Dang that blows. Oh well at least it will arrive with the new complete redesign.

Yuk. Ford is going back to the Mondeo platform for the Fusion? The only glimmer of hope is that they might not make it in Mexico.

340 hp in a Ford!?

wow..

The Fusion is NOT a performance platform. This is like adding 340 horsepower to a Civic — what use is the extra power if you can’t steer it, stop it or control it.

It can be delayed, I justdon’t wanty it dropped.
Palin is MILFy, but the Obamster is still No. 1!

340 hp in a Fusion, thats an offensive waste. Price tag of 45k and you have a great product.

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that read NOT^

Hard core SHO fans may disagree, but this is one of the smarter decisions to come out of the Ford camp lately. It’s been over 15 years since the first SHO- the only one that mattered- so waiting a little longer shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

it’s like adding 340 horsepower to a civic, or an impreza… OH WAIT.

But how porky will it be? The 3.0L model is just under 3300 lbs. Add some weight for AWD. Plus Ford switches from Al to Fe engine blocks whenever they apply forced induction, so add some more weight there. There ain’t no free lunch, and this thing isn’t as good as it sounds until it’s done. Could end up as Ford’s version of today’s GTO — powerful motor, but fugly and fat as hell.

torquemonster: indeed. The last thing people want are great-sounding numbers on paper but anemic performance on the blacktop. Here’s hoping Ford will do something drastic to keep the weight in check…

Jordan, you’re an idiot. Anyone who’d put a Civic and an Impreza in the same sentence has the collective car knowledge of the neanderthals from the Geico ads.

I always have to own up to the fact, prior to contributing my two cents here, that I am not the most knowledgeable party vis-a-vis cars; however, I have followed the Fusion with interest for a few years now. One of the things I have gleaned is that most reviewers note that the Fusion is actually quite sporty in terms of steering. This was attributed in large part to Ford’s association with Mazda and, correct me if I am wrong, some commonalities between the lower-line Mazdas and the Fusion. It sounds good to hear that Ford will be dropping in an engine with more horsepower that so many car enthusiasts have listed as a must to really carve out a niche for the Fusion; yet, I remember that the reviews I have read have noted that putting in a larger/more powerful engine would undoubtedly change the driving characteristics of the Fusion. It would be awesome if the Fusion was able to increase its power performance stats, but I just hope it is not at the cost of losing some of the maneuverability that was one of the areas auto-reviewers said the Fusion stood out in.

On another note, one person has already noted that the Fusion is not a performance platform and that is true. However, having spent some time in a friend’s WRX STI back in college, I do not think the Fusion need compete with performance cars. Please do not misunderstand me, the WRX was fast and I loved the sound of the engine. Yet, I also remember being extremely underwhelmed by the quality of the non-performance parts. The WRX was loud, not that comfortable, the fit-and-finish left much to be desired and everything seemed to shake more than I would like my car to. Of course, people who just want performance quite rightly love vehicles like the one I have just described. There is also a great market, though, for cars with a little performance combined with some amenities (think a poor-man’s Beamer-just enough performance and amenities without the price tag). And there are others of us who just enjoy pocket-rockets, wolves in sheeps’ clothing or whatever other term you might use. Is the Fusion GT likely to be as surprising as the BMW 2002 was? Perhaps not, but it will still surprise a few folks on the highway.

What the Fusion needs is a redesign. Then they can worry about 340 hp engines. The average loser who is interested in buying this as their daily ride doesn’t care about horsepower, only a cheap sensible ride. Someone who wants 340 hp and performance sure as hell isn’t going to consider a hopped-up ****box like the Fusion.

Taurus SHO’s were great and im pretty sure this will be AWD so id imagine itll be pretty mean

@ Deanstertj

The Fusion is going in for a redesign for the 2010 MY, I like the new grill and headlamps. Also looks like they may go back to red tail lamps too. But for you comment “Someone who wants 340 hp and performance sure as hell isn’t going to consider a hopped-up ****box like the Fusion.” Have you driven a Fusion? What makes it a ****box? Is it the 5 star crash ratings? The better then Toyota or Honda quality? ya that must be it. There is nothing like a nice 4 door sedan with performance parts. Not all of us want a 2 door low slung car for their daily driver.

Matter of fact, I still drive my 96 Mercury Mystique with the SVT 2.5 motor in it and 5spd manual (You can easily upgrade this to a 3.0L from the Taurus or Escape). The main reason, I can’t get a manual trans in a Fusion. With 3 small kids to drive around, I need a car like this.

Also, 340hp in a AWD Fusion would be AWESOME! No torque steer there baby. A 6sp manual is the only thing I would make mandatory. Also, by the time the 2012 model comes they would have planned for the Ecoboost so you know that chassis upgrades would be involved.

TeamFordCrapDotCom, go **** yourself. Your opinion is void re: your idiotic handle.

Who is ford trying to compete with. Subaru? Mitsubishi? Nice joke. It might seem fast on paper but in the real world it is going to do terrible in comparison.

