latest results signal that Ford's turnaround is on more solid ground. The company lost more than $14.6 billion last year and hasn't posted a full-year profit since 2005. While it made a profit in the second quarter, that was mainly due to debt reductions that cut its interest payments. Ford, based in Dearborn, Mich., reported third-quarter net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share. Its profit forecast for 2011 was a step above previous guidance of break-even or better for the year. Ford's key North American car and truck division posted a pretax profit of $357 million, the division's first quarter in the black since early 2005. Ford cited higher pricing, lower material costs and increased market share for the improvement. Excluding one-time items, Ford earned 26 cents per share, blowing away analysts' expectations of a loss of 12 cents. The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop. But Ford said it cut costs by $1 billion during the quarter, accomplished through layoffs in North America and Europe, reduced pension and retiree health care costs and improvements in productivity and product development. Chief financial officer Lewis Booth said the company took in $1.3 billion more than it spent in the quarter, an improvement over its $1 billion cash burn in the second quarter. "That's a huge deal," Booth said. Ford's plan to create demand and get better prices for its products, coupled with cost cuts, gave the company confidence that it will make money in 2011, Booth said. But Ford still faces obstacles in its turnaround. Last week, workers overwhelmingly rejected an agreement with the United Auto Workers that would have brought Ford's labor costs in line with rivals General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Workers objected to clauses limiting their right to strike and freezing entry-level wages, and felt the company was healthy enough and didn't need further concessions. The rejected deal also would have changed rules so skilled tradesmen such as electricians and pipefitters work in teams and perform more than one task. Rejection of the deal isn't likely to place Ford at an immediate cost disadvantage to its crosstown rivals because savings from the concessions are longer-term, said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Neither the company nor the UAW has released any cost savings numbers. The third-quarter profit makes it extremely unlikely that the company will push to head back to the bargaining table before the current UAW contract expires in the fall of 2011, and union leaders also are unlikely to take another deal to the membership, Chaison said. "I think the company has no credibility asking for concessions now, and I think the leadership is quite embarrased for making a case for concessions," he said. Chaison said Ford could make some noise about moving new vehicle production to Canada, where unionized workers on Sunday approved a package of concessions, but it's more likely that Ford will live with the current contract until 2011. The other area where Ford has a cost disadvantage is debt. Ford reported $26.9 billion in debt, up $800 million from the second quarter. The company avoided the same fate as rivals Chrysler and GM by mortgaging its factories and even the familiar blue oval logo to borrow $23.5 billion before credit markets froze last year. Ford didn't quantify the impact of Cash for Clunkers, which offered buyers rebates to trade in their vehicles. The program helped Ford cut costly incentives and raise production. It also won buyers; the fuel-efficient Ford Focus sedan and Ford Escape, a small SUV, were among the top five sellers under clunkers. Ford sales climbed 17 percent in August thanks to the program. Ford's revenue fell $800 million for the quarter, to $30.9 billion, due mainly to its financial services arm, Ford Motor Credit, making fewer loans. But the division still posted a pretax profit of $677 million, and revenue from auto operations rose slightly to $27.9 billion. Ford also has benefited from consumer goodwill after it declined government bailout money and didn't go into bankruptcy over the summer as GM and Chrysler did. Ford grabbed sales from its rivals, posting the largest increase in market share of any automaker in September. Ford expects an overall gain in U.S. market share in 2009, a feat it hasn't accomplished since 1995. |
Ford's Green Goddess Grows Leaves
