Team-BHP - From Fusion to Fusion: My Ford Fusion Diesel Plus (TDCi/DuraTorq)

Back when I was in school a couple of decades back, there was a long hatchback car with 6 circular tail lights in my neighbourhood, and I always was fond of it. I do not know what car it was, but looking back, I guess it was a Fiat in its estate version. When the Ford Fusion came out, its shape reminded me of my first love and when I decided to own a new car a few months back, Fusion was first on the list. I had a Premier Padmini as a family car before and I now have a Santro DX, but the decision on this new car was to do something with the childhood interest.

I then evaluated several (rather all) cars in my budget with lots of help from TBHP and finally settled on Fusion+ Diesel. This multipost thread is to give a shape to the long drawn thought process (I have not put in so much thought on making any decision on career or life so far :)) and the ownership review.

What I needed:

My requirement was for a neat family car mid-sized and with a high seating position, comfortable yet agile to maneuver in the narrower parts of Hyderabad, and to be kept for the long term. ABS was a necessity - learning from an experience I had in a Maruti 800 a few years back (so I was evaluating only the top end ABS model in each car). My drive is a 50 KM per day predominantly in the city and an occasional long highway ride. Further, I needed some nice gadgetry and conveniences to give me a feel of sophistication.
50KM is a borderline on the petrol-diesel decision and I definitely had power as a requirement. Hence my initial consideration was only a petrol vehicle. I began with test driving different petrol cars:

What I evaluated:

Ford Fusion+ Petrol:
+: Powerful, spacious and decent interiors, a cross over with a hint of an SUV and internals of a sedan. Practical for city driving and with most gadgetry in plus version
-: Not mainstream (may be a + in fact) and not a demonstrated favourite on TBHP, "Ford", love or hate the shape, nothing in between

Ford Fiesta SXi Petrol:
+: Same internals as Fusion, decent looker
-: "Ford", top end model does not come with alloys or mp3 player

Maruti SX4 ZXi:
+: Powerful, spacious, massive, maruti, all gadgetry one can ask for. My thread on TBHP asking for help largely recommended an SX4
-: The backseat middle hump (the singlemost reason I dropped it), side and rear visibility, wife didn't like looks

Chevrolet Aveo 1.6:
+: Deadly looker, beautiful colours, great interiors, wife loved the looks and interior
-: The gear shift - though was said to be improved still gave the feel of a laparoscope into the engine's workings, the 1.6 with ABS was expensive

Mitsubishi Cedia:
I came to know such a car existed only from TBHP and promptly TDed it.
+: Great looks, neat interiors, full gadgetry, decent performance, option of LPG
-: Tugs at the budget a bit

Inclination:
I had taken off the lovely SX4, Aveo and Cedia from my list for the reasons mentioned above - something I realised is that there is no bad car, and one just needs to fit a car to his/her requirements.
Here, I was left with Fusion and Fiesta. I was inclined towards the Fusion+, which has almost the same features as Fiesta, but for the air bags (in top end model) and a 90 litre lesser boot. The slight extra interior space, factory alloys, a high ground clearance, easier city driving and the SUVish styling were the plusses. Owner reviews at the Fusion yahoo group (fordfusion : Ford Fusion owners and enthusiasts) and TBHP were largely positive and I got the spare price list from the dealer which were not too bad. There was also a 4 year warranty option with a 2 year total maintenance plan available. Dealers in Hyderabad were decent too - so welcome to Ford!

I also researched a bit and found the Fusion is fairly popular in Europe actually being priced about 3 - 3.5K pounds higher than the Fiesta hatchback there. I realised that the model here is almost the same as elsewhere, except for higher end options as airbags, blue tooth etc. available there.

Phew, this is when the fuel price increase came in and future trends pointed to a further deepening of the difference between petro land diesel. The diesel was a reasonable bet for me at the earlier prices and given the trend, diesel now seemed to be the perfect choice in my excel sheets. My craving for power waned when I realised that the torque is actually higher in a diesel car though the power is lesser. I was not aware of this before, and some thanks go to TBHP for this.

So the evaluation now started again with a blank slate, now for diesels. Well, this is going to be long, I warn you, and is to be continued.
cheers:

With diesel, the choices are really limited when one has decided on the segment. For the mid-sizer, it is the Hyundai Verna, Ford Fiesta, Ford Fusion and Mahindra Renault Logan. Several more TDs and here are the observations:

Hyundai Verna SX ABS:
+: OMG, this car is wild! 110 BHP unbridled!!! Neat looks, a decent experience with Hyundai with my Santro, decent interiors.
-: Took it on the undulating but smooth road near my office and I was a bit shaky. So much power, a little of my moodiness and not-so-great handling is not a great recipe! And even the top end at 9.x with ABS had no air bags! Also, the low end lag was not the best fit for my predominant city driving, and the seats were too low slung (or is it perception?)

