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So, that's it then. A flick of the pen and a shake of the hand and Mazda's hand-assembled rotary powerplant finds itself exchanged for a 3.0L Duratec mill.

The new truck will be picked up at 1PM on Friday. :) Got a pretty smokin' deal on it too and I extended the warranty (just like before, but the full pimped warranty this time) cause I'm paranoid.

2008 Ford Escape Limited, Tungsten Grey on Black Leather interior. I'm actually liking it better than the other one I sat in before this one.

Sad but true - I'm stoked! :D

Pics to come when I get the chance to get some.

Not sure if we'll make it camping this year or not, a few more things are still "on the go" / up in the air. At least now we'll have the wheels for it. :)

Speaking of wheels, those and a K+N panel filter are about all I'd change on it. After tooling around in the RX-8 for a few months, I've grown a new appreciation for stock exhausts. Maybe I'm just getting old? :huh:

Looks good, I'm betting that you're sad to see the RX-8 go, but the practical does outweigh the frivolous at times...

NefCanuck

At least you won't have a sore neck anymore. :lol:

I'm sad to see "the sports car" go, but I won't miss the cramped quarters, lack of warranty, ridculous in-town mileage (90% of my yearly driving is within North Bay), wonky cold running, wonky-when-cold transmission, etc.

It's a great car when it's warmed up and you're carving a road / highway. For daily driving it's actually a waste as it sits there and stares at you, begging you to drive it. :( I should know, it's sitting right outside my office window right now.

I'll still have heated seats, a moonroof, wicked sound system, stability/traction control, even leather seats. I've gained a trip computer with usable neat stuff (distance to empty, average economy, etc), a compass, AWD, ground clearance for winter time and camping, room for the dawg, etc.

The only thing I've lost (besides acceleration!) is sat nav. I have the Garmin handheld GPS still with a suctioncup mount, and that'll do till I decide whether it's worth it to get an "Auto" GPS or not. :D

Oscar - yeah, settling into the car first thing in the morning can be a tad jarring. There's definitely not much room in there for me, really! I enjoy driving it (and even 5+ hours in a shot) but it takes time to get settled into it.

NOS2Go4Me,May 20 2008, 11:42 PM Wrote:For daily driving it's actually a waste
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i feel you there man. congrats on the new vehicle post up some pics when you get it

if the vehicle makes you happy that's the bottom line.. and there's different ways a car can make you happy.. it doesn't always have to be acceleration and handling.. also i think being comfortable and having a nice experience with your family counts for a lot as well.. its the reason i had pretty much the same amount (but a different kind) of fun on my bike and in a car

Did you get the discount? You never got back to me with the information. I hope someone else helped you out. I

I talked it down some - I know I never got back to you. No worries. :)

that's the same colour as my stang.. you gonna get racing stripes?

congrats on the new ride.

Just one thing you are not getting away with this one :) ridculous in-town mileage (90% of my yearly driving is within North Bay), its a heavy car with AWD. In town is a bitch, but once it gets to the highway you are crusin at 120Km/h with only 2000rpm.

compare it to the RX8 and let me know.

NOS2Go4Me,May 21 2008, 07:00 AM Wrote:I talked it down some -  I know I never got back to you. No worries. :)
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Even though you talked the dealer down, that discount doesn't affect the dealers bottom line. The discount is directly from Ford. Ask the dealer if you can still apply the friends and family discount to your purchase.

mo_focus,May 21 2008, 04:33 PM Wrote:Just one thing you are not getting away with this one :) ridculous in-town mileage (90% of my yearly driving is within North Bay), its a heavy car with AWD.
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escape is what.. 3550lbs with a 3.0L 6cyl motor? that's similar weight and displacement to a 335xi, so should be able to get 20mpg city and 30mpg highway right? that's pretty reasonable.. not bad at all

meford4u,May 21 2008, 01:50 PM Wrote:

NOS2Go4Me,May 21 2008, 07:00 AM Wrote:I talked it down some -  I know I never got back to you. No worries. :)
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Even though you talked the dealer down, that discount doesn't affect the dealers bottom line. The discount is directly from Ford. Ask the dealer if you can still apply the friends and family discount to your purchase.
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Bryan, can you PM me what I need to know? I'll PM you whatever you need.

Steveo - But then I'd have to race all the A4 sedans! :P :ph34r:

Nah, it's already tinted. Aside from 17s or 18s for the summer, it's not getting much else.

Mo - when I get 300KMs in town to 50L of 91 octane, I'm willing to wager that I'll do better city AND highway.

NOS2Go4Me,May 21 2008, 08:31 PM Wrote:

meford4u,May 21 2008, 01:50 PM Wrote:

NOS2Go4Me,May 21 2008, 07:00 AM Wrote:I talked it down some -  I know I never got back to you. No worries. :)
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Even though you talked the dealer down, that discount doesn't affect the dealers bottom line. The discount is directly from Ford. Ask the dealer if you can still apply the friends and family discount to your purchase.
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Bryan, can you PM me what I need to know? I'll PM you whatever you need.

Steveo - But then I'd have to race all the A4 sedans! :P :ph34r:

Nah, it's already tinted. Aside from 17s or 18s for the summer, it's not getting much else.

