I picked up a 2012 Ford Fusion 3.0 V6 SEL from Enterprise this past Wednesday evening to make a round trip to Florida. Having not driven the current gen Fusion but loving the original Fusion my expectations were high and I was not disappointed.
Let me get this out of the way first. Ford claims 28 MPG highway for the 3.0L engine. This is bupkus. The first leg of my trip was 615 miles and I achieved 33.2 MPG traveling at 71 MPH with the cruise set the entire way (well, 98% of the way let's say, periodic slow downs for traffic and speeds up for passing occurred). This was my own calculation, not the car's MPG meter which stated 34'ish the entire way.
The second leg of my trip was 187 miles and I cruised at 60 MPH (state highways) and achieved 34.4 MPG. The rest of the trip yielded similar results with the lowest being Friday/Sat which was all city driving which yielded 25.7 for both days combined over about 125 miles.
And about that little 3.0 Durtec. So, going into this rental I already had quite a bit of experience with this engine's ancestor, the original 3.0L DOHC Duratec from the 1990s which I had in a Ford Taurus. I drove that car about 150K with zero issues and it's nice to see the engine still humming along almost 20 years later. I had read several reviews stating that the 240 HP version in the Fusion was underpowered and lagging behind competitors. That might be true regarding comparing the car to it's competitors, I'm not really sure for most cars. I do know the 2011 Avenger has a very slick 280 or so HP V6. Focusing on the Fusion though, the 3.0 is no slouch and whoever wrote the reviews I read must have not given the car the beans because it has no problems moving right along. According to Edmunds the car weighs 3,200 pounds and that's probably right as the car felt very light. Is it a rocket ship? No, is it a sports car? No. Is it a pretty darn quick car? Yes. And at WOT it makes a nice noise too.
On to the interior. Front leg room is lacking. I'm 6.0' tall and when I have my son's car seat positioned behind the driver seat in order to keep his dangling legs from touching the seat back I have to be so far forward my knees impact the corners of the central dash pillar. The seats are phenomenal though and offered the right amount of sportiness, support and comfort. After spending days in the car I can't say I was tired of them. They're perfect. The climate controls are simple enough to use but are set low down. My wife was able to see them easily but for me with me increased height and the angle I sit it was hard to see the symbol on the buttons, especially when driving.
Sync is awesome. We all knew that. My experience confirms it. Skipping this sections.
What about ride and handling? The ride was noticeably harder than the Malibu 2LT sedans I have rented but the car felt more planted. Taking highway on and off ramps at plus posted speeds was quite fun. Low speed cornering in town was equally fun. I'm not sure but I think this car has electric power steering but road feel was excellent. If it's true, I can't see that it matters. Back to the ride. On the highway, it's just about perfect, the right amount of road feel, the right amount of isolation. Around town things were good but felt more jarring than I would like on less than perfect roads.
Overall, I was supremely impressed with the car. If you're looking for a mid to small size sedan for hauling the family around or your coworkers this is a fantastic car to do it in and unlike many cars in this class, it's not dull and boring (looks at Accord/Camry). If you guys would like photos I have the car until Wednesday (I loved my weekly rental rates) and would be happy to post them but Google can provide the same result.
By the way, the that press photo is the exact car I rented, same color, wheels, etc.
Let me get this out of the way first. Ford claims 28 MPG highway for the 3.0L engine. This is bupkus. The first leg of my trip was 615 miles and I achieved 33.2 MPG traveling at 71 MPH with the cruise set the entire way (well, 98% of the way let's say, periodic slow downs for traffic and speeds up for passing occurred). This was my own calculation, not the car's MPG meter which stated 34'ish the entire way.
The second leg of my trip was 187 miles and I cruised at 60 MPH (state highways) and achieved 34.4 MPG. The rest of the trip yielded similar results with the lowest being Friday/Sat which was all city driving which yielded 25.7 for both days combined over about 125 miles.
And about that little 3.0 Durtec. So, going into this rental I already had quite a bit of experience with this engine's ancestor, the original 3.0L DOHC Duratec from the 1990s which I had in a Ford Taurus. I drove that car about 150K with zero issues and it's nice to see the engine still humming along almost 20 years later. I had read several reviews stating that the 240 HP version in the Fusion was underpowered and lagging behind competitors. That might be true regarding comparing the car to it's competitors, I'm not really sure for most cars. I do know the 2011 Avenger has a very slick 280 or so HP V6. Focusing on the Fusion though, the 3.0 is no slouch and whoever wrote the reviews I read must have not given the car the beans because it has no problems moving right along. According to Edmunds the car weighs 3,200 pounds and that's probably right as the car felt very light. Is it a rocket ship? No, is it a sports car? No. Is it a pretty darn quick car? Yes. And at WOT it makes a nice noise too.
On to the interior. Front leg room is lacking. I'm 6.0' tall and when I have my son's car seat positioned behind the driver seat in order to keep his dangling legs from touching the seat back I have to be so far forward my knees impact the corners of the central dash pillar. The seats are phenomenal though and offered the right amount of sportiness, support and comfort. After spending days in the car I can't say I was tired of them. They're perfect. The climate controls are simple enough to use but are set low down. My wife was able to see them easily but for me with me increased height and the angle I sit it was hard to see the symbol on the buttons, especially when driving.
Sync is awesome. We all knew that. My experience confirms it. Skipping this sections.
What about ride and handling? The ride was noticeably harder than the Malibu 2LT sedans I have rented but the car felt more planted. Taking highway on and off ramps at plus posted speeds was quite fun. Low speed cornering in town was equally fun. I'm not sure but I think this car has electric power steering but road feel was excellent. If it's true, I can't see that it matters. Back to the ride. On the highway, it's just about perfect, the right amount of road feel, the right amount of isolation. Around town things were good but felt more jarring than I would like on less than perfect roads.
Overall, I was supremely impressed with the car. If you're looking for a mid to small size sedan for hauling the family around or your coworkers this is a fantastic car to do it in and unlike many cars in this class, it's not dull and boring (looks at Accord/Camry). If you guys would like photos I have the car until Wednesday (I loved my weekly rental rates) and would be happy to post them but Google can provide the same result.
By the way, the that press photo is the exact car I rented, same color, wheels, etc.