In a Nutshell: The best domestic-nameplate competition yet for Subaru and VW AWD mid-sized cars, but, like the Saturn Aura, needs more work with both the steering gear and interior headroom.

After several different models and concepts shown off at the auto show circuit (and much criticism in the auto world for too much attention to trucks/SUV's and too little attention to its passenger-car line-up), Ford Introduced both the mid-sized Fusion/Milan/Zephyr triplets and the larger, borderline-full-size Five Hundred/Montego twins as replacements to the long-running (and quite popular) Taurus/Sable lineup. In fact, the Taurus and Sable nameplates have returned as Ford recently re-named the Five Hundred/Montego with the Taurus/Sable names again.....something that I was opposed to but which Ford says should improve their sales.

The Fusion/Milan/Zephyr (since renamed the MKS) were introduced amid the usual hoopla accompanying new models (I reviewed one of the first Zephyrs to go on sale in the DC area). They were generally rated highly by the automotive press at the time, though I thought the Zephyr's ride was too stiff for a car with the Lincoln nameplate (something that has been rectified on the Fusion AWD I drove today). Surprisingly, and quite unusual for an all-new domestic-nameplate design, the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr got excellent reliability ratings from both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power in its first year. However, unlike their larger Five Hundred/Montego cousins, which had an AWD/CVT option from the start (I also reviewed a Five Hundred AWD), the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr triplets were at first introduced with FWD only, so the stellar reliability associated with them may or may not apply to the new AWD versions which are less than a year old... only time will tell; these new AWD versions do not have enough reliability data yet for a database. It is worth noting, however, that Ford-designed AWD vehicles, on the average, have traditionally been less reliable than FWD/RWD ones... but the stellar reliability of the previous FWD Fusion is a good omen, and gives at least some confidence that AWD models will also be better than average, if not as good as the FWD ones, which, according to Consumer Reports, have rivalled the Camry and Accord in overall reliability.

Also, unlike the larger Five Hundred/Montego, the Fusion/Milan/Zephyr triplets did not introduce their AWD models this year with a CVT like the Five Hundred/Montego did a few years ago. (That CVT was only good for about 200 HP or so, and was the main reason Ford used the much-criticized 203 HP V6 on those cars, which gathered criticism, even from mild-mannered Consumer Reports, as underpowered). The new 2007 and 2008 Five Hundred/Montego AWD models have a larger engine and a conventional 6-speed automatic instead...the old engine and CVT is gone. The Fusion, in contrast, did not use the CVT for its AWD, the conventional 6-speed automatic was used from the start.

For a brief overview of the new 2007-2008 Fusion, three FWD-only versions are offered with a 2.3L in-line 4.....S, SE, and SEL. An I-4 SE Appearance package is avaliable with sport-trim, but it is more show than go as it does not affect the engine or underpinnings. Four V6 models are offered: SE FWD, SE AWD, SEL FWD, and SEL AWD. All 2.3L four versions offer a choice of manual or 5-speed automatic; 3.0L V6 versions get a 6-speed automatic only. All-season tires come with S and SE 2.3L models and the SE FWD/AWD V6; V6 models get V-rated ones. Both 2.3L and 3.0L SEL models have high-performance V-rated 17" tires, but the literature is unclear whether all-seasons are an option on SEL models (personally, I would opt for them if they did). Traction control is sold only with AWD....why, I have no idea, especially since AWD lessens the need for it compared to FWD models. Another unnecessary marketing restriction, IMO, is no manual transmission with the V6 or AWD, but perhaps that can be justified by lack of a potential customer base for it... most customers today, in fact, do want automatics. And Ford's refusal to sell four-cylinder models with AWD may be a smart move... the V6 was adequate for the drag and weight of the car with automatic and AWD but was no Friday-night drag-strip machine. It's a machine for relatively sedate driving, power-wise, although the well-engineered chassis and suspension, even with non-high-performance tires, seemed capable of handling more power (more on that below).

