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What neat tricks and tips have you've found since owning?

727K views 1K replies 388 participants last post by  antbarlow76 
#1 ·
Just wondering what features, tips and tricks people have found since owning?

For me I found the hidden menu to be neat. Holding trip/reset down while starting car shows the menu. Holding again for 5 seconds returns you to normal operation.

Salesman didn't know that the SE has a line in for mp3 players. Inside glovebox on top.
 
#537 ·
Hmmm ... just found a problem with a feature I like. I normally drop my car off for service and have the dealer lock the key in the car and I pick my car up at night. Well .. you cant lock the key in the car. Anyone have any ideas how to intentionally lock the key in the car only using one fob?

Its not a big deal, but it was just a handy way to pick up my car if the dealer closes before I can pick up my car.
 
#547 ·
You can lock your keys in the car, just not the trunk or hatch area. Toss keys in driver seat hit lock button, shut door. Just make sure you've got the other fob with you, or rather near by. Was going to try it at lowes but thought better of it and waited until I got back to the house.. glad I did.
 
#538 ·
Manual transmission owners: we all know about the up shift light. If you're in too high of a gear for your speed and you try to accelerate there's actually a down shift light.
 
#541 ·
If I lived in a warmer climate I would have realized this earlier: with the automatic climate control the buttons directing airflow are independent of one another.

In most cars, pushing the "floor" button will cancel other selections and direct all airflow at the floor. In the Focus, each is independent so the floor button turns the floor airflow on and off, the vent button turns the vent airflow on and off, etc. As a result you can have floor, vent and defrost on individually or in any combination.
 
#552 ·
Yup, noticed this as well. Very neat functionality.
 
#545 ·
i just noticed on the ford owners site it has a picture on my car a red hatchback. Is it just a coincidence or does it actually change depending on the vin number?
Mine is showing a Red Candy sedan. I have a Kona hatchback, so I'm guessing no. [:(]
 
#550 ·
So my Focus only came with one key. The salespeople somehow misplaced the second key so they put it on the Due Bill to get me a replacement. Well today I found that lost key tucked into the drivers seat. I was apparently sitting on it the entire time. Long story short, I can confirm that a locked car with a key inside will stay locked until another key is within proximity outside the car. Just last Saturday my brother wanted to see the "grab the handle to unlock" trick and I had to be standing next to him in order for it to work.
 
#558 ·
Found out it is a great idea to give your GPS locations a voice tag. I have my systam set up for minimal talk on the part of MFT. SO all I do is hit the paddle ... I hear two beeps ... and then say "Destination Work" or "Destination School". There is no need for back and fourth talk with MFT. She just plugs it right into the system. No more "say a command"
 
#564 ·
Couple of observations, and then a question:

I just added a powered subwoofer to my base non-Sony 4-speaker system, and it makes a world of difference. After a few hours of playing with the stock system, my sound guy and I found it best to set the MP3 (iPod, in my case) to a flat EQ band, and roughly shape the sound with one of the preset EQ settings in the car system. Then, you can tweak the treble, mid and bass settings to flavour. Those of you who play guitar know that EQ is best set at the end of the sound chain.

Strangely, the "Rock" preset sounds muddy and awful, but the "Pop" setting is much better. My current setting has the treble at the mid-point, middle at -3, and bass at -4 (subwoofer has a remote control for deep bass and thump). The stock speakers work much better when not asked to handle deep bass, and provide a clean bass kick when they're not overtaxed.

Here's the question part: is it my imagination, or does the SCV level (supposed to control volume based on vehicle speed) actually act as a pre-amp? For instance, if the SCV is set to off, the sound system sounds ho-hum, even sitting with the engine off. If I boost the SCV to between 4 and 7, there's more sound energy everywhere. In other words, I'm not hearing a simple boost in volume...it's more like a pre-amp boost before the stereo's EQ. Try it...it's like the sound gets punchier, not significantly louder. I have the SCV set to 5, if that's helpful to anyone.
 
#588 ·
Same thing happens if you up the sensitivity (i.e. turn up the same knob) if you have auto-wipers. Very handy!
 
#591 ·
Only if you're crafty with your fingers... [wiggle]
 
#592 ·
#593 ·
The VW Beetle Convertible had an "all windows down/up" button and I'm surprised that kind of thing isn't popular on non-convertibles.
 
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