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PhotoAl

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Everything posted by PhotoAl

  1. Looks like they did come thru for you which is very good, my MIL did get an enhanced warranty from Lincoln. I don't remember exactly what it covers but it is the extra cost option that covers more stuff longer. She is 91 and doesn't drive many miles so she will not run over the mileage limit.
  2. PhotoAl

    Greetings!

    Nice van, bought mine with the intent of camping some but haven't done that yet.
  3. Never had a question, mine is the wagon version but don't think they would say anything if it were the van version.
  4. Not a fun experience! My TC has had no problems and has not been back to a Ford dealer once. On the other hand my mother-in-law recently bought a Lincoln MKC (which I think is based on the Focus platform like the TC. The sales person at the local Lincoln dealer was nice and helpful but didn't have the exterior and interior color combination we were looking for. Dealer was only interested in finding the color combination with several thousand more in options. I already knew there was one in Montgomery which is about 100 miles away. Finally talked to those folks and got an out the door price. Called back the next day and said we would purchase it and would be down in 3 hours to pick it up. When we arrived had to hunt up a sales person, they had not touched the vehicle, turned out it had a dead battery so they swapped batteries and brought it around for MIL to see. Wife immediately found a deep scratch on the door (this is a new vehicle), we drove it and looked at it, MIL bought it after they said they would fix scratch and deliver to her. It arrived and I looked at the door and all was well, brother-in-law was sitting in it and checking it so I didn't. 4 days later he was driving her somewhere and notice the traction control light was on and a warning. I checked and yes there was a fault in the traction control system so it was off. I pulled the codes with the ForScan. Took it to the local dealer the next day - Thursday before Memorial day so they couldn't look at it. A tech came out and glanced at it. ade an appointment for the next Thursday. The service advisor said in a very oh by the way manner, the traction control is off but its safe to drive and the ABS doesn't work either!!! Called Lincoln national and got a very nice lady, explained our predicament and asked about returning for another. She authorized a rental car and checked on swapping. Showed up at the appointment and leave it, rode the shuttle home. Shuttle driver gave us the name of the service manager in case we had problems. By the time we got to MIL house the Service advisor was already wanting to put it off until Monday! MIL call the number and he lit a fire under some!!! It was fixed later that but they kept it overnight to check. And oh they had to do so much work, reset the system and charge the battery, kept it overnight to verify problem didn't reoccur. I am very suspicious that the dealer we bought it from did not properly reset the systems after replacing or charging the battery. As for the dealer, found out from a friend that the closer Ford dealer is much better than the Lincoln dealer. Can take a Lincoln to any Ford dealer for warranty and service work. i never cease to be amazed at how inept service folks can be. I think part of the problem is the pay, good folks can make more money doing something else. I love cars and motorcycles and it would have been fun to work with or on them but I could make more money as an engineer working on other stuff.
  5. Have had mine about a year and a half. Started looking for used, hoping to get a 6 passenger wagon with 15 to 20 thousand miles. Reason for buying was to haul my scooter to the racetrack, haul stuff, haul grandkids, haul 90 year old inlaws pull a small trailer and occasionally camp in. So far have done everything but camp in it - have taken two motorcycle camping trips instead. I was looking for a 6 passenger configuration LWB and hoped to get roof racks and a towing package. In the fall of 2017 they were hard to find in my area - new or used. Wound up driving 300 miles and bought a new 2016 in the fall of 2017. The difference in price was not that much more than one a new one particularly if factoring in the value of warranty and wear and tear on the vehicle and tires. I'm no expert but seems like in this market, a lightly used vehicle is more expensive than a new one if the new models are discounted. I looked a small amount at the Nissan and Chevy but didn't really consider as they are more competitors to the work van. There is really not a direct competitor to the LWB wagon version.
