Ford Fusion TDCI Test Driven

[pooshnark]

Before i start i wanna say this honestly - I love the shape and the concept of this vehicle..infact u go and check any Ford Dealer here in Ahmedabad and he will be ready to give me a Phd on Ford Fusion.

Just came back from an exact 17 Kms test drive of Ford Fusion which was a mix of off road and highway here in Ahmedabad.

Firstly - Rs 6.58 Lacs Ex -Showroom as advertised is strictly for Delhi only.. which is mentioned in the smallest of the fonts as a byline in the ad.. The dealer here was so produly showing to complaining customers as if it was medal of honour for their honesty...There should be some law against such misleading ads...

anyways here its 6.75 ex-showroom and 7.58 on road - which is high for amount and low for value for money.

I have been watching a bit Hindi News channels these days, so I would say "Fusion ka punarjanm" , "shareer wahi aatma alag".. blah blah..basically its a fiesta 1.4 TDci engine fitted in fusion.

The car carries very well and i did not notice much of body noise as expressed earlier in some post. Though a lot of plastic here and there would certainly produce some noise may be after 30K kms..

What i liked about this vehicle is its handling.. I drive a Honda Civic MT and i would say Fusion scores more in terms of vehicle handling. You can easily feel in control of the vehicle (only till the KMPH is in two digits).

Pretty decent ground clearance and stance gives you an SUV feel and a confidence to go on the long distance tours on this car.

A very responsive Steering (plasticky too) wheel. The road visibility also is better when u consider the height of the vehicle.. With the fiesta drivers backing - I can safely surmise this car should give you around 20kmpl mileage on highways.

Thats where all positive things stop!!!
Now some bigtime concerns -
1) No Music System with a car of 7+ lacs!!!!! - buy it as an accesory.
2) They dont learn from earlier mistakes - where are the mudflaps???
3) Compare it with Swift Diesel and a lot of safety features are missing..
4) Cheap Plastic and Tapestry for seats.
5) This car can not cross 120 barrier with you being in control of the vehicle.
6) A very bland dashboard with noisy air blower.


All said and done - Ford Fusion at this price will be a big time NO from my side.. I know i am jumping the category but with little less than extra lakh you can get an innova.. which is a far far better value for money..

7.5 lacs on road is criminal to pay for this car and ur ancestors will haunt you to the bank for it .

[DCEite]

Nice review there.
I didnt know it was such a good handler! And when you say it handled better than your Civic, thats mighty impressive for a Car with that COG.

I too feel its much overpriced. That is partially due to the fact that the Fusion Petrol itself is overpriced, and the diesel variant almost always costs a lac more. Had the Fusion P been around 4.6 lacs ex showroom and Fusion D at 5.5 lacs, it would have been a much better deal.

[Dippy]

Very honest and un biased review. A 7 lakh plus price tag is definately a major blunder from Ford. The Fusion is a great car and drives well too. Ford hada chance to revive sagging sales by introducing the diesel at a competitive price but its all gone wrong. Plus the exclusion of a music system etc is just not done. I think the on road price in Mumbai will be in the 7.75 region.

Sorry Ford. Dont know what you have been smoking lately.

[Zappo]

Actually that missing music system bit is not much. Anyhow mosst people probably change these with other units from the market. However its the sentiment that counts. People do not like the idea that a company charges them the earth and the moon and then cringes on some basic things.

Keeping that aside, what about the safety features? For close to 8lakhs on-road in mumbai does it come with ABS, Airbags and stuff? Does it sport a tiltable steering, height adjustable driver's seats etc? If these are missing and then with poor interiors a 68bhp Fusion, diesel or not, may not fuse so well in the Indian car market IMO. There are many definitive options available in that price range which are more appealing.

[ravibhat]

Thats good honest review on TD of Fusion D, Its over priced vehicle and don't have any goodies (music system, user friendly stuffs), These guys should learn from Maruti how to fullfil Indian's need and wish.

Regards,

Ravi.

[sathyaprakash]

I strongly agree with everybody tha this car is over priced and this will ultimately affect its sales figure, sorry ford guys.

[MaserQ]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Actually that missing music system bit is not much. Anyhow mosst people probably change these with other units from the market. However its the sentiment that counts. People do not like the idea that a company charges them the earth and the moon and then cringes on some basic things.

