Ford Fusion hybrid

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by Pakman777

<snip>
Front grill: I really dislike it. Someone somewhere said that it is actually chromed plastic, not chrome (?!). I did not check this, so cannot say.
<snip>

Just a technical clarification: Chrome anything that is shiny bright will be chrome plated. The difference here is whether it is chrome plated plastic or chrome plated metal. Most household plumbing fixtures are now chrome plated plastic.

Tom

[RobH]

Originally Posted by Pakman777

External keypad entry: Useless, outdated feature. Who in the world wants to stand outside in full view of potential "criminals," punching in their "secret code" to get in the vehicle? I suppose if I were in the habit of locking myself out of my car, maybe it would help (or if FOB battery went dead, I suppose), but there are other ways to deal with this that are cheaper and make more sense. and are much quicker. Until I went to test-drive the fusion, I really thought the external keypads had gone the way of the dinosaur . . . I was dismayed to find that an American carmaker still included such an outmoded, goofy feature.

The keypad is an option that I'd love to have available on the Prius. Great as SKS is, there are times when I don't want to carry a $300 keyfob that isn't waterproof. A combination lock solves the problem of what to do when you go swimming, surfing, or just to a gym where you don't trust the security of the clothing storage. The pool where I go swimming doesn't have any lockers, and there are signs all over warning you to not leave anything valuable in the changing area. What people do with their keys is that they leave them with their towels and street clothing in the pool area. It would be easy picking to gather up any number of those keys. A combination lock would be a real improvement over any device that you have to carry, such as a keyfob.

[nineinchnail1024]

Review from a "Ford guy" who ultimately chose the prius. The Fusion hybrid is fantastic. I'm a ford guy by nature, and if I had bought it, it would make three fords in my driveway. The ride, interior and instrumentation are far above and beyond anything else in the hybrid market. However... The cargo capacity sucks. The rear seats don't even fold down. The mileage is not what I want. The base MSRP is too high. Ultimately, I bought the Prius (my second) because it has better cargo room, better mileage, and I got quite a few options for $23,xxx.

If there were a car that combined the ride and interior of the fusion with the mileage and storage of the prius, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[acdii]

I am a former Toyota Camry Hybrid owner. I could not put up with the poor handling, uncomfortable seats, and glaring center stack. I test drove the Fusion Hybrid, and by god that is a damned fine car, but alas Ford Credit doesn't want to do decent financing to make it a reasonable purchase. I made the mistake of test driving the Fusion Sport, in Sport Blue, with everything except NAV(I have a Garmin if I need it), which was sitting next to the hybrid, and fell in love with the car. They also have 0% for 60(why not something low on the Hybrids??) so I snapped it up, damned the 35 MPG, and haven't regretted a moment of it. Hands down the Fusion is far superior over the Camry no matter how you want to dress it up. Handling and comfort are tops, and the highway mileage with the 3.5 V6 is 31 MPG, 31!!, my in city is hovering ~24 but I can improve on that when I replace the oil with full Synthetic. So I didnt get the Hybrid Fusion, though I would dearly love one like what I tested, but at least I now have a car I enjoy driving that can carry my wife and kids all at once(can't do that in a Prius), and not get a terrible backache driving home everyday. Sorry, but the Camry is highly over rated and other than reliability being good, is not all it's cracked up to be. In addition the Fusion has earned a high reliability rating over the years and has a higher consumer rating than the Camry, 9.3 vs 8.6. I can see why, the car is quiet, smooth, comfortable, handles and rides very nice, and doesn't wallow all over the road like the Camry did.

I know I will be hated for dumping a hybrid for a non hybrid, but I don't care, after all, I spend at minimum 2 hours behind the wheel everyday and my comfort and sanity are more important than how many MPG's I get, and since the majority of my driving is outside of the city, the ICE is always running so it isn't like it is any cleaner than the Sport. Maybe a few years from now, after the Fusion Hybrid has been proven and financing is available at a decent rate, I may add one to the fleet, but for now, the Sport is my car of choice. I only bought the TCH because it was cheap and available and fit the bill for what I needed at the time, but after 16 months and 33,000 miles, it turned out to be a poor choice of car and I was lucky to get what I got for it. The value of the car did not hold up as well as the Prius does, and I was sadly disappointed once again with the Camry. First with its quality, fit and finish, and once again with its resale.

Now if Ford can put the Sport suspension on the Hybrid that would be a DOUBLE WIN!!

[asj2009]

With all the bruhaha about Ford Fusion in earlier part of this year, when two major magazines were trumpeting it as better than the Prius, it still sold much much less than the Prius. Fail.

Sales:
August 2009; July 2009; August 2008
Ford Fusion - 2,353; 2,589; NA.
Toyota Prius - 18,886; 19,173; 13,463.

[nineinchnail1024]

Originally Posted by asj2009

With all the bruhaha about Ford Fusion in earlier part of this year, when two major magazines were trumpeting it as better than the Prius, it still sold much much less than the Prius. Fail.

Sales:
August 2009; July 2009; August 2008
Ford Fusion - 2,353; 2,589; NA.
Toyota Prius - 18,886; 19,173; 13,463.

Where do you get your numbers? Ford sold 49,454 Fusions from June through August. It's a car marketed to a different type of buyer than the Prius, but it is a strong Ford product creating considerable profit and non-stop positive reviews. Just because it's not your cup o' tea does not make it a "fail".

[asj2009]

Originally Posted by nineinchnail1024

Where do you get your numbers? Ford sold 49,454 Fusions from June through August. It's a car marketed to a different type of buyer than the Prius, but it is a strong Ford product creating considerable profit and non-stop positive reviews. Just because it's not your cup o' tea does not make it a "fail".

Ford Fusion HYBRID sales, which is a direct competitor and one that was hyped repeatedly earlier this year.

[TonyPSchaefer]

The Fusion Hybrid I drove was a spectacular vehicle. Looked nice, rode nice, hypermiled with ease. Of course it hasn't sold as many as the Prius; it's a first-year model. To imagine that a first-year vehicle using technology Ford built from the ground up (albeit based on technology they leased from Toyota) is just plain silly. To believe that it marks a failure is just plain wrong.

[a priori]

The Fusion Hybrid not only is a first-year vehicle for Ford, but it is on a rather limited run. I believe the production target was below 30,000 vehicles.

[Genoz World]

i've not driven the fusion, but i once had an escape hybrid as a rental. it was very nice. there were a couple of design issues that "irked" me, but in overall operation, it was good. maybe within this week i'll go and visit the ford dealer.