Broadly speaking, family sedans are to sporty performance as Taco Bell is to gourmet. These four doors do a great job hauling middle America from point A to point B, but their general dullness pushes enthusiasts from suburbia into three car garages with space for a sports car. In a total about face from its previous efforts, Ford decided to create a family sedan aimed at drivers who relish corners.
Granted, the entire Fusion lineup isn’t about performance – it’s about mass-market appeal. But the Fusion had pretty good bones to start with, and unlike many so-called “sport†models, the Fusion Sport was intended from the get-go to be sufficiently unique. No minor effort here.
What is it?
Occupying a position in Ford ’s food chain once mastered by the Taurus, Fusion is Ford’s car for the everyman. It competes in the most difficult segment in the business, the midsize sedan range, where it must appeal to families in Fargo, teens in Tacoma, geriatrics in Grand Junction, salesmen in St. Louis and, of course, enthusiasts in Erie.
To accomplish this, Ford took the simple Fusion lineup offered from 2007 to 2009 and created three unique packages available in either Ford or Mercury (Milan) flavors. Starting at the bottom of the lineup, the Fusion offers traditional four or six-cylinder grunt, a comfort-oriented suspension and a rock bottom base price. Eco-conscious consumers can move on to the Hybrid, which offers a high-tech gasoline-electric powertrain capable of 41 mpg on the highway. And for enthusiasts who want the availability, affordability and low-profile positioning of the Ford badge, a performance-oriented Sport model rounds out the lineup. Sport trim isn’t offered on the Mercury Milan.
Rather than simply slap a spoiler on the deck lid and call it a day, Ford shoehorned in its 3.5-liter V6, dropped the neutral electric power steering in favor of a traditional hydraulic unit, lowered the suspension, slapped on 18 inch wheels and tossed in a set of bolstered front seats. And, yes, there’s a rear spoiler and a full bodykit. A six-speed automatic is the only transmission offered with a V6 in the Fusion.
Our tester also featured all-wheel-drive, which explains the lofty $32,075 as-tested price.
What’s it up against?
With power going to all four wheels and no availability of a row-it-yourself transmission, the Fusion Sport we sampled really only competes with the Subaru Legacy 3.6R, a true wolf in sheep’s clothing that we recently enjoyed testing.
Skip the AWD option and you could cross shop the Mazda Mazda6 S, Honda Accord V6 and Nissan Altima 3.5SE as more enthusiast-oriented midsize sedan rivals. Hyundai ’s upcoming Sonata 2.0T looks to shake up the segment, too, thanks to its impressive horsepower and fuel economy.
Any breakthroughs?
The basic formula isn’t anything new, although we applaud Ford’s more comprehensive attempt at making a sporty-feeling four-door sedan. Hardly short on features to play with, our as-tested Fusion Sport included such goodies as a rear view video camera, parking assist, blind spot monitoring and a 12-speaker Sony-branded audio system. This level of kit was once reserved only for premium brands and some of these goodies might help set the Fusion apart from some rivals.
That 3.5-liter V6 was first used in the Ford Edge and it’s related to the automaker’s much-ballyhooed twin-turbo, direct-injected EcoBoost.
How does it look?
The 2010 Fusion builds on its predecessor’s edgy shape with a number of refinements, although there is still no denying the basic simplicity of this sedan’s three-box shape. Viewed from the side, the Fusion’s upright greenhouse stands in contrast to the swoopy, aerodynamic shape you’ll find in, say, the Accord or Sonata.
Traditionalists also won’t find fault with the crisp lines and detailing Ford gave the Fusion for 2010. The three-bar chrome grille is larger but more tastefully integrated into the front fascia, while the flat tail features more premium-looking tail lamps than the chrome jobs offered before.
The Sport trim level specifies a good-looking set of 18-inch alloy wheels with Sport center caps and a modest body kit. We’d like to see the option of a more modern smaller rear lip spoiler, but at least the faux diffuser and twin chrome exhaust pipes are contemporary in appearance.
And on the inside?
Fusion’s interior reveals its close relation to the previous-generation Mazda Mazda6 . While Ford stretched the old 6′s platform and re-engineered its suspension, the Zoom-Zoomer’s narrow interior and upright seating position remain. Don’t get us wrong: We like the flat dashtop and great visibility, but the overall atmosphere – at least in terms of packaging – doesn’t feel as upscale or fresh as in some rivals.
