500 Hour Report

[wag4513]

[*]Is it just me, or does the keyless entry seem to get confused in the rain? When it's dry, it seems like the most natural thing in the world - just reach into the handle and pull it open. In the rain though, if I touch the outer part of the handle in any way, it locks instead of unlocking. I wind up standing there putting my hand into the opening over and over, trying to get it to unlock while I am getting soaked....

I had a Focus with the keyless entry and had the same problem. I found if I tucked my thumb into the palm of my hand I wouldn't trigger the lock function.

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[SnoopisTDI]

[*]I am not an "audiophile", so the stereo is tolerable for me. I can't decide if I like satellite though. If I listen to it at all, it's like the same 3 channels. I doubt I would ever pay for a full subscription.
[*]The placement of the steering wheel controls is really awkward for me. It seems like no thought at all was given to placing frequently used buttons within easy reach - I am talking to you, Cruise on/off button. And the End Call button. I can't do that one by feel at all.

Definitely agree with these. I'm sure I could come up with a list of nits to pick, but the stereo and the steering wheel are the two things that really suck. The steering wheel is almost Chevy-like, when they just throw some buttons somewhere like they were an after-thought. Ergonomics schnergonomics!

Sounds like you're pretty happy with the car over all though!

 

[Charles147]

• For most of the driving that I do, I find the seats to be incredibly comfortable. Most of what I do is either around town short trips or long freeway runs with the cruise on. Sometimes, I get caught in ridiculous traffic, where I have to actually *drive* the car - gas, brake, gas, brake - sometimes it will take me 5 hours to get home from work. In those cases, I can't find a comfortable seat position. I end up getting a cramp in my hip that is completely miserable.

5 hours of driving one way (?) after a day of 8 hours of work...I don't think any vehicle except a limo will be comfortable in that type of situation.

 

[Cueball]

One of the first things I did was adjusted the fog/driving/whateveryouwanttocallthem lights up to meet the low beam pattern. Now mine are useful.

 

[15Pony]

One of the first things I did was adjusted the fog/driving/whateveryouwanttocallthem lights up to meet the low beam pattern. Now mine are useful.

How do you do that?

 

[Cueball]

There is an adjustment screw on each fog light. You have to remove the three side fasteners in the front of the wheel well and one or two fasteners on the bottom deflector. Pry the wheel well liner back for access to the lights. I don't recall if it took a phillips head or torx and size, trial and error, or which way to turn to raise the beam pattern. Best to do it when lights are aimed at a wall (like in garage) to get them even and just meet or slightly overlap the low beam pattern.

 

[Norm Peterson]

The traction control and AdvanceTrac inspire a lot of confidence, but they let me get a disturbing amount of sideways once, when turning right into traffic on wet pavement. That guy I was sliding sideways at is probably never going to crap again....

What were the TC / AdvanceTrak settings when that happened? Keep in mind that physics > nannies. Always. (That people either don't know this or tend to forget it is exactly what scares me about vehicle control nannies.)

Is it just me, or does the keyless entry seem to get confused in the rain? When it's dry, it seems like the most natural thing in the world - just reach into the handle and pull it open. In the rain though, if I touch the outer part of the handle in any way, it locks instead of unlocking. I wind up standing there putting my hand into the opening over and over, trying to get it to unlock while I am getting soaked....

Under "Settings", "Vehicle" in the Information Displays it appears that you can turn this off by checking 'disabled', and you'd revert to pushing buttons on the fob. Something I'd probably do anyway if for no other reason than to avoid having one of my cars operate differently from all of the others.

Easy Entry/Exit - check enabled or uncheck disabled

The fog lights piss me off every time I think about them. I wish they had called them "accent lights", or something like that, so that I wouldn't expect them to perform some actual useful function. They are definitely turning on - I can sometimes see them in store windows, but on a dark road at night, I can turn them on and off and barely notice a difference in the light output.

