Author: leifjohnsonfordatx

Essential Winter Driving Tips

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It’s not always cold during Austin winters, but when it is, Austinites are often left feeling unprepared for the weather. Rain or shine, ice or snow, we want you to feel safe on the road. So your friends at Leif Johnson Ford are here with some ways to help you and your vehicle survive even the chilliest of days! Tips for Driving Safe in Winter Weather Make sure your vehicle is winterized before driving. This means having your Leif Johnson Ford service department check the battery, antifreeze, wipers, windshield wiper fluid, ignition system, thermostat, headlights, hazard lights, exhaust, etc. Ensure that your car is running well. Change your oil, check your battery and make sure your gas tank is always full. This will help keep you from becoming stranded in bad weather. Again, your Leif Johnson Ford team would be happy to help get your vehicle into the best condition possible. Plan in advance. When weather conditions are poor, it’s important to always be prepared. Check weather conditions in your area before leaving the house, and always make sure to …

Pros and Cons Of Warming Car Before Driving

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This winter has been an odd one for us Austinites. While the weather is always fairly unpredictable this time of year, these last few months have fluctuated even more than normal. The unreliability of 70 to 30 degrees in a twenty-four hour span can be taxing on the wardrobe and on the nerves. Many car-owners prefer to warm their car up by turning it on before driving off. What are your thoughts on this? Does this make for a better functioning vehicle? Yay or nay? Today we’d love to take a minute to answer that exact question. Question: What are the positives and negatives of warming up my car prior to leaving the house?  Pros : Let’s start with the obvious… You’re cozy and WARM during your entire commute. With newer Ford models offering remote start, you don’t even need to step outside to warm up your car. A heated car is as simple as pushing a button from the comfort of your home! Your safety is another reason to warm up your car before …

Using Waze in your Ford thanks to SYNC

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Great news! Waze, the popular smart-route navigation system available on Apple and Android, is now being added to Sync 3 thanks to our friends at Ford! Not familiar with Waze? We’d love to explain. Waze allows its users to improve their drive time around traffic, and gives info on accidents, road hazards, construction, HOV lane support and more. That is especially great for days like today, where the weather is below freezing in Austin and #ATXWX road closures, extra congestion and accidents are all-too-common. Winter weather is much easier to combat with the safety and convenience of Waze in your Ford. This community-based app will be available via Ford’s AppLink tech. The Waze interface featured on the in-car central display is powered by your phone, making it both simple and accessible. Ford is the first manufacturer to integrate Waze into its own entertainment system. Now when a phone with Waze is plugged in to your Ford, it will automatically display with voice command, touchscreen controls and overall full functionality on the Sync 3 system.  This …

Five Things We LOVE About The 2018 Ford Expedition

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Howdy, friends! Great news – The 2018 Ford Expeditions are finally beginning to roll into our dealership lots! We are SO excited about this, and wanted to share that excitement with you. So we’ve decided to share five things that we are loving about the new Expedition! The Ford Expedition has been redesigned and now offers the same aluminum body as our F-150s. This means it’s about 300 pounds lighter yet stronger than ever before! Tech features such as a wireless charger and a Wi-Fi hotspot help ensure you stay connected throughout your commute. Options such as automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control lane departure warning and lane keeping assist are all available to help keep you and your passengers as safe as possible. This vehicle is SPACIOUS, y’all. Even this third row has plenty of leg room for kids and adults alike. This makes the Expedition a great road trip vehicle with enough room for up to eight people. The Turbo V-6 Engine makes the Expedition a towing-capable powerhouse. There you …

How To: Use Windshield Wiper De-Icer

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Howdy, friends! It’s been a mild fall in Austin as of late, but we are due to get some cold fronts in the near future. When this happens, it’s always best to have a vehicle prepared for chillier circumstances. We’re here to help you with that! Did you know that many of our Fords come equipped with a windshield wiper de-icer? This feature can help your front wipers from icing over when parked in colder weather. A heating element at the base of the windshield warms the windshield where the wipers lie, which helps prevent ice build up so they won’t freeze to the glass. This helps keep the wiper blades pliable in colder weather, so they make contact with the glass over the entire arch for a clean sweep. To activate, simply push the rear defrost button, or using your key fob, press the lock button, followed by the remote start button two times. If your vehicle is equipped with Sync Connect and you have Ford pass downloaded (See our blog here for more …

