Review: 2010 Ford Fusion

[MX793]

There is harm, if virtually no one will buy it. It will be money wasted, like every other hybridized version of a standard vehicle.

This vehicle adds some diversity and depth to Ford's vehicle lineup.  Diverse offerings are never a bad thing for a mainstream automaker, IMO.

I will not be surprised if gas is back up well north of $3 a gallon before the end of this vehicle's design cycle (within the next 5-6 years).  When that happens, at least Ford will not be caught with their pants down, scrambling to offer more fuel efficient alternatives like they were the past couple of years.  Everyone criticized the Big 3 for relying too heavily on trucks/SUVs/gas-guzzlers when fuel was cheap and not having anything to offer when gas suddenly surged in price and truck/SUV sales took a nose-dive.  Now they have something and they are criticized for bad timing...

Plus, they'll have something to offer that's been on the market for a few years, so they won't have people hesitant to buy a first-year new model and they'll have time to work some of the kinks out (if there are any).  The car will have some time to prove itself and build a reliability reputation (hopefully positive).

Also, there's more reasons than just high fuel prices to build fuel efficient vehicles.  A car like this certainly will not hurt in the face of stricter emissions regulations and rising CAFE requirements (granted, the latter requires that people buy the vehicles in numbers).

[GoCougs]

If they didn't have one, you'd be bashing them for not being eco-friendly. They're in a lose-lose situation.

So what do you think the money should have been spent on?

Not at all - hybrids are DOA on every objective level - and hybridized versions of regular vehicles simply don't sell well at all.

Ford has legions of other more pressing product issues - one of the largest of which is how about 5 year redesign cycles?

[2o6]

Not at all - hybrids are DOA on every objective level - and hybridized versions of regular vehicles simply don't sell well at all.

Ford has legions of other more pressing product issues - one of the largest of which is how about 5 year redesign cycles?

Tell that to the Escape hybrid and Camry Hybrid.

[280Z Turbo]

If they didn't have one, you'd be bashing them for not being eco-friendly.

You're talking to GoCougs.

[GoCougs]

Tell that to the Escape hybrid and Camry Hybrid.

I've tried, but for whatever reason they didn't seem to listen - very reminiscent of the last date I had, actually.

[GoCougs]

This vehicle adds some diversity and depth to Ford's vehicle lineup.  Diverse offerings are never a bad thing for a mainstream automaker, IMO.

It can hurt dearly if you don't turn a profit on that diversity; infinitely so if your whole organization is literally teetering on the brink.

I will not be surprised if gas is back up well north of $3 a gallon before the end of this vehicle's design cycle (within the next 5-6 years).  When that happens, at least Ford will not be caught with their pants down, scrambling to offer more fuel efficient alternatives like they were the past couple of years.  Everyone criticized the Big 3 for relying too heavily on trucks/SUVs/gas-guzzlers when fuel was cheap and not having anything to offer when gas suddenly surged in price and truck/SUV sales took a nose-dive.  Now they have something and they are criticized for bad timing...

Cheap gas is back for some time to come I think. Even if not, Detroit did not miss out because it didn't have hybrids, it missed out because it still can't best a Civic or Accord.

Those doing the criticizing are the worst elements of the MSM and know-nothings.

Plus, they'll have something to offer that's been on the market for a few years, so they won't have people hesitant to buy a first-year new model and they'll have time to work some of the kinks out (if there are any).  The car will have some time to prove itself and build a reliability reputation (hopefully positive).

For whatever reason, people on a macro level haven't traditionally shied away from first-year models.

Also, there's more reasons than just high fuel prices to build fuel efficient vehicles.  A car like this certainly will not hurt in the face of stricter emissions regulations and rising CAFE requirements (granted, the latter requires that people buy the vehicles in numbers).

In regards to CAFE, Ford would be better served by instead dumping money into improving its 4 cyl and V6 drive trains.

[2o6]

In regards to CAFE, Ford would be better served by instead dumping money into improving its 4 cyl and V6 drive trains.

One: They aren't bad in the first place.


Two: ECOBOOST.

[SVT666]

One: They aren't bad in the first place.


Two: ECOBOOST.

Geez, Cougs is off tonight.

[2o6]

Geez, Cougs is off tonight.

Offline, or off his game?