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Ford's Green Goddess Grows Leaves 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Moves Into The Future Posted: Oct, 29 2009 Late last year, we were among the first to drive the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Introduced at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show, the new Fusion model was a Howitzer shell across Toyota's bow. Even though Toyota is the now the world's largest auto manufacturer, Detroit is far from dead when it comes to making cars. The crisply styled Fusion convincingly beat the Camry Hybrid's mileage by 8 mpg in the city and another 2 mpg on the highway. The Ford's documented high quality also helped to quiet voices in Washington, D.C. There, pontificators arrogantly proclaimed that no Detroit auto company possessed the talent or foresight to engineer a functioning Kleenex box, let alone a world-class, fuel-sipping hybrid sedan. How wrong they proved to be. In addition to the Fusion Hybrids mileage of 41 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, one of this Ford's most interesting technical features is its instrument cluster. The automotive world has never seen anything like its full-color, driver-configurable LCD display in a production car. It's actually designed to make drivers more fuel efficient. In addition to providing expected instruments like the speedometer and fuel gauge, the Fusion's SmartGauge cluster provides multiple gauge configurations, each presenting its own level of detailed information. Depending on what the driver wants to see, the display can be simple, or provide sophisticated information about the hybrid powertrain's operation and frugality. Several modes offer graphics that actually coach a driver to achieve greater efficiency. Ford calls the coaching "EcoGuide" and the special gauge their "SmartGauge." Watch It Grow What you'll see when you look through the steering wheel is a set of green leaves. The "Efficiency Leaves" are a graphical indication of a pilot's driving style; more leaves mean greener, more efficient driving. Rapid acceleration and hard braking cause leaves to drop from the vines. Leaves grow when the driver accelerates gently, coasts, and brakes smoothly to help recharge the hybrid's batteries. "A child sitting in the back seat can recognize efficient driving techniques just by watching the leaves grow," said Sonya Nematollahi, the Fusion's Driver Information Senior Engineer. She led the development of the SmartGauge project from start to finish. "Right from the start of the Fusion Hybrid project, we knew we didn't want a simple, boring display of numbers or a bar graphs," Nematollahi said. "We wanted to create a display that provided an emotional connection between the car and driver, and even between the car and its passengers." The SmartGauge offers four general display levels using the two high-resolution LCD monitors on either side of the analog speedometer: • Inform: Fuel level and battery charge status • Enlighten: Adds electric vehicle mode indicator and tachometer • Engage: Adds engine output power and battery output power • Empower: Adds power to wheels, engine pull-up threshold, and accessory power consumption Each display level is customizable to show instant fuel economy, fuel economy history, odometer, engine coolant temperature, what gear the car is in and trip data, including trip fuel economy, long-term fuel economy and miles to empty. "SmartGauge is quite different from anything else that's out there," Nematollahi said. "Even though the new Toyota Prius and Honda Insight came out after the Fusion, their clusters aren't anything like ours regarding looks or performance. SmartGauge really coaches the driver." True to Nematollahi's description, the 2010 hybrids from Toyota and Honda use simpler graphics to track mileage and efficiency. "We wanted to offer different ways to display the information so that drivers can take in the data in a way that fits them," she said. "If they're feeling more emotive, they can watch the Efficiency Leaves grow. If they're felling more technical, there is a bar graph that displays the same kind of information." Ford leaned on the expertise of numerous experts in design to help come up with display, including Smart Design and IDEO. "We developed the SmartGauge with several different suppliers and many groups within Ford, so we had literally hundreds of ideas on what the gauges should look like," she said. "It took months to settle on what you see. The idea of 'green' going with leaves was always something we wanted to do, but then we handed the idea over to one of our designers, and then it came to life." Ford's process wasn't without its hiccups, however. "We had some ideas that we thought were great, but when tested didn't work," she said. Nematollahi explained how the an early version of the Hybrid's current three-dimensional fuel gauge looked as if it were filled with had liquid. "The moving fluid slowly sloshing around in that gauge made people motion sick," she said. "So, we dropped that idea." An Engineer Unlike The Others A career engineer at Ford, Nematollahi told us that she came to the U.S. when her family fled Iran prior to the Islamic Revolution. "We moved to the U.S. in 1978, just before everything collapsed," Nematollahi said. "I was just in high school when we left the country and everything we owned behind. This was so hard for my father because he was a successful civil engineer. We came here with nothing." Even though her father wanted her to become a doctor or a lawyer, she always knew she wanted to be an engineer. Her dreams were realized after she completed her undergraduate work at The University of Toledo (Ohio) and graduate studies at Wayne State University (Michigan). Nematollahi started with Ford as an intern and never looked back. Upgrades Will Be Easy "Because the LCD displays are just like