Keeping that aside, what about the safety features? For close to 8lakhs on-road in mumbai does it come with ABS, Airbags and stuff? Does it sport a tiltable steering, height adjustable driver's seats etc? If these are missing and then with poor interiors a 68bhp Fusion, diesel or not, may not fuse so well in the Indian car market IMO. There are many definitive options available in that price range which are more appealing.

Ok, lets analyse the situation. Ford have reworked the bumpers to make it no longer than 4000mm and the 1.4 TDCi is within small car norms. So that amounts to tax savings for Ford. Whats more, the Fusion now shares a lot of parts with the Fiesta, including the engine. Now why on earth didnt Ford pass on the benefits to its customers??

The automobile industry lobbied long & hard for these tax cuts (and still asking for more), now some of them seem to be exploiting the situation. Does the Finance ministry have some sort of mechanism to review the results of its policy changes? I sure hope so.

It is high time manufacturers start offering ABS/Airbags atleast as an option on all cars.Safety is clearly an after thought in India. But given a choice some of us would rather tick the safety features rather than over-priced, not-so-pleasing OEM alloys and sound systems.

[GeekSrik]

nice review dude. yes it sure sounds overpriced when compared to innova or other similar cars. for 5.76 on the road i would perhaps think swift diesel is a great car (more or less similar to the 1.4 tdci fusion) to drive. i ve driven this car at 140kmph and i was still in perfect control !! i m annoyed by the fact that maruti has cut corners everywhere w.r.t safety. somehow i tend to think even defoggers should come into safety list rather than luxury list. if it rains even with ac on the window remained fogged for quite sometime.

Originally Posted by DCEite

Nice review there.
I didnt know it was such a good handler! And when you say it handled better than your Civic, thats mighty impressive for a Car with that COG.

I too feel its much overpriced. That is partially due to the fact that the Fusion Petrol itself is overpriced, and the diesel variant almost always costs a lac more. Had the Fusion P been around 4.6 lacs ex showroom and Fusion D at 5.5 lacs, it would have been a much better deal.

dceite, he said its a good handler until double digits only. after 120 you are not in control of the fusion is what he is pointing to. looks like ford never learns the pricing strategy part. already there is a blotch saying their maintenance costs are high (maybe not with fiesta nowadays) but ford petrol cars always gave a milage of around 10 with service costs being on the higher side. with this kind of pricing i begin to wonder what category of people would actually go ahead and buy this car. except for suv stances, i dont see what else is good w.r.t this car.

perhaps i would even begin to think a swift D or a logan D is better off as VFM.

[gemithomas]

real cool review. To the point. COncise but you've conveyed the real capabilities. The fusion does handle better than most cars even at double its price. This is due to its tight suspension setup and low profile tyres. But as you rightly said. you wont feel comfotable (i mean safe) to drive this over the 3 digit mark.

How is the response of the diesel engine. Is it peppy enough to come near the 1.6 bro or does it lack power at only 68bhp(is that right??)

[BUSA]

7.5Lacs after getting the excise benefits, Ford have gone mad it seems, had they priced it by a lakh cheaper it would still be one lakh dearer then the Swift VDi, which is not only more powerful but has better FE too.

[1100D]

Want to see pictures of the reworked rear.

[premdiv]

Fusion doesnt seem to be a VFM as punto, swift sedan and retuned indigo dicor are on the way, and they all will be less than the OTR of fusion and will fetch good resale than fusion IMHO.

[coolspeed]

There is almost an unanimous view that the pricing it very high. But just see this:

Ex showroom price of Fusion 1.6 = 5.76 L

At 24% excise duty, the cost pattern would be 4.65 L manufactured cost and 1.11 L excise duty.

With the modifications, being qualified for the concessional duty, the pattern would be (assuming same petrol engine) 4.65 L + 0.74 L duty = Rs Rs.5.39 L.

Since the modern diesels command a premium of 1 L over corresponding petrols 5.39 + 1 L = 6.39 L, which is approx the same as the pricing of Fusion Tdci. The excise benefit of around 37 K seems to have been passed on to the buyer.

Hence the case actually seems to one of correct pricing of the diesel variant but over the incorrectly overpriced petrol.

[vanchi_s]

Hi all, I heard / learnt from T-BHP that Fusion is priced high. I love the crossover. Hence I am just going by my heart. I booked the car and taking the delivery on Monday. On road with extended warrenty is 7.31. I would have been very happy if the car comes with alloy wheels and music system for this price. But eagerly waiting to take the delivery of the car.

[GeekSrik]

swift sedan? am i missing something??