Only one body style is offered, a foor-door sedan. Personally, I'd like to see a wagon version offered, similiar to the Outbacks and Ford's own larger FWD/AWD Freestyle, but the Ford marketers apparantly decided not to go that route. But, marketing complaints aside, this is a good, well-rounded car that, if the reliability holds up on the AWD models as well as on the previous FWD ones, should give the AWD sedan shopper a good domestic competitor to AWD kings like the Subaru Legacy and Outback. As this is being written, Ford is starting to convert its plants over to 2008 production, so if you want to order one special, you may not be able to get 2007's any more... but the Ford people say that changes for 2008 will be minimal. But, 2007 or 2008, many people may have to buy this car it without the sunroof. Why? read on.

Now, let's look at this car in detail:

Model Reviewed: 2007 Ford Fusion SE V6 AWD

Base Price: $22,730

Major Options:

Power Moonroof: $795
Rear Spoiler: $295
Anti-Lock Brakes (Required with AWD): $595
Power Exterior Heated Mirrors: $35
Destination and Delivery: $700

List Price as Reviewed: $25,150

Drivetrain: 3.0L transverse-mounted Duratec V6, 221 HP @ 6250 RPM, torque 205 ft.lbs @ 4800, 6-speed automatic transmission,
Full-time Active AWD system.

Exterior Color: Black Clearcoat

Interior: Camel Cloth Buckets


PLUSSES:

Excellent J.D. Power and Consumer Reports reliability ratings for previous FWD models.

Bargain price for a V6, mid-sized AWD passenger-car.

Smooth, quiet engine.

Buttery-smooth transmission.

Good ride/handling combination for a family sedan, with minimal body roll.

Well-done brakes.

150,000-mile tune-up interval.

Well-done paint job.

Classy paint colors.

Plush-feeling interior suede fabric upholstry.

Near-perfect primary and secondary dash gauges

Generally good interior hardware.

Silky-feeling turn-signal lever.

Solid-sounding and solid-feeling doors.

Well-designed steering wheel.

Plush, well-finished trunk lining.

Clever, convienent rear-seat fold-down lever.

Classy taillights.

Simple, no-nonsense fore-and-aft shift lever....no ziz-zag stuff.

Nice stereo.

Steering wheel both tilts and telescopes (manually).


MINUSES:

V6 engine adequate for the job but not a powerhouse.

Extremely tight fit of V6 engine underhood.

Tinny-feeling hood has prop rod instead of struts.

Poorly designed ignition switch and key.

Compact, temporary spare tire.

Rigidly attached outside mirrors do not fold or swivel.

Sunroof robs far too much headroom, especially in the rear seat.

Manual climate control and headlight switches unpleasant to use.

Unusual Feast-or-Famine power-steering effort.

Manual transmission not available with V6 or AWD.

Rear-view mirror in windshield blocks forward view for tall drivers.

No wagon version available like Subaru's Legacy/Outback (but Legacy wagons and Outback sedans will be dropped for 2008).

Wood trim restricted to SEL Camel-color interiors only.

Traction Control not usually needed with AWD but is a forced option.


The first impression of this car, as you walk up to it, especially in the front end, is that it does belong in the Ford family. The grille and headlights are somewhat, but not strongly, reminiscent of the larger Five Hundred (now Taurus), and vaguely remind one of the decades-old Ford Galaxie/LTD of 1965 and 1966. it is a rather pleasantly-styled car, with graceful lines, curves, and classy, triangular chrome and clear-face taillights like the ones on the Lexus IS300 and customized Accords. The bodywork is generally well-done, with a solid feel on the doors and trunk, although the hood feels a little tinny, does not shut with a solid thud, and does not have struts....you prop it up with a rod. The outside hardware is generally well-done and solid-feeling; I was fairly well impressed with all of it except for the rigidly-attached side mirrors that do not fold or swivel.....an obvious cost-cutting feature, despite the arguments of auto manufacturers that this type of design cuts down on wind noise by eliminating cracks for wind to whistle through. Heated mirrors are only a $35 option, though (my test car had them). The paint work was quite well done (Ford, like Hyundai, has shown enormous improvement in paint quality in the last several years....Dodge/Chrysler, take note) with almost no orange peel, smooth, even coats, and a nice gloss. While there are some of the usual dull, funeral-home paint colors, (and, IMO, too many grays and silvers), there are also, like on some other Ford products, some classy shades like Dark Blue Pearl, Dark Amethyst, Merlot, and Redfire. My money, without question, would go for the Dark Amethyst....I am a real junkie for automotive purple of almost any kind.

