I have been reading all the reviews of Ford Fusion (I don’t like the name) and am also a member of the Fusion Group at yahoo. I am generally fond of cars and we had 2 cars in the family so I was as such not out to buy a car. My commute to work is less than a kilometre and I had purchased a Honda Unicorn bike in Feb and was more than happy with it. Anyway one fine day in August I happened to visit ford dealership and saw Fusion. I really liked the looks. I test drove it and to me it came across as a very fine vehicle. I liked the power and refinement but what impressed me the most was the driving position and the feeling of owning the road it gave me.
It took me 2 days of going through the information available on Fusion and the Duratec engine to decide in the favour of buying it.
I bought my Fusion basic model in August. It has run about 4000km. I fitted Aura alloys (like in Fusion+ I also opted for 4 and retained the steel spare) and put in a JVC double DIN (It was a nightmare fitting it as the mounting is not really for a Double DIN – Ford!!). The whole thing cost me 625K.
Enough has already been written about the car the interiors are not plush (Thank God) the low speed ride is a little harsh (Great - If I feel like riding a swing I will ride a swing don’t want a car that rides like a Jhoola) true power kicks in above 2500rpm (Good - Makes it safe in city) mileage not too great (Gives me 12 in city and 17 on highway same as my Maruti 800, how much more do people expect). For me it is a perfect fit. It is not that I chose it over other cars or SUV (Yes I think it is much better than an SUV and not something which wants to be an SUV when it grows up); in fact Fusion made me want to buy a car in the first place.
Would I recommend it to others?
It certainly is not meant for everyone. In fact no car from Ford is. For mass recommendation there are always Hondas and Toyotas. For Fusion you have to see the person. I will never advise a sedate sober out to impress good boy to go for fusion. To enjoy fusion you have to have a certain attitude (sorry it is a cliché) in you. On good aspects of Fusion/Ford you will run out of superlatives but then there is a dark side to genius, always is, which can scare feeble minded. I don’t think the dealers understand the car at all. The spare pricing is absurd (I broke a reflector on rear bumper, the price Rs. 2300/- , it was not in dealers stock, I offered him my other one for Rs. 2000/-, he was not amused). A normal service will I guess cost me 5K and brake pads are 6K, in a Honda it will probably cost half as much.
If you think you will live again and again and carry your reputation and money with you in your next life you can buy a Honda or a Toyota. If not then there is nothing better then a Ford and a Ford Fusion (If only they had named it Ford Maverick- for I feel that is what it is).