In all actuality I wish I had the MyKey feature on our Focus.  Like many buyers of the Ford Focus, ours is meant as the car for the new drivers in the house to use to learn to drive.  The Focus has all the right qualities for the new driver: perfect size, great economy and safe as well.  

Ford upped the ante and gives the parents more controls to help ensure the new driver is staying safe with MyKey.  The feature is available on the 2009 Ford Focus initially and will eventually be rolled out some of the other models in the Ford line.  I actually wish I was in the market for a new car as this would be high on the list for my soon to be licensed teen.  

In short MyKey allows the holder of the parent key the ability to set parameters of the cars use to help make certain some risks the young driver faces are minimized.  Its a huge leap from back when I got my license and my folks tracked mileage.  The MyKey system allows parents to set specific parameters to ensure safety equipment is used and potential distractions are limited.  It makes the “valet key” seem prehistoric with the features it provides.  The features are easily set with the parent key and can only be altered with the parent key.   Some of the features a parent can select that I really liked:

• Limit volume on the sound system to 40%
• Allow sound system to operate only when all front seat belts are in use
• Limit speed to 80 mph
• audible speed warning at preset speeds
• Prevent disabling of the Advanced Traction Control system

You can download the entire press release if you want the details: ford_mykey-press-release.  To see some pics of the options as displayed during programming  you need to make the jump.  To get the full deets on the new logo, well you have to make the jump as well. (more…)

The info embargo is over.  As of 12:01AM 11/18 I can share some tidbits that I was given at last weeks Lincoln MKZ reveal on the new ’stang that should whet a few appetites around LA.  

First its no secret that for Ford, LA and So Cal is the most important market for the Mustang (base and performance versions) that it was only fitting that the World Premiere of the 2010 Mustang is to take place at the LA Auto Show. The LA Auto show has pretty much matched Detroits Auto Show in importance on the global car show circuit.  Us finally getting the World Premieres shows how important this show has become.

What most of you don’t know is that Ford is having a special pre-reveal party tomorrow in Santa Monica.  The reveal party details can be had by registering on the Ford 2010 Mustang Reveal site.  We get the real deal while 11 other cities get a satellite feed of the event.  At the reveal party there will be a huge Mustang only show presented by the Ford Mustang Clubs.  Mustangs from the last 40 years will be on display.  Followed by that is what they expect to be standing room only for the roll out and uncovering the 2010 Mustang. 

The technical bits on the new Mustang I can reveal right now, more once the official press releases are passed out and I can sift through them.

• improved fuel economy on V6 and V8 models
• new suspension on all models based on current Bullitt
• Full Sync integration with Sat Nav
• automatic climate control (solves my trivial complaint nicely)

MTVu and Ford’s College You Drive teamed up for a Tuesday night “red carpet style” in Westwood near UCLA.  Pretty simple deal, show up register, take part in the fun on the red carpet, check out the new Sync System, have some fun.  The registration is gratis and is your ticket to win a new Ford Focus.  Your evening ends with a private screening of “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”.

This is event is tied in with a contest held earlier this year as part of the MTVu and Ford College You Drive series.  A group of college students from across the country won a trip to LA that included invitations to the “Max Payne” premier and party tonight.  I’d be curious to get their thoughts on the movie.  More so I’d like to find out what being in LA is like for those who are here for their first time ever compared to the image they had in their head.  (Hint…can someone get me in?). 

Details: Tuesday 10/13 6:15PM – 10PM, 1013 Broxton Avenue, Westwood CA (which we really know is LA).

Pic by me, it is an HDR image…how else can I get details on a black car in the shade?