[SVT666]

Offline, or off his game?

Off his game.

[Tave]

Meanwhile, Toyota delays indefinitely plans to shift Prius production to the US because of a drop in sales...

I thought Prius sales were down because Toyota couldn't make enough to keep up with demand.

[MX793]

I thought Prius sales were down because Toyota couldn't make enough to keep up with demand.

Unless production capacity dropped from prior years, why would sales decline because they were not able to meet demand?  If anything, sales should have held steady since I believe they've not been able to meet demand for some time.

[SVT666]

Unless production capacity dropped from prior years, why would sales decline because they were not able to meet demand?  If anything, sales should have held steady since I believe they've not been able to meet demand for some time.

People are giving up waiting for their cars and are buying something else, whereas in past years, they would wait for their car.

[MX793]

People are giving up waiting for their cars and are buying something else, whereas in past years, they would wait for their car.

Do they count pre-orders and pending sales as sales, or does the sale only count once the customer takes delivery?

[hotrodalex]

For whatever reason, people on a macro level haven't traditionally shied away from first-year models.

For whatever reason, people on a macro level are a bunch of idiots.

[SVT666]

For whatever reason, people on a macro level are a bunch of idiots.

First year cars are not problematic like they used to be.

[hotrodalex]

First year cars are not problematic like they used to be.

True. But you also have to remember that a lot of times car companies come out with new options after the first year.

[SVT666]

True. But you also have to remember that a lot of times car companies come out with new options after the first year.

Unless that option lets you row your own gears, it's not worth waiting for.

[hotrodalex]

Unless that option lets you row your own gears, it's not worth waiting for.

Why? I would say the majority of people buying the first year cars are people that are just upgrading because they can, not because they need a new car.

[SVT666]

Why? I would say the majority of people buying the first year cars are people that are just upgrading because they can, not because they need a new car.

Why are they most likely to buy a first year car then others?  Also, aren't like 90% of car buyers buying because they can?  Really, I could drive my car for the next 30 years.

[Nethead]

This is from the Los Angeles Times, via www.blueovalnews.com:

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid: 52 mpg and the darkness before dawn
Dan Neil
December 19, 2008

On a test drive of a Fusion Hybrid last week in West L.A. traffic, I managed, without much trouble, to get 52 mpg in mixed city-highway driving. Wait, so, has somebody invented the car of the future and didn't tell us?
Even when Detroit manages to do something right, the timing and execution are off.

As we know from the works of Cormac McCarthy, despair can be kind of gratifying. And yet, as much as I hate to disturb our national mood of decline, I have some good news regarding the auto industry. You may return to your comfort drinking presently.

The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and its twin, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, are mid-to-full-size sedans that seat five in surprising comfort and offer a full-size trunk measuring around 12 cubic feet. They measure 190.6 inches long and weigh a goodly 3,720 pounds. The gas-electric output is 191 horsepower and zero to 60 mph acceleration is under 9 seconds.

The retail price of a nicely equipped Fusion Hybrid -- with blandishments such as rearview camera, blind-spot alert and 17-inch alloy wheels -- is $27,270. With the applicable federal tax credit, the car should cost consumers about $25,000, I estimate (final numbers have not been announced).

On a test drive of a Fusion Hybrid last week in West L.A. traffic, I managed, without much trouble, to get 52 mpg in mixed city-highway driving.

Wait, so, has somebody invented the car of the future and didn't tell us?

It's a worthy question. The scolding undercurrent of recent congressional hearings on the auto-industry bailout was the notion that Detroit had failed to invest in next-generation technology that could help wean us off foreign oil. Not so. What they did fail to do was sufficiently commercialize this technology so that it was ready and waiting at dealerships when people got stampeded this year by spiraling gas prices.

Had Ford made a few hundred thousand of these cars available in June -- along with the financing to sell them -- we'd be erecting 50-foot equestrian statues of William Clay Ford and Alan Mulally in city squares, and the streets of Dearborn, Mich., would be repaved with diamond cobblestones.

As it was, the meme of national incompetence and inferiority vis-a-vis the Japanese carmakers -- Toyota, Honda -- was again reinforced. Of course, Detroit can't build a desirable high-mileage car. We're the country that bungled Iraq and bred a Bernard Madoff, that turned the mortgage market into three-card monte and put Britney back on top. It would seem almost a shame to interrupt the soothing pleasures of such self-pity.

