Bubba1 wrote:IBCoupe wrote:Huh. The proportions of the Mazda6 I saw seemed identical to the Fusion I was driving. Maybe I wasn't close enough, but I thought they were still sharing a platform.
What your thoughts about the new Fusion?
I liked it. It was business/personal travel to the U.S., so there were a lot of other people with me. I got to drive the car from Newark to New York City, and then from New York City to Hartford and back again. The trip went on to Atlantic City, but my boss was driving that car from then on.
The interior felt solid. The driver's seat was comfortable, and I heard no complaint from my or my boss's wives in the back. The engine was lively, and enjoyable, but the transmission seemed jerky at times, but I'm coming at it from driving with a CVT in my Altima Coupe and a CVT in our Honda Fit. The brakes were sensitive, but that might be just the difference between my right foot in a Chinese-made 2005 Honda Fit saloon and a 2014 American-designed(?) Ford Fusion. It was wonderfully quiet on the highway, and not bad on fuel, either - we got about 10l/100km (compared to our Fit's 7.3l/100km). Trunk space was adequate for four adults with one or two carry-on sized bags each. More than that, and you have to start getting creative with arrangement (my past job experience as a designer of submarine interiors came in handy here) to make it work.
I really like the RFID-activated lock buttons on the exterior door handles on my Altima Coupe, and I was pleased to find them on the Fusion, too. But they were weird - there's no tactile feedback. You touch it, and it works, but you can't tell it works unless you're listening for the door locks, watching the lights, or peering in the windows. There's no "click" behind the button because it doesn't look like a button - it's just some ridges on the handle. That would be fine by me, but that same problem continues
inside the car. First thing you see when you look at the dashboard is the materials - it's got a high quality plastic finish, reminiscent of my Altima, but better than. The next thing you notice is the giant screen in the middle of the dashboard. It's the kind of screen that
wants to be a touchscreen. But it's not. Instead, it's surrounded by an array of buttons, not all of which are clearly identified. And none of which are
actual buttons.
You put your finger on it and it works, but it's like the door handle - there's no tactile "click." There's nothing to tell your finger to stop pushing. I found myself pushing harder than I probably needed to because I couldn't tell how much I needed to. It's the kind of thing I get used to if I own the car, but it's the kind of thing that really irks me when I don't.
I'd recommend it - it was roomy, quiet, and responsive. It was a little sporty, but less so than some more premium competitors. Frankly, though, I have found that it's a great alternative for those premium cars in almost every other department. If you're looking for a BMW 3-series, maybe it won't suit your fancy. But honestly, if you're looking at a Mercedes C-class, for example, I'd take a look at the new Fusion/Mondeo and see if maybe it doesn't have everything you want for much less.
If you're wondering, on the NYC-Atlantic City-Newark leg of our trip, I was supposed to have a Chevy Impala. But after seeing the Ford's trunk and seeing the luggage the six people brought with them to China, I decided we needed an SUV upgrade. Great news, said the lady at Avis, you can switch to one for
free! Skeptical, I asked to see it. She presented me with a Jeep Patriot. It was parked next to a Ford Explorer, and I probably should have been less stingy and opted for that. From the outside, the Patriot looks deceivingly large, but roughly half of its interior space is eaten up by unnecessarily thick interior body paneling.
And it sucked a** on the highway - it was impotent, loud, and uncomfortable. At every opportunity, my wife opted to abandon me to the Jeep and ride in the Fusion. I get that Jeep people like that sort of thing, but car-renting people generally don't. I don't even know why they keep that in their fleet. It was a nightmare. Folding down part of the bench in the backseat got us the extra space we needed, but I was left wondering whether the Impala's trunk would have been adequate.
Even though the 6 doesn't have near the HP my speed3 does, it is stunning. It's very comparable in all the hp / fuel mileage numbers to the Alti, the Accord, and the Camry - sometimes much better. And it looks amazing. If you lined the 4 of them up together, I don't understand why someone would pick any of the others.