Ford Fiesta SXi:
+ Neat car, great handling, surprisingly torquey, decent interiors, mileage, ride, air bags
- Smaller of the big cars, power just 68 bhp

Ford Fusion+:
+ Great tower like seating position + all of Fiesta features except airbags, a higher GC, bigger tyres, alloys and all gadgetry
- Boot again is 90 l smaller, power just 68 bhp

Mahindra Logan:
+ Ok car, superb space, reasonable on all aspects
- Dealer couldn't tell me about the ABS version supposed to have come, built to price, need to differentiate from cabs

The Verdict:
Well, I struck down Verna (drivability over power) and Logan and now it is just Ford.
The big question was Fiesta or Fusion. To some of my family and extended family a big car necessarily had a protruding boot while I was more inclined for a practical vehicle. I didn't feel a 90 l boot should cost 2 lakh rupees, when I would use it once an year. And the lack of the tail had translated into a lower excise and a lower price while all features remained same and actually the interior space was actually a tad bigger - with the option of using a part of it for luggage when needed (60:40 folding etc.). And if it is just for the look, I still found the Fusion at least as stylish as a sedan with boot.

There was an opinion I read somewhere that fusion is slightly more noisy than fiesta and that its ride is bumpy. I took several TDs and could not conclude it is so. I went to the dealer yard and revved a brand new fusion and fiesta back to back several times and could not make out any difference. I waited for the new Fiesta to be released if it will have some surprises and found there were not too many on the diesel front.

So bingo, I booked my Fusion Plus Diesel. So there, I started with a Fusion and ended up with a Fusion.
clap:

I got a Brush Steel (greyish silver) Fusion+ Diesel from Mody Ford in Hyderabad. I had also spoken to Fortune Ford, and both had a decent sales team though I went to Mody for some reasons.They both showed me their service centres, which do evoke some confidence as against what Ford is famous for. My on road (corporate offer) came to 7.5 lakhs including insurance and 3rd year extended warranty. In addition, I opted for 4th year extended warranty and TMP for first two years which together costed 16.5 K more. Freebies I got were matting, mud flaps, teflon coating, llumar sunfilm, body cover and antenna (didn't get mp3 player/speakers in corporate scheme - not that I like them though).

I had a colleague who also picked up a black diesel Fusion with me and we both are now at the mercy of Ford, now! Ford - prove them all wrong and us, right please:

lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by spindoc (Post 885055)

Congrats on the purchase, Glass! That was a nice write-up of your evaluation exercise. The FF+ TDCI is a very sensible choice no doubt.. but more importantly, it satisfies your heart too! And, you're definitely gonna be laughing all the way to the bank. :)

How are the plastics and the dashboard btw? Saw some reviews of the Fusion which suggested the dash was a bit of a letdown.
.

Thanks spindoc.

The plastics seem good (at least to me) - I did hear they were not so good in earlier versions. Honestly, I found the design on the dash a little weird when I first saw it - it resembled cells in the middle of cell division as seen in a microscope. But from the second time on, I pretty much liked the scheme combined with the avocado/beige and the softish to touch feel.

I did not know what a component or co-axial meant until I joined TBHP a few months back. But when I went to the accessories dealer, I had a clear list of what I need for the music system - I had made notes from some of the Fiesta/Fusion ICE threads and was ready for the special ford speaker sizes. I insisted on the front comps even though one of the guys was pushing me for going with two sets of co-axials, because it involved extra work and delayed it by a day to procure the comps. Here is what I got installed ensuring no wire cutting and using a harness - it costed me about 14.5 K:

HU: Pioneer 4050UB (with USB)
Rear: JBL GT5 500c (if I remember the model correctly) 5"x7" Co-axials (in stock location in door)
Front: JBL GTO8627 5" Components (fit into the stock location in door using a wooden spacer and with tweeters on the dash)

I also got tight fit crush leather seats in beige and black, and as promised by the accessories dealer, they don't make you sweat too much more than fabric.

Driven about 350 Km last week and am pretty happy with the car. Interestingly people who advised me against Fusion before are a changed lot after seeing it live and close. :)