Of Automobiles and Trucks
Mar. 29th, 2022 05:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoAbout six months ago, I bought a used Ford Fusion to fill the gap until the Maverick truck I ordered actually arrives. It was a necessary decision, since my 2007 Escape was crumbling to rust before my eyes and probably unsafe to drive any more. I chose the least expensive used car on the dealer's lot, figuring I'd only have it for a few months and could trade it in when the Maverick arrived.
The Fusion has been all right. It has a lot of features I never use, but that doesn't matter. It gets decent gas mileage, starts instantly even in sub-zero weather, rides smooth and quiet.
However, it's not a car for me. I'm six feet tall, and it is so low to the ground and has so little head room that I still bang my head getting in and out of it at least one out of three times. I've figured out how to do it, but it's an awkward move and difficult to judge. I noticed this problem immediately, but chose to overlook it. I figured I would get used to it. I haven't.
The other issue is the automatic transmission. Every car I've ever owned before had a manual transmission. Not because of any driving preference of my own, but because I knew how to drive one and it was cheaper and got slightly better fuel economy given my conservative approach to speed. I figured I'd better get used to the automatic, since the Maverick is a hybrid and only comes with an automatic trans. In fact, the Maverick doesn't even have a shift lever, just a rotary knob that gives an electronic signal to the power train.
Fortunately, I haven't had too much trouble adapting to the automatic. The Fusion in fact has a simulated manual gear shifting system, but I haven't even tried that. I stopped reaching for the nonexistent clutch pedal pretty quickly. It took me longer to repress the urge to downshift when stopping for a traffic light or stop sign. However, that is pretty much gone too. I had avoided driving my husband's Subaru Outback because it has an automatic transmission, but now I feel comfortable doing that and in fact did so a couple of times when he asked me to. (And no, I did not feel like imitating Crocodile Dundee, though the thought did cross my mind. For those who don't know, he did Subaru Outback commercials a few years back.)
Yesterday we took the Subaru in for regular maintenance and when we pulled into the Ford dealer for that, there was a new 2022 Maverick sitting right by the entrance to the lot. Same color as I have ordered, even. Believe it or not, this was the first actual 2022 Mav that we have seen "in the flesh" as it were. The "velocity blue" color is brilliant in the sunlight. Beyond admiring the outside, though, there were few comparisons we could make. The specimen in question was not a hybrid, and was the Lariat trim level (top of the line with all the luxury additions) where mine will be a hybrid XL which is the Plain Jane version. Still, it was nice to find proof that Mavericks really are being produced and do exist in the real world and not just on paper.
The Fusion has been all right. It has a lot of features I never use, but that doesn't matter. It gets decent gas mileage, starts instantly even in sub-zero weather, rides smooth and quiet.
However, it's not a car for me. I'm six feet tall, and it is so low to the ground and has so little head room that I still bang my head getting in and out of it at least one out of three times. I've figured out how to do it, but it's an awkward move and difficult to judge. I noticed this problem immediately, but chose to overlook it. I figured I would get used to it. I haven't.
The other issue is the automatic transmission. Every car I've ever owned before had a manual transmission. Not because of any driving preference of my own, but because I knew how to drive one and it was cheaper and got slightly better fuel economy given my conservative approach to speed. I figured I'd better get used to the automatic, since the Maverick is a hybrid and only comes with an automatic trans. In fact, the Maverick doesn't even have a shift lever, just a rotary knob that gives an electronic signal to the power train.
Fortunately, I haven't had too much trouble adapting to the automatic. The Fusion in fact has a simulated manual gear shifting system, but I haven't even tried that. I stopped reaching for the nonexistent clutch pedal pretty quickly. It took me longer to repress the urge to downshift when stopping for a traffic light or stop sign. However, that is pretty much gone too. I had avoided driving my husband's Subaru Outback because it has an automatic transmission, but now I feel comfortable doing that and in fact did so a couple of times when he asked me to. (And no, I did not feel like imitating Crocodile Dundee, though the thought did cross my mind. For those who don't know, he did Subaru Outback commercials a few years back.)
Yesterday we took the Subaru in for regular maintenance and when we pulled into the Ford dealer for that, there was a new 2022 Maverick sitting right by the entrance to the lot. Same color as I have ordered, even. Believe it or not, this was the first actual 2022 Mav that we have seen "in the flesh" as it were. The "velocity blue" color is brilliant in the sunlight. Beyond admiring the outside, though, there were few comparisons we could make. The specimen in question was not a hybrid, and was the Lariat trim level (top of the line with all the luxury additions) where mine will be a hybrid XL which is the Plain Jane version. Still, it was nice to find proof that Mavericks really are being produced and do exist in the real world and not just on paper.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-29 01:03 pm (UTC)I will say that there's still some frustration when the transmission doesn't shift when I think it should. It really likes to hold in 3rd gear longer than I like. It does have paddle shifters so that it can be driven in a pseudo-manual mode. I've never done that, but I have used one of them to make it shift up when it's holding in 3rd gear way too long.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-30 01:00 am (UTC)A couple of days ago I backed out of a parking space and absent mindedly shifted to "first" which was actually "park" and then got worried when the engine raced but went nowhere. The truth did dawn quickly. But during the first week I had the car, it did the same thing while in gear. Suddenly the engine seemed unconnected to the wheels. Called the dealer, they sent a tow truck. Some electronic module involved in the acceleration process had failed. They fixed it, no charge. Which was nice because the part plus labor would have been $450 US.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-30 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-30 10:58 am (UTC)The car before that was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee and that dealer had one on the lot to suit my specifications. It was four wheel drive, which I didn't particularly need, but that was OK.
I have known for some time that this next vehicle had to be a hybrid or plug in electric. And that was going to mean an automatic transmission because they only come that way. It's part of the energy saving design, I guess, to let the internal computer stuff control the power train. I delayed replacing the Escape until it literally rusted away because the price for hybrids and electrics has been so high. When Ford set the base price for the Maverick to just $20K, I knew the wait was over. We've been talking about the need for a small truck here on the farm anyway, and I was on the point of starting to look for a used Ranger or something equivalent.
What I didn't expect from Ford was the very long delay in actually delivering the vehicle. They were only selling the hybrids as direct customer orders, and I figured three to four months. So I put in the order. Here we sit at eight months from the order date and they keep pushing back the build and delivery date. Now it looks like late June, ten months.
[Afterthought: I just remembered something from probably near 20 years ago. It was after we had moved out here to the farm. I was at the local grocery in Marengo, where they still insisted on having someone take your groceries out to your car and load them for you. Talk about a blast from the past! We thought it was cute. Anyway, a young guy wheeled the load out to my car and I opened the hatchback. He expressed admiration for the Cherokee (it was bright red and still pretty shiny then) and then he noticed the manual shift. He whistled and asked me how I got a manual. I was a bit surprised at that, but told him I just asked the dealer to get me one and they did. Alas, that grocery store closed down a few years ago. We miss them still.]