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Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan Hybrid



  • akirbyakirby Posts: 7,747
    Skeptical as in you think the EPA test was done incorrectly? Or skeptical that Ford found some loophole in the test procedure that allows them to do better than Toyota on the EPA test?
  • Let me clarify:

    I'm satisfied with the long-term reading of 38.1 mpg. When the car is driven with a minimum amount of concern for mpg, the long-term mpg is 39+.

    My only concern was the consistent lower mpg by the miles/gals measurement vs the car's readout.

    Yea, it should only be an issue if others are getting the same results.
  • dmathews3dmathews3 Posts: 1,739
    Well ordered our new Black Fusion Hybrid with the 502A package. Since we had no trade I emailed about 10 dealers in my area and a few came back with invoice price. I took one to my local dealer to see if he was willing to at least match or come close and he matched it. We ordered it this afternoon. We figure with all the cars gone in the Cash for Clunkers that it could take 10 weeks or more. Main thing is we got in on the $1700 tax credit, plus all state and local taxes and excise taxes are supposed to be deductible too on the Fed. taxes next spring. Since wifes lease isn't up till Jan. I hope we get it about first week of Dec. so we can have time to put it through its pases before she turns in her STS. Now the wait begins.
  • bigtbigt Posts: 413
    I was laughing about blinking the brights to see if you lights are on. After I thought about it well of course the brights come on when you blink them and it is not an indicator that your lights are on. LOL!

    However I did verify that when you turn the wipers on during daylight hours the lights do come on after a few wipes.

    The bottom line is if you are worried about having the lights on during the day then you must turn them on. The auto lights come on at night and when you use the wipers during the day they will also come on. That is ok but still it would be nice to have an LED light to verify when they are on.

    I am getting long term MPG of 38 without doing anything. When i want to have fun and watch the EV I get over 40 mpg. When my son drives he thinks it is a game to keep it in EV mode and he is getting 44-46 mpg.
  • akirbyakirby Posts: 7,747
    You missed the point. Yes, the brights will flash no matter what (but you won't see them in the daytime). The difference is the blue light in the dash only appears if the lights are ON when you flash the brights. If the lights are OFF when you flash the brights the blue light does not appear. Therefore it tells you if your lights are on or off.
  • acdiiacdii Posts: 753
    If you pull back to flash, the blue indicator does light up, if you push forward to put the high beams on, then the light will either come on or not depending on if the lights are on. Specifically, you must push the stem forward to the high position, and not pull back to the flash to pass position for this to be of any use. Then again you could always just stop, get out and actually look to see if the lights are on.
  • akirbyakirby Posts: 7,747
    I forgot whether it was turning on the brights or pulling to flash, but the point is it works one way or the other.
  • My local dealer was firm on sticker price if I wanted to drive one away from the lot and compete directly with the clunker folks for the vehicle. I was asking for $ 500 over invoice and the dealer finally decided that inventory not price was his issue. So I ordered the ice blue, 502A with black leather and remote and the wait is now on as he is to call when the VIN is known.
  • Ordered miy Fusion Hybrid May 31 and took delivery About Aug 1. Leather installed by dealer. Got small concession on price. Finding that MPG in town
    is around 30. Not unhappy since this is Miami and we have long traffic lights
    that are badly mistimed every few blocks. Motor has to cut in to support A/C
    which is very effective. Did have one late nite opportunity to run thru relatively
    rural area with A?C off and computer indicated 49.5 mpg.
  • gregg_vwgregg_vw Posts: 2,423
    As an aside, another illustration of our timid and asinine clinging to stoplights. Roundabouts and traffic circles are not only safer, but they also obviate the need to sit at lights and thereby save considerable fuel. Enjoy your new car.
  • acdiiacdii Posts: 753
    That may be true, in Europe, but here, people wouldn't know how to use them and would cause more accidents and jams than you can imagine. There is a traffic circle at Wolf Road in a Chicago suburb, that is the worst possible intersection you ever want to drive through, so many people run into each other there, its unbelievable. Stop lights suck in more ways than one, that is for sure, teach people how to use a traffic circle, and man what a difference that would make.
  • For better visibility by other drivers, you can have the dealer enable your DRLs. They hook it up to the "diagnostic computer" and it takes a 4-5 minutes. My dealer did mine free. I know some of you don't like DRLs.
  • By having the DRL's activated, does anyone know how much a draw on the Hybrid Battery? Would it have any effect on the mileage? I've always liked DRL's believing it is safer. :confuse:
  • Over on another Fusion forum a Ford person said Ford splash guards for the 2010 would be available about October. Earlier years are available now but won't fit the '10. Don't know if they have Fusion on them..
  • The low beams are a total of 110 Watts times 80%(estimate) DRL usage or about 7 amps load. IMHO I don't think your mileage would be lowered enough to notice.
  • acdiiacdii Posts: 753
    Between the 2007 Prius and 2009 Camry I have 54000 miles driving experience behind the wheel of a Hybrid, and get darn good mileage, up to 65 MPG highway on the Prius, so this review is a purely Hybrid based analysis, with some detail on the actual car.

