[GFunk]

So call me crazy, but my Fusion Sport bumped up its performance this morning. Around 9 o'clock after dropping my son off at the sitter I did my usual hard pull out from the neighborhood onto the main street and where I usually get a nice acceleration up to speed as I take the wide left, instead the car took off and broke all four tires loose causing the traction control light to blink throughout the turn as I danced much closer to the curb than I'm used to.

I've been running it on 93 gas every since burning through the initial 87 tank from the dealer. It was about 70 degrees at that time and I looked at the odometer and it was at 700.2 or so miles. I usually drive casually to the babysitter as the car is still warming up and my son is in the back, so this was the first hard acceleration I had for the day. I'm not sure if it's coincidence or my butt dyno is out of calibration - but that felt way quicker than normal.

I repeated it at the next stop sign / left turn in my drive and the results were again repeated. Later today I'll try to get some straight line pulls to see if I'm losing my mind or not. Anyone else experience a sudden increase in perceived performance?

 

[Chancellorbunchy]

I'm at 657 miles, and I've only gotten the tires to slip twice around the same corner so far.

 

[escape]

If something magical really happens at 700 miles, then it is in Ford's best interest to communicate this to the market place. Otherwise, they may be missing out on a lot of potential clients if people test drive these cars with less than 700 miles on the odometer.

Then again, based on the overall lack of marketing surrounding the Sport, it looks like Ford isn't really interested in selling much of it.

 

[elronino]

I'm not entirely certain OEMs code break-in or protection periods. I've polled a few engineers and haven't gotten a FIRM yes or no. What I do know, is that there are some learning based components that are controlled by software. Those components all have tolerances and take time to mingle and become happy with one another.

That said, I'm at 2100 miles on my Fusion, and it feels completely different than the day she came home. Tighter steering, firmer shifts, perceived increase in throttle response (paddles still suck). I still experience the same lack luster 3rd gear acceleration and questionable WOT performance.

my guess is your car is starting to have all of it's components tied to intelligent maps and code play nice with one another.

 

[GFunk]

Drove around a bit at lunch and still seems quicker. Not the slide around power I had this morning, but it's also hotter and more humid right now. Weird...

 

[qwerty3089]

I'm at around 500miles and the car felt a lot quicker yesterday than it has, but it was also in the low 70's and low humidity. After a few little sprints, I noticed some of the power had faded a little... willing to bet the car is getting heat soaked to death and causing poor performance.

Looking forward to seeing some datalogs

 

[elronino]

Drove around a bit at lunch and still seems quicker. Not the slide around power I had this morning, but it's also hotter and more humid right now. Weird...

environmental factors will surely have an impact on performance. Hot/humid are is not as ideal as cooler dry air (why we have CAI, intercoolers, etc). But, cars now are equipped with so many sensors, sophisticated code, algorithms, and maps to accommodate for those environmental changes to keep performance consistent.

It may placebo effect and perceived to behave differently or it could actually have an impact on performance, that I'm not certain.

I will say that I **feel** that the car (or any car for that matter) seems to perform higher in cooler conditions.

 

[jayson]

Any car will perform better in cooler conditions forced induction vehicles even more so than NA. Cooler air improves forced induction cars performance in multiple ways.

-First the car is sucking in cooler air. Cooler air is more dense, which means more gas and more power.
-Cooler air compresses better than hot air. As you compress air, it heats up, the cooler the air is to start the cooler the air is after being compressed and also the more it can compress the air, which means even more air and gas.
-The intercooler system works better as its Air to Air. So you are able to cool down the compressed air even further.
-Finally when you get more air into the engine, that also means you are pushing more air out of the engine, which means the turbos are spooling and spinning faster, creating more boost.

 

[Franti]

I've noticed a gradual increase in performance in regards to acceleration as the vehicle has been driven. 800 miles now

 

[falkin42]

My turbo VW isn't all that sensitive to temperature, but what do I know? Maybe Ford has run this one too close to the edge of the heat soak envelope; should actually be fairly easy to fix with upgraded intercoolers or radiators or the like.


As a resident of south Texas, I should hope it can handle (even with some help) 100 degree weather all summer long.

 

[Grey03]

As someone who has owned numerous forced induction Fords. GT500, Focus ST, ecoboost Mustang, and a 03 Cobra. I can tell you that every single one of them had undersized intercoolers/heat exchangers. Heat soak is a MAJOR problem. I replaced the intercoolers on all of them. Your car will without a doubt feel stronger in cool weather. In the fall and winter your cars are going to feel like beasts! They will run much better. Unfortunately, if you want that power year round you will need an Intercooler upgrade.

 

[Satchmo]

I just broke 2000 miles today and haven't noticed any performance bump at a certain mileage other than moving to 93 octane from the 87 the dealer initially put in.

I have noticed better performance on cooler days and in the morning when it is cooler as compared to hot days but no such "overall" increase.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

my 2 fastest gps runs were 5 flat with less than 400 miles. im almost at 900 and havent been able to replicate them. It may have been a lucky draw in my gps speed app, tho, since i highly doubt its accuracy.

 

[dubie7006]

I'm at around 1400 currently and haven't really noticed any difference over day 1. Even after filling with 91. The trans still feels brutal and haven't seen any bump in pickup when I put my foot down. But if you all have, that's awesome. I'll keep waiting I guess haha.

 

[don]

These "performance" threads are a case of an information void (a disturbing absence of credible data from reliable sources) being "filled in" by whatever "data" and opinions happen along on the interwebs. Consumer GPS receivers, while usually very accurate, typically update position and velocity (speed/direction) once per second, making them pretty much useless for this kind of measurement. Likewise any digital speedometer (speed is calculated every x-hundred milliseconds), and an analog speedo will also have some delay in reading the correct speed. When a properly instrumented test comes along, I'll start paying a little attention. A GoPro and a GPS app on a phone can't produce an accurate, repeatable measurement.

In the mean time, I'll continue to enjoy a car that has been pleasure to drive for over 2,000 miles and has more than enough performance to get out of its (and almost everyone else's) way. I'm not headed to the drag strip (official or otherwise).

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

I agree. This Sport is a riot to drive. The small insufficiencies of the transmission will certainly be fixed with a tune. I'll be tracking probably just once before the tune and once after. I'm not trying to set records. Just like to know what she'll do. And, it is fun!

I wish the 3rd gear ratio could be fixed with a tune. That's the biggest disappointment for me. No clue what they were thinking when they geared this transmission.

 

[dubie7006]

The tuners should be able to manipulate the shift points and the pressure of the shift. I think that will help a lot. They really can do magic.

Does a tune like that raise any red flags, specifically if you're on a lease? I'd love to get the trans altered a little but I have to keep the lease in mind, too...

 

[jayson]

Does a tune like that raise any red flags, specifically if you're on a lease? I'd love to get the trans altered a little but I have to keep the lease in mind, too...

Just flash it back to stock before you take it in for any warranty work.

 

[jnhalstead]

I doubt the 5 secs is accurate on stock fusion. I mean.... majority of tests are done in favorable conditions also. Guys with an awd Edge Couldnt manipulate the "test" 0-60 in stock form on regular backroads. A LMS tuned awd is pushing 4.6secs but thats logged with a vbox gps unit. My fastest is 5.8(datalogged) but...im front wheel drive and have zero traction from 0-40mph on my tune.