Do the Fusion!. Review on Ford Fusion

I got my new Ford Fusion delivered on May 3rd 2006, heres a short review.

Exteriors – A solid well built car with good styling although might not be a looker or a head turner but definitely exclusive, unique and a true lifestyle car. The body is tough and hard with thick steel covering the entire body which increases the safety during high impact collisions. I got the black color which makes the car look all the more tougher. It has a good road presence and looks different on the road. The huge front windshield gives a good view of the road ahead and also ensures that there are no blind spots. The ground clearance of 198mm is the highest in its class and helps you in your offroading maneuvers and make sure your underbody does not touch the tallest speed breakers.

Interiors – Not the best and defiantly not something which you can boast about, but decent. Plastic quality is definitely cheap and it simply doest not justify the high ex-showroom cost 7.8 L (Mumbai) and above (I wonder how people brought it for so high price, anyways no offense meant). For me, no other car in its class and price range of 6.5 L have good interiors. For good interiors, the only car which come to my mind is the New Honda city which is priced at about 7.5 L +. The Aveo which can compare, but still it’s also priced close to

7.3 L. inferior interiors are compensated by some good in-car features like intelligent storage availability in the front seat, the 60:40 rear seat folding,cup holders, dashboard storage area, ect. The car is quite roomier in the front as well as in the back. 5 average adults can be comfortably seated. The seats have good and soft cushioning. The inclination of the rear seat is good and it makes the people seating at the back more comfortable for long rides. Under thigh support is good in both the front as well as the rear seat.

The front seats has the best leg space and headroom and with the drivers side height adjustable feature , it makes easier for tall, short and average persons to have a comfortable ride in the drivers seat, also the height adjustable steering wheel helps.

What I find missing though is the front and back armrests which would have come in handy for long drives – plan to get it installed soon – and a lumbar support for the driver could also have been helpful.

The boot space is quite large and lot of luggage can be accommodated. The boot loading area is in a lower height, which makes loading heavy objects in the boot easy and effortless.

The rear power windows can be locked from the drivers control panel. There is the headlight leveling device which helps you in case of adjusting the headlight beam.

The headlight is quite powerful too. The fusion + ABS come with front and rear fog lights as well. Rear defogger is also included. It has an electrically adjustable LHS and RHS rear view mirror, useful if more than one person drives the car. The front seat belts are also height adjustable to suite different people.This car has the best AC in its class as well. I have never used the blower more than in position 2 and the chilling is almost instant even in the hottest day.The blower is also very silent till position 2.

Performance – Now this is what I like to talk about and things gets definitely exciting here. The 1.6 L duratec, 1596 CC engine of the fusion which the new ford fiesta has also borrowed is a very refined and powerful engine. The engine is an all aluminum engine which make it lightweight and reduce the overall weight of the car.

Once you are in the driver’s seat you can make out the difference easily. The 1600 CC machine is an absolute beast on the road. The torque delivered is awesome, and it just begs to push the pedal to the metal while speeding.

With a timing of 0-100 in just around the 11.75 Sec mark and a top speed of 175 Km/hr it’s a real fun to drive the car. The power delivered to the wheels can be easily felt.The acceleration is very fast. The car handles in the road handsomely as well; Sharp turns can be taken with ease without downshifting much. There is no body roll observed during fast sharp turns. Engine noise is absolutely nil. The cabin inside is silent when all the windows are rolled up. The NVH levels are very very low. The power steering is crispy and sharp, though little bit on the heavier side, which I found in other ford cars as well, that I have driven earlier, maybe something unique to ford.I have driven the car to a maximum speed of 120 Km/Hr and it was rock stable. The real fun would be to drive the car in the highways. Although in city, the car performs quite well. Gears are quite smooth and shifting is really easy and smooth, the clutch is a little hard but nothing to complain about. Suspension is quite good and I did not feel the low speed drive to be very bumpy.

The brakes are simply superb and you can make the car stop where you want it to stop.The alloy wheel improves the overall ride quality.

It has a short turning radius of 4.9 M which makes it easy to take u turns ect.

All in all you feel safe inside the car at whatever speeds.

Ok, now the prized question – fuel efficiency!!?. I am not sure about that, the reports say 11-12 km to a liter in city and about 15 km/L in the highway. I am getting about 9 km/L till now in the city with 100% AC on. Yet to check it on the highway.

Security and Safety -The car comes with its own security features like keyless entry and engine immobilizer. The engine won’t start if any other key other than the original coded is used to start the engine also it cant be hot wired to start the car. The fusion + also has Antilock Braking System with EBD which will be of assistance in tight spots during emergency braking.

Overall it’s a complete package deal in 6.5 L and it is definitely value for money in that price.

On the downside I can say that the spare part prices are way too expensive which I soon found out, when a rash biker took my bumper off while trying to overtake me. The bumper cost somewhere around 18K and the insurance company pays only 50% as it a plastic part.

I had an argument with the ford people over the bumper being vulnerable to small impact collision for which they convinced me that the collision was such that something which got hooked on to my bumper and tore it away. And also all the newer cars have a soft bumper design according to the euro 3 norms which gives more importance to pedestrian safety while on a collision.

The verdict is I am very happy about the performance of the car and would surely recommend to other people. Hope this review helps to a prospective buyer.