kn8a

I agree big time with PetrosA. I live in rural Michigan, and this has been an unusually cold winter so far, with lots of ice always just below the most recent snowfall. My driveway is a couple of hundreed feet, unpaved, to the dirt road, then two miles to the nearest paved road. I replaced my trusty AWD Vue after it's demise at 145K with my TC last February, and I'm at ~23k miles now. So I figure I've got somewhere about 5-6k on snow and ice with it. The FWD TC beats the AWD Versa-Trak clone Vue hands down. And I loved the Vue, and kept it shod with good tires (last ones were Michelin LTX M/S). Simply, you must use the range selector. I've come to think of "D" as fail-safe "dummy" mode. It's impossible to make the thing slide on command in ""D". O/D off, it get a little better. 2 is good, but nothing beats taking off in first, and shifting up as things get rolling. Seriously, the traction control must have at least three behaviors programmed in it. In first, on shiny glare ice, up hill, it will alternately spin each wheel for about a full second, pawing it's way forward quite aggressively. It has always found a grip, even on hills and turns out here in the fields that have absolutely stymied any other vehicle I've had here over the last 20 years. In second, it just won't paw like in first, but it is a lot more deliberate than it is in D. I tell my wife and son to keep it in D, but I sure won't... Use the shifter, and you will be rewarded! Cheers, Jeff

I agree with Woody. I've had mine since February, and always have a couple of hundred pounds of stuff, and often 800+ pounds of guys in it. No need to turn off the OD. I log every drop of gas and service the thing gets, and I'm now getting consistent 25-26 mpg in mixed rural/urban driving, with little or no highway. Lowest I ever got was 20-21 in the first 1,000 miles. BTW, it seems to smooth out a little around 5,000, and a little more around 10K. Possibly programmed in break-in behavior, almost like the torque kicks in at lower RPM once it's broke in. Got 12,000+ now, all in lower Michigan, with one big trip to St. Louis last week in 100+ degree heat. Got 25+ on the trip doing 70+ with the AC on full blast. The only time I hit the OD is to annoy the jerk tailgating me... Jeff

Brits code the year of the manufacture of the car and which half of the year it was first registered in the license plates, which stay with the vehicle for the life of the car. Wikipedia has a great article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom#Year_identifiers 55 or 57 plates would translate to a 2005 or 2007 vehicle, first registered in the fall or winter. I had a software contract once with the company that's behind Carfax, RL Polk, and did some VIN work for them....as well as being ex-GM and ex-EDS. BTW, there's a really fun Brit site, http://fordtransit.org that has a Transit Connect forum that's amazing: http://fordtransit.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=54 These guys have had the Connect for almost 10 years - you can almost see our trucks' futures by looking at it. cheers, as they say.