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| 2006 Ford Fusion Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Inside & Out | |||
For anyone who, after the 1996 Taurus, lost all hope in Ford's ability to create an attractive, original sedan, it's time to re-examine those beliefs. Aside from the 1997 Honda Prelude headlights and 1992 Honda Prelude taillights, this look is all Ford's own, and in fact will serve as inspiration for future Blue Oval models. Have you noticed how automakers recently started coming up with corporate "faces"? Take a look at those three chrome bars, for they now form Ford's.On the inside, you get the idea that the Fusion didn't get an infusion of class. Materials covering the dash are grainy and coarse, the "piano black" plastic trim is artificially shiny and reflective, the fonts and analog clock are pure cheese, and the stereo is a square peg in a trapezoidal hole. Stick with the cloth seats, because if you want leather with the slightest hint of quality, you'll have to do a lateral move back to Mazda or an upward move to the identical Lincoln Zephyr (the Mercury Milan, another Fusion clone, is no help). The leather on the steering wheel especially needs an upgrade; holding hands with such a low-grade tool honestly makes driving a little less pleasurable. Lastly, while some automakers can make an all-black interior look slick and sleek, the Fusion's just looks dark and dank. You'd think these guys would be better at it, having pioneered the idea in 1915. There are a few ergonomic downgrades as well. The steering wheel controls are too numerous and complicated, and their sameness works against the idea of eyes-off operation, which is the whole point of steering wheel controls to begin with. The SEL model's mushy-buttoned automatic climate system is also a bit of a pain in the ass (though that's true of most auto units), the turn signal has a weird upward tilt, and on cars without sunroofs, what are the map lights doing way back in the center of the ceiling? Even the keyless entry system has issues, its buttons not being in the best arrangement and containing trunk and panic buttons that are too easily triggered, I discovered embarrassingly. On the positive, everything is legible, there are plenty of storage spaces (including an extra center console atop the dashboard), and Ford has modernized its power windows and locks to the ideal. I also liked Ford's unique take on wiper controls, which make sense in their own way and offer more variability in intermittent mode than do most cars. Overall, it's good enough to get by. You can tell Ford put some effort into the audio by the sheer strength of the Fusion's big, bad bass. Even on the default setting you can cause your own little private thunderstorm. There's more power than crispness here - the sound is kind of blatty and not completely satisfying - but the Fusion stands ahead of some others by offering MP3 playback on every model, six standard speakers on all but the base S model, plus a 6-disc changer and 8 speakers on the optional Audophile system. Seating, also, is enough to get by. The front buckets are roomy enough for the vast majority of profiles, cause no pain, and the telescoping steering column helps anyone find the perfect position. They don't feel as sporty as they could be, though, considering the Fusion's mission. Kind of flat, like you're sitting on a protruding poof of foam. But I guess they're comfortable. That assessment carries over to the rear. Mazda's 6 has the distinction of being the tightest mid-size sedan; the Fusion's marginal increases help neutralize that. But the Fusion has a cushion that's slightly mushy at the front edge, making leg support a bit of a do-it-yourself affair. The more pressing issue is how cheapness crept into safety matters: the Fusion's rear head restraints - all two of them - are a joke: basically two extra vertical inches of foam. This is an issue shared with the Focus, meaning if you want a Ford sedan in which 60% of the occupants won't snap their necks in a rear-end collision, you'll have to step up to the Five Hundred. Side and side-curtain airbags are at least available as options, as are antilock brakes and all-speed traction control, though a full-scale stability control (the kind that brakes individual wheels) doesn't exist. Luckily, the Fusion has continued the Ford tradition of high scores in frontal crash tests, and the computer knows when to turn off the passenger's air bag. At the hind end you'll find one of the best trunks in the business. It's nice and wide, nice and tall, suspended by struts, and could knocking down the back seat be any easier? Just pull two in-trunk levers and boom, your already-high 15.8 cubic feet nearly triples in volume. |
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