My Experience w/a 2009 Ford Fusion
 

In my quest to reduce my oil dependency, I am going to trade in the family truckster 06 V8 4-runner, for a 2009 4cyl 2.3L Manual Fusion. Therefore because I work @ a Ford dealership, I figured I would take one home for the night to show the wife and see what potential this car really has.

First of all it is a very comfortable and quiet car, I really did enjoy the 120 mile drive I had in it and feel it is a quality automobile, plus with my employee discount, a mid size 4 door sedan for under 19K isn't bad either. It will literally cut my car payments in half...

Anyhow, sticker on this bad boy said 20 / 29, so I figured I would see what driving techniques alone would do to FE. I didn't check my tires, but they nitrofill here at the dealership to 35psi (I checked this morning).

Here are my results.

Home Trip; 37.6 mpg on Scangauge
-55mph on hwy
-Pulse and Glide whenever possible (Pretty cool too, I'll explain later)
-Coasting to stops whenever possible (Car glides very well)
-Engine off @ Idle only
-A/C off, night was cool

Trip to work; 37.7 mpg on Scangauge
-55mph on hwy
-Pulse and Glide whenever possible
-Engine off @ Idle only
-A/C ON ENTIRE TRIP

My observations.
-The car shuts off injectors when coasting in gear
-It must have an improved a/c clutch because to see no change in mileage is incredible
-Pulse and gliding looks like it doesn't work until you see your average mpg raise a couple ticks each time you do it.
Now for pulse and glide I set the cruise @ 55 and used my LOD to monitor acceleration to 65 then let off, rinse repeat. I don't know if that was optimal, but it delivered some pretty good results.

So in conclusion, with a few more tweeks this is a vehicle that I know I can break into the 40+ mpg mark with very little additional effort.

:thumbup:

Great decision. IIRC, CR actually rated the '08 Fusion as a more reliable vehicle than the Camry! I've rented 2, 2.3L Autos with mixed results. Both with great FE, but one had electrical gremlins. Turn signals came on by themselves at times -- that kind of thing. Clearly, quality has significantly improved. Keep us posted if you decide to trade for it :thumbup:

RH77

Wow, nice.

On top of that, I've heard that the 4cyl/5 speed Fusion is the best one to drive (due to the combination of weighing a few pounds less with a useful transmission), though nigh impossible to actually find for sale.

In general, though, the Fusion is a pretty nice car, really. It's one of the few modern Fords I'd ever consider owning-- since it's on the Mazda6 platform and not built by the UAW :p

They're built in Mexico. :mad: If I'm going to buy an American car I'd prefer to buy one built in America.:rolleyes:

You'd think so.

One of my redneck coworkers doesn't like that three of the four cars I've owned were built in Japan, but he drives a PT Cruiser, built by a German-owned company in Mexico.

Just because it's an "American" brand, doesn't make it a product of this country. It's just as well, anyway, because the UAW are crooked. I wouldn't have gone to college if I knew I could make $40/hr + health + pension + being paid to not show up to to work if there's nothing to do as a high school drop-out like half of Michigan thinks it's entitled to.

Also, a UAW member bullied my brother into selling his Scion tC to lease an F150, which was dumb on several levels, so now I'm trying to brainwash him back to the <s>dark</s> smart side.