29th May 2009, 12:10

We live in the Sunbelt south where the temperature very seldom drops to freezing. Summers here hit 100 degrees often. Our Fusion I-4 is driven roughly 50/50 city and highway. We are consistently averaging 27.7 to 28.5 miles per gallon with ours. As I said, we love ours and it seems to be a very solid and reliable car.

8th Jul 2009, 16:51

To the original reviewer: I made comment 12:10 and neglected to mention that one of our previous Fords was driven over 325,000 miles over a 17-year period with less than $500 in total repairs. I think you'll find that if you take care of your Fusion, it will easily make over 200,000 miles without any problems at all. Just use full synthetic oil and keep up all maintenance as set out in your OWNER'S MANUAL.

DO NOT always go by your DEALER'S recommendations. Dealerships now are trying DESPERATELY to make an extra buck and are pushing stuff that is not only NOT NECESSARY, but might actually hurt your car. Just check your owner's manual before agreeing to any procedures. It was written by the people who BUILT your car. They know more about it than ANYONE. I'm a mechanic and I always warn people to go by the owner's manual. On certain GM vehicles changing the transmission fluid can actually HARM the transmission. Just be aware and GO BY THE BOOK!!

7th Aug 2009, 11:45

ORIGINAL REVIEWER HERE:

Still running great at 4650 km on the dial. A few things mind you; the passenger window is a little squeaky when opening (sometimes), and when first starting the engine is a little loud and coarse. At least that's what I think.

I know I know it's not a Honda or even a Toyota, but still love her and am sure it's gonna be a good runner for years!

8th Aug 2009, 11:49

"I know I know it's not a Honda or even a Toyota, but still love her and am sure it's gonna be a good runner for years!"

Be thankful it ISN'T a Honda or Toyota. Our Honda wasn't HALF the car our 2006 Fusion is, and the only time we've ever been stranded due to a breakdown was in a friend's Toyota (TWICE). I'll take the Ford ANY day. One of our past Fords made over 300,000 miles with less than $500 in total repairs.

Our Honda cost us that much the first year after its puny 36,000 mile warranty ran out.

11th Jan 2011, 20:39

ORIGINAL WRITER HERE... AGAIN.

Well how time flies, just not the miles put on my red fire beauty. been to body shop 3 times from three separate incidents, and this amounts to just over 21,000 km on the dial.

Still nothing wrong with car, she is a trooper, just installed a K and N cold air intake for increased breathing, power and fuel economy. Will see what happens. Curious if anyone out there has installed a cold air intake, and what do they think??

12th Jan 2011, 17:11

"Curious if anyone out there has installed a cold air intake, and what do they think??"

They vary. The one on my 4-cylinder Pontiac Grand Am turned it into a real tire smoker. It probably added 16-20 HP. The one on my Mustang was a total waste of money (ZERO difference), and the one on my Fusion caused problems with the engine computer and I had to remove it. I will need to have the computer re-flashed to use the cold air intake, and I'm waiting until it is out of warranty (next year) to do that.

3rd Jun 2011, 12:31

Cold air sure makes the exhaust note loud. More power, can't tell, nor can I tell about fuel economy.

The only problem was on the highway about 2100 km into a 3000 km trip this past month, the K and N filter became loose and worked its way completely loose, thus causing the check engine light to illuminate.

Unbeknown to me, this was the problem, drove to a service station (maybe 100 km to one), hey this is northern BC and Alberta OK, haha, and tightened filter, about another 100k later the light went out. Never did have any problems then or now.

These Fusions are fantastic cars. 2 years old now, only 29,000 km on the dial. Low low low yes, still an awesome car.

4th Jun 2011, 17:33

Yes, the Fusion is a great car. Mine is 5 years old and not a single problem. The "check engine" light has been on almost 2 years, but the problem is the engine running too cool, which in our torrid climate is actually good for the car, so I have not replaced the thermostat (a fairly easy job). I have re-set the light a few times, but got tired of having to do that and just leave it on now. Check engine lights generally serve little real purpose anyway. If you have a real problem, it will be easily detected in other ways long before any damage occurs. The purpose of check engine lights is to get you to spend money with the dealer. I just run the codes myself and ignore them unless it affects engine life, performance or fuel mileage.

I discovered that removing the air intake horn that goes down into the fender well gives the engine the deeper intake roar (it isn't the exhaust, by the way, but the air being sucked into the air intake). It seems to also increase power by just a tad. My greatest power increase in my I-4 has come from running premium fuel, which adds more power than a cold air intake. It makes a very noticeable difference in both power and smoothness. The same is also true for my other cars as well, though it is most noticeable in the Fusion.

5th Jun 2011, 13:08

Why don't you just by an Accord rather than wasting money on unnecessary parts and expensive fuel? My Accord in base LX form, felt more powerful than even the V6 Fusion that year.. (2008). I never felt the need to add performance parts. To me, if you need to add performance parts and or premium fuel to a car that recommends regular, just to get some increased performance, then you should have bought something else to begin with.

Looks like the Fusion isn't all that great after all is it? Oh, and since I have never personally had any tranny issues with a Honda. I really don't care about that supposed problem they have. At least mine performs adequately out of the box.