Up front, the sideways-mounted V6 engine fits in the space underhood tighter than Rosie O'Donnell in a size 10... and the rough-looking aluminum on the valve covers is just about as physically attractive. I was concerned about the tight engine fit, and the potential lack of space for air circulation, being a potential source of engine overheating, like it was on many 3.8L Tauruses, but the Ford people say this is not the case, and I can't find much evidence in Consumer Reports or J.D. Power to support that either... these cars have been quite reliable, at least in FWD versons. At least the engine doesn't have one of those big, idiotic plastic covers over it like so many cars do nowadays, so you can reach some things on top of the engine if you need to. Getting the rear spark plugs out could be a problem for tune-ups, but since that is done only at factory-recommended 150,000 miles, it is of little note even if they get so burned onto the engine block by that mileage that they are almost impossible to loosen... 150,000 miles is about the average life of a Ford-designed engine these days, so by the time you are ready for a tune-up, you will probably be ready for a new car anyway. And perhaps Ford doesn't use those plastic engine covers on the Fusion V6 for a reason....combined with the super-tight engine fit, those covers probably WOULD make the engine overheat.

The trunk is quite nicely finished, with plush gray carpeting covering both the floor and the inside of the lid. A clever pull-switch on the upper-right side of the trunk releases the rear-seat half and drops it down without having to stretch and crane to reach it. The trunk is decent-sized for a mid-sized sedan and will hold a fair amount of cargo, and like most vehicles today, has the child-oriented emergency inside releases. it also has a wagon-style black plastic/vinyl coat on the loading lid so you don't scuff the paint up loading it. Unfortunately, pull up the nice gray carpet and panel on the floor, and instead of a nice real spare tire, you have to make do with a typical compact temporary one.....typical of lower-priced cars these days.

Get in, close the rather solid-feeling doors, and you'll find that the car has big strengths....and big weaknesses. Up front, the firm seats are comfortable and have very plush-feeling beige suede upholstery. In fact, I was far more impressed with them than I was with the cheap-looking and cheap-feeling Navajo leather in both the BMW X3 and X5... both considerably more expensive vehicles than a Fusion. There is plenty of leg and foot room, but sunroof-equipped models, as my test-car was, rob more than the usual share of headroom. With my big, heavy, 6' 2" frame and ubiquitous baseball cap, I had to adjust the power-lower cushion seat down all the way and crank in some of the manually-adjusted seatback rake to get my head to fit in without brushing the ceiling. (The rear-seat was even worse...more on that shortly).

The instrument panel, on the whole, is superbly done, with near-perfection in the design of the simple, round, clear, gauges for legibility. The only change I would make, from a readability point of view, would be to have the speedometer in 10-MPH increments instead of 20...I don't like the numbers every 20 MPH. The controls and switches are mostly of good, solid hardware (this is another area that Ford has made big strides in lately), and the turn-signal switch has a Honda and Lexus-silky feel to it. Like most American and European-designed cars, the headlight switch is a round knob on the dash to the left of the wheel...this one was not pleasant to turn, and had sharp ridges on it. Ditto for some (not all) of the rather simple climate-control knobs in the lower part of the center-dash. I missed my wood trim in this model....Ford only offers it in the SEL model, but the interior was fairly attractive even without it. NAV is available as an option in all but the base S model. The steering wheel was well-designed (leather-covered in the SEL, vinyl on the others) and did not block the view to the gauges.... again, I was far more impressed with this wheel than with the one on the considerably more expensive Acura MDX. The stereo, considering the car's moderate price tag, was well-done and had a good sound.

