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82 Posts
Hi guys,
Picked up my 2017 Fusion Sport yesterday and drove it home 350 miles. Figured I'd share some first opinions.
This is my third fusion. I've previously driven an '08 and '12 both the 2.5L I4 NA motors. I've always enjoyed the Fusion for being sporty, good-looking, roomy and well featured, but this car goes miles above.
Starting with the motor: I tried really hard to follow break-in procedure (500 miles of varying speed, staying out of the top of the rev range), but it's impossible. If they wanted these motors broken in correctly, Ford should have disabled Sport mode and forced the rev range low for the first 500. Most of my driving yesterday was interstate, and the Fusion handled itself quite well both in traffic and in the wide open parts of I-70. Every on-ramp became a personal challenge of finding out how good the ContiProContact tires are. All you have to do is squeeze the - paddle twice and put your foot in, and you'll find yourself facing a reckless driving charge before you can back out of it again. The car is responsive and available in D. I used it for most of the cruise home. It was easy to swoop slow traffic even outside of Sport mode. Power is still ample in 6th going from 70 to 85+.
The car really shines in Sport mode. I honestly can't find words. It throws you into your seat. It's loud, deep and mean. (I'm wondering if there's some sound reinforcement. I'm going to have someone else drive it Monday so I can be outside and listen to it from the outside.) Shifts are quick and fluid. The car will easily find 100 before you remember to get out of the throttle. When I first drove it around the block at the dealer it was hard not to giggle. It was still hard not to giggle after 5 hours of driving it. I described the power as available in D, in S the power is eager and it's ready before you are. There's little hesitation, the car just says OK and throws you into your seat.
The Lightning Blue is gorgeous. My father had a '15 in Deep Impact Blue and this color looks way better. I'm not a huge fan of the wheels, but they're growing on me. The interior looks good. The fit and finish is what you'd expect from a higher end Ford, for sure. The leather wrapped steering wheel is comfortable both at 10 and 2 or 9 and 3. I'm not a huge fan of the dual display instrument cluster. It results in too many buttons and the controls are a little confusing. I highly recommend the air conditioned seats. I know I'll never be able to go back.
Adaptive cruise control is cool. I wish it beeped or vibrated the steering wheel before it started to slow down though. Even the shortest following distance is longer than I'd usually wait before changing lanes to pass someone. This resulted in weird moments of slowing down, and the quickly gaining speed again. I'm sure my fuel economy would have been better if I'd noticed it was about to brake. Lane keeping works pretty well. There were a number of times it couldn't find lane markers, but when it did have them the adaptive steering kicks in nicely to keep you in your lane with small steering input.
Sync 3 with Android Auto worked well. I used Android Auto the whole way home with my Nexus 6P with no issues. The interface was fast and responsive. Though with navigation and streaming music, my phone did not charge at all.
The only thing I can really complain about is start up. There's no key, no manual gear shift, no manual parking brake. You get in, put your foot on the brake, push the start button, turn the dial, take your foot off the brake and go. It's slightly disorienting. Everytime I get in I have to sit for a moment convincing myself there's nothing left for me to do. I can just go. It's weird, but I'm sure it'll pass.
My first tank of gas, which you shouldn't measure fuel economy from, was BP 93 Octane. I got 26.8 MPG on all interstate driving.
Here's my speclist:
2017 Ford Fusion Sport
Lightning Blue
401A: Dual LCD Instrument Cluster, 10-way driver and passenger seat, Ambient Lighting, Dual-zone Climate, Reverse Sensing, Sony 12 Speaker Audio, Sync 3
Driver Assist: Auto High Beams, Blind Spot Monitoring, Heated Steering Wheel, Lane Keeping, Rain-Sensing Wipers, 110V Outlet, Sync Connect
Adaptive Cruise Control & Pre-Collison
Cooled Front Seats
Voice Navigation
Picked up my 2017 Fusion Sport yesterday and drove it home 350 miles. Figured I'd share some first opinions.
This is my third fusion. I've previously driven an '08 and '12 both the 2.5L I4 NA motors. I've always enjoyed the Fusion for being sporty, good-looking, roomy and well featured, but this car goes miles above.
Starting with the motor: I tried really hard to follow break-in procedure (500 miles of varying speed, staying out of the top of the rev range), but it's impossible. If they wanted these motors broken in correctly, Ford should have disabled Sport mode and forced the rev range low for the first 500. Most of my driving yesterday was interstate, and the Fusion handled itself quite well both in traffic and in the wide open parts of I-70. Every on-ramp became a personal challenge of finding out how good the ContiProContact tires are. All you have to do is squeeze the - paddle twice and put your foot in, and you'll find yourself facing a reckless driving charge before you can back out of it again. The car is responsive and available in D. I used it for most of the cruise home. It was easy to swoop slow traffic even outside of Sport mode. Power is still ample in 6th going from 70 to 85+.
The car really shines in Sport mode. I honestly can't find words. It throws you into your seat. It's loud, deep and mean. (I'm wondering if there's some sound reinforcement. I'm going to have someone else drive it Monday so I can be outside and listen to it from the outside.) Shifts are quick and fluid. The car will easily find 100 before you remember to get out of the throttle. When I first drove it around the block at the dealer it was hard not to giggle. It was still hard not to giggle after 5 hours of driving it. I described the power as available in D, in S the power is eager and it's ready before you are. There's little hesitation, the car just says OK and throws you into your seat.
The Lightning Blue is gorgeous. My father had a '15 in Deep Impact Blue and this color looks way better. I'm not a huge fan of the wheels, but they're growing on me. The interior looks good. The fit and finish is what you'd expect from a higher end Ford, for sure. The leather wrapped steering wheel is comfortable both at 10 and 2 or 9 and 3. I'm not a huge fan of the dual display instrument cluster. It results in too many buttons and the controls are a little confusing. I highly recommend the air conditioned seats. I know I'll never be able to go back.
Adaptive cruise control is cool. I wish it beeped or vibrated the steering wheel before it started to slow down though. Even the shortest following distance is longer than I'd usually wait before changing lanes to pass someone. This resulted in weird moments of slowing down, and the quickly gaining speed again. I'm sure my fuel economy would have been better if I'd noticed it was about to brake. Lane keeping works pretty well. There were a number of times it couldn't find lane markers, but when it did have them the adaptive steering kicks in nicely to keep you in your lane with small steering input.
Sync 3 with Android Auto worked well. I used Android Auto the whole way home with my Nexus 6P with no issues. The interface was fast and responsive. Though with navigation and streaming music, my phone did not charge at all.
The only thing I can really complain about is start up. There's no key, no manual gear shift, no manual parking brake. You get in, put your foot on the brake, push the start button, turn the dial, take your foot off the brake and go. It's slightly disorienting. Everytime I get in I have to sit for a moment convincing myself there's nothing left for me to do. I can just go. It's weird, but I'm sure it'll pass.
My first tank of gas, which you shouldn't measure fuel economy from, was BP 93 Octane. I got 26.8 MPG on all interstate driving.
Here's my speclist:
2017 Ford Fusion Sport
Lightning Blue
401A: Dual LCD Instrument Cluster, 10-way driver and passenger seat, Ambient Lighting, Dual-zone Climate, Reverse Sensing, Sony 12 Speaker Audio, Sync 3
Driver Assist: Auto High Beams, Blind Spot Monitoring, Heated Steering Wheel, Lane Keeping, Rain-Sensing Wipers, 110V Outlet, Sync Connect
Adaptive Cruise Control & Pre-Collison
Cooled Front Seats
Voice Navigation