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Drove a Fusion...

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drove fusion
11K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  nsap 
#1 ·
I took the grandparents MKX to the dealership again (I assume they will have it another week at a time) to see what they are going to do with the roof.

Anyway, I got a loaded 2007 Fusion SEL V6 as a loaner.

I was pleased with the car. The interior is nicer than I expected, however there are some shaky quality aspects...such as the storage door on the dash top.

Power is OK on it, but being used to my G6 GTP...I consistantly felt the need for more "go." I don't know what the power to weight ratio is compared to the MKX...but the Fusion feels slower than the X.

Another thing that bugged me about the car was the fact that it has TOO MUCH body roll. Again, even the MKX (a taller, heavier crossover) beats the Fusion here. Every corner leaves the CD3 chassis on the Fusion rolling back and forth like boat. And like the power issue, I may not have noticed it so much if I was not used to my G6. The G6 has a very low amount of body roll for a midsizer (yeah, I know, surprises me too).

Other than that, I left mostly impressed with the car. It averaged 20.3 MPG in the time that I had it, which is not too bad for a V6. Better than I could have gotten with my GTP in the same driving.
 
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#2 ·
Power is OK on it, but being used to my G6 GTP...I consistantly felt the need for more "go." I don't know what the power to weight ratio is compared to the MKX...but the Fusion feels slower than the X.
Maybe its not only the extra 44 HP (which maybe be offset for the almost 1K lbs of extra weight ) but also the much better engine with a much more efficient power band. I agree with you, the difference is noticeably. Even in the much larger Flex, the Duratec 35 feels pretty peppy.

Can't wait for the Ecoboost!
 
#3 ·
Maybe its not only the extra 44 HP (which maybe be offset for the almost 1K lbs of extra weight ) but also the much better engine with a much more efficient power band. I agree with you, the difference is noticeably. Even in the much larger Flex, the Duratec 35 feels pretty peppy.

Can't wait for the Ecoboost!
Yes, the Duratec 30 is no comparison to the 35. I have consistently been happy with every Duratec 35 I have driven. The 30 just doesn't impress me; at least in the CD3 cars.

I'm sure I have mentioned this before as well, but the Duratec 35 is an engine that seems to get better with time. When the MKX was new that engine was very tight feeling...and it sounded weird. The engine note sounded like a metal ring revolving in a cylinder (odd explanation). After about 2,000 miles though it calmed down and started to sound normal...so its just a normal break-in I guess. I have heard MKZ owners say the same.
 
#5 ·
The rumor that Ford wants to put all their cars under one roof I personally think is a bad idea why would ford want to put it's Lincoln cars in a ford showroom? that don't make sense Ford should realize to be able to be a player in the luxury car segment they need to let Lincoln be a stand alone car company why cheapen Lincoln image by putting a Lincoln in the same showroom? Ford & mercury I can understand have you ever seen a Cadillac in a Chevrolet Showroom A Lexus and Toyota together Infinity and Nissan No
Lincoln should be a car with prestige and it should give ford an image of superiority why do Ford wants to continue degrade the car I think ford has been in the truck business so long it has forgotten that when people buy a Lincoln it's put down to say It was bought at a Ford dealership
Wake up Ford this is the 21st century Rebuild Lincoln with cars with prestige and beauty show the word that you means business
Thank You
A loyal Lincoln owner
 
#6 ·
The rumor that Ford wants to put all their cars under one roof I personally think is a bad idea why would ford want to put it's Lincoln cars in a ford showroom? that don't make sense Ford should realize to be able to be a player in the luxury car segment they need to let Lincoln be a stand alone car company why cheapen Lincoln image by putting a Lincoln in the same showroom? Ford & mercury I can understand have you ever seen a Cadillac in a Chevrolet Showroom A Lexus and Toyota together Infinity and Nissan No
Lincoln should be a car with prestige and it should give ford an image of superiority why do Ford wants to continue degrade the car I think ford has been in the truck business so long it has forgotten that when people buy a Lincoln it's put down to say It was bought at a Ford dealership
Wake up Ford this is the 21st century Rebuild Lincoln with cars with prestige and beauty show the word that you means business
Thank You
A loyal Lincoln owner
I think it is a good idea to show the customer what the differences are between the vehicles in person than on paper. I only drove my friends Fusion before I decided to buy my Milan, but I never drove my Milan before I bought her. I told LMdealer to get me in her and thats it. He got me in and the first time I drove her was off the lot.

If you were able to look at a Fusion but seen a Milan in the showroom and to see why the Milan would be better for a little more green is great. I work in retail and having different versions of the same product to upsell is good. Ford will only benefit with having them all under one roof.

I hate to see where I live to see how this plays out because I can not stand the local Ford dealership and when I bought my Ford I went out of town about 30 minutes to buy my Ford.

