Looking to buy a used FFE

[campfamily]

I feel terrible for my car. It's been dragged away from the lovely climate of southern California and is currently sitting in my driveway while it is 18 F outside. It's plugged in and the pump is whirring away trying desperately to keep the battery warm.

Yeah they do make fun noises. You'll get used to them.

My wife says the car is purring.......

 

[electrons]

I replaced my stock tires on 9/9 with some non-LRR tires, Vogue Signature V, and have noticed a 9% loss in range. Temperatures are about the same and so was tire pressure. My Wh/mi average was about 264, now it's 289. I just bought some Continental PureContacts and will mount them soon. My recommendation: Don't buy non-LRR tires no matter how cheap they are.

//

Elektra, Your WH/mile average is affected by a lot of things, like wind, driving style, hills, temperature, it all adds up, so comparisons aren't really valid just driving around and getting an average. Yet, your 9% loss estimate may be kind of like Consumer Report's 6% carefully-measured test result difference between some Hankooks and the Kumho Ecsta ( see http://www.consumerreports.org/tires/do-low-rolling-resistance-tires-improve-fuel-economy/ ). Reason I say that is because Vogue is a small and old tire company stuck in the past in tire tech, unlike leaders Bridgestone and Michelin today. Vogue tires might be lagging behind current LRR tech a lot I suspect.

Yeah, if I would have had the option I wouldn't have bought these tires. They were on when I picked it up. They are a set of Kuhmo Ecsta PA31. I might stop by a local tire store that I used to work at and see if I could talk the boss man into buying them from me and then buying a new LRR set. We shall see.

Ouch! Bad tire choice from your predecessors indeed. See Kumho Ecsta tires get rated the worst for LRR at http://www.consumerreports.org/tires/do-low-rolling-resistance-tires-improve-fuel-economy/ . I could see why you might want to trade them in. If the Hankooks they tested were not as LRR as our OEM Michelins, then Elektra's perceived 9% difference could happen to you. Most tires aren't as bad as the Vogues and Ecstas.

I believe our OEM Michelins are very hard to beat in LRR, although Ecopia tires are right there too.

 

[electrons]

Tire Rack did get a pretty wide spread (about 7%) in their own test, which was not super controlled but likely OK.
Conclusion, yes LRR tires are important here, since in some cases (not all) you could lose 4 miles range off a full battery charge.

Surprised the Michelin HydroEdge GreenX (LRR supposedly) did so poorly, could be an error in Tire Rack's testing sloppiness, not sure. Our Focus OEM Michelin came out on top and Ecopias were a close second, expected.

 

[EVA]

Whoa Electrons that table you posted, what the heck is that thing that person is poking their car with? Some crazy obsolete thing? I bet it even smells bad. And is really dangerous, containing explosive stuff. Yuck.

(hey my gut reaction, WTH (why) is somebody posting a gas filler on this forum?)

You know keeping things generally the same, averaging over a reasonable amount of time is not a bad way to compare. If you do the same commute every day, that's a really good measure to use for comparison.

 

[Omen87]

Well I think I am all set. The car has been doing great so far. I took it to Ford on Saturday and had it inspected and whatnot. They performed the PCM reprogram and inspected the HV harness. They gave it a clean bill of health on their inspection. The FSA for the modem has mysteriously disappeared from the Ford Owner website. So maybe it was performed prior to me buying the car and just hadn't process through their system yet. I installed a 240v 14-50 in my garage this past weekend. And I got a great deal on a refurbished JuiceBox from EMotorWerks on eBay (it was refurbished by them, sold by their store). Plugged it in last night and it charged the car from about 70% in about 35 minutes. Now that I have a level 2 charger the car is actually warm in the morning! :mrgreen: