I was a little misty-eyed when I had to give the keys to the Ford Focus back to the Ford representative after five days of fun. But my sadness quickly dissipated when he handed me the keys to the Ford Fusion hybrid waiting in my driveway.
My first impression of the car was that it felt so…grown up. I don’t mean it looks old by any means, but it presents an image of professionalism, success and distinguished style. It reminded me a lot of the Ford Taurus with a fresh twist on the trustworthy mid-size family sedan.
Inside the car was certainly nothing old or predictable. Sitting in the driver’s seat, I was immediately impressed by the enormous amount of space. Lots of leg room, lots of head room, and plenty of width, too. My husband and I could sit in the front seats without bumping elbows, and the girls had plenty of room for each of their booster seats in the backseat, far enough apart that they couldn’t easily annoy each other. If needed, there was enough room in the backseat to squeeze an average sized adult between the two booster seats.
In the center of the dash was the Ford SYNC touch screen computer, with many of the same features as the Ford Focus. The menus were designed to look a little more subdued than the same menus on the Focus, but were still just as easy to navigate. The steering wheel also contained the same controls for music selection, volume, and the voice-activated command system.
But the real test was driving the Fusion. Would a hybrid be able to deliver as much power as a traditional gas engine? I turned the key…and heard nothing. My first thought was that the car had somehow died in my driveway, and panic set in as I wondered how I was going to get them to come fix it. Sure, the radio came on and everything on the console had come to life, but there was no sound from the engine.
Then I noticed the air conditioning was working. Hmmm, I thought, the air conditioning usually doesn’t work unless the engine is on. So I slowly placed the car into reverse and attempted to back out of the driveway. And there was power! I did not expect that the Fusion would make NO NOISE AT ALL when I started it. Amazing!
(Side note: parents, don’t buy hybrids for your teens. You’ll never hear them sneaking out of the driveway in the car.)
After recovering from the shock of the whisper-quiet start, I then noticed the rear-view camera display on the touch screen. It gave me a clear view of everything behind the car when it’s in reverse, and even beeps if it thinks I’m getting too close to anything. This could be a very useful feature for parents of small children, or anyone who lives anywhere near small children and animals. When I shifted back into drive, the camera display vanished again.
But how does it drive, you ask? Well, it drives just like any other car. I didn’t notice any lack of power and I didn’t really notice when the car was using the battery versus the gas engine power. In fact, the Fusion hybrid has an impressive acceleration. There are displays on the dash that show you when you’re using battery power and when you’re recycling braking energy back into power for the battery. It was difficult to not watch the little meter going up and down at first – watching where I was driving was more important!
On the right side of the display is a fun little graphic of a vine with leaves. The more responsible you drive (driving in such a way as to use the battery more than the gas engine and be eco-friendly) the more leaves appear on the vine. It’s like a game to see how many leaves you can get on that vine, and you find yourself competing against…well…yourself, trying to get more leaves with each trip.
What I really like:
– the display told me I had 580 miles to go until empty when I first got the car…580 MILES on one tank of gas! And by driving the car responsibly, I kept that number fairly high.
– the amount of room in the Fusion is incredible, making it very comfortable to drive
– the hybrid’s battery usage display is fun to monitor, challenging you to drive better to preserve gas
– such a smooth, easy car to drive with no noticeable shifting from battery to gas and plenty of power
What I don’t like so much:
– this hybrid is not for you if you make a lot of stops close together. Stopping and starting means you rely less on the battery and more on the gas. If you run lots of short errands, a traditional Fusion might be a better choice for you.
– the backup camera can be distracting at first. Backing out of a parking space or my driveway, it always caught my eye, but I still felt like I needed to look behind me as well. If you’re as easy to distract as me, that camera could do more harm than good.
Overall, the Ford Fusion hybrid was a gorgeous car that I enjoyed driving. I received a few compliments on it from strangers at the grocery store and the mall, and I felt rather proud of driving such a stylish and eco-friendly vehicle.
If I had to choose from the Fusion or the Focus, which would I pick? Tough call. I think at this point in my life I’d probably pick the Focus. It has a slightly younger, zippy feel to it, and while it is smaller I actually like the cozy feel for a sedan, especially since we also have an SUV if we need a larger vehicle.
But at the same time, I can see myself preferring the Fusion when my daughters are a little older, have more stuff to carry around, and need even more space apart from each other.
(Full disclosure: Ford let me borrow these two cars for five days each. No other compensation was provided, and I still had to buy my own gas.)