  6. Welcome For sleeping I'd recommend a three section foam mattress that can be folded up into sort of a sofa when not a bed. Ive looked into several on Amazon. I was going to recommend a roof rack for 4x8 plywood. I have a very small trailer that was originally intended to haul my motorcycle but has actually been used for hauling lumber. Its an old Holtzclaw dirt bike trailer that I made a 42"x6' wood deck for.
  7. Fun!! I just replaced the battery in my daughters 2008 VW Rabbit. Battery box cover, disconnect air inlet tube from MAF sensor, unplug MAF sensor, remove engine cover, unbolt battery, undo terminals and lift out. Did the wife's Smart car a couple of months ago, it lives under the passengers feet. Not super difficult to get to but very difficult mauuvering a battery into position while laying one my side in across the seats with arms extended. Battery in my Volt - well it will go back to the dealer. MY TC lives in a garage which hopefully will extend the life of the battery.
  8. I would be suspicious of a connection getting wet, maybe belt for compressor getting wet and slipping but Id be surprised at that.
  9. Like the red! I have the white which my daughter refers to as the creeper van! Im interested in how the smaller engine does.
  10. LOL, no just use them for transportation around the track. I photograph races and have a fair amount of camera gear. Scooter is also a great place to set the cooler filled with ice and drinks - essential in the south during summertime.
  11. Welcome, it will be a real upgrade from a KIA Rondo. I occasionally camp but transport my tent on my motorcycle. I can sit up but not stand up in the tent, not that you will be able to stand up in the TC but its a lot better than a tent. Last night I was reading up on activating my Garmin Inreach Mini, lots of backpackers have them. Interesting to read their reviews although Im using for motorcycle trips.
  12. OLDSCHOOLFOOL, congrats on retirement. Now welcome to the busy life! I have a GPS app on my phone that is a speedometer. I use it to check the accuracy of speedometers on all my vehicles when I get them. Volt, TC and Honda CBR600RR were almost perfect Kawasaki ZX6R 636 was very optimistic. 90 indicated was about 81 real, all the folks bragging about doing 140 weren't going that fast :-) My BMW motorcycle is 4 or 5 off at an indicated 80. Stock TC is nice as I don't have to continually do a calculation in my head to figure out how fast Im really going.
  13. Asa grandparent to 5 YO twins I think the Transit Connect is a great solution. I have a 2016 TC LWB Titanium that I purchased in late November 2017. Got a great deal as it had been sitting around for almost a year. I like Car Gurus for locating vehicles. I go the van to: Haul the twin grandkids Haul my wife's 90 YO parents Take long trips haul my scooter - I have tw Hondas and a Kymco Take to the race track hauling a scooter inside and after taking scooter out be able to sleep inside Haul stuff Tow a trailer It has done everything but camp (so far) and has done it very well. It is easy to get in and out of - seats are not too high or too low. My father-in-law had cancer and at the last 3 months of his life I took him to the doctor and hospital. The TC was easy to get him in and out of due to seat heights. My mother-in-law has very bad arthritis and the seats are very easy for her to get in and out of. Easy to put the twins in and out of and the taller roof makes it easy to get in and fasten them in their car seats. I have the 6 passenger version and like the gap between the middle seats for access to the rear. The van feels much bigger than it really is and fits into my garage nicely. I take my rear seats out when I haul a scooter although it's not necessary. With the higher roofline its easy to put large objects inside with the door openings being the limiting factor. The rear lift gate is nice and in the rain provides a cover. A while back I got caught in a rainstorm with the twins while at Costco. Put both of the in the buggy with my giant umbrella over them. I got wet but they didn't. When I got to the van was able to open the rear lift gate and they could walk thru and get into their car seats. The TC has a little mirror that folds down so that I can observe them in their seats - works better than the one in the Odyssey surprisingly. I got the WeatherTech floor mats and the giant rear mat that goes over the rear seats (both rows) when they are folded. It helps make a bit better platform for loading stuff. I also use it when the rear two seats are out. For loading the scooter I use a piece of MDF board primarily for the center stand. Considering it is a van it drives very nicely. It corners very well (for what it is) and is not too soft. I would imagine it would be closer to a Fit than other vans like the Odyssey. I don't do VW any more after having 2 engines prematurely self destruct. My daughter (mother of the twins) has a 3 year old Honda Odyssey which she loves. The TC handles way better than the Odyssey but doesn't have as much power and is not as smooth.