In the rear seat, there are some real headroom problems, despite the relatively high, sedan roofline. The seats of course, have the same plush-feel beige suede cloth as the fronts, and are relatively comfortable with good legroom, but headroom, like on the competing Saturn Aura, is just awful for people over about 5' 8" or so. That sunroof takes out a LOT of that rear-seat headroom. Even taking off my always-present baseball cap still left me with my head pushed hard up against the ceiling and my chin forced forward and down against my upper chest. And there is not much you can do about it, since, as expected in a car of this class, the rear-seats don't recline like they do on premium and high-priced cars. Though the sunroof is obviously at least partly to blame, it may also be a factor in the rear-seat design and padding....this, IMO, is something Ford needs to work on in the next-generation sunroof-equipped Fusion. Another thing they need to work on is better placement for the rear-view mirror on the windshield... its location blocks a substantial part of the view out the windshield for taller persons.


OK...time to start her up. Another weakness is the design of the the ignition switch... on the column, sideways, behind the wheel instead of on the dash, and the design of the key itself (Ford has the push-button ignition on the new Edge, but not on most other models). The key has all the black door and trunk buttons, AND the red alarm button, mounted up on the face of the key itself instead of on a little case (or key fob) hanging from the key. So, tf you aren't careful while twisting the key, you could open or close the trunk, doors... or set the horn alarm off with the red panic button at 3 AM while your neighbors are sleeping. One more thing Ford needs to address in the next-generation Fusion. Twist the key carefully, however, and the 3.0L Duratec v6 fires up smoothly and silently....almost Lexus-quiet. Slip the nice, solid-feeling, fore-and-aft shifter back into Drive (none of that zig-zag-shift nonsense here) and the car has enough acceleration to get out of its own way, but don't plan on Friday night drag races at the track. The weight and drag of the automatic and AWD (manuals, remember, are not available with the V6), and the rather meager torque output for a V6 give adequate power for normal driving but not for spirited runs. The engine and transmission, however, are both butter-smooth... this drivetrain, refinement-wise, could pass for that in the AWD Lexus RX350.


The ride/handling combination is quite nice, especially with the smoother-riding all-season tires of the S and SE models. While not Town-Car smooth, the ride is supple with the 60-series tires, and most road imperfections and bumps are soaked up pretty well. Road and wind noise levels are generally low (the non-folding mirrors? ) . The handling, especially considering the comfort level, is quite good, with good steering response, agility, and lack of body roll. This is is a sign of good chassis engineering, and IMO, this chassis could handle more power than the engine currently gives it without letting things get out of hand. There's only one fly in the handling ointment... but it is a significant one. The power steering effort is rather strange in its feel. Again, like the Saturn Aura (an Opel design rather than Saturn) , it is loose-feeling right off-center, but as soon as you start to turn it a couple of inches... BANG.... the steering effort suddenly increases sharply, and you have to really tug it while cornering. I don't know if this is a function of the AWD hardware up front, the way the power-steering pump is valved and boosted, or simply a tire characteristic, but IMO this is something else for Ford to work on. The steering needs a more consistent feel as you turn the wheel left and right.

What doesn't need any work are the brakes, which are smooth, quick, and responsive, without any annoying sponginess in the pedal or tendency for the pedal to catch big shoes like mine. The brakes on this car feel more or less like those of a typical German sport sedan.

So... the overall verdict?

Ford, in the AWD Fusion, has come up with a good and legitimate domestic competitor to Subaru and VW AWD sedans (primarily the Legacy and Passat 4Motion). It is generally well-built, has a well-designed interior and gauges/controls, good chassis engineering and brakes, plush seating, a Lexus-smooth drivetrain, good taste in the exterior design, and, with the superb reliability record so far of the FWD models, the hope of good reliability for the new AWD models as well. If the interior and equipment of of the upmarket SEL version does
not please you, there is always the more expensive Mercury and Lincoln versions as well. The Lincoln MKS version has an interior, particularly in beige, that will knock your socks off.

But the basic design still needs some work. The power-steering gear, and its interaction with the AWD system, needs refining; the rear-seat headroom with the sunroof, for a sedan, is a joke: and the ignition key needs a normal fob, with the buttons away from the key itself. While power is adequate, a few more horses certainly wouldn't hurt. And Ford, IMO needs to correct several marketing mistakes with body styles and equipment options.

Next planned review: Hyundai Veracruz.