Neither do the materials. Although Ford significantly upped its use of soft-touch plastics for this refreshed Fusion, hard plastics with an overly grained appearance aren’t tough to find. We like the contrasting stitching found on the seats and door panels, but easily rectified faults include a flimsy dashtop storage bin lid, a vinyl instead of leather-covered handbrake lever, cheesy overstyled gauges and rubbery door panel armrests. What’s forgivable at $21,000 is tough to ignore at this almost luxury-level price point.
But that’s not to say that the Fusion’s interior left us disgruntled overall. The perfectly padded front seats proved great highway companions, while Ford’s terrific new infotainment system offered lots of tech. The Sony audio system cranked out the tunes and we like the automaker’s Sync hands-free system more and more each time we encounter it. The center stack is like a family reunion of Ford switchgear with buttons galore, but everything is easy to sort after a brief acclimation.
The Fusion’s rear seat is among the roomiest and most comfortable in its class for two adults and the nicely finished trunk offers plenty of easily-accessible room compared to some of its oddly-shaped rivals.
But does it go?
The 3.5-liter V6, which has already done duty in the Edge crossover and the 2009 Lincoln MKZ , is a smooth and torquey unit that rarely left us wanting for more power. Although its output and performance pale compared to the EcoBoost V6 offered elsewhere in the Ford lineup, its 263 horsepower and 249 lb-ft. of torque ratings are good for the class and should leave few users complaining.
The six-speed automatic fired off rapid shifts during hard acceleration and it was quick to downshift when called upon. It offers a separate manual-style gate but no paddle-like shifters.
Unfortunately, there’s a hefty price to pay for selecting the Fusion Sport with all-wheel-drive: Lousy fuel economy. Rated at 17 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway, the Fusion Sport sips fuel like a much larger and more powerful sedan. We observed just 15 mpg in city use and never saw above 20 mpg in mixed driving. An extended highway drive revealed consumption closer to the 24 mpg mark. The faster and more urgent-feeling Legacy 3.6R is rated at 18/25 and get this: The EPA says that the Fusion Sport achieves a mere 1 mpg city and 2 mpg highway better than the much larger, much heavier and much more powerful Flex EcoBoost AWD.
Where Ford really got things right was in the Fusion Sport’s ride. Incredibly compliant – especially for riding on 18-inch alloy wheels – the Fusion responded to bumps and imperfections in the road in a BMW -like manner. Its structure felt solid as a rock – moreso than that pesky Legacy rival. While Ford has made strides in almost every area over the last few years, in few places does Dearborn’s hard work show through better than in the ride quality department.
Yet the Fusion Sport stopped short of feeling genuinely sporty when it came to slinging it through the corners. Although Ford swapped out the base Fusion’s electric steering setup for a traditional hydraulic system, the tiller felt grossly overboosted and too eager to return to center on twisty roads. Steering response was fast at low speeds and it was arrow straight on center at highway speeds, we would hardly say it helped the Fusion in the fun-to-drive department. That our all-wheel-drive Fusion’s responsive chassis and compliant suspension were so willing to play made things all the worse. Sometimes things are better the first time around; Mazda really got this platform’s steering and handling right on the first-generation Mazda6, which felt like a four-door Miata despite its front-wheel-drive origin.
The Fusion’s all-wheel-drive system never gave up grip, but the front-biased setup is clearly more aimed at slogging through a slushy Michigan winter than chomping away at switchbacks in the mountains. We haven’t spent much time in a front-wheel-drive Fusion Sport to compare, however.
Why you would buy it:
A sport-oriented American-branded midsize sedan is on your shopping list.
Why you wouldn’t:
You’re sad that you pop the hood and don’t find a pair of turbos.
Leftlane’s bottom line
Ford’s thorough rehash of the Fusion has obviously resonated with consumers; sales continue to break monthly records without forcing the automaker to rely on resale-killing incentives like so many rivals. We understand the appeal – the Fusion is a comfortable, contemporary car that brings a tremendous amount of value to the table.
We applaud Ford for thoroughly rethinking the basic Fusion to create the Fusion Sport, but we were hoping for just a little more. There’s not much wrong with this basic package that the company’s EcoBoost V6 and a little work on the steering couldn’t fix. Such a Fusion would certainly be an accurate modern interpretation of the original Taurus SHO. The ride quality is top notch and the structure is rock solid, but all it needs is a little tweaking to be a real performance sedan. Come on, Ford! Do it!
2010 Ford Fusion Sport AWD base price, $28,355. As tested, $32,075.
Package 402A, $2,995; Destination, $725.
Words and photos by Andrew Ganz.