  14. That is nice to know - a great addition. Thanks!!!!
  15. Great temporary conversion. I really like using the magnets to hold the curtains in place. I've looked a lot on Amazon at three section foam mattresses. My TC camping will probably be at a racetrack. I carry my scooter to get around the track so bedding would have to fold up out of the way. However my only camping trip has been on my motorcycle. Last summer I had reservations at several KOAs for tent camping sites but wound up upgrading to a cabin instead. At the end of a 530 mile 93 degree F day on a motorcycle the thought of sleeping in front of an AC unit is very powerful. I did camp three nights in my tent which was very nice. Since I was in Dubois Wyoming I didn't worry about violence from people.
  16. Welcome, I see you chose the most popular color :-) same as mine. Nice van, a fair number of miles but shouldn't be too bad as it probably spent a lot of time on the interstate and not stop and go. I've had good success with diatamiatious earth (Im an engineer so can't spell) for roaches and bugs.
  17. Know what you mean about the 3rd row access. I cary my twin grandkids and with the two carseats installed its not too bad getting into the 3rd row - I have the 6 passenger version. It not at all uncommon in the US to have a 6 passenger version. Most of the LWB TC's with leather seats are the 6 passenger version although I did see a few cloth seat versions when I was looking for a van. As Fifty150 says I pretty sure the mounting points are different, not sure how difficult it would be to convert from 7 passenger to a 6 passenger assuming the seats were available. The second row with 2 seats has two seats that are similar while the 2nd row with 3 seats is a single seat and a double seat. Im sure it could be done but might get expensive.
  18. Now this would make a perfect TC power plant :-) if you could afford that ... for the curious its the back of an Audi R8 race car
  19. Thats what I need for my daily driver!
  20. Welcome, Titanium is a nice work van. I have a '16 Titanium and really enjoy it. It is multipurpose, take trips with just my wife and I, haul the twin 5yo grandkids around. Haul the 90YO mother-in-law around. She has very bad arthritis and the TC is perfect for her to get in and out of. I just spent the last week shopping for a new car for her. First step was the entry and exit test, then the controls operation test. The TC was the benchmark but she refused to consider one. After people hauling there is stuff hauling. I have the 6 passenger configuration, fold down all the seats and put the big WeatherTech mat over everything and have hauled dish washers, double ovens, TVs and my scooter. Take the back two seats out and there is even more space. When Im hauling a scooter will typically take them out as it's easier to load. Last summer we took a long vacation in Florida. Our single daughter came with us along with a mountain of stuff including my bicycle. Everything fit inside the van with good visibility out over the top of everything. When taking the rear seats out check to make sure to keep up with the two rubber pieces, Ive lost one of mine but it seems to work fine and doesn't rattle. The bolts are a bit finicky about threading back in - be careful about not cross threading. I use a small Ryobi 18V impact driver to take them out but usually put them in by hand. The impact driver is good for wheel lug nuts after they are loosened a bit and for putting them back on but I always tighten by hand with a torque wrench. A torque wrench and thread locker are two of my favorite tools - probably has something to do with motorcycles. I have the factory hitch and have done some towing but no more than 600 or 700 pounds. My trailer is very small and is difficult to see in the side mirrors. If you have the backup sensors a hitch will drive them crazy, there is a button in the center to disable the sensors. There is some discussion on here about the transmission fluid not really being lifetime fluid. If you are not hauling a lot of weight or a heavy trailer IMO the transmission fluid is good for 50,000 to 60,000 miles, I would change it then. I have a 2008 VW Rabbit with a similar transmission and have the fluid changed every 30,000 miles or so after first changing it at about 65,000 miles. I had a second 2008 Rabbit which was traded on my TC which had 99,000 miles on it and had never had the fluid changed and it seemed to drive OK - it started life as a rental car, my older daughter bought it, I bought it from her when they had twins and my younger son drove it for 2 or 3 years. Probably more than you wanted to read about transmission fluid. For oil changes the TC sits too low to really do it in the garage. I bought two Rhino ramps from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0117EETEK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The TC goes up on them without hitting and they get it up enough I can get unger it for an oil change. Instead of a plastic panel the TC has a pressed mat under the engine. Not too difficult to get off and on, unlike VWs it will actually fit in place and not fall down which makes getting the first screws back in much easier. If you don't have the roof rack cross pieces, they are a bit of a hassle to get or are expensive to buy from Ford. I think all Titaniums in '16 came with the big center display and the fog/cornering lamps. I have the navigation package which is a hassle to program but works well and uses my phone data link to update traffic status. Handsfree works well also. The grandkids always laugh when I call their mom and it says their last name - it doesn't get it right.