LIONWITHOUTPRIDE, how you managed to work a BMW 2002 into a discussion about a SHO Fusion is beyond me…

I wasn’t clear enough on my point. The Fusion and Mondeo platforms are not performance platforms — that has nothing to do with the level of luxury, fit and finish etc; it has to do with the actual frame geometry, suspension pickup points, weight distributions and the engineering that makes up those platforms. There is a reason that a $40,000 Lotus Elise with 198hp can ream the **** out of $68,000 Porsches and Corvettes on a track, even with 1/2 the horsepower, and that’s because the platform supports the suspension, traction, slip angles and other elements which make it perform. The Fusion and Mondeo are just econobox frames engineered to be quick to assemble and cheap to make, and to fit a broad range of uses and types — jack of trades, master of none. To equate a 340hp Fusion with something like a 330ci or M3 just isn’t a realistic picture, because the BMW 3-series IS a race-proven performance platform, while the Fusion and Mondeo are not. I can jack up the HP in a Taurus all day, and it might win me a stoplight drag or two, but when it comes time to turn a corner or stop that power, then the weakness shows itself. Then it becomes the SRT-4 Mopar Stage Three, which is an awesome little rocket until you turn a corner and the front left wheel spins while the front right goes slack, or the torque steer shakes the wheel from your hand on exiting the turn. Adding AWD would not solve the Fusion’s problem, because I’ve never driven a domestic AWD system that was not complete and utter crap; only Subaru, Audi and Acura get that right.

Deanster, go bend over for your Honda tailpipe!
You don’t like Ford fine, but don’t call it a ****box. I hate Honda cars, but I don’t call ‘em ****boxes. And Team Ford is right, Fusion is recommended buy, unlike Camry.

02WRX,
don’t forget that Ford partially owns Mazda and owns Volvo, so I don’t think making proper AWD Fusion would be a big challenge for Ford.
I know I can’t compare Ford to BMW, but they both at some point owned (Land) Rover. So, here’s one more reason for Ford to make proper AWD, after all BMW come up with X5 with Hill Descent Control, borrowing it from Rover.

02WRXPSM . . . I am perfectly willing to own that my knowledge of cars is vastly inferior to your own; however, you did not address my point (and I would hazard we are both going to continue to miss one another’s points). I am fairly sure I mentioned that the Fusion would not need to compete with the sports engineered machines you are talking about. The point of more horsepower in a Fusion would be that the top of the line model has something like 221 horses and folks have regularly commented that that simply is not enough, even for their daily runaround (that seems to be the consensus in the reviews I have read). So, the point of more horses in THIS car, which supposedly already out-handles pretty much everything else in the class, is to make it a class leader and a wolf/sheep (a car that goes a lot faster than you would expect-that does NOT mean it is the fastest thing on the road). And that brings me full circle to the BMW 2002 . . . the BMW 2002ti and tii were both wolf/sheeps or sleepers (whatever you might wish to call them). My dad bought his BMW 2002 when he was in the Air Force and stationed in England. When he imported the car to the states, in his own words, “I think I had the first BMW in lower Delaware.” And one of dad’s fondest memories is of a radio program in which a Corvette owner called in to ask what the “shoebox on wheels was” that kept speeding up behind him and flashing its lights for the Corvette to speed up (which the Corvette did repeatedly, to no avail, and the Beamer ended up whizzing by him at some point). Apparently, with much laughter, the radio host informed the Corvette driver: That was a BMW 2002. Now, imagine if you were someone who was driving a souped up little car and suddenly were surprised to find that the Fusion you tried to burn off the line is pretty much keeping up with you. The driver of that Fusion is taking a little pleasure in driving his sleeper. And that, my friend, is the long and painful logic that brought the BMW 2002s into my comment!

Mazda and Volvo just use off-the-shelf Haldex systems which are mostly FWD-biased. The AWD in the XC90 is almost 90% FWD unless you are in stability-control mode (not user selectable).

I get it, Lion. I loved the 2002, it was a great car. Perhaps we can get a 340hp Fusion and a 268hp Camry to have a “battle of the sleepers.”

The mondeo is a good car for handling etc, with the right mods suspension wise, a 340bhp Mondeo would make sense… with AWD… as FWD, no point.

Now RWD in a decent sized Ford sedan would rock… oh wait, the Aussies do that already, with LSD, brembo 6 pot brakes and good trannys… Hmm… and its cheap.

09/03, 11:31 AMposted by:teamfordpartsdotcom
@ Deanstertj

The Fusion is going in for a redesign for the 2010 MY, I like the new grill and headlamps. Also looks like they may go back to red tail lamps too. But for you comment “Someone who wants 340 hp and performance sure as hell isn’t going to consider a hopped-up ****box like the Fusion.” Have you driven a Fusion? What makes it a ****box? Is it the 5 star crash ratings? The better then Toyota or Honda quality? ya that must be it. There is nothing like a nice 4 door sedan with performance parts. Not all of us want a 2 door low slung car for their daily driver.

Matter of fact, I still drive my 96 Mercury Mystique with the SVT 2.5 motor in it and 5spd manual (You can easily upgrade this to a 3.0L from the Taurus or Escape). The main reason, I can’t get a manual trans in a Fusion. With 3 small kids to drive around, I need a car like this.

Also, 340hp in a AWD Fusion would be AWESOME! No torque steer there baby. A 6sp manual is the only thing I would make mandatory. Also, by the time the 2012 model comes they would have planned for the Ecoboost so you know that chassis upgrades would be involved.

So….how much overtime are you doing for Ford????lol