And yet, here we are, with a car that seemed purely theoretical -- a desirable, affordable, no-compromise sedan that gets 40-plus mpg -- about to show up at Ford dealerships in the first quarter of 2009. Somebody ought to tell Thomas Friedman.

Now what? Now people have to buy them.

For all the game-changing glow around the Ford Fusion Hybrid, it's actually a fairly conservative and programmatic approach to gas-electric propulsion. The system is an evolution of the hybrid system in the Ford Escape. The battery is nickel-metal hydride, not lithium (lithium chemistry batteries are lighter and more energy-dense, but they are also expensive and finicky, which is to say, flammable).

The nickel battery will please many in the green-car movement who argue that the search for the perfect battery -- a la the Chevy Volt -- has only delayed development of the good. ( Edmund Burke said the worst thing a man can do is do nothing because he can do only a little.)

The Sanyo-supplied battery pack -- 270 volts and 1.4 kWh, if that helps -- is 30% smaller in volume and 23% lighter than the one in the Escape. The smaller battery is easier to cool, requiring only cabin air ducted from underneath the back seat.

The battery supplies enough glowing ponies to propel the car to speeds up to 47 mph on all-electric power. This is key to the car's in-city mileage. On my 50-mile drive, I was able to feather-foot the throttle enough to accelerate to commuting speeds without waking the gas engine. When I needed to accelerate faster, I could dip in to the engine horsepower briefly to overcome inertia, then maintain momentum with the electric motor. At one stage I was getting 63 mpg.

To make a full-size car go fast on electric power alone, you need a boatload of voltage. But high-voltage systems involve increased impedance and heat losses, which is wasted energy. To unknot this problem, the Fusion uses a variable-voltage converter that temporarily steps up system voltage during peak demand or hard braking, when the battery is forcefully recharged.

This is actually one of two high-tech converters on board: The second system provides juice to an array of high-voltage systems such as steering, air-conditioning and brakes.

There's a lot of other arcane technology that goes into a car, like reams of software code that allow all the various components to talk sweetly to one another. But perhaps the most valuable bit of software is the wetware, the stuff between the driver's ears. To that end, the Fusion Hybrid uses a delightful, LCD instrument cluster with modules that coach drivers on how to save fuel. In one panel, the more lightly you drive, the more leaves that grow on a set of animated vines. You can go from lead-footed, gas-bingeing knucklehead (like me) to abstemious hyper-miler in a matter of minutes. Brilliant.

So, is this the better mousetrap we've been waiting for? Well, there's a problem. The price of gas has dropped by two-thirds in six months, thereby de-motivating buyers who might have been willing to bear the incremental cost of a hybrid. What we really need is an increased federal gas tax, but the chances of that getting passed in Congress are comparable to my chances of being named Miss Universe.

Ugh. I'm getting depressed again.

dan.neil@latimes.com

[Laconian]

Even if the Fusion's merits are diluted because of low gas prices, at least we know Ford's still got engineering chops.

[Byteme]

True. But you also have to remember that a lot of times car companies come out with new options after the first year.

In some cases they decontent to keep the cost down and price competitive as the model ages.

I had a first year Charger (66), A first year Pinto (71), a first year Mustang II (74), a first year EXP (82?), a first year redesigned Mustang (94) and a first year Escape (01).  Never had any problems with any of those that could be idnetified as "first year problems".

[Catman]

I am getting sick of automotive journalists always finding some reason to smack down American manufacturers.  First off, anyone with a little intelligence realizes that gas prices will not stay low.  Second, regardless of how low gas prices are the less you put in your tank the more stays in your pocket.  Third, one of the biggest deterrents to buying a hybrid when prices are low is justifying the higher initial cost.  In this case it appears the price is reasonable, the car is decent size for a family and is eligible for tax incentives.  If Ford has continued their progress with quality and the Fusion Hybrid proves reliable then I believe this car will sell very well.  There's many people who really felt hammered by the high fuel prices and I am thinking they won't forget it very easily.  I, for one, am not betting on these fuel prices to stay where they are.

[ifcar]

First year cars are not problematic like they used to be.

Many still have more problems than later years.