high-end computer monitors, what we show on them is controlled by software, so it's totally upgradeable," she said. "If we come up with new ideas for gauges, or if customers tell us that they want something different, we can upload a new gauge package with a simple reflash." Like other automakers, Ford has discovered that with instant fuel economy information at their fingertips, drivers can learn to drive more efficiently. SmartGauge with EcoGuide helps speed the process, and that is exactly what Nematollahi and her team were hoping to do. To see SmartGauge in action, visit a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealership. The Fusion and Milan Hybrids both feature the SmartGauge, and each car includes two demonstration modes. The dealer demo provides a quick overview of the cluster's benefits to prospective buyers, while the owner tutorial mode delivers a more in-depth look at its features and functions. The Fusion Milan Hybrids are the first production cars to have "self-help" capability built into the cluster. |
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See the Sound of Quality October 23, 2009 While the technology may have interesting names like Noise Source Identification Tool and Aachen Head, the result for consumers is very simple: Quieter automotive interiors. Ford is using these tools to allow engineers to actually see unwanted sounds and eliminate them during vehicle development. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of this technology before - Ford is the first automaker in North America to use the new Noise Source Identification Tool. “The key to world-class interior quietness is to pinpoint the source and location of every unwanted sound, no matter how subtle it is,” said Bill Gulker, Ford’s leader of Wind Noise Engineering. “Noise Vision already is paying off for Ford, with the new 2010 Taurus, Fusion, Flex and F-150 achieving the quietest interiors in their class.” Noise Vision is a small sphere that is placed inside the vehicle cabin. It is equipped with more than 30 highly sensitive microphones and 12 special cameras. Powerful software reads data from Noise Vision and creates a computerized image showing interior noise “hot spots,” including wind noise, a squeak or rattle, or unwanted feedback from the engine or the road. Ford began using Noise Vision - formally known as the Noise Source Identification Tool - to develop new vehicles for the 2010 model year. The high-tech tool’s thermal imaging is similar to the kind used for military work and medical research. In the past, Ford engineers worked long and hard to identify unwanted rattles, squeaks or knocks. Finding an unwanted sound often was a process of elimination, which could take days or weeks. Noise Vision streamlines the process to hours, and it’s saving money, too. In the past year alone, the technology has allowed Ford’s North American NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) engineers to reduce 200 hours of wind tunnel testing time a year - saving more than $300,000 in testing costs. “We used to rely on trial and error to make a vehicle quieter,” said Gulker. “It was a process of elimination that often led us to mask the issue with thicker glass or more sound insulation. Noise Vision literally shows us where the noise is and allows us to eliminate it once and for all.” |
I have always waxed my cars no matter how old or run down they were. I may not have always washed them regularly but I made sure they had wax. ]]>
first car is a 1968 Dodge Dart.
472 ci. Hemi, 550bhp, torqueflight 3 speed auto trans, dana 60 diff. with 4:11s.
tublar suspension, Wilwood 4 piston brakes at all 4 corners. a/c and everything else you can think of.
second car is a 2010 camaro SS auto.
LTs, CAI, UDP, off road x-pipe, Borla stingers, Foose wheels 20x8-20x10, and painted the brembo calipers red. NT555Rs. With custom tune car made 372RWHP and last weekend ran 12.59 at 111mph in the heat. Gonna try to take it this weekend with the cold weather and get it in the 12.40s.
]]>The Level Field Institute
http://www.levelfieldinstitute.org/f...d_v_Toyota.pdf ]]>
When starting the oil pan bolt, start it by hand and when you can not turn it by hand any more then use a wrench and do not, DO NOT, over tighten it. Doing so will strip both the bolt and oil pan.
When replacing the oil filter only use your hand to tighten it. There should be no real need to use a wrench or use excessive force to put the filter on. If you must use a wrench to tighten the filter do not exceed the amount of times it can physically turn. Mostly a nice tight, hand tight fit is sufficient enough.
Thank You,
Joe. ]]>
Anyways this car went for the grand total of $825, according to their site :mad:. Even if it was a POS I could've sold it for a lot more than that. ]]>
I got there and BAM the trim was ALL faded and nasty... all of it. Around the snake in the front, the cowl, the side mirrors, the door trim, all worthless... and it had chips all over it from riding people's asses.....
so in conclusion please remember your trim needs love too
/rant ]]>
thers a glimps at the insides...
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