[G82FS]

Hey everyone, been reading for a while but just created an account to say hi and let everyone know that a local dealer contacted me last night to let me know that a Sport hit the lot. I am going in today after work to take it for a spin. Even though it is not the color or options I want, just getting behind the wheel to see if it lives up to expectations should be fun!

I garaged and covered my nearly stock '08 Pontiac G8 GT last year, hoping it becomes one of those rare cars that sells on the auction for a ridiculous amount in 20 years... Been driving a Lexus NX 200t since then so I am looking forward to getting back into something with the promise of performance again.

I will post back my impressions tonight after the drive. If there is anything you want me to look at while I am there let me know!

 

[escape]

I will post back my impressions tonight after the drive. If there is anything you want me to look at while I am there let me know!

I'd be interested to know how responsive the transmission is when using the steering wheel shift paddles when it comes to up and down shifting.

 

[Bamm1]

I will post back my impressions tonight after the drive. If there is anything you want me to look at while I am there let me know!

I am very curious to hear about throttle response.

There are two areas of concern for me here.

Turbo Lag

I have seen testing for a tuned '15 Ford Edge Sport where these is very little difference in acceleration times when using a brake torque launch vs. just stomping on the gas (maybe a few tenths).

Poor performance in this area would also be evident in magazine tests when comparing 0-60 vs. 5-60 times. The rolling start (5-60) can really impact things like turbo spool, etc. The Edge Sport is 5.6 vs. 6.2. Not bad at all for a turbo equipped vehicle. Now contrast that with something like the Cadillac CT6 3.0T AWD, where it is 5.0 vs. 6.7.

Throttle Mapping

Some of the VW Autogroup cars have very poor throttle mapping (drive by wire) which causes a very annoying (borderline dangerous) delay when you hit the gas. Its sort of a stomp the gas and "one one thousand, two one thousand" then it starts moving.

 

[Fuze]

I am very curious to hear about throttle response.

There are two areas of concern for me here.

Turbo Lag

I have seen testing for a tuned '15 Ford Edge Sport where these is very little difference in acceleration times when using a brake torque launch vs. just stomping on the gas (maybe a few tenths).

Poor performance in this area would also be evident in magazine tests when comparing 0-60 vs. 5-60 times. The rolling start (5-60) can really impact things like turbo spool, etc. The Edge Sport is 5.6 vs. 6.2. Not bad at all for a turbo equipped vehicle. Now contrast that with something like the Cadillac CT6 3.0T AWD, where it is 5.0 vs. 6.7.

Throttle Mapping

Some of the VW Autogroup cars have very poor throttle mapping (drive by wire) which causes a very annoying (borderline dangerous) delay when you hit the gas. Its sort of a stomp the gas and "one one thousand, two one thousand" then it starts moving.

These are definitely the biggest concerns. Do you know if we'll even be able to brake boost it or will the electronics not allow it like in the Audi's ?

 

[Airflow]

Kind of joking, but kind of serious here and it's probably not the easiest to attempt on a test drive, but -- Will it break the rear end loose at all if you really hammer it taking a slow hard turn?

Also, thoughts on the wheels in person? And how's the suspension tuned?

Thx!

 

[escape]

These are definitely the biggest concerns. Do you know if we'll even be able to brake boost it or will the electronics not allow it like in the Audi's ?

Some (if not all) Audis have a launch control feature for this purpose.

 

[Bamm1]

These are definitely the biggest concerns. Do you know if we'll even be able to brake boost it or will the electronics not allow it like in the Audi's ?

The only other application that uses a similar engine and transmission (the Edge Sport) allows you to brake boost without issue. So there is no reason to believe the Fusion Sport would have programming to prevent it.

It could be easily assessed on the test drive. When at a stop light, left foot brake and try to rev the engine.

Side note with the Edge Sport.

• Stock, a launch at ~1500 rpm seems to yield the best times.
• Tuned ~2200 rpm was best. Anything higher (~2300 rpm) resulted in 4 wheel spin and lower times.

