Rental car part 2.

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 07/07/2017 at 06:34 • Filed to: None

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I got the Kia dropped off to be properly fixed this time, and now I have a 2017 Ford Fusion hybrid. It’s pretty great on gas (42-ish city, without even trying.) but not too special. Doesn’t have an aux port for some reason and the batteries (I’m assuming) compromise nearly half of the trunk space... but it’s not bad to drive. I just wish it was a plug-in hybrid, because it rarely charges beyond half capacity before turning on the electric motors. I prefer having it run all-electric in stop-and-go traffic, but it can’t do that when it uses all the juice just cruising. I also would be able to use the HOV lane if it was a plug-in, but not as a standard hybrid.

I’m also very confused about the proximity key... I’m not sure how long it takes to lock itself when I go away, or how close I have to be to open it. I don’t want to, say, sit in a restaurant too close to the car and have it unlock itself. I also want to know if I can make it unlock the trunk, too, instead of just the doors.

Oh, and there’s a button with a picture of a car on a hill and it doesn’t make a noticeable difference, nor is it mentioned in the quick-reference manual.

In any case, I would hate it a solid 7/10. Aside from these little annoyances, it’s cheap to run, surprisingly peppy when you want it to be, and very comfortable.

random001 > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 07:03

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Button would be hill assist, basically if you are on a hill facing up, and you let off the brake, it keeps the brakes on until you hit the gas so you don’t roll backwards.

I’d bet there’s an aux port. Ferd puts them in weird places, try the center console, deep down in the abyss, where you can’t really reach it. It’s probably there.

Proximity keys are very short range, using a combo rf and RFID, probably 3 meters tops, more like 2.

Rainbow > random001 07/07/2017 at 07:14

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The car is facing downward on the button, though. That’s what’s confusing.

random001 > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 07:22

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You know, I never looked to see which way the car was facing on any of my cars with it. Maybe it works both ways?

Rainbow > random001 07/07/2017 at 07:34

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Turns out it’s supposedly like cruise control for coasting downhill. It cuts off the engine and uses the generator to slow the car to a constant speed.

random001 > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 07:54

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Ooh, nice. Also, regen!

Rainbow > random001 07/07/2017 at 08:15

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For sure! I’m not 100% sure it’s working, but it does seem to regenerate a lot quicker.

Slant6 > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 08:28

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Little confused by “would hate it a solid 7/10". Do you hate it 7/10 hate points, but bring up redeeming features despite hating it so much?

bhtooefr > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 08:33

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Looking around, that button will also bring the engine in when needed. I wouldn’t use it to maximize regen, as it may throw regen power into spinning the engine, like B mode on a Toyota hybrid.

bhtooefr > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 08:42

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Really, manufacturers need to figure out how to package the batteries better. (Toyota’s figured it out by taking some space out of the fuel tank, and putting the battery under the rear seat, on their newest models... on the standard hybrids. The Prius Prime battery packaging, OTOH, is a joke.)

There is a plug-in version, but you lose even more trunk space to the battery. With the non-plug-in, the hybrid system’s goal is to maximize efficiency of the engine, by never letting the engine go below its minimum efficient load - if it is below that load, it either needs to charge the battery (loading the engine), or it needs to shut off the engine entirely (depleting the battery).

As far as the proximity key, it won’t automatically lock, as far as I’m aware. Per the quick reference guide , there’s a lock area on top of the door handle, apparently, and touching that will lock the car. To unlock it, just open the door normally without touching that area.

jimz > random001 07/07/2017 at 09:34

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there’s no aux in jack. Those are going away fast across the industry. the vast majority of people are using USB or Bluetooth.

jimz > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 09:36

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the prox keys won’t unlock the doors remotely unless you push the button. there’s a small patch on top of the exterior door handle, with the key on your person you touch that area to lock the doors. to unlock, you just grab the handle as normal and so long as it detects the key, sensors on the inside of the door grab handle detect your hand and unlock the car.

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 09:39

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This is complete BS. Bluetooth is known for being crappy for quality, and USB has never been anything but finicky for music playback from a phone. Heresy, I tell you!

jimz > random001 07/07/2017 at 09:42

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that hasn’t been true since at least BT3.0. it has enough bandwidth where it doesn’t re-compress pretty much any digital audio file you throw at it.

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 10:31

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It is 100% true that bluetooth is bad for hifi sound. First, it’s ISM band, which is way crowded. Second, it’s low power, so compression or no, it’s low power. Low power means LOS requirements. Also, it’s a co-signal protocol, meaning you also need to include command and control in the same signal.

To compound all of that, they put the BT protocol chip inside the WiFi chip, ensuring a shared resource collision issue. No matter where you are, play the same file through direct connection and bluetooth, and it will sound better direct connection.

NojustNo > Rainbow 07/07/2017 at 11:06

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Is there a badge on the back that says energi? 

jimz > random001 07/07/2017 at 11:31

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it’s also packetized, which means everything you said is immaterial. In a packetized transmission system, any uncorrectable packet loss will result in extremely apparent pops, clicks or even outright silence until re-sync. it’s not going to be a subtle degradation in sound quality.

on the other hand, aux in jacks rely on the objectively terrible 1/8" stereo minijack, which are fragile pieces of shit and wear out rapidly leading to crackling and channel dropouts. Plus, they’re susceptible to ground loop noise; usually heard as a regular “ticking” or a scratchy or screeching sound from the phone/mobile device’s internal switching voltage regulators.

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 12:04

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Except it’s not immaterial, but that’s ok. Packet loss causes all manner off effects. In the case of audio or data streaming, it slows down, reduces the data throughput for redundancy, and reduces audio fidelity. But sure, no resampling or subtle degredation of audio quality.

Buy a better quality cable. Buy shit, expect shit.

jimz > random001 07/07/2017 at 13:55

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I said “jack” and not “cable” for a reason

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 14:04

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I said cable for a reason. First, I’ve never once in my life had a jack wear out. And second, I’ve never had a ground loop hum that wasn’t due to an improperly shielded low quality cable. Maybe you’re harder on your jacks than I am, but I’ve found them quite robust.

jimz > random001 07/07/2017 at 14:45

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shielding has nothing to do with ground loops. a ground loop is a flow of AC current between the source and the sink on the common conductor which is amplified by later stages in the audio chain.

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 18:41

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AC ground loop in a DC system?! Sorcery!

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 19:16

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Listen, I don’t want to fight with a fellow Oppo. RF, and specifically the jamming of RF is literally my life. Bluetooth is ridiculously easy to jam. A matter of a practical sneeze kills the bandwidth.

A DC ground loop is technically an induction issue, which is what you hear when you plug your phone into an aux Jack and power at the same time. Increasing the quality of the shield, or more practically a ferrite bead, can kill the induction hum in a car audio system. True, this isn’t the way to fix an AC ground loop in a home audio system.

I maintain that Bluetooth is ok, but not the same quality as a direct connection.

jimz > random001 07/07/2017 at 19:24

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Audio is AC.

other than that, it appears we are at an impasse. All the best.

random001 > jimz 07/07/2017 at 19:55

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I see your point. I consider analogue signals, with a reference phase and a changing phase, to be different than straight alternating current, as used in power which uses reference phases over all channels, which is where the 50 or 60 Hz hum comes from.

Rainbow > NojustNo 07/07/2017 at 21:39

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Nope, just the regular hybrid.

Rainbow > Slant6 07/07/2017 at 21:44

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My phone has a nasty habit of “correcting” real words into different words. There’s no option to set autocorrect to only work on complete misspellings, sadly. It’s frustrating.