Wednesday, November 28, 2012

It’s seems the stereotype for supermodels includes the belief that they are all vacuous, empty headed. All they are is a pretty face and chiseled body. But when you consider Cindy Crawford was offered a full boat scholarship to study Chemical Engineering, and Carmen Kass was a chess champion, that belief just doesn’t hold water. Such is the case with Ford’s 2013 redesign of the Fusion. It’s much more than beauty and great lines, it’s THE family sized sedan that manages to be hot, economical, safe, technologically advanced, and a segment butt-kicker all in one! Like Cindy Crawford with Ninja training and all the equipment used by Tony Stark (Ironman), James Bond, and Batman!

Looking at the redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion the styling is apparent, but what you can’t see until you get in one, are things like the increased leg room no matter where you sit, plenty of places to put stuff (including a 16 cubic foot trunk), and a smooth quiet ride. Check out what The Car Connection offered up about the new Fusion.

Great looks, great driving, and great safety features (the 2013 Fusion is an IIHS Top Safety Pick), and the available EcoBoost engine, Hybrid, and EnErgi versions deliver fuel economy that makes other manufacturers green with envy, and the 2013 Ford Fusion, well… Green! That means Fusion delivers the complete package, according to the New York Times.

If you have driven a previous version of the Ford Fusion, you are in for a treat when you stop by The Ricart Megamall to take the 2013 Fusion for a drive. If you have never driven Fusion before, then get ready for the sedan you have always wanted, but never dreamed you would find! Drive the new 2013 Ford Fusion today at Ricart Ford, on our 6 acre test track, on the road, or both. It’s time to see, feel, and experience the new Fusion yourself.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fall car maintenance... and zombies at Ricart.

You’re taking a pleasant walk with your dog through the woods at a park. It’s twilight, and the shadows among the trees are starting to take on other-worldly appearances. You aren’t worried though, having walked the trails of this park many times.

As the light fades more noticeably and you start to head back to your car, your dog begins to whine as if sensing something in the surrounding trees and bushes, but you hear or see nothing out of the ordinary, and coax the canine to follow you. After a few more steps, the dog becomes dead weight on the leash as he stops, facing back up the trail with a low rumbling growl. You turn to see what has gotten into the dog, and notice a figure lumbering through the trees. Then you see another figure, then a couple of more. Something must be wrong with those people because they all seem to be stumbling through the growing darkness. It’s time to get back to your car!

You pull the leash hard, and with it the dog, as you begin to walk with greater purpose toward the parking lot. Suddenly the dog passes you, whining loudly, as he begins pulling you hard down the path to where your car is parked. The reassuring sounds of nightfall, the crickets and the fading calls of song birds, are quickly overwhelmed by the growing din of a large group of people now crashing through the underbrush and trees. You move faster and faster, the dog pulling you ahead harder and harder. You look over your shoulder and see many of the dark figures following you now, and notice they don’t seem to move quite right, but you are too scared now to try and figure out why.

With your car just ahead, you are running full speed, the dog still racing ahead of you jerking the leash and your arm hard. When you reach the car, you yank open the door, the dog leaps across the driver’s seat to sit shotgun, you hurl yourself into the car, jam the key into the ignition as you see the first zombies spilling from the woods onto the parking lot and heading toward you! You turn the key in the ignition, and… you guessed it… the car does not start!
Maybe it’s the battery, maybe the starter. Who knows? Had you taken the time to get your vehicle serviced regularly by the Factory trained and certified technicians at Ricart, you would be half way home now, and not a snack for the zombie horde.

Sure, zombies are not real, but rain, ice, and snow storms are. So are dark nights in a lonely parking lot. So to avoid having a bad vehicle experience under any conditions, make sure to follow the vehicle maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual, and call Ricart Service at 614-836-6300 to set up your next appointment.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Looks like the new Fords are arriving at Ricart Ford.

One of the best car related movie lines ever uttered came during a car chase in the original “Blue Brothers Movie” where, after slamming into the plate glass windows of a car dealership in the mall, Ellwood Blues says to his brother Jake, “Looks like the new Oldsmobiles are in early this year!”.

Fall is the traditional start of the automotive new model year, an event celebrated for decades with a stop by the car lot with your parents or grandparents just to see what’s new, whether a new car was on the family horizon soon or not. Then there were, and still are, the ads promoting the newest and best in driving convenience, or style, or power, or, whatever in magazines, on the radio, on television, and eventually in emails, and all over on-line!.

2013 Ford C Max
2013 Ford Focus ST
 Of course, the introduction of Ford’s 2013 model year is no different than all those past years, except maybe for the fact the 2013 Mustangs came out this spring, along with the 2013 Edge and Taurus, and the 2013 Escape redesign was introduced early this summer, and all have been hits! Sure, those great vehicles showed up on the lot and in folks’ driveways early, but there is still plenty of excitement this fall at Ricart Ford with the arrival of the 2013 Ford Focus ST just a few days ago, which will be followed very soon by the C-Max Hybrid and Energi, and after that the Fusion Energi and the Focus Electric. See, there are plenty of reasons to get stoked about the traditional new model year season this year, and all of them are stylish, economical, technologically advanced, and planet friendly!