And how's the suspension tuned?

Forgot about that. Impressions of the different suspension settings?

 

[escape]

Impressions of the different suspension settings?

Fusion Sport has multiple suspension settings?

 

[Brando632]

How does the exhaust sound?

 

[Bamm1]

Fusion Sport has multiple suspension settings?

Yes, it has adaptive dampeners that can be set at normal or sport. Similar to prior and current Lincoln models (MKZ, etc.).

 

[G82FS]

Unfortunately the car had not gone through PDI yet and I was unable to drive it so I can't answer a lot of the questions yet. The guy is going to call me as soon as it can be driven.

I did get to start it up and check out pretty much everything else though...

Exhaust note, on startup and idle it's pretty much silent. I didn't rev it at all.

I did not see any way to change the suspension settings.

There was no sign of any type of launch control.

The car was black but filthy and still had all of he shipping material on it so I didn't bother with pictures. The wheels looked good to me but I like the blacked out look personally. They did not look as dark in person but again, they were covered in dust so it was probably not an accurate representation.

I will post again after the drive but if there are any other questions let me know.

 

[G82FS]

I finally got to drive this last night, the local dealer was apparently not very motivated to get it out onto the lot for sale or something... I know a lot of people already have them now but here are my thoughts and answers to some of the questions after the drive.

Power, it does have it. Acceleration was very nice, I did not get to try a brake boost launch but just hitting the pedal from a light produced a good launch. Acceleration from 30 to 70 was really fast. Throttle response was good, the turbo does lag on a normal launch but it did seem very minor. Impossible to run through all of the launch scenarios in different modes on a short test drive.

Handling, a little loose for me. It is not a light car and I had hoped for a stiffer feel from the wheel. It is very responsive to the wheel but doesn't have what I would call a sporty feel. It hugged the corners well but that loose steering could cause understeer/oversteer.

Transmission/Shifting, what I would expect from a car going for MPG over performance. In normal mode it runs through the gears quickly and smoothly. In sport it hangs on a bit longer and you can feel it shift. The paddles were not very responsive except at high RPM. I am pretty sure it shifted for me when I hit redline but would have to try again to verify. A TCM tune would help a lot, hopefully someone can get one out there.

Suspension, very nice ride. Almost too smooth at times, which tells me the pothole mitigation must have been working well. The roads I took were not very nice and it was very smooth but I think it takes some of the "feel" of the road away. There is no way to adjust it unless that happens automatically when changing to sport mode. I could not get it to break the rear end loose at all. Pretty sure the AWD system would not let that happen. It would be worth trying to turn off the stability control but I could not do that on a test drive with a little old lady sales person...

Exhaust, very quiet. I am almost positive that what you hear when getting on it is "simulated" engine/exhaust noise. I cannot find anything to back that up but that is what it sounded like to me.

An ECM/TCM tune, Cold air intake and maybe some exhaust work would hopefully make a lot of difference in the areas I found lacking.

I was not quite as blown away as I had hoped to be but for the money it would be tough to find something that beats it. Personally, I am going to wait to see what the aftermarket has to offer in a few months before pulling the trigger.

 

[Bamm1]

An ECM/TCM tune, Cold air intake and maybe some exhaust work would hopefully make a lot of difference in the areas I found lacking.

I was not quite as blown away as I had hoped to be but for the money it would be tough to find something that beats it. Personally, I am going to wait to see what the aftermarket has to offer in a few months before pulling the trigger.

I think the folks on this forum would prefer a Fusion ST/RS and want the Sport to be as close to that “idea” as possible. But Ford is targeting shoppers in the market for V6 Camry's, Accords, etc. Those two customer bases are diametrically opposed. The V6 mid-size sedan buyer doesn’t want a stiffer ride, heavy steering, loud exhaust, intake noise, etc. The ST/RS group does. But there are far fewer members of that group. So Ford has to go where the sales take them. Ford is hoping the V6 mid-size sedan shopper will give up some fuel economy for class leading power.

