Archives

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Fuel economy and driveability - and a few extra features - make Ford's hybrid worth the extra cash. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/auto/fusion-offers-smooth-powerful-hybrid-ride/article1242993/)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Ford_Fusion_Hybrid_2.jpgTed Laturnus - THEGLOBEANDMAIL (http://www.theglobeandmail.com) - August 6, 2009

A ringing endorsement after direct comparison to two of most popular hybrids today. --Ed.

For various reasons, I've recently been driving three hybrid vehicles: Honda Insight, Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion.

You may be as surprised as I was to learn the Fusion could very well be the most useable of these three. It's smoother, more powerful, quieter, roomier and better on the highway. On the other hand, it also costs the most, which I'll get to shortly.

Let's get the drivetrain out of the way first. The Fusion Hybrid has a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder, Atkinson Cycle, gas engine mated to a pair of electric motors and a constantly variable transmission.

The electric motors are housed in the vehicle transaxle and are fed by a nickel metal hydride battery pack. This system is similar to that found in the Escape Hybrid, but has been tweaked and is more compact in size. It also allows the Fusion Hybrid to qualify as a "full" hybrid - i.e., it will run on battery power alone, unlike the Insight, for example.

When you start the vehicle, it doesn't actually fire up, per se, as the internal combustion engine doesn't kick in until you get moving - most of the time.

Depending on the situation, you can take the vehicle up to at least 40 km/h on the electric motor, at which time the engine will cut in if you want to increase your speed.

The system is keyed to throttle input and how much of a lead-foot you are. Give it some welly, and you get both the electric motor and gasoline engine at the same time. Take it easy and the... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/auto/fusion-offers-smooth-powerful-hybrid-ride/article1242993/

Another great Fusion review, although IMHO they were a little too critical of the Prius and Insight.

Makes me wish I was in the market to buy right now!

btw, shouldn't it be a Canadian Flag, since the story comes from Canada?

It is from Canada but focuses on an American vehicle as the centerpiece of discussion. (Yeah, I sat thinking about that one for a while :p)

Well, its an American engineered car, assembled in Mexico with global components. We could put a cadrey of flags!!

I have owned a FFH for several months now and absolutely love it. Even better... so does my wife. We haven't found anything we don't like - which says alot for us because we are pretty picky. It is a family car and hauls our kids all over the place. She has been averaging 40 mpg for about 4500 miles. By no means is this hypermiling, but is great for her!

BTW, the author's comments about driving 100km on electric mode at the end of the tank is not possible. Typical range on the battery pack is about a mile depending on driving conditions.

Perhaps he meant meters instead of kilometers?

I thoroughly enjoyed the one drive I had of my friend's FFH and heartily recommend it to anyone who is interested.

I kinda like this part:
"Don't like

Because it's new, it's still a bit of an unknown quantity"

That's really the only thing bad he had to say about it?
Really?

Cool!

I agree that the 100 km on battery power must be an misprint (or a plain old error). I drive flat roads to and from work for 60% of my drive and I can never go more than just over a mile on straight battery power without some sort of coasting.