I can not wait to see all under one roof and hope it works.
 
#7 ·
This is a great review. Being a woman who takes interest in cars, I can tell you that these days it does not take long for a car to be outclassed.
Think how quickly the malibu turned tables on a new camry? the competation is cut throat.
The Fusion is still new, and was hot when it came out, but now, the newer boys are hotter. Altima, malibu, accord are hot right now.
 
#9 ·
Really? :confused: When did THAT happened?
Show me one reputable review where a Camry has won a comparison aganist a Malibu.
The sales game is going to take time for GM or Ford to recover their sales lead, but they have already began taking the product lead.
The Malibu is a better all round car than Camry. I know, I have.
 
#11 ·
The sales game is the ONLY game. The rest is just excuses.
I will tell you this. By 1992 Toyota had a better Camry that Ford Taurus, but it was not until 1995 that sales for the Camry started catching up.
Rome was not built in a few days. They are still building.

The Malibu is a better all round car than the Camry now. And offers better value too.
Drives better, is better built and offers more features. Malibu garners better gas mileage, the Malibu generally costs less than the Accord or the Camry, And the Malibu has the highest initial reliability, the Malibu offers a four-cylinder engine mated to a 6-speed transmission, you only get 5 speed on a camry V6, Malibu offers 5 star crash safety all the way around while the Accord has 3 star safety for side impact rear collisions (Edmunds).the Malibu offers a 5 year /100,000 mile powertrain warranty.

But yeah, if you throw all those exceptions aside, you will end up buying a camry.
 
#12 ·
I will tell you this. By 1992 Toyota had a better Camry that Ford Taurus, but it was not until 1995 that sales for the Camry started catching up.
Rome was not built in a few days. They are still building.

The Malibu is a better all round car than the Camry now. And offers better value too.
Drives better, is better built and offers more features. Malibu garners better gas mileage, the Malibu generally costs less than the Accord or the Camry, And the Malibu has the highest initial reliability, the Malibu offers a four-cylinder engine mated to a 6-speed transmission, you only get 5 speed on a camry V6, Malibu offers 5 star crash safety all the way around while the Accord has 3 star safety for side impact rear collisions (Edmunds).the Malibu offers a 5 year /100,000 mile powertrain warranty.

But yeah, if you throw all those exceptions aside, you will end up buying a camry.
I agree with all of your points, but unfortunately your last statement is still the most true statemnet of them all. It was just reported today and is posted on Blueovalnews that the Malibu was 54% fleet for September. Even though retail sales were through the roof (+192%) compared to pathetic numbers from last year. The Malibu is a better car compared to most of the competition in spite of the bland nose being rolled out across the whole brand. The American consumer has not quite jumped on board yet. Unfortunately the Malibu was already running at 25% fleet year to date (Fleetcentral.com). GM appears to be destroying the residual value on their only offering that is at or near the top of it's segment. The egos that have run GM for years still view marketshare as their number one priority it would appear.
 
#13 ·
I agree with all of your points, but unfortunately your last statement is still the most true statemnet of them all. It was just reported today and is posted on Blueovalnews that the Malibu was 54% fleet for September. Even though retail sales were through the roof (+192%) compared to pathetic numbers from last year. The Malibu is a better car compared to most of the competition in spite of the bland nose being rolled out across the whole brand. The American consumer has not quite jumped on board yet. Unfortunately the Malibu was already running at 25% fleet year to date (Fleetcentral.com). GM appears to be destroying the residual value on their only offering that is at or near the top of it's segment. The egos that have run GM for years still view marketshare as their number one priority it would appear.
you are aware GM is still making the malibu classic eh?
 
#14 ·
you are aware GM is still making the malibu classic eh?
In the past, Fleetcentral has broken out the data between "classic" and new offerings of models. They have not done that for the Malibu this year so I assumed that the Malibu numbers were all of the new version. If you are correct, the new Malibu could qualify as a sales disaster since with these "classic" models, that you speak of, pulled out of year to date numbers the new Malibu would most likely rank towards the bottom of the top ten mid-size offerings.
 
#15 ·
In the past, Fleetcentral has broken out the data between "classic" and new offerings of models. They have not done that for the Malibu this year so I assumed that the Malibu numbers were all of the new version. If you are correct, the new Malibu could qualify as a sales disaster since with these "classic" models, that you speak of, pulled out of year to date numbers the new Malibu would most likely rank towards the bottom of the top ten mid-size offerings.
As of last month NEW Malibu fleet sales were 9%; that is less than the Camry. That is throughout the model's lifespan, not just last month.

All of the numbers are mixed with the "Classic" still. No, the new Malibu was not 54% fleet....

It kills me how many media outlets make assumptions on facts that they do not know the whole story on.:rolleyes:
 
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