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Comments
I had thought about getting an Accord or something similar last year, then I saw the Fusion and Milan at the auto show and liked them. I was determined to get a Mustang GT convertible but they're still expensive and wouldn't get much better mileage than the LS. Plus I was hesitant about driving it every day being a convertible w/manual. So I decided to get the Fusion now as a daily driver and get the mustang in another 2-3 years. Best of both worlds! Plus my daughter can learn to drive in the Fusion and by that time (5-6 yrs) I might just give it to her. I love it when a plan comes together.....
I liked the Fusion styling better than the Milan (inside and out) and I just didn't care much for the Zephyr or the $4K premium.
Babaracus
Ford goes even better because you get lots of choices about the look of your interior even within the same cars. Fusion has 3 interior colors and 4 dash treatments.
When you say flavors, are you referring to trim levels? If so Honda actually offers VP, LX, LX SE and EX on the Accord, Toyota has STD, LE, XLE and SE. That's four each, although I think the Fusion's three are just fine.
I do like the Fusion offering three interior colors and an option other than woodgrain on SEL models. I particularly love black interior and it looks great on the SEL with the piano black trim. They also offer the black interior with every exterior color. I like having options.
I agree with you, 3 trim levels is pretty good.
I just purchased the SEL in tungsten w/charcoal interior. Delivery should be Monday or Tuesday. I can't wait!
They are barely in the same weight class Accord weighs 3038 pound while Fusion weighs 3499 pounds. This is a pretty significant difference.
http://safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/3828.html
and 3038 for the Accord:
http://safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/3655.html
If you want more safety I think the 3725 pound 500 would be better than either.
It will be interesting to see how the fusion does in the IIHS offset and side impact tests.
I wonder if we should consider that the Honda is more likely to crash at a higher speed, given its lousy brakes.
The base weight of the Fusion is 3,280lbs. and the accord is very close in basic curb weight as far as the six cylinder is concerned. There might have been extra equipment added to the Fusion, I don't know?
If the Accord out performed the Fusion then fine, it sounds like the Accord may have been a four cylinder model. I don't think that factor would have much to do with how it performed. The structure is the structure and thats it.
Yes, the 500 is a larger automobile structure wise and have more bulk, but if it is tested with the extras added on, the car is going to weigh more possibly by as much as 200lbs. making it look like it may have more bulk to the structure when it really doesn't.
Does anybody have the actual curb weights of these two cars to compare? Four cylinder to four and six cylinder to six. Apples to apples oranges to oranges.
I'm 33 years old, the owner of a '98 SVT Contour that I still enjoy flailing, and a recent graduate of Bob Bondurant's Grand Prix Road Racing class this spring, and I can say never imagined I'd find myself in a Lincoln dealer. But based on the good impressions I got from the Fusion test drive, I wanted to see how the Lincoln offering stacked up. To summarize, I walked away VERY impressed with this car.
First the exterior styling is nice though conservative and generally inoffensive. Exterior styling didn't wow me in an emotional way, but generally it looks fine.
Interiorwise, I loved the interior with the chrome and light maple wood finish. I questioned the look in the brochure and pictures, but in person, the look of the light maple, chrome and tan interior palette is fantastic. I saw a car with the darker interior with the dark walnut wood, and in my opinion, the light maple is such a better and classier look. The leather on the seats is a high-quality soft leather and has a rich feel to it, and the center stack has a nice look to it.
If you get nothing else from this review, take my word that this car must be driven before you can judge it. It has one of the best balances of comfort and handling I have ever driven in a car in this price segment. The ride is quiet, smooth, and soaks up bumps, but unlike say a Lexus ES330, the handling is still sharp and well controlled. There is always some trade off in comfort vs. handling, but in this case I think Lincoln nailed it. The roads around Philly are generally chewed up, and the comfort was appreciated, all the while, the handling was very satisfying.
I took two cars out on two test drives (one without nav and one with nav), and I have to say the more I drove this car, the more I loved it. The accelleration is generally strong and the 6-speed auto behaved itself nicely. Also notable was how quiet and solid the cabin felt. After about 10 minutes behind the wheel, I found myself smiling and nodding my head in approval. It satisfied in a way that the Fusion didn't.
Also, I have to say that the A/C fed through the perforated leather in the seats is quite possibly the greatest luxury item introduced in the past 50 years. I never even considered the merits of such a thing, but after experiencing it, it is phenominal.
So in summary, I'm right with that Edmunds review. I walked away very impressed with this car. In the segment I'm looking in, namely mid-size entry-lux sedan keeping the price close to $30k, this is a winner to me, certainly a strong contender. The RWD Caddy CTS is nice too, though I found the Lincoln interior more satisfying, and the ever more slightly comfort-biased ride and serenity to be more appreciated in the real-world commutes we all live in. The handling on the Lexus ES completely failed to satisfy. The Acura TL is another contender, but again, I liked the look, feel, ride, and handling of the Zephyr better, and definately appreciated the handling of the CTS over the TL.