    My current car is a 2009 Camry Hybrid, 32000 miles in 16 months. My previous was a 2007 Prius, 24000 miles in 10 months.

    Last night I got the pleasure to road test a 2010 Fusion Hybrid, loaded to the gills. As far as the car itself, quality, trim, comfort, handling, ride, Far better than the Camry, and as a lot of reviews go, that's about the norm, the Ford is a better car for the money, so enough review on that.

    The actual test drive, the first thing I noticed was that moving off from a stop was rather quick on pure electric, but the pedal is very light, and the engine kicks in almost immediately, where the Camry and Prius you can get up to speed without the ICE with pedal manipulation, the Ford tended to not want to do that. Now the battery SOC was at or below 50%, so that may or may not have contributed to it. The engine cutin/cutout is seamless, you really have to be tuned to it to notice if its cut in without looking at the display. Acceleration appears to be on par with the Camry, no noticeable difference between the two, so power is negligible. In the Camry regen appears to be much quicker, on the short trip we took the Camry battery would have been close to 75%, the Ford was only at 50% up from about 30% when we started. Again the SOC may have been the big trick to this whole test, on a fully charged system, the results may be different. On a slight incline, it would not even attempt to stay in EV, and maintaining speed, even on level road was difficult, the ICE kept kicking in.

    At highway speeds, 55MPH, I noticed that the MPG readout is above what the Camry would report, the Ford was showing close to 60 MPG on the same stretch that I have trouble with in the Camry maintaining 40 MPG. There's a plus for the Ford! The display is fantastic, very informative and easy to comprehend with a quick glance. Unlike the Camry where you have to scroll through the display unless you have Nav, the readouts are all right there. SOC, MPG, ICE state, etc. Over the 4 mile course I drove I managed to grow a bush, but was not able to determine how well the MPG is since you need at least 10 or more miles to get a decent average. Is the system better than the Camry? That I have yet to determine, I would need at least 100 miles of my usual daily transit to know that for sure, but the preliminary test drive, I can say, the car is more comfortable to drive than the Camry is. It would take me at least a couple days to learn the pedal position before I can get it to drive the way the Camry does.

    In summary, the Fusion is a very good car, the quality, materials, ride, handling, and comfort are much better than the Camry. However, I don't think the EPA ratings are correct, on the Camry I can easily exceed EPA for both City and especially highway, easily 35+ city and well over 40 on the highway. In my short trip, I didn't get the feeling that I could exceed EPA on the Ford, which for the hybrids, is rather rare, The Prius I met the pre-change EPA numbers, and far exceeded the new EPA numbers. The only way I would know for sure would be to buy it, and I am about 85% convinced that I want it, the hold out for me is the price, and how well the resale is on it. I have been lucky with the Prius, and hopefully the Camry as far as resale, where I have stayed ahead of the payments as far as equity, and I would like to stay that way. I put a lot of miles on each year, in 16 months I put 32000 on just the Camry, in 18 months, I have over 46000 miles between the Camry and the Veracruz. The main thing is, I am BORED with the Camry, or as I call it the Silver Slug. It handles like a row boat, and rides like Vega.

