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It was a Good Day


jrichard

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:banana piano: Yeehaw :banana piano:

 

Like many of you, I feel like I've been waiting forever. The car finally arrived. As so many others have said, it was worth the wait.

 

A big thank you to TTB for tracking the car as it made its way to my dealer. With his help, I showed up at the dealer literally 10 minutes after the car arrived and before my dealer called me. Knowing where the car was (and a realistic arrival time) helped relieve my stress. Thanks also to Rob and Richard for helping out when my dealer flaked. There are too many others to list that have answered questions I've had. The folks here on SU have been a great resource for me. I never would have thought I'd meet so many good folks when I stumbled onto this site last year.

 

So, long story short (...well, medium...), I thought the car would get to the dealer next week. TTB let me know it had been unloaded at the rail head Thursday night and both TTB and my dealer thought the car would arrive early next week. Friday morning, my dealer called the truck transport company but couldn't get any solid information except to verify they were in possession of the car. I decided to call the transport company as I was running some errands yesterday afternoon. Their computers were down, but a very nice dispatcher checked around and manually verified that the truck with my car had left for the dealership.

 

So, I book over to the dealership and find that my car had just been delivered. Unfortunately, they take deliveries at a separate lot (it's a pretty big dealership), so I didn't get to see the car come off the transport. Once the PDI was finished but before the car was cleaned up, my sales guy had it brought up so we could go for a spin...he figured that's what I'd been waiting for. So we took this grossly dirty car out for a ride. Once back at the dealership, he had it cleaned and tanked up for me while we did the paperwork. (As a side note, he asked if it was ok to wash it or if I'd rather take it as-is and do it myself...I think that's more thoughtful than most sales guys would be. I wanted to take a good look at the paint and stripes, so I had the dealer wash it.)

 

My wife showed up with the kids to take a quick look, but the car was off getting washed so she didn't get a chance to see it at the dealership. She left but then called me 5 minutes later and said my car just passed her and was pulling into a gas station. My son, obsessed with cars, couldn't seem to care less...the real thing doesn't do much for a four year old...he's much happier with the hot wheels version.

 

Once I was done at the dealership, I got a few things out of my truck and headed home (...now I have to go get the truck this morning). It was a blast driving home and I'll put a few miles on it today.

 

I'll post some pictures later...once the sun is up so I can take a few.

 

JR

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Congrats jrichard :happy feet:

 

Glad to hear TTB help out to reduce the PSDS. He & the others are a great asset to our board. post pics when you can I know that the emotions are still running high & that even probably woke up this morning & thought it was a dream until you went to the garage & looked to make sure it wasn't. Enjoy the car & be careful

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The weather has been great so I've had a chance to drive it some. Unfortunately, my wife's been under the weather, so I've had quite a bit of kid-watching duty.

 

A few impressions thus far (95 miles driving, 105 on the clock):

 

Good:

 

Lots of power...it pulls all the way to redline

 

Blower whine...I love it

 

The shift light...I just turned it on today. At the risk of sounding incompetent, the shift light is useful in first because you can get to redline fast.

 

Handling...better than I expected on smooth roads. It certainly does not feel like I'm dragging around 4000lbs.

 

Ride...it's very good on decent roads

 

Stripes and paint...for all the complaining I've read, I am very happy. Maybe I got a good example. They both have exceeded my expectations, but that's not to say they are flawless.

 

Wheel hop...I haven't experienced the dreaded wheel hop and I've smoked them a bit (but not a lot). I've planned to do UCA and LCAs, but I'll have to see how it goes. I'll want to do a few very hard launches before I make up my mind. Though I've run the motor fairly hard, I've no doubt been gentler on the launches than many here.

 

Comfort...the seats are very comfortable for me and the driving position/visibility is good.

 

Shaker...hooked up the iPod and I'm very happy. BUT, it is not "audiophile" and you can definitely do better after market. It was the right choice for me because I wanted good sound without going after market.

 

 

Bad:

 

The interior is really cheap...my 8 year old Expedition uses nicer materials in a lot of areas

 

Handling...pretty bad on bumpy roads...the rear end and kicks out pretty quickly. Fortunately, we have mostly good roads around here

 

Ride...well, bumpy roads are not its forte

 

Shifter...maybe I have a bad example, but I find mine to be balky and imprecise.

 

Clutch...chatter and not much feel. I don't have a problem with it if the stereo is turned down as I can hear the car to modulate the clutch. If the stereo is up, I botch things 'cause I just have very little feel from the clutch. Overall, I've found reving more than you would on most cars works well...or slowly letting the clutch out with no gas. In between and I get chatter.

 

 

 

Indifferent:

 

Sound...The car is quiet. I haven't decided whether I'll put on axle-backs, but I'm leaning that direction to get a little more sound out of it. On the other hand, there are plenty of times when I don't want to draw so much attention.

