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Ford is finally beginning to break away from its competition with some of the best FE_in the business. (cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=179110)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Ford_Fusion_Sport.jpgWayne Gerdes – CleanMPG (CleanMPG.com) – Jan. 9, 2009

2010 Ford Fusion (non-hybrid) – 23/34 mpgUS city/highway and 28mpgUS combined on the 08 EPA.

Detroit – The Ford Fusion is now America’s most fuel efficient mid-size sedan for both hybrid and conventional gasoline models.

Ford today announced that new 2.5L Ford Fusion S with Ford’s new 6-speed Automatic Transmission has been rated at 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city. The news follows on the heels of the Ford Fusion Hybrid’s stunning 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway. Pricing for the Fusion S Base model was reported to be $20,870 plus D&H.

By comparison, the 2009 Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, both w/ Auto’s, are rated at 24 and 25 mpgUS combined respectively on the 08 EPA.

“Take your pick: Whether you want a gas-powered or hybrid mid-sized sedan, the new Fusion offers the best fuel economy in America,” said Barb Samardzich, Ford’s vice president of Powertrain Engineering. “We promised to offer best-in-class or among the very best fuel economy with every new vehicle we introduce, and we are making good on that pledge with hybrids, new high-tech gasoline engines, new six-speed transmissions and other fuel efficient technologies.”

No fuel economy estimates of the manual transmission equipped 2010 Fusion were released.

"Ford is finally beginning to break away from its competition with some of the best FE_in the business."

Finally... A beneficial way to "break away from the competition". When the Wee Three in Detroit start running ads where the numbers listed in the ad represent MPG instead of horsepower, 0 to 60 times, or quarter mile times, we will know that they really "get it".

Other manufacturers won't let this acheivement stand for long, and they will follow suit with their own powertrain mods in the quest for best FE. In the last year, we've seen GM roll out XFE versions of the Cobalt and Silverado/Tahoe and Ford preview the SFE version of their F150. The results have been incremental, but definitely heading in the right direction. Imagine what they could do if they wanted to skew their designs further toward top fuel economy. Hyundai has their "Blue" series in the works, and I'm interested in seeing the real-world results of those models.

The increased competition from the US and South Korea will not go unnoticed by Honda/Toyota/Nissan/Mazda, so we can expect to be impressed by their vehicle tweaks, too.

I'm very encouraged by this news.

There is an article on MotorTrend.com comparing the Fusion and Camry hybrids. Under (what they call) normal driving, the Fusion returned virtually identical mpg figures as the Camry. Both cars were driven in a similar manor. However, they wrote "both cars ability to snare low-40 mpg results in the city if driven in hyper-mileage mode."

A link to the article:

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/112_0901_2010_ford_fusion_hybrid_2009_toyota_camry_hybrid/index.html

It's great to hear an American company like Ford is offering a nice looking car with best in class fuel efficiency. I'm surprised that the Japanese companies have appeared to become complacent since they are normally the ones known to have more fuel efficient models. I'm looking forward to hearing more fuel efficient models from both Ford and GM. I'm not so sure if Chrysler will still be around before they finally start releasing some higher quality fuel efficient vehicles.

Something very interesting in the specs.

The compression ratio for both cars is 12.3 and 12.5 to 1.

RECOMMENDED FUEL Regular unleaded :eek:

Something very interesting in the specs.

The compression ratio for both cars is 12.3 and 12.5 to 1.

RECOMMENDED FUEL Regular unleaded :eek:

The compression ratio is likely the physical compression ratio, with the Atkinson cycle lowering the effective compression ratio via the late intake valve closing. The PCM can easily tweak the effective compression by changing the intake valve duration.

Wow, 28mpg combined (post-2008) is very impressive. Keep doing things like this, Ford, and you might just survive. :)

The MotorTrend article noted that in real world driving the Camry actually showed better mpg than the Fusion. Were both cars broken in with the same mileage?

Hi All:

___Flatty posted this the other day in case anyone was interested...

Feb '09 Car&Driver - Hybrid Tests - Fusion v. Camry v. Altima v. Malibu (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18541&highlight=Malibu)

___The great thing about this is the upcoming 2010 Fiesta and 2011 Focus the year after are not going to be just talk and disappointment afterwards but real FE improvements leading to the best in class.

___EcoBoost has not even been applied yet and we are already looking at Atkinsonized intakes on non-hybrids with excellent FE for a heavyweight. Imagine the same with a 1.2 – 1.8L only powering the 1,100 to 1,300 pound lighter US based Fiesta :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Jan 09, 2009 (Detroit Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via
COMTEX) -- Ford Motor Co. announced today that a 4-cylinder version of its 2010
Ford Fusion has been certified by the government at 34 miles per gallon on the
highway, beating its competition for in the mid-size sedan category.

Ford said its four-cylinder Ford Fusion S has been certified by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency at 34 m.p.g. on the highway and 23 m.p.g. in the
city -- beating both the comparable Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

"We promised to offer best-in-class or among the very best fuel economy with
every new vehicle we introduce, and we are making good on that pledge with
hybrids, new high-tech gasoline engines, new six-speed transmissions and other
fuel efficient technologies," said Barb Samardzich, Ford's vice president of
powertrain engineering said in a statement.

The entry-level 2010 Ford Fusion S is powered by a new 2.5-liter Duratec mated
to a fuel-efficient six-speed automatic transmission. Ford said the base price
for the Fusion S is $20,870, not counting destination and delivery charges.

It is Ford's second major fuel efficiency announcement in recent weeks.

In December, Ford announced that the hybrid version of the Fusion will get 41
m.p.g. in the city -- making it the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan on the
market

What you need is the Europe version of the Ford Fusion - thats a very different car :) (Basically the European Ford Fiesta but in a mini MPV format).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v367/st_ealth/cars/ford-fusion.jpg