    So right now I am looking for something fun, but practical, and if it wasn't for having two children in car seats, I would be buying a Genesis Coupe right now, but I don't think I can fit the seats in and have the kids sit without having their feet against the seats. I really liked the Fusion Hybrid, but I don't think it has the fun factor I am looking for, it sure is nicer to drive though. I am going to road test the Sport tonight, and then decide on which one to negotiate on. The dealer has the Hybrid, and other than the color, has all I would like in one, but they don't have the Sport model I want, but I can still test drive what they have and if I like it, order one with what I want. The drawback of the Sport is resale will be drastically different from the Hybrid, so if I buy it, I had better like it, because, like the Veracruz, I will have to keep it at least until it is paid for. At least with the Hybrid, there is the $1700 tax credit still, and the resale should remain high, maybe not as high as the Toyota Hybrids, but much better than the non hybrid Fords. Tough decision to make.
  • dmathews3dmathews3 Posts: 1,739
    I liked your test and honest opinion between the T and the F. It is hard to get a real picture on the resale of the FFH (Ford Fusion Hybrid) or any American car for that matter do to selling prices. I have heard on the Fusion Forums that some dealers want sticker and some are willing to go down a little bit. I emailed a bunch of dealers in the mid MIch. area as wife wanted a FFH. I didn't count but I think it was 11 dealers. I got replies from 5. As I told them we had no trade and would most likely not do any service with their dealership after the purchase do to the mileage involved and would take it to local dealer for service. Anyway I got anywhere from sticker to one dealer who said he sells them for sticker but was willing to knock of $500. 2 would sell for invoice. I took the emails to my local dealer who ordered us a FFH with the 502A package which is the top of the line for invoice and he showed me the invoice from another car he pulled up online. Sticker was $31940 and I got it for 29511.01. From what I have heard there is no way a Toyota dealer would do this so he sells it at or near sticker which inflates the resale over a American car. This is one of the reasons why GM and Chysler cut so many dealers as to help out with the low resales of their cars do to way to many dealers. Here where I live there is 7 Chevy dealers in a 30 mile area which means they bid against each other all the time. Anyway good luck on your decision on what to buy. There just aren't that many really fun cars for a family person with young kids.
  • Got one for my 2010 Fusion today. It's about $20 at the dealer. It's part # 8U5Z 9C268 B. Thev key locks and of course unlocks it. Ford calls it a Plug.
  • akirbyakirby Posts: 7,747
    Doesn't that defeat the purpose of Easy Fuel?
  • This keeps dirt out of the opening. I believe the purpose of EF is to keep Ford from having to provide gas caps.
  • dmathews3dmathews3 Posts: 1,739
    Yes and unfortunately it also screws up someone poluting your gas. Isn't that a bummer. :P
  • bdymentbdyment Posts: 551
    I think it would be more expensive to engineer and produce the Easy Fill system than to provide a gas cap.
  • akirbyakirby Posts: 7,747
    If you have people polluting your gas then you have other issues. And I don't see how you can get dirt in it if you keep the door closed.
  • Vandalism and wind and rain. Why didn't Ford add a locking fuel door? Since they make the plug someone must think owners will want it.
  • Was Easy Fuel a solution to a problem that didn't exist? A locking fuel door would have been cheap too.
  • People have had cars for years with locking caps and fuel doors. Just the same as locking hoods, an added bit of security.
  • akirbyakirby Posts: 7,747
    I'd say it's a very small percentage of users that want or need a locking fuel door or cap. I know I don't. And for the majority of buyers who don't they get the convenience of not having to mess with a cap every time.

    The biggest reason for a locking cap or door was to prevent fuel theft, which isn't an issue any more with the anti-syphon filler necks.
  • bigtbigt Posts: 413
    I vote for the locked fuel door. Press a button inside pop the door and put in your fuel. I am not worried about the syphon person but what about the kids who like to go around pouring sand or something else down your fuel tank. All other entries into the interior of your car are locked (door, hood, trunk), why not have the fuel cap locked!
  • Ah! One of those issues that I put in the category of a "debate between equal and opposite PhDs". That is, for any issue you can find an imminently qualified PhD who will take prove "X" -- and another imminently qualified PhD who will prove "Not X".

    X: Keeps crud out.
    Not X: But only if you remember to put it back on. People loose them all the time and then ride without one at all.

    X: Those are just a few people. A greater number need to worry about gasoline theft.
    Not X: But there are anti-siphon designs.

    X: We worry about children dumping crud into an unlocked system.
    Not X: A child can get into Fort Knox if he wants to. No locking gas cap, where the child knows where the key is, is going to keep the bugger out.

    X: Locking gas caps cause problems in the winter -- locks freeze up. Now you are in trouble -- you need gasoline to stay warm.
    Not X: It's not a problem.

    X: If you are worried about crud in the gas, then you also get crud in the lock.
    Not X: But's that's not a big problem, and rarely happens.

    X: Blah....
    Not X: Not Blah.

    What fun.

  • dmathews3dmathews3 Posts: 1,739
    Ok to answer your questions: Why not put the rubber like rope on it like most cars have now and had for years. I added these to my motorhome as it has a cap on both sides to pump diesel twice as fast.
    The bull about the Fort Knox is just that. Where is my key, on my key ring with my others. God why didn't I think of that.
    I have had locking gas caps for over 20 years and I live in Mich. where it rains, snows, ice and tons and tons of salt on the streets and I have never ever had one freeze up. Will I add one to my FFH when we get it, I doubt it as I'm now retired and my car is in the garage and doesn't sit out at night nor does it sit in a parking lot for 10 or 12 hours.
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