Re-aim them as mentioned earlier in this thread. While you're at it, you may find that slightly staggering the aims vertically helps lighten up any dark patches - for the low beams as well as for the fogs.

I can't see ever using the Rain/Snow mode in real life. I would have to practice with it quite a bit to feel comfortable. In general, I know what is going to happen when I apply a given amount of throttle. Anything that changes that is going to make me less effective (and safe).
In fact, the one time that I actually had to drive it in the snow, I ended up putting it in Sport mode, so that I could put it in 3rd gear with the paddles and not have it keep dropping to 2nd if I gave it any gas at all.

Rain/Snow mode should be slowing down throttle tip-in response to make it less likely that too much throttle will get dialed in under wet or worse conditions. Drivers with good throttle modulation skill won't find this feature to be as useful as those whose skills aren't as good. Some climates may cause this feature to be useful to more people.


Overall, thanks for the write-up.


Norm

 

[Qwkynuf]

[/LIST]5 hours of driving one way (?) after a day of 8 hours of work...I don't think any vehicle except a limo will be comfortable in that type of situation.

I live outside of Portland, OR, but much of my work is in Seattle. It is about 175 miles each way - so 3 hours on a good day. Friday evening, in the rain, holiday weekend.... not a good day.

Luckily, I am hourly - and my overtime rate is ridiculous! :-)

 

[The Great Gazoo]

What were the TC / AdvanceTrak settings when that happened? Keep in mind that physics > nannies. Always. (That people either don't know this or tend to forget it is exactly what scares me about vehicle control nannies.)

Rain/Snow mode should be slowing down throttle tip-in response to make it less likely that too much throttle will get dialed in under wet or worse conditions. Drivers with good throttle modulation skill won't find this feature to be as useful as those whose skills aren't as good. Some climates may cause this feature to be useful to more people.

Maybe this is why I find the Snow/Rain mode to be downright dangerous. I am just too used to driving in rain living in Vancouver.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Messing with throttle linearity should be able to make life safer for all the "stomp, stab, and steer" drivers out there. And for those who fully realize that the throttle is not a binary control, a bit frustrating when the anticipated amount of power isn't there.

30 or more years of successful driving does teach you a few skills, no? :cheers:


Norm

 

[Wblv17]

you know the car doesn't have to be running to add time to the readout, ignition just needs to be on, like listening to the radio while cleaning the car.

 

[JamesS550]

I know exactly what you are talking about with the paint chips, it is way too easy to get them and way too easy to notice... I actually have the exact same setup as the OP and I would have to agree with everything he has mentioned.

There is a noticeable amount of "lag" when shifting with the paddles or in sport mode in general which makes me regret not getting MT but it is still enjoyable as an automatic. I am planning to s/c it in the near future and I doubt I will care about the trannys at that point.

I got a scratch on the rear quarter panel and have to get the whole panel painted to fix it up... a little bit pricey, but that's part of choosing a metallic tri-coat paint colour. (Sorry for reflection in picture!)

 

[Charles147]

I live outside of Portland, OR, but much of my work is in Seattle. It is about 175 miles each way - so 3 hours on a good day. Friday evening, in the rain, holiday weekend.... not a good day.

Luckily, I am hourly - and my overtime rate is ridiculous! :-)

Obviously or you wouldn't be driving a GT ;):cheers:

 

[Carzzi]

At my last service, I asked them to check my wheel balance because I had an out-of-balance-y sound coming from the right front. They said that all of the tires *except* that one were out of balance (at 17,000 miles?), and that it wasn't uncommon for them to throw the flat weights. But the noise never went away.

That noise possibly is from the tires getting cupped. Rotate front to rear (non PP is a square/ non-staggered setup, right?); see whether the noise travels to the back.

 

[73MachI]

I got a scratch on the rear quarter panel and have to get the whole panel painted to fix it up... a little bit pricey, but that's part of choosing a metallic tri-coat paint colour.

I'd consider living with the scratch. More will come, and IMHO aftermarket paint is rarely as good as factory.

$0.02

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