2017 Ford Fusion

[bill25]

but where the Camry makes 268 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque, and the Accord spits out 278 hp and 252 lb-ft, the twin-turbo Fusion Sport drops an elbow on both cars with a mighty 325 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque.

The Camry and Accord are the real competitors. These numbers are a substantial difference. I guess we will see how this plays out. 33K isn't totally crazy.

[kevm14]

But since I assume the take rate on the V6 of those cars is already in the minority. is there a real point in trying to one-up them? It's not like everyone is choosing the V6 and would kill for something with more power in that type of car.

[kevm14]

http://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews ... dailydrive

It seems to check out like the Taurus SHO. It is fast and sporty to people used to 4 cylinder midsize cars. But is not really encroaching on what real RWD platforms can do.

An SS gives up AWD capability but brings even more space, significantly more speed, a real chassis, a V8 soundtrack and no more weight, for ~$46k. If you were looking at a base Fusion Sport, this is not a competitor. If you were looking at one with options like the A/W tester, then $5k gets you quite an upgrade. Not really the same class of car at all though.

[bill25]

You are kind of assuming things here. 325 hp and 380 lb-ft is not too shabby for a "Family car". The article says the fastest version starts at $34,350, the SS is like 48K now. I am sorry, but that is an entirely different price point. I kind of doubt the starting point is a stripper either since you usually have to upgrade trim packages to get the better powertrain. I also think the fact that the only thing you can think of to compare it to that is substantially better is the SS also proves it isn't that bad.

I would rather drive this over the V6 Camry or Accord, and this is way more powerful than anything Mazda puts in the 3 or 6 currently. What are the other options? A Maxima - nope, sorry, I will pass on the CVT. Plus their cars are shit nowadays.

I guess the question should be: "What else would you rather buy at this price?" I can't say there would be many cars on my list. I do like the styling of the Fusion so that helps too. It isn't that an SS is a bad car, I just think that 14K is a big price difference.

[kevm14]

Actually, yes, a Maxima.

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/nissan/m ... st-review/

Lighter, better fuel economy, probably similar performance. I will give you the CVT thing though.

[kevm14]

Accord V6 starts at $30,745. That's for an EX-L w/ leather.

I was comparing it to a car I'd rather have when similarly equipped. Compared to the Accord, it's significantly heavier and $3,600 more expensive.

I think the point is, neither the Fusion Sport, nor Accord V6 nor Maxima are credible performance sedans and I don't desire to own any of them. They are sporty family vehicles. The SS is in a different class. And with the Sport equipped similarly, it is $6k more. There is no SS competitor to a base Fusion Sport. You could look at a Charger RT though. Base Charger R/T is $33,895. RWD. 370 hp.

AWD doesn't automatically make the Fusion Sport a serious machine. I will speculate that AWD makes the Fusion have better acceleration in the snow and rain, rather than gives it credible track performance or something.

[bill25]

The Maxima you are referring to is 38K base, and 300/280 hp/torque compared to 325 hp and 380 lb-ft. So more money, a shittier trans and 100 ft-lbs less.

Forget the AWD, I would still take the Fusion over the Maxima. I think the Fusion looks better too. That is just me. I don't understand the hate for this car. It isn't anything insane, and a little pricey, but it is nowhere near the bottom of the class, so why the hate?

[kevm14]

I don't actually hate it. But it is not the second coming of midsize sedans. Just trying to keep things in perspective. This is similar to my reaction to the Taurus SHO. At first glance it seems like it would be awesome, but there are better choices if you are an actual car enthusiast. If you are not, are you really looking at a twin turbo Fusion? No, probably not.

Moving on to the Maxima discussion...

So the Maxima slots in between the Fusion Sport's base price and the as-tested price of the one in A/W. The Maxima is not a direct competitor but when you start adding stuff to the plain-Jane midsize sedans, you creep up to this territory so the comparison is valid.

First, the Fusion is not a muscle car. Therefore horsepower per dollar is a pretty unrealistic metric to use to assess the car's value. At least use a composite metric (that I just made up), such as power to weight, per dollar. Then maybe you'd have something that is remotely meaningful.

Second, the Maxima is ONLY 25 hp behind the Fusion Sport because it has 443 fewer pounds to lug around. 443 is a lot, and is similar to the difference between the Chevy SS and competing Charger model. As I said before, "probably similar performance."

14.3 sec @ 99.5 mph, 60 to 0 in 115 ft and 0.89 G is probably very similar to what the Fusion Sport will do. And it still gets like 5 mpg better. That's not insignificant.

[Bob]

On paper, the Fusion Sport sounded a lot more exciting than it ended up being. This article tempered my expectations a bit: http://jalopnik.com/the-325-horsepower- ... 1785980191

I guess it still isn't a bad family hauler, but it falls a bit short of what the spec sheet would lead you to believe.