My mini review of the MFT Performance Update

[TimSuds]

First off - I have been very vocal about my disappointment with the total MFT experience from day one. Feel free to search my prior posts to see the complaints I have had since taking delivery about 14 months ago.

I am a heavy user of the navigation system, sometimes using it 30+ times a day. The original MFT, including version 2.11, was totally unusable for me. I often called into my office and had my staff Google an address and then send it to my car so I could retrieve it via 'services' so it would map it for me.

I also had to leave me car running all day as it would often take up to 15 minutes for the MFT to become responsive when starting it.

Syncmyride indicated my vehicle required a dealer install. I contacted my dealer and they originally were not receptive to doing it for me as they were instructed by Ford that all users would receive the kit in the mail and should do the install themselves.

It required me to 'kick my heels' with the dealer and they finally agreed to do it for me.

My initial impression is this upgrade is a definite winner. So far I have entered 50-60 addresses via voice prompts and I have been very impressed with it's ability to recognize the address and map it accordingly.

I often have to map addresses in two local cities, Troy and Macomb, and it was almost a guarantee before that MFT would not recognize the city and I would have to keep trying until I could finally get to the 'spell city' prompt. I am happy to say that it found every address in these two cities I threw at it after the upgrade.

Also, the responsiveness of the new upgrade is phenomenal. It is ready immediately after starting the car and there is no lag whatsoever.

I also really like the new screen layout and find it much easier to read. There is a banner across the map display when a route is active showing the next turn and it makes it really easy to see when the next turn is.

I also am a fan of the larger time display as a result of the temperature being removed from the main display. I regularly look at the time and I am content with looking at the dash to see the temperature.

I am not a big user of the other features, such as Ipod integration so I am not able to comment on that. However, I occasionally stream music via bluetooth from my Iphone and this seems to be working fine.

Overall, this is what SHOULD have been included with this vehicle from the onset.

I am still very bitter about my whole experience and most likely will stand to my convictions that I will never purchase a Ford vehicle again, but I must say this upgrade will go along way towards repairing my opinion. I still feel as though I have been cheated by purchasing this vehicle for the state of the art MFT and have had to suffer this long without a useable system.

I apologize for my skepticism, but I reserve my right to change my mind if it turns out to be affected by memory leaks, system resets, or lockups as time goes by, but so far I am very pleased.

 

[chimoman]

That's good to hear. Promising for now. The test of time will tell.

 

[gdecamp]

Thanks very much for the thoughts and review sounds really promising! Let's hope it stays that way, please do keep us posted!

 

[jrmexplorer]

First off - I have been very vocal about my disappointment with the total MFT experience from day one. Feel free to search my prior posts to see the complaints I have had since taking delivery about 14 months ago.

I am a heavy user of the navigation system, sometimes using it 30+ times a day. The original MFT, including version 2.11, was totally unusable for me. I often called into my office and had my staff Google an address and then send it to my car so I could retrieve it via 'services' so it would map it for me.

I also had to leave me car running all day as it would often take up to 15 minutes for the MFT to become responsive when starting it.

Syncmyride indicated my vehicle required a dealer install. I contacted my dealer and they originally were not receptive to doing it for me as they were instructed by Ford that all users would receive the kit in the mail and should do the install themselves.

It required me to 'kick my heels' with the dealer and they finally agreed to do it for me.

My initial impression is this upgrade is a definite winner. So far I have entered 50-60 addresses via voice prompts and I have been very impressed with it's ability to recognize the address and map it accordingly.

I often have to map addresses in two local cities, Troy and Macomb, and it was almost a guarantee before that MFT would not recognize the city and I would have to keep trying until I could finally get to the 'spell city' prompt. I am happy to say that it found every address in these two cities I threw at it after the upgrade.

Also, the responsiveness of the new upgrade is phenomenal. It is ready immediately after starting the car and there is no lag whatsoever.

I also really like the new screen layout and find it much easier to read. There is a banner across the map display when a route is active showing the next turn and it makes it really easy to see when the next turn is.

I also am a fan of the larger time display as a result of the temperature being removed from the main display. I regularly look at the time and I am content with looking at the dash to see the temperature.

I am not a big user of the other features, such as Ipod integration so I am not able to comment on that. However, I occasionally stream music via bluetooth from my Iphone and this seems to be working fine.

Overall, this is what SHOULD have been included with this vehicle from the onset.

I am still very bitter about my whole experience and most likely will stand to my convictions that I will never purchase a Ford vehicle again, but I must say this upgrade will go along way towards repairing my opinion. I still feel as though I have been cheated by purchasing this vehicle for the state of the art MFT and have had to suffer this long without a useable system.

I apologize for my skepticism, but I reserve my right to change my mind if it turns out to be affected by memory leaks, system resets, or lockups as time goes by, but so far I am very pleased.

Glad to hear, I know that you were one of the users who seemed to have a ton of problems....

 

[harlenm]

As I'm sitting here waiting for the upgrade to get done, I think that if the problems with the system are all fixed, I will be a loyal Ford customer from now on. Their ability to listen to what needs to be dome, and to fix the problems while trying to satisfy the customer has been more than I expected them to do. They even bought me a portable GPS to use while waiting for the upgrade, which is something I never expected them to offer.

 

[MikeFreas]

Solid review and I'm sure everyone appreciates your honesty.

 

[drober30]

There are so many people who will feel so much relief now that this update is out.

I think Ford should offer incentives to all 2011 MFT owners not limited to incentive to purchase/lease another Ford.

 

[EX-SV]

Good review, by a heavy user of intended MFT capabilities.

 

[TimSuds]

There are so many people who will feel so much relief now that this update is out.

I think Ford should offer incentives to all 2011 MFT owners not limited to incentive to purchase/lease another Ford.

I think this would go a long way towards repairing our feelings towards Ford.

It's really sad - the main reason I purchased the Explorer was because I was so pleased with the way Ford handled the whole recession/slow down and did not file bankruptcy or seek federal dollars to get through it. I wanted to show my support by purchasing two vehicles from them.

Unfortunately, all those warm fuzzy feelings have gone by the wayside due to the lousy product they delivered. I have had most of the TSB's done (those I had issues with) and now it appears the MFT is useable, but I am still quite bitter about the whole experience.

I also cannot express how frustrated I am about my rotors having been turned twice to fix a manufacturing defect and nothing has been done to make it right. I figure I am done fighting the battle and will express my displeasure with my purchasing decisions in the future.

If I were Ford, I would be awfully concerned about all of the negative press I (and I am sure others) have shared with John Q. Public. I get asked regularly for my opinion of the vehicle and I tell them exactly what I think.

Now if Ford chose to find a way to make it right, I would certainly reconsider my position. They've thrown me a bone (which I feel is inappropriate to discuss here) but certainly nothing to make me forget.

 

[TimSuds]

Solid review and I'm sure everyone appreciates your honesty.

For what it's worth, I am equally as pleased after two days of heavy use. I am almost excited to go to work so I can play with the MFT.

I kept track for a while today and MFT recognized my destination address voice commands 14 of the first 15 times I used it today. The one time it recognized it on the second try.

I have experienced a couple of minor annoyances but certainly nothing that I would voice a complaint about. Certainly no lockups, reboots or anything of that nature.

I must say - it appears they got it right this time, although I reserve my right to change my mind if things go south later.