Anyway-- please, don't judge this car until you drive it! I think everyone that does will walk away impressed. When you put it all together-- mid-sized room, price, luxury, ride, handling, solid/quiet interior, luxury touches in the cabin, A/C in the seats (try it out on a warm day before you laugh!), it's a compelling choice.
So, for my money, it's important to wait for the IIHS to complete its testing.
For the front impact test both simulate a collision with an equal weight car. They say the IIHS front offset test is tougher on the structure, while the gov't test is more a test of the restraints.
the local auto show is at the end of next week, so i'm hoping get some closer looks.
The only problem I have is with the price difference between the 2 cars. Add the HID lights & cooled seats, & you're looking ad a 5K 20% difference. Haven't convinced myself that it's worth it, especially with Lincoln's lousy record of depreciation.
That all being said, I'm in the market & haven't found anything I like better. Going to try to hold out till the new V6 Camry is out; and maybe the rebates will be starting to flow by that time.
Thanks jtford, for thorough, objective and well written review of the Zeyphr
Amen to THAT, brother!! I swore I'd never have another car without it.
i may be wrong (wouldn't be the first time), but the fusion was tested without side airbags.
the tone of the story was that they should be standard.
you have to ask yourself one question. "Do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?" :surprise:
My wife and I were involved in a side-impact collision in my Mazda6. Fusion is based on the same platform, so I believe that this is relevant. Both myself and the other car were traveling perpendicular to each other, ~40 mph and trying to go through an intersection at the same time. The other car (an older Escort) hit slightly to the rear of the front-passenger door. We were spun completely around, and the passenger side-airbags deployed. The 6 held up beautifully, there was no significant intrusion into the cabin, and both my wife and I walked away mostly uninjured (she had some bruises, and was a bit sore from being spun around at 40 mph).
Please note that I had the complete safety package ... and I will never buy another car without it.
There was no doubt after the accident that, for my peace of mind, I wanted another Mazda6. That is exactly what I purchased.
So, take it for what it's worth ... just another data point in a sea of information. But I have a hard time reconciling the star-rating crash-test performance with my own experience. I would be much more interested to see data from “real-life” crash scenarios. I certainly have no doubts about getting into my 6 each day, and I see no reason to believe that the Fusion should fare any worse (probably better, in fact).
Very dumb and confusing ad.
"Because a car shouldn't just use energy. It should create it."
There is real world data at iihs.org. Of course it is for cars that have been on the road for a while. But there are general trends, such as weight/size of vehicle being correlated with greater safety.
FWIW, both IIHS and the government say that the gov't (front) test is really more a test of the retraints and the IIHS (front offset) test is more a test of the structure.
I thought it was a great ad. If it had an aux input but didn't play MP3's then someone would be griping about that. You can't please everybody.
The NHTSA frontal crash rating crashes the full width of the front of a vehicle into a rigid barrier. This maximizes the energy absorbed by the front of the vehicle so that the occupant compartment is more likely to remain intact. The full frontal ratings produce high level occupant compartment decelerations, making them very demanding of the restraint systems, thus providing better information on the safety features and their performance.
In offset crash ratings, like those performed by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) http://www.iihs.org/, only one side of a vehicle's front end is hit, thus a smaller area of the structure absorbs the energy from the crash. Offset crashes are more demanding on the structure of a vehicle, and intrusion into the occupant compartment is more likely in these crashes. NHTSA does not currently perform the offset crash rating.
The results from NHTSA’s full-width frontal crash and IIHS’ offset frontal crash rating complement each other. They can be used together to assess overall frontal crash safety in terms of the effectiveness of restraint systems and the integrity of the occupant compartment.
This is a quote from www.safercar.go, a US Government website which is part of the public domain.
Regardless, they should have never featured an iPod in an ad for a car you can't connect an iPod to.
I didn't know that real world data was available. I will have to take a look before my next vehicle purchase.
http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=21984&make_id=trust
I was very impressed with the packaging, appearance, and interior room of the Fusion.
But what's up with the chrome grille? It is so garish on an otherwise understated car that there must have been some huge disconnect between their research and humans: they even mention it in the brochure, so they're very proud.
I joked with one of the salespeople at the show about it and asked, "Who picked the chrome grille?" Without hesitation he said, "Guys with white shoes, belts an ties." AKA "A full Detroit." Maybe it's a regional thing and effete Easterners are too wedded to monochrome.
Is there an aftermarket grille that is body color or dark grey or black?
But, the PZEV out of the box is a winner in my book.
Are the Camry and ES3x0 boards together or separate? The Altima and the G35? C'mon. WHY must these be combined???
It's almost an insult to put the Zephyr with it's lower cousins. It's different enough to justify it's own discussion, like the Camry/ES330, Accord/TL.
Even the Land Cruiser and LX470 have different discussions!!! You cant get more similar than that!