 

[Fuze]

The only other application that uses a similar engine and transmission (the Edge Sport) allows you to brake boost without issue. So there is no reason to believe the Fusion Sport would have programming to prevent it.

It could be easily assessed on the test drive. When at a stop light, left foot brake and try to rev the engine.

Side note with the Edge Sport.

• Stock, a launch at ~1500 rpm seems to yield the best times.
• Tuned ~2200 rpm was best. Anything higher (~2300 rpm) resulted in 4 wheel spin and lower times.

Forgot about that. Impressions of the different suspension settings?

Nice, definitely gotta go for a quick test drive now Thank you for that info though

 

[Airflow]

I think the folks on this forum would prefer a Fusion ST/RS and want the Sport to be as close to that “idea” as possible. But Ford is targeting shoppers in the market for V6 Camry's, Accords, etc. Those two customer bases are diametrically opposed. The V6 mid-size sedan buyer doesn’t want a stiffer ride, heavy steering, loud exhaust, intake noise, etc. The ST/RS group does. But there are far fewer members of that group. So Ford has to go where the sales take them. Ford is hoping the V6 mid-size sedan shopper will give up some fuel economy for class leading power.

I think this is a great way to sum things up. Especially after reading initial owner reviews on here describing exhaust and steering.

 

[Kevin74]

I think this is a great way to sum
things up. Especially after reading initial owner reviews on here describing exhaust and steering.

I agree. If making this car appeal to a larger demographic was necessary for Ford to bring us this car, than so be it. I'm glad they did. It was stated here previously that even in this configuration Ford only expects the Sport to represent 5% of Fusion sales. I personally think it should do a bit better than that. So my long winded point here is if they actually made the car the way alot of us here want it, it would have to be priced higher to make a business case for Ford to build it. At least they gave us a good possibly great base to start from, at a reasonable price. As long as the AWD system and tranny can handle what I hope the aftermarket is going to give us, ala focus st, then we will all be satisfied customers don't you think?

 

[Kevin74]

Here's to hoping Ford Performance gets behind this car like they have the Focus ST, ie. larger intercooler, cat-back, downpipe, sport tuning, etc. All of these can be had from Ford Performance without effect to cars warranty. Are you listening Ford?

 

[ghodge]

I'm currently driving a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT after having owned a 2005 Volvo S60R. I had the pleasure of test driving a 2017 Ford Fusion Sport today. I'm down to either the Fusion Sport or putting in an order on a manual transmission 2017 Chevy SS.

So far it's looking to be a tough decision. The Fusion is quiet and mature, has all the goodies (Sync3 and Apple CarPlay), and comes in at a good price (I qualify for A-plan pricing). The big letdown for me was the softness in terms of part throttle and steering feel (light compared to my G8). This is going to be one tough decision. I'm looking at ~36K for the Fusion vs. ~50K for the SS. Is the 6.2L V8 with torque everywhere, manual transmission, RWD, and exclusivity worth the premium?

I loved my S60R and it was a tough decision to jump up in some ways and down in others to the G8. I feel like I'm making the same decision all over again. Unfortunately 2017 is going to be the last year for the Chevy SS as Australian production is shutting down and this may be my last chance for a manual RWD V8 that I can afford. The Charger no longer comes with a manual and it doesn't handle nearly as well as the G8/SS.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Brando632]

Have you priced an SS at a dealer? I've heard of them going for 5-10k off msrp because they just don't sell. Those may have been left over 2015's though. Used 2015's are $35k. The SS is probably a much more entertaining car, my only reservation is winter driving abilities. If that's not a concern for you, I'd say SS.

 

[BIG ACH]

Have you priced an SS at a dealer? I've heard of them going for 5-10k off msrp because they just don't sell. Those may have been left over 2015's though. Used 2015's are $35k. The SS is probably a much more entertaining car, my only reservation is winter driving abilities. If that's not a concern for you, I'd say SS.

Where are you saying this, I visited a Chevy dealer and they were going for 5-10K ABOVE msrp lol