Gadgetory

you know the hybrids gone mainstream when all the official cars of middle America offer one look at Accord camry malibu Sonata and Ford Fusion this may be the most interesting of the pack however let's drive the 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid this one's an SE and check the tech now in that world of Accords and Camrys in Malibu some sonatas this one wins on one count before you even turn the key and that is to my eye looks that's a $50,000 face folks and it continues very nicely through the greenhouse only getting a little unfortunate back here where things end kind of vocally now the first thing I like about the interface and the Ford Fusion is not the interface but where it's nestled here it's in a flat plane on the console this is very different than some other Ford's we've driven lately where you've got an eyebrow two cheeks and a chin around it these big protrusions that look kind of cool but they impede you getting to these key four corners which is where you really drive what mode you're in on this system this is much more usable the downside is this flat face also opens up to lots of glare are you telling me I have a flat face as you can hear this Ford Fusion also has Ford's rather eerie text message support it can speak messages to you as they come in and you can reply with one of several canned responses and also set up your own custom canned replies yes like this screw you now in general you've seen my Ford touch 100 times I'm not going to detail every feature nothing really made you're new here but it still suffers from two key things first is third time's the charm touch response that's not good I mean sometimes it'll get it right away other times you got to hit it twice or three times secondly the system can still be too complicated they've boiled down some screens like the phone screen here not bad the audio screens have always been pretty clear but then you go to some other areas like the internet settings I think my wireless router is easier to deal with than that oh by the way the navigation of the Fusion Hybrid is a really good system right now this is for its latest iteration couple things you'll look for these nice clear street signs that show up on city streets are very good you're also getting some local traffic conditions as you can see called out nicely with a glow around the street as opposed to a changing line color this to me is much more digestible than changing Street Line colors also note that as of today we're shooting in February of 2013 Ford's appaling a big collection of apps does not work with myford touch this multi LCD interface it's a weird split in their technology right now and they're working on it but for now no app link here that means Ford's app support is trapped on the earlier generation one version of sync its LCD base but very different than this or even on the non LCD cars like we've seen in the Ford Fiesta but not here on the most modern head unit I'd like to see Ford pull it all together get all their app support with their new open developer platform and their best three LCD interface and solve the lag and complication here and get that done by the end of 2013 time's a-wastin okay here in the engine bay of our Fusion Hybrid you've got fairly garden-variety stuff as hybrids go two litre inline-four engine sitting transverse front-wheel drive only on the hybrid by the way it's a lean burn Atkinson cycle engine connected of course to an electric motor and lithium ion battery 188 horsepower 141 of those are from the gas engine 47 contributed by the electric motor torque Ford's not giving a number zero to 60s around the low 88.4 according to Edmunds for a car that weighs a little over 3,600 pounds delivering 4747 as its mpg in addition to being all-wheel-drive only on the hybrid is also only one choice of transmission it's a continuously variable gearbox as is common with these power trains and you cannot tow anything with a hybrid by the way bear that in mind now the Fusion Hybrid I'm not being unkind here but it doesn't drive like it looks this car looks like you bought a poor-man's Aston Martin Rapide but it drives like a very efficient focused car you notice there are no paddle shifters available for this CVT there's no shiftable gate there's no rocker for shifting to synthetic gears on that transmission you can't shift it there's no sport mode nothing here is about performance it's a comfortable everyday car with an efficiency message and that's rare these days most cars have multiple personalities or at least try to power is sufficient there's more than enough here but it doesn't ever come on in an exhilarating fashion the car is very well modulated in the way that it's engineered from a last line of code to the balance of power from its engine and motor now that said you also feel the battery in this car not just as a motive force but as a weight force it's a little wallowy in corners again there's no sports suspension here anything like that but it's also got a nicely planted rye which I also attribute somewhat to the extra weight I'm guessing there's a couple hundred pounds on the hoof here of additional weight through the electric motor on the my own battery pack as well it's a nice comfortable riding car they've done a good job getting a good bias but it's not one that is a real treat to toss in and out of corners Ford let's the computer access the electric power steering in this car to get you back in line rather than using some kind of yaw braking like a lot of other cars do Ford has a little smoothing work to do on the braking on this car sometimes you get less than you expect sometimes quite a bit more apparently depending on how the regen circuit and the service brakes work together okay pricing the Fusion Hybrid se is kind of funny because my first advice is don't get an se at all because to get the cool tech you've got to option this guy up with a bunch of luxury packages that enable you to get the cool tech by then you basically got a titanium so start with the titanium model at about 33 grand then you've got to add a handful of features to go seen that style including navigation with the voice command 800 bucks the driver assist package blind spot and lane departure that's a grand adaptive cruise about a thousand all in CNET style on a limited hybrid to around 37 and a half roughly 2200 bucks more gonna similarly teched-out non-hybrid fusion titanium with the EcoBoost motor a cool little turbo motor with that in mind you got to look at both very carefully think about how long you're going to keep this car as well there's a two two and a quarter year pay off cycle if you're an average driver to make up for this hybrid premium I think going with the EcoBoost engine might give you more of a fun driving dynamic but over the long haul this might be more economical