Faults:

At 12,000 miles the transmission started slipping. It has gotten worse. I almost got rear-ended by a semi when the transmission slipped out of gear on the interstate and stopped accelerating. Went to the dealer and they reprogrammed the PCM. About half way home, it started acting up again. Sometimes the car shakes violently. I have had it. I am going to get rid of the car.

General Comments:

Everything else about the car is delightful. It is a shame the transmission ruins the driving experience.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with our Fusion up until January 31, 2010, when pulling out of a parking lot and accelerating briskly, did it have an ever so minor slip into 3rd gear. I knew at that moment that big trouble was to come in the future... and sure enough I was dead on right.

On March 24th 2010, driving out on a back country road, I started to accelerate briskly from 10 MPH and it slipped out of, then back into gear, and failed to downshift, I stopped the car and it then was dropped out of Drive, it took about 10 seconds for it to go back into drive, and afterwards the transmission began slipping in gearshifts and shifting sluggishly and sloppy.

On March 26th 2010, the transmission began slipping out of drive upon any acceleration heavier than "feather footed", and became nearly undrivable. As I type this review, the car hasn't gone into the dealer yet.

Ultimately I hope Ford will replace the transmission entirely, and that they provide us with impeccable customer service.

General Comments:

The 3.0 V6 with 240 HP and 223 Ib. Ft. of torque is the perfect amount of power for this car, you do not have to ever worry about not having enough power for getting out of those tight city expressway situations where it demands you have a fast car "or else".

Low end power in this little 3.0 liter engine is more than apparent, cruising at 70 MPH in fairly hilly southern Indiana did not demand downshifts at all on the uphill climbs. When driving gently, you can gain speed quick at low RPMs due to having the V6 power and torque, something that's very nice to be able to do after years of 4 cylinder car's that only have power in the high RPM range.

As far as refinement; the engine may be rated low by major car reviewers, but in actual reality the engine is impressively quiet, smooth, and even sound un-differentiable from a V8 engine below 2000 RPM.

The Duratec 30 V6 engine in the Ford Fusion provides a strong and luxurious feel to the 2010 Fusion.

The ride and handling of the 2010 Fusion SEL is quite excellent. The ride is very smooth without being mushy and bouncy feeling, and handling is quite superb for a family sedan. I took it out in a parking lot and did very sharp maneuvers at 30 MPH, and the car handled it like it was born to do such things.

Interior quality is excellent, and most all surfaces in the car feel rock solid, yet soft to the touch. Leather quality is very good for a mid range family sedan, and at 9,000 miles is wearing quite well.

I question the reliability of the Ford 6F35 transmission used on the 2.5 I4 and 3.0 V6 Fusion's, as our transmission has failed almost completely as of March 26th 2010, and I've heard people talk about the 6F35 transmission in there Fusion's having strange little quirks every once in awhile, which can (and for us did) escalate to the point of transmission failure.

Despite having a transmission failure in our 2010 Fusion after having it only 5 months, I would buy a 2010 Fusion SEL V6 again if I had to.