Fun Drive. Review on Ford Fusion

I bought the Fusion+ABS model in September from Cauvery Ford in Bangalore. If you love cars and want the thrill of driving a car then Fusion is for you. I enjoy driving this car mainly because it responds very quickly to pushing the pedal. That is just of the things I liked about this car, but that was the main reason for buying this spacious car which for some reason looks like a hatchback.

Let us clear the confusion about a hatchback. The Fusion, surprise, has about 337-1176 lts flexi boot space. 330 lts is a lot if you are the kind of guy who does grocery shopping during the weekends and occassional long drives with a few bags. Why does one need the boot space of a sedan anyways. Do you use it so often is the question to ask ?

It is unconventional, alright. People expect a boot space for this price, said one review. Quite true. I mean, we are looking at a country where the youth is perhaps buying their second car in their lifetime - so why would they spend on a car which does not even look right. This car is underrated and not popular because it just is not the right time for it. Even UK car reviews consider it a rare flop from Ford, something which again reiterates that no market is ready for this bold design.

Ok, moving to the rest of the interiors, there is plenty of leg room in both front and rear. For a 6'2'' frame of mine, my knees do not touch the steering wheel and I do not have to crouch and get into this car. It is easy on my back and the seating is generous. The back seat could have done with more incline. The height of the car, of course, makes you look down on the road. I would have preferred more thigh space since, I am a tall guy. The speakers which come with the car are very good and you do not need to change them at all. The plastics are not jazzy like, say, the City where the interior looks are much better and more comfortable. But then, why would I want my car to feel like a living room. The good things about the interiors are again the roominess and the space. It is bigger than some of the other sedans and you are not crouching on your seats like a sofa. Most cars play the trick of making the seats like a bucket, which makes your knees go up and then you get a sense of more leg room. In fusion, it is flat as Mongolia, hope I got my geography right. There are some good storage places. There is one under the left side front seat...where I have hidden the car papers. There is some chrome used in controls, but the steering wheel is a great feeling. Otherwise, the interiors are plain and simple. You have a courtesy delay lamp which waits before you get the key into the ignition before switching itself off. There are rear reading lamps also provided. The driver seat height and steering height are adjustable. You also have the headlamp levelling and the usual gadgetry which come with power windows, power lock, child lock. The doors are heavy and makes you feel more safe. I read that it has some intrusion beams on side doors. Then there is the day-night inside rear view mirror.

The rear wipers are called intelligent wipers which get turned on when you reverse if you alread have the front ones turned on. You can set the speed of the wipers also. (I learnt that from Ford Fusion newsgroup in yahoo groups).

You have keyless entry provided with top models. Door ajar lights, ABS malfunctioning lights are provided. There is a digital fuel guage and digital temperature guage. Large windscreen and the additional height makes the viewing of the road complete. You do not see all the sky as it happens in usual sedans where the seating is lower.

Then you have 195/60R15 Tubeless tyres as standard and alloy wheels in higher models(Fusion + and ABS). It has ABS and EBD.

The spare tyre is not alloy wheel...surprise. There are 2 12v power outlets, front and rear.

The width of the car is huge, almost 2 mts if you include the side rear-view mirrors which electronically adjustable. A Ferrari is also 2 mts wide. So when three people sit in the rear seat, there is plenty of room, at least the shoulders do not touch. Amazing difference a few more centimeters of width gives.

The engine responds great. Like I said, it is fun to drive which is the reason I bought it. Again, you get so many accessories and discounts on this car (80000 to 1.15 lacs) that you will have to spend additional 1 lac on any other C segment sedan to get the same number of accessories if you include alloy wheels and tubeless tyres. So the saving on initial investment is big. The duratec engine is the same as what is there in Fiesta of Europe, Fiesta of India, Fusion 2006 of US, Fusion of Europe, Mondeo of India, Contour of US. So it is the all aluminum 4 cylinder in-line, 16-V DOHC Duratec. This 1.6 lts engine can give maximum power of 101 ps at 6500 rpm(which I have never reached) and 146nm at 3400rpm which I have reached. Th e brakes and wide tyres along with ABS and EBD make it extremely safe. I have pumped on the brakes on highways at great speeds and it has not yet skidded.

The spare parts are the costliest among all other cars. But a warranty for a few years will keep you safe. Besides, you do not go around replacing the door or bonnet every 6 months. The fuel intake in the city is between 9-10kmpl with AC on. There is some road noise and engine noise which I do not mind for such a powerful car.

Enjoy driving,

Ashok