Browncoat3000
Red 5 standing by
- First Name
- Todd
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2016
- Threads
- 90
- Messages
- 1,112
- Reaction score
- 1,080
- Location
- Ohio
- Vehicle(s)
- Civic Si, Odyssey EX-L
- Vehicle Showcase
- 2
- Thread starter
- #1
The Ford Fusion Hybrid is a pretty nice car. It's considered a midsize, and starting at $24K it's similar in price to the Accord or a top-end Civic. It's price point is attractive compared to the Prius or Volt, but the version I drove did not have the plug-in feature of those cars.
The Ford's seats were comfortable and powered, but not heated, a feature I seriously missed in the Ohio winter weather. The car sit's higher than the Civic, so the driving position is good and access is easier. The interior space is roughly equal to the Civic, however it does not have as much legroom in the rear. This is typical of American cars, bigger on the outside, but somehow smaller on the inside. The front has a center console very similar to the Civic's that is well laid out, but not as versatile as the Civic's. It's also wider, so it makes the front seats seem more cramped than they are. The trunk space is seriously small, limited by what I assume is the battery pack, and the car's main battery is stored in an odd little compartment on one side of the trunk, taking up further room. I'd say the space is roughly half of what the Civic's is, and it doesn't have fold down seats.
My biggest complaint is the car's terrible heater. With the temperatures in the teens and 20's (-10 for our metric folks) this thing froze me to death. It never got above lukewarm even with the thermostat cranked to high. I suspect this may be due to the nature of the hybrid system: smaller engine running part time means less waste heat to use for the interior heating.
The infotainment system worked, but boy oh boy is it clunky! There are roughly 30 buttons associated with it, and it isn't nearly as intuitive as the Honda's systems. It does have Ford's excellent Sync system, which somewhat compensated for the funkiness. The speakers are, however, terrible. Even to my much abused ears, the audio system isn't nearly as clear as the Honda's.
The instrument panel presents a bewildering array of information, most of which I never did figure out. It's further complicated by not one, but two menu selector buttons on the steering wheel. These sit where the audio and cruise buttons are on the Hondas, which means that the Ford's audio and cruise control buttons migrate south to the sides of the steering wheel's center, just beyond where my thumbs could comfortably reach, and some of the buttons were out of reach altogether, requiring me to let go of the wheel with one hand to press, for example, the resume button.
Visibility is slightly hampered by a huge C-pillar and windshield pillars, but it's not bad out the back. This model didn't have lane-watch or Ford's equivalent of Honda's sensing package, so the blind-spot visibility was more noticeable. You also noticed it at intersections, neck craning was needed to see if there was any oncoming traffic. Still, compared to a number of car's I've driven the visibility isn't bad at all.
I would describe the handling as quirky. The rental I had rode on solid Michelin's, so the Ford gripped the road no matter how badly I tried to abuse it. The quirks undoubtedly felt worse than they actually are; compared to similar cars, like the Malibu for example, the Ford is well behaved and precise. It's vastly better that the jittery skittishness of say the Kia's I've driven, and not nearly a vague as the Nissan Altima, which tended to wander around the road requiring constant correction. To start there is a noticeable weight transfer front to back during acceleration and braking. Then, like many cars of this size, the body roll is very pronounced. When you combine the two, it could be quite alarming, although the Ford tracked true throughout. The Fusion's hybrid power train adds to the quirky feel. First there is a lot of torque steer, but there is also something I hadn't experienced before: torque braking. When the brakes are applied, the Ford attempts to recover that energy. When you apply the brakes lightly while rolling at a moderate speed, around 50 mph or up, the car pulls to the right, the same as when accelerating. If you step on the brakes more firmly, the mechanical brakes kick in, and the torque steer vanishes, causing another round of pitching and rolling, while also straightening out the car. However, resorting to the mechanical brakes gets you a scolding from one of the little displays called brake-coaching.
The sound levels in the car are quite acceptable, actually quieter than the Civic's. The engine noise takes some getting used to as engine speed has nothing to do with the throttle position. This is a trait all hybrids share, so it comes with the territory.
Power is pretty good, certainly adequate for the car, and making me curious about the gas-powered Sport model with the 325HP V6. The electric motor's instant torque is fun, and certainly gives the illusion of more acceleration than it actually has. I roughly timed the 0-60 at 8.5 seconds flat out.
The gas mileage was disappointing. I averaged a bit over 34mpg over the week of mostly freeway driving. Granted, I tend to be a lead-foot, and I'm sure that if I learned all of the fancy coaching stuff it would do much better. Still, on some of the same roads, my Civic gave 40 mpg, and was much more fun to drive home.
If I wanted a hybrid that was better looking than a Prius and I didn't care about a plug-in option, I would consider the Ford. It seems like an easy car to live with, and with a better infotainment system, I'd probably like it more. Given a choice of similar cars in its class, I would choose it over the Malibu, Nissan, and Hyundai, and I've only ridden as a passenger in a Prius, but the Ford beats it easily. However, It's certainly inferior to the Civic's better mileage, handling, reliability, and fun factor. A gas powered version of the Fusion with a better infotainment would give the Accord some competition, although I suspect the Accord still has better manners than the non-hybrid Fusion.
