Greetings, denizens of the Dope. I seek wisdom and counsel regarding the purchase of a new automobile.
Some background : I live in West Virginia. As such, I have to deal with hills, and snow. I currently drive a 2004 Ford Ranger, and have been pleased with its service, but I am looking to switch to something in a four-door sedan form factor. I seek fuel economy, safety, and comfort at a reasonable price.
I don’t care a whit about status or perceived luxury.
My eye is currently gazing towards the Ford Fusion, but I wanted to solicit some feedback from the collective wisdom of the internet. Namely :
[ul]
[li]Are there other sedans that people would recommend more than the Ford Fusion?[/li][li]If I go with the Fusion, is the Hybrid option worth it?[/li][li]Are there incredible online resources for new car buyers to check out vehicles that I must be made aware of?[/li][/ul]
The Ranger was my first new vehicle purchase, and I got it because the used vehicle I was driving before that was also a Ranger, thus I was accustomed to it. So, I didn’t really do any research.
If snow is an issue, you may want to consider a Subaru. Almost all are all-wheel drive. The Subaru Legacy is in the same class as the Fusion. Here’s a comparison of the two vehicles:
I just noticed that the 2014 Fusion has an option for all wheel drive. There you go!
Subaru has a reputation for being rugged. I wonder if the new Fusion will be as good over the long haul. I do like the look of the new Fusion though; Much nicer than the Legacy.
Wife’s car is a Subaru Outback. She absolutely loves it! (Me, I’m not so convinced, but when mama’s happy … )
Hybrids still don’t “pay for themselves”. And I mentioned on another thread that my son-in-law’s employer, a major grocery store chain, dumped their Toyota Prius fleet in favor of the Ford Fusion (not hybrid) as a cost saving move.
If you haven’t been car shopping lately be prepared for some sticker shock. You are going to get far more features as standard equipment, but you’ll be hard pressed to find much of anything for under $20,000.
Being in West Virginia rules out some of the more exotic brands. I own a Fiat and while it was in for its annual service they “told” me to try out their new 500L 4-door. Really nice, priced right, but my wife would kill me if I bought another car.
Good luck. In the final analysis, drive what you like and like what you drive. 9 or 10 years is a long time to drive your second choice.
The Fusion Hybrid isn’t available with all-wheel-drive. So you really can’t make a fair comparison between the two. What’s more important, gas milage or all-wheel-drive? If you’ve gotten by with front wheel drive and haven’t felt the need for more then …
While I cannot speak for snow performance (although aside from AWD, it will be the tires that make all the difference) but the Fusion is an exceptional automobile and a tremendous value.
Ooooo, Ooooo … You really need to look at the Subaru Cross Trek XV. Great looks, all-wheel-drive, sits up a bit higher so the transition from truck to car won’t be all that radical. I’m assuming you’re in your 30’s? It has the looks! Doesn’t look like a grandma’s car.
Don’t get me wrong, the Fusion is as advertised – best in its class, but the class is vanilla. O.K. it’s better than a Corola/Camery, Civic/Accord, Elantra/Sonata, etc. but for $20K plus it’s not exactly exciting. Same money gets you a Forrester or Cross-Trek.
We bought my husband Fusion hybrid last fall and love it. We get a bit of snow up here in Michigan, but the front wheel drive handles it just fine. At least our snow and ice just lays flat, might be more difficult where you’re at.
I saw one article that claimed five year cost to own was around $2K cheaper for the hybrid vs the regular fusion, but so much depends on how you drive it. He moved from a 95 Ranger to this and is still in shock a year later at how little time he spends at the gas station, but going truck to sedan is always a huge difference. He averages around 43 mpg, with a daily mix of half freeway and half city driving.
I seem to recall that getting the hybrid version bumped us up into a higher trim package than we might have chosen otherwise. If you’re really not into bells and whistles, and wouldn’t have wanted those features, it might be worth not getting the hybrid since the regular one is much cheaper. But at nearly twice the mpg, the turn around time for the hybrid investment is projected at 4 years of ownership or so. Since we planned on driving this for a good long time, it was worth it for us to buy the hybrid, ymmv.
Well, on the Hybrid option - I see conflicting information as to whether or not it pays for itself (via gas savings and tax credits). Also, I imagine the cost to replace the battery is hefty - or is that covered in the warranty?
Whether it pays for itself generally depends on how much driving you do and usually how much city driving specifically since that’s where you get the most advantage from the hybrid system. The 2013 actually claims the same city and highway mileage, but I think Ford has been somewhat criticized for their new hybrids not living up to that in most driving conditions. Also keep in mind for comparison the non-hybrid Fusion has three engine options: the ancient 2.5L which is basically for cheapskates and rental fleets, the turbo 2.0L which comes in the AWD and is the “performance” engine, and the turbo 1.6L which is probably the engine most real people would actually want. The 1.6L is probably most comparable to the hybrid in terms of performance and it looks like at least with what people are reporting at www.fueleconomy.gov they’re pretty close in terms of what people are actually getting in the real world.
I’m not sure about the Fusion specifically, but long term experience with the Prius has shown that the batteries essentially last the life of the car, or at least as long as an engine or transmission. It’s not that they never go out, but they do so infrequently enough that (once you’re out of warranty) there’s a good supply of used battery packs out of wrecked cars.
The new Fusion is the next generation of the global Mondeo, which was a Ford of Europe design going back since the dawn of time. It will be good over the long haul.
Signed for a 2013 Ford Fusion S yesterday, got $6500 in trade for my 04 Ranger. It’s going to take some getting used to how smoothly the Fusion drives…