Ford Pass How-To

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Did you know that your Ford vehicle may be equipped with a feature that allows you to stay connected and control certain features remotely? This includes unlocking and locking your car doors and even starting your engine from your phone! If you have SYNC connect and a compatible smartphone, you are good to go! Here’s what you’ll need to do. Download Ford Pass from the app store of Google Play. If you have not already done so, create an account via the Ford Pass app. Add your SYNC Connect equipped vehicle. Go to the My Vehicles option and click Add Vehicle. Select the plus sign option if you would like to add a second vehicle. Scan or enter your VIN number by selecting the Use Camera tab, and point the camera at your VIN label located on your vehicle’s driver doorsill. You’ll see a “Scanned Successfully” screen when this step is complete. Assign a vehicle nickname. Hit ‘Finish.’ You’ll now see a screen prompting you to activate SYNC Connect by touching the ‘Activate SYNC Connect’ …

Ford How To

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This time of year is unpredictable when it comes to weather in Texas. Did you know lightening kills more people each year than tornadoes or hurricanes? Lightning can be unpredictable, so follow these steps to keep your and your family safe from the storm. Always know your local weather forecast. Try to stay at home until the storm has passed, or until thirty minutes after the last thunderclap.  Every thunderstorm produces lightning. If you have to be out on the road, look for thunder, darkening skies, increasing wind and flashes of light. If a storm is approaching, safely exit the roadway park your vehicle and turn on your hazard lights. Avoid pools of water or lower ground, as flooding may be an issue. Also avoid high areas, tall isolated trees and utility poles. If you can safely take shelter in a nearby building, do so. If your vehicle if your shelter, stay put! Do not get out to film the lightning, no matter how Instagram worthy. Close the windows. A lightning strike could jump inside if …

Leif Johnson Ford Road-trip to Kellie’s Baking Company In 2017 F-150 Lariat

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This week, Leif Johnson Ford took a mini road-trip to Kellie’s Baking Company. Our team at LJF loves supporting local businesses, as we have been a local Austin business for 60 years. We’re lucky to be surrounded by other awesome and unique spots, and Kellie’s is most definitely one of them. We decided to take the 2017 F-150 Lariat to Kellie’s. Our sales expert Bob told us his favorite things about this sweet ride on the drive over. Here’s the lowdown on Bob’s fave’s: 3.6 Liter V6 EcoBoost; 10 speed transmission Auto Start/Stop Lightweight body / High-strength military grade aluminum alloy. Stronger yet lighter than the typical steel used on trucks. The Lariat edition offers upgraded Sony stereo, twin panel moon roof, blind spot assist, etc. Now that we’ve covered the sweet ride, let’s move onto the sweet treats.  Kellie’s Baking Company has been in business for ten years and at the Burnet Road location for three. They flooded a year and a half ago and reopened just two months ago. They are back and better than ever. If you …

Truck Month at Leif Johnson Ford

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Leif Johnson Ford is honored to be able to give back to our community in any way that we can. One of our favorite ways to serve our fellow Austinites is by partnering with Susan G. Komen each year for Truck Month.  What is Truck Month? It’s a time period (we would say month, but one month is never quite enough for us!) where our customers help us donate to the fight against breast cancer. For every new F-150 or F-250 purchased, Leif Johnson Ford donates $100 to Susan G. Komen.  This one hundred dollars affords a cancer screening, which could potentially be lifesaving. Susan G. Komen envisions a world without breast cancer. They are the ONLY organization that addresses breast cancer on multiple fronts such as research, community health, global outreach and public policy initiatives in order to make the biggest impact against this disease. Their goal is to reduce the risk of breast cancer deaths by 50% by year 2026. With the help of the community (that’s you and me!), they can help make this goal a reality! …

Customer of the Week: Sky Canaves

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Sky Canaves recently bought a Ford Escape from Leif Johnson Ford, and she couldn’t be more excited. An avid runner, Sky recently took her new ride along for one of her races. Here’s what she had to say: “We drove to Cedar Park and back for a race today, and Tommy took some photos. The car is really helping me to feel more comfortable with driving. So far, features I’ve enjoyed using most are the keyless passcode, seat memory, blind spot detectors, navigation system and the hands-free liftgate. It also just feels good to drive, much nicer than any other car I’ve handled.” Did we mention that her and her husband are preparing to run the Boston Marathon? Talk about being #BuildFordTough! Melissa and team couldn’t have been happier to get Sky in her new Ford and even more pumped for race day!