Still, the Civic is a much better car all the way around, proving once again Honda's GenX punches well above it's weight class.
The Ford's seats were comfortable and powered, but not heated, a feature I seriously missed in the Ohio winter weather. The car sit's higher than the Civic, so the driving position is good and access is easier. The interior space is roughly equal to the Civic, however it does not have as much legroom in the rear. This is typical of American cars, bigger on the outside, but somehow smaller on the inside. The front has a center console very similar to the Civic's that is well laid out, but not as versatile as the Civic's. It's also wider, so it makes the front seats seem more cramped than they are. The trunk space is seriously small, limited by what I assume is the battery pack, and the car's main battery is stored in an odd little compartment on one side of the trunk, taking up further room. I'd say the space is roughly half of what the Civic's is, and it doesn't have fold down seats.
My biggest complaint is the car's terrible heater. With the temperatures in the teens and 20's (-10 for our metric folks) this thing froze me to death. It never got above lukewarm even with the thermostat cranked to high. I suspect this may be due to the nature of the hybrid system: smaller engine running part time means less waste heat to use for the interior heating.
The infotainment system worked, but boy oh boy is it clunky! There are roughly 30 buttons associated with it, and it isn't nearly as intuitive as the Honda's systems. It does have Ford's excellent Sync system, which somewhat compensated for the funkiness. The speakers are, however, terrible. Even to my much abused ears, the audio system isn't nearly as clear as the Honda's.
The instrument panel presents a bewildering array of information, most of which I never did figure out. It's further complicated by not one, but two menu selector buttons on the steering wheel. These sit where the audio and cruise buttons are on the Hondas, which means that the Ford's audio and cruise control buttons migrate south to the sides of the steering wheel's center, just beyond where my thumbs could comfortably reach, and some of the buttons were out of reach altogether, requiring me to let go of the wheel with one hand to press, for example, the resume button.
Visibility is slightly hampered by a huge C-pillar and windshield pillars, but it's not bad out the back. This model didn't have lane-watch or Ford's equivalent of Honda's sensing package, so the blind-spot visibility was more noticeable. You also noticed it at intersections, neck craning was needed to see if there was any oncoming traffic. Still, compared to a number of car's I've driven the visibility isn't bad at all.
I would describe the handling as quirky. The rental I had rode on solid Michelin's, so the Ford gripped the road no matter how badly I tried to abuse it. The quirks undoubtedly felt worse than they actually are; compared to similar cars, like the Malibu for example, the Ford is well behaved and precise. It's vastly better that the jittery skittishness of say the Kia's I've driven, and not nearly a vague as the Nissan Altima, which tended to wander around the road requiring constant correction. To start there is a noticeable weight transfer front to back during acceleration and braking. Then, like many cars of this size, the body roll is very pronounced. When you combine the two, it could be quite alarming, although the Ford tracked true throughout. The Fusion's hybrid power train adds to the quirky feel. First there is a lot of torque steer, but there is also something I hadn't experienced before: torque braking. When the brakes are applied, the Ford attempts to recover that energy. When you apply the brakes lightly while rolling at a moderate speed, around 50 mph or up, the car pulls to the right, the same as when accelerating. If you step on the brakes more firmly, the mechanical brakes kick in, and the torque steer vanishes, causing another round of pitching and rolling, while also straightening out the car. However, resorting to the mechanical brakes gets you a scolding from one of the little displays called brake-coaching.
The sound levels in the car are quite acceptable, actually quieter than the Civic's. The engine noise takes some getting used to as engine speed has nothing to do with the throttle position. This is a trait all hybrids share, so it comes with the territory.
Power is pretty good, certainly adequate for the car, and making me curious about the gas-powered Sport model with the 325HP V6. The electric motor's instant torque is fun, and certainly gives the illusion of more acceleration than it actually has. I roughly timed the 0-60 at 8.5 seconds flat out.
The gas mileage was disappointing. I averaged a bit over 34mpg over the week of mostly freeway driving. Granted, I tend to be a lead-foot, and I'm sure that if I learned all of the fancy coaching stuff it would do much better. Still, on some of the same roads, my Civic gave 40 mpg, and was much more fun to drive home.
If I wanted a hybrid that was better looking than a Prius and I didn't care about a plug-in option, I would consider the Ford. It seems like an easy car to live with, and with a better infotainment system, I'd probably like it more. Given a choice of similar cars in its class, I would choose it over the Malibu, Nissan, and Hyundai, and I've only ridden as a passenger in a Prius, but the Ford beats it easily. However, It's certainly inferior to the Civic's better mileage, handling, reliability, and fun factor. A gas powered version of the Fusion with a better infotainment would give the Accord some competition, although I suspect the Accord still has better manners than the non-hybrid Fusion.
Still, the Civic is a much better car all the way around, proving once again Honda's GenX punches well above it's weight class.