So this fall, take some time to continue the tradition of marking the new model year with a walk through the new Fords at The Ricart Megamall, or at ricart.com, and see what’s new, what’s innovative, and what you’ll want parked in your driveway soon!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Internet before ricart.com?

There is an overwhelming chance you have researched a new vehicle on-line. That’s because more than 8 in 10 folks now go to at least one web-site to do some research when they start thinking about a new vehicle. When they get to that web-site, they see full color pictures of cars, trucks, SUV’s and CUV’s, and lots of them! There are videos, and live chat, and payment generators for both leases and purchases on the site, along with links to articles about the vehicles, and social sites so you can see what other people are saying about the car you want and the store you want to go to (umm, that better be Ricart!).


Color, sound, video, chat, and oodles of information are what you find on our website today, and that’s are far cry from the first website, which went live 21 years ago this month!


Wow. That’s pretty boring. And does anyone still refer to the ‘net as W3?

Actually, when you think about it, when Tim Berners-Lee published the first web-page from his lab in the Swiss Alps, it was a pretty major event. Of course, back when Tim was working for the European Organization for Nuclear Research his site was designed to be used by fellow researchers. That was the World Wide Web long before you started checking your Facebook status, or even received your first email… and forget about that smart phone you have, or live streaming video, instant messaging, or any of the other stuff you now accept as part of your life!


So the next time you hop on ricart.com to look at that new car, or make a service appointment, or check Facebook or Twitter to see what community event Ricky Ricart will be hanging at this weekend, remember it always didn’t use to be that way. Life was hard back in the day, wasn’t it?

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Free show in the sky worth a ride in your Ricart Ford May 20th!

There's a free show coming just before sunset on May 20th, 2012. Hey! That's a Sunday! Great! Let's hope for nice weather!

No, it's not a live performance of "Dark Side of the Moon", but it's really cool, and your Ricart Ford Family didn't want you to miss out the chance to enjoy something you just can't see every day... a partial solar eclipse. If you want to see the total eclipse, grab the family or some friends, fill up your Ford, and head west a few states.

To see the partial eclipse, find a good place to look westward with as few ground objects between you and the western horizon as possible. Plan on arriving at your spot by 8 p.m. or so on the evening of the 20th, weather permitting. The event should begin a bit after 8:00, and you should begin to see the Moon's shadow blocking a bit of the Sun's disc. The Moon should cover as much of the Sun it's going to by about 8:40, or about the time the Sun will set completely.

Remember to never look directly into the sun! That would not be good because it can damage your eyes. So if you are gonna view the eclipse, check out how NASA suggests you do it. Make sure any children with you follow the viewing guidelines, or stay at home and watch it from Mt. Fujiyama in Japan at go-green.ae.

If you want to find out even more, you can check out Annular Solar Eclipse May 20. 2012 on Facebook.
While you are on Facebook, just go ahead and like Ricart Automotive too. You know you want to!

So pack some snacks, and maybe a blanket for the ground... put together a good tunes list on your player or phone, hop in your Ford, and head to that spot you have picked out. It'll be a great way to end the weekend, so have fun! If we don't see you out there, we'll see you the next time you visit the Ricart Megamall.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012


Right after the last of the Holiday decorations have been packed away, and the din of New Year’s celebrations and Bowl Games fades into the past, it is, to the uninitiated, a quiet time of year. The lull between football and The Daytona 500 or Spring Training can seem deceptively quiet and uneventful. But those with motor oil in their veins… gears spinning in their noggins… and thoughts of rubber meeting road know better. This. Is. Car Show Season. And as usual, Ford is the star!

Running through January 22nd, The 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which we’ll just call the NAIAS from now on (to reduce the risk of a finger sprain with all those extra letters), runs the gamut from really boring to outrageous concepts that nobody would ever really build in a million years. But what that really means is something can be found for everyone at the show.

Before jumping to the extremes, how about some news from Detroit that you will actually use in your life? And of course, it’s from Ford.

The Ford Sync and My Ford touch are now superstar options in the industry, with other manufacturers trying to come up with matching technologies that always seem to look like weak copy attempts, or fall completely flat on their faces. So that probably explains why the early hit at the 2012 NAIAS is the Ford Fusion for 2013. As a matter of fact, it took less than a half hour for Consumer Reports to declare that with the Fusion, "Ford stole the show!”

Of course the new Fusion has SYNC and My Ford Touch, along with a new lane assist feature which helps you keep it between the lines, auto parking for parallel parking, blind spot detection, and adaptive cruise control, and c/net has an overview of the advancements. And autoblog has a good rundown as well.

Add to its style, all the technological advancements already mentioned to a Hybrid system update, or the ability to get an Ecoboost engine to save on fuel costs, and a plug in version, and it becomes obvious why Ford’s Fusion is already in the passing lane, and is set to accelerate past Camry in a big way.

Oh, and it looks great too!