 

 

Overall, I like the car and I've really enjoyed it thus far. Having said that, I sure wish Ford had spent a bit more on it (and charged more) to up the interior quality. It's not my experience so far, but I'm sure many feel the same about the suspension...especially wrt wheel hop.

 

Planned mods: maybe suspension along the lines of the Evolution ultimate suspension package, Evolution tune with JLT CAI, sequential lights, hood struts (the stock hood prop is a pain in the ass)...and that's probably it.

 

JR

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The weather has been great so I've had a chance to drive it some. Unfortunately, my wife's been under the weather, so I've had quite a bit of kid-watching duty.

 

A few impressions thus far (95 miles driving, 105 on the clock):

 

Good:

 

Lots of power...it pulls all the way to redline

 

Blower whine...I love it

 

The shift light...I just turned it on today. At the risk of sounding incompetent, the shift light is useful in first because you can get to redline fast.

 

Handling...better than I expected on smooth roads. It certainly does not feel like I'm dragging around 4000lbs.

 

Ride...it's very good on decent roads

 

Stripes and paint...for all the complaining I've read, I am very happy. Maybe I got a good example. They both have exceeded my expectations, but that's not to say they are flawless.

 

Wheel hop...I haven't experienced the dreaded wheel hop and I've smoked them a bit (but not a lot). I've planned to do UCA and LCAs, but I'll have to see how it goes. I'll want to do a few very hard launches before I make up my mind. Though I've run the motor fairly hard, I've no doubt been gentler on the launches than many here.

 

Comfort...the seats are very comfortable for me and the driving position/visibility is good.

 

Shaker...hooked up the iPod and I'm very happy. BUT, it is not "audiophile" and you can definitely do better after market. It was the right choice for me because I wanted good sound without going after market.

Bad:

 

The interior is really cheap...my 8 year old Expedition uses nicer materials in a lot of areas

 

Handling...pretty bad on bumpy roads...the rear end and kicks out pretty quickly. Fortunately, we have mostly good roads around here

 

Ride...well, bumpy roads are not its forte

 

Shifter...maybe I have a bad example, but I find mine to be balky and imprecise.

 

Clutch...chatter and not much feel. I don't have a problem with it if the stereo is turned down as I can hear the car to modulate the clutch. If the stereo is up, I botch things 'cause I just have very little feel from the clutch. Overall, I've found reving more than you would on most cars works well...or slowly letting the clutch out with no gas. In between and I get chatter.

Indifferent:

 

Sound...The car is quiet. I haven't decided whether I'll put on axle-backs, but I'm leaning that direction to get a little more sound out of it. On the other hand, there are plenty of times when I don't want to draw so much attention.

Overall, I like the car and I've really enjoyed it thus far. Having said that, I sure wish Ford had spent a bit more on it (and charged more) to up the interior quality. It's not my experience so far, but I'm sure many feel the same about the suspension...especially wrt wheel hop.

 

Planned mods: maybe suspension along the lines of the Evolution ultimate suspension package, Evolution tune with JLT CAI, sequential lights, hood struts (the stock hood prop is a pain in the ass)...and that's probably it.

 

JR

 

 

JR - I've owned one and have around 150 miles on it since November 25th, and I can conclude with your perception almost 100 percent.

 

The only reason I haven't driven this car more, is simply the weather. Every weekend I'm back at home, the weather has been the shits all weekend.

 

Just let the Spring weather break - and look out.

 

HSURB

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Congratulations!!! I live about 20 miles away from you....if you want to hear the Borla's on the car let me know and I'll meet you somewhere! My four year old calls it a Shelvy...the six year old collects Mustangs and loves the car...as long as we do not go too fast. Simpson makes a super cool race looking booster seat that would match your car perfectly!

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Congratulations!!! I live about 20 miles away from you....if you want to hear the Borla's on the car let me know and I'll meet you somewhere! My four year old calls it a Shelvy...the six year old collects Mustangs and loves the car...as long as we do not go too fast. Simpson makes a super cool race looking booster seat that would match your car perfectly!

 

 

Thanks...I'll definitely take you up on that re: the Borlas. Too funny about not going too fast...my four year old warmed up to the car (...now he carries his Hot Wheels around and tells me they're Shelbys) and asks to go for rides---but if I go fast, he tells me to slow down or take him home.

 

Thanks to the others for the congrats! It's been a great weekend.

 

On another note, I experienced wheel hop last night. I couldn't miss it. That's some bad stuff. I didn't launch any harder than I had in the past...its seems to be an issue of the road surface. It convinced me to replace the UCA and LCAs. I'll talk to Fred...maybe do the entire ultimate package.

 

I also cleaned and conditioned the leather and vinyl yesterday. Just a note to those who haven't done this: my towel was pretty gunky after going over the surfaces...it'd picked up a lot of dirt on its way here, so it's probably a good use of an hour or so to get that junk off the seats/dash/etc. I used Zaino products, but I'm sure there are many other options.

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