First Drive: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

The point being there is no REASON to put a 2.4/2.5L engine in EITHER of those cars other than the "American 'need' for excessive power".

And they are NOT a LOT bigger than a Prius inside. Because it is a hatchback, the Prius has 40% more cargo space even though it is 14+ inches shorter. Shy of the front seat occupants having overly large butts, only the delta in rear shoulder room is significant and then ONLY if you put 3 in the back.

I grant that the Camry and Altima's extra shoulder room, especially in the rear, are nice. A little more rear hip room is nice. I'm also sure that doesn't account for an extra 750 and 550 pounds respectively to haul around. Plus, the 2010 Prius is supposed to have about 5 cu ft more passenger space, making it equivilent to the Camry, yet it boosts combined HP from 110 to 134 (not that I think that is necessary) and a 6-7% increase in MPG (to 50 combined) making the Camry and Altima hybrids even more feeble by comparison. If Toyota popped a Sedan shell on the 2010 Prius chassis, it would effectively be a Camry that uses 47% less fuel.


Dimension ......... Camry .. Prius .. Delta .. Altima .. Delta
Overall height .... 57.7 .... 58.7 ... -1 ...... 57.9 ..... -0.8
Overall width ..... 71.7 .... 67.9 ... 3.8 ..... 70.7 ....... 2.8
Overall length .... 189.2 .. 175 .. 14.2 ... 189.8 ...... 14.8
Wheelbase ........ 109.3 .. 106.3 .. 3.0 ... 109.3 ....... 3.0
Ground clearance .. 5.1 .... 5.6 ... -0.5 ..... 5.6 ........ 0.0
Cd ................... 0.28 .... 0.26 .. 0.02

Head room
.. Front ............. 38.8 .... 39.1 .. -0.3 .... 40.6 ........ 1.5
.. Rear .............. 37.8 .... 37.3 ... 0.5 ..... 36.8 ....... -0.5
Shoulder room
.. Front ............. 57.8 .... 55 ...... 2.8 .... 55.7 ......... 0.7
.. Rear .............. 56.1 .... 52.1 .... 0.4 .... 55.5 ......... 3.4
Hip room
.. Front ............. 54.6 .... 51 ...... 3.6 ..... 56.8 ......... 5.8
.. Rear .............. 53.1 .... 51.7 .... 1.4 ..... 52.5 ........ 0.8
Leg room
.. Front ............. 41.7 .... 41.9 ... -0.2 ..... 44.1 ........ 2.2
.. Rear ...............38.3 .... 38.7 ... -0.4 ..... 35.8 ........ -2.9
Passenger Volume 101.4 .. 96.2 .... 5.2 .... 100.7 ......... 4.5
Cargo Volume ...... 10.6 .. 14.4 .... -3.8 ..... 10.1 ........ -4.3

 

I can tell you up front the Prius does NOT compare to the Camry in interior room, PERIOD. Ask my 14yo son who has to sit between 2 car seats. In the prius, it was impossible, he could not fit back there, but in the Camry he does. Also the front leg room is more in the Camry, and much much much more comfortable than the Prius. Apples and oranges my friend, they are not the same class of car.

The Camry DOES need the larger engine, the prius to me is under powered. When you have to turn out into traffic going 55 MPH from a side road, you need every ounce of energy you can get, and doing so in the Prius was scary. The Camry Hybrid has just the right amount of power to do the job, any less and it would be scary. In the City, I can see where the comment about big engines can fit in, but if you live in the country where the road in front of your house has a speed limit of 55 MPH, having power is a neccessity, not a luxury.

Have a family of 5, live where I live, and drive where I drive every day and you will soon change your tune on the Prius. The Camry Hybrid fits the bill perfectly for me, and at last check overall MPG from day one before winter hit, 40.3 MPG. Not bad for a big car that seats five with 2 in car seats.

 

acdii; some people feel the need (or live in high traffic areas) to "shoehorn" into traffic and some can wait. i personally would have preferred that the engine stayed small on the 2010 and get an EPA 60 mpg overall, but i never could have come up with as good a car as Toyota did, so i will reserve final judgment until a test drive of the new 2010 is done.

as far as space goes, more room at times would be definitely great especially when going camping. with only 3 of us, we are in pretty good shape right now, but that could change as well

 

The first hybrid I drove was a Mercury Mariner--the twin to the Ford Escape. I found it big, bulky and with overpowered steering, but in other respects it was much like the Prius (smooth, quiet, shiftless transmission, etc.) I next drove a Prius, and was surprised at its pickup--more like a V6 auto than a 4 auto. I preferred the Prius because it was 1) $10K cheaper than the Mariner(SUVs are expensive), 2) it was a 4 door hatchback, ideal for my needs, and 3) it had an excellent reliability record, and had been around for enough model years to get the bugs out.

I think the government needs to provide tax credits to get people into hybrid sedans like the Prius, Camry, Insight, Fusion, etc--and out of SUVs, which are expensive and terribly energy inefficient.

There are suggestions of the government buying up SUVs and scrapping them. I would be for that. I see too many women in my neighborhood driving these big monsters alone to the supermarkets--that has to change if we are to survive.

 

I totally agree with asdii. The 04-09 Prius is not a mid-size car with only 96cu ft of passenger volume compare to TCH's 101. EPA is wrong in grouping hatchbacks to the sedan classification making the smaller hatchback appears to be bigger when the trunk space is added together.
Good thing is the 2010 model, Toyota added 5 cf of space, hopefully in the passenger area, to make it a legit mid-size car.

The slightly larger 1.8l engine has better FE than the 1.5l, so there is no lost of overall FE together with the new thermal management system.

About merging into traffic, I hate people merging into my lane from a slow moving lane keeping the same slow speed of the slow lane and I have to slam my brake to slow down. Why do they want to move to a faster lane if they want to keep the same speed. The proper merging technique is to speed up to the fast lane's speed as quickly as possible. This is where power is needed to do the job unless you are one of those who does not care about other people.

 

Funny thing about speed ~ power - gunning it onto the freeways and the like ...



Do you think this guy is crying, "boo hoo ... I can't do 70mph in 5 seconds" ?? NO. Fact is, every state's highway patrol officers will tell you that the age old perception of driving 55mph (maximum speed for trucks / autos with trailors) in the right lane is somehow dangerous ... is just that: PERCEPTION. Look at all the cars slamming into the back of those slow to accelerate semi's ... NO? Well go figure!

Since I got our Prius (2004) I found out that the truth of "no need to burn rubber to merge", and I pretty much always drive 55-60 now, once up to speed ... best of all (like most others who do the same) go figure ... no close calls ... no accidents ... no tires screeching up behind me, etc. The Gen II Prius easily does 0-60 in 10 seconds, & it's only perception that enables some to freak at that. Will the paranoid, "I'll cause an accident!!!" crowd get over it? Probably not. The bottom line, the Prius has plenty of scoot to get up to speed (despite some folks fear & the psychology behind typical thinking) whether on flat or hilly ground.

The bigger/roomier Prius? I was always ok with ours, even in the back, and even at 6'-5" ... and as for the 2010 fusion? I welcome the competition. BUT ... WHAT's UP with the 75 year old mechanical key technology?? No SKS?!? That's the only think I hate about our Lexus SUV hybrid. It too, was built "on the cheep" but it's suposed to be a luxury car ... if the Fusion is an econo car, maybe that's ok.

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watched "Extreme Home Makeover" about family in PA. they were given a Fusion... also touted as the "best Hybrid family sedan in America"....now this was DVR'd so not really sure of original air date.