Mo - when I get 300KMs in town to 50L of 91 octane, I'm willing to wager that I'll do better city AND highway.
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Holly crap, that is bad. Escape is not that bad. you will get around 400-450 city driving on a tank. Atleast its 87 and not 91 :)

I'm having a smacktard moment - what's the s***ty little formula for calculating litres per 100KM?

Isn't it (litres / KMs) * 100? If so, I'm getting 16.7L/100KMs in town, well below the 13 or so Mazda says I should be getting. Bleh :(

Can't wait for the new wheels - just talked to the dealer and it's already gassed, cleaned and plated, waiting for tomorrow (and me!).

Aaaaaaaaaaaand... we've got AWD!
:D

Pics to come soon, but it's not "quite" as depicted earlier. That's my bad.

I had a minor brain fart.

I've also just come to the realization that Ford Edge wheels will fit perfectly and just require a drop in sidewall to meet overall diameter concerns. PERFECT. :D That adds another avenue of choice should I decide to replace the stock wheels. For now, I just want to get used to it.

235/70R16 tires stock = 235/50R20 tires (Edge upgrade rim size) or 235/60R18 tires (Edge standard rim size) will work fine. Some seem to be fitting 255-width tires without rub issues but I'm really just fact-finding here. Also, I could go the "other way" and throw on some real truck tires. Nothing will happen for the first few months at least - I'm just stoked on the new wheels!

congrats on your new ride dude!

i wouldnt buy the ford edge chrome wheels if thats what your talking about .... they are crap lol had about 5 in the dealer this spring getting them replaced under warranty for peeling and stuff congrats on the suv purchase Nos , im happy I bought my kia sorento and im sure youll be happy to have your escape ... welcome to the suv club lol

^^ Tim - that's good to know man! Thanks for the heads-up! Maybe I'll just stick with the stock Edge 18" aluminums.

I made a "ninja run" to Toronto and back Saturday, my grandmother had partial hip replacement surgery last week and I wanted to go see her. I did 800KMs on about 70L of gas, mostly highway but with about 60KMs within Toronto at city speeds.

My observations thus far:

- The leather seats in my Limited are WICKED. However, as it's an American Limited, they aren't heated. I'll decide by the fall whether or not I want to have heating elements installed. I'm debating sucking it up and not worrying about it.

- The stereo is USDM, therefore it's not the Audiophile but a 4-speaker setup. Do I care? Not really. It sounds great and I'll just upgrade the door speaks later. The deck has lots of thump.

- There's no moonroof. It bothered me for all of 10 minutes. It's one less window to close in the summer and one less leak to worry about down the road.

- The ride in the truck is great! High-frequency bumps / expansion cracks are about all that makes any noise in there. Tire thrum is present at speed, but hey it's a truck! It's bearable. Plus, changing from the stock treads would likely help.

- Cornering feels a tad tippy but when you're coming out of a Mazda RX-8, everything feels tippy. It's stable at speed and it's not wandering at all, which is better than I expected. The electric power steering feels almost on par with the RX-8s - that's not bad at all!

- Braking is responsive but requires more pressure than I expected. Again, I'm adjusting from a sportscar here so I'm likely overly critical. There's no fade or pulsing and it's a smooth, linear motion when braking - all good.

- Acceleration is decent given the curb weight. 2nd is geared kinda tall but oh well. I'm not out to streetrace! Pulling to 100 doesn't take long at all (feels faster than a 2007 ZX5 with the autotragic). Pulling "above 100" (kickdown to 3rd) isn't startling but it gets "well above" 100 without issues or complaints.

- Fuel economy is pretty decent and bang-on with the quoted economy for the 2008 from what I can tell. What I do like is this: the trip computer in the dash console can monitor distance to empty, average fuel economy over time and "instant" fuel consumption (it's likely a digital version of the BMW's fuel economy meter).

I found myself checking the average fuel economy after a while (started at 8L/100KMs, went to 9L/100KMs) but mainly staying on the "instant" fuel economy screen (lower the bar, less fuel being used). I could cruise at the second lowest bar (lowest being idle-ish for throttle used) even at 110 with the CC on. Overall, I'm really impressed.

- Toys. Aside from the wicked trip computer, the auto headlights were missed. Perimeter lighting at night when you remote unlock is cool. The "pull up to fold flat" seat cushions and seats are cool in the back. The cavernous centre console can hide a small migrant family, easily. The digital compass and temperature readout on the centre stack are neat (didn't have the compass in the RX-8, but with sat nav didn't need it).

Overall, I'm impressed! It's getting a set of Silverstars for now (this week sometime) till I decide whether or not to fit a set of HIDs. A K+N panel filter will round out the "mods" for now till I get more used to it. Oh, and I'm switching to Mobil 1 on the next oil change.

And now... trade-it-in day:

congrats on the SUV... hope it treats ya well!

much more room for shaggin' in the bag, eh?

Interesting the compass is in the centre stack on the Escape (It's in the "Message Centre" in the guage cluster on the Fusion, where I think it makes more sense, but that's me)

Any issues operating the HVAC controls? When I sat in the one Escape I found myself going "Uh oh, round knobs, bad enough with bare hands, NVM gloves come winter"

You can install heated seat elements afterwards? :huh: Neat but up in your neck of the woods wouldn't that be a foregone conclusion to have 'em?

NefCAnuck