  21. On my 2016 a single press of the key fob unlocks the drivers door, a double click unlocks all doors including the hatch. My key fob also has a separate button for the rear lift gate which unlocks just the rear lift gate. As Don said I believe it can be changed.
  22. Welcome, looks like you got all of the necessary options. I use mine to haul a scooter, not sure how two dirt bike would fit. The front wheel of my scooter goes between the two middle seats with the rear seats removed. It will fit with the rear seats in but is easier with the extra headroom. I use a WeatherTech floor mat (the big one) for the rear with a sheet of MDF on top on it. The MDF lets me use the center stand on the scooter. One of these days Im going to make a front wheel stand for it. I also have an old Holzclaw dirt bike trailer which I restored. It had two rails but I made a deck for it to haul my sport bike which I then traded fro a sport touring bike which is a little longer so m=need to modify the trailer! Ah the ever evolving projects! Nice thing about the Holzclaw trailer is it is coil springs with shocks. Weight capacity inst great but its nice for a couple of bikes. All Ive hauled is some lumber. One of my intentions was to take the van camping and use a 6" foam mattress in the back. Amazon has ones that are three sections which is easier for moving out of the way when hauling a scooter. So far the only camping I've done has been on my motorcycle. Another of the purposes was to haul our twin 5 YO grandkids and my wife's elderly parents. It has done very well for both of those. My wife's father passed away at the end of last year from cancer, the last three months was pretty tough but the TC was the vehicle of choice for getting him to the doctor visits. It was easier to get him in and out, only problem was he insisted on being in the front seat. My mother-in-law has severe arthritis and the seats in the TC are very easy for her to get in and out of. Her walker fits nicely in the back. Someone ran into her car a couple of weeks ago, Monday we found out it was totaled. Yesterday my wife and I spent the day taking her car shopping! She is 90 and shopping for a new car! Part of the time we also had the twin grandkids. They were easy, one had the Nintendo Switch and the other had the Nintendo DSi. Games and iPad time are carefully regulated by their parents so they were perfect for keeping them occupied. They did show my wife the way around the Honda dealership as they have a Honda minivan and had been there before for oil changes. Something I noted about my mother-in-laws wreck was her car was a dark grey color, almost the color of pavement. She was driving down a road doing the speed limit when someone came out from a side street (and stop sign) and ran into her right front wheel. It was 4:00 or 4:30 in the afternoon on a nice day. Visibility at the stop sign isn't great and with a quick glance someone might not pick up a darker color vehicle. I suggested a lighter color would be good. My granddaughter picked out a purple Dodge Challenger for her (rejected).
  23. I had a Pugeot minivan in Italy on vacation a number of years ago. The shift lever for the manual transmission protruded from the dash. It was nice to drive, wife lost the key and we had to get a car - keys were in the Hertz office in Paris! I actually argued about letting her take the key as I would be going to the car in a a couple of minutes - didn't dare say "told you not to". LOL
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