Never thought I would again. Feel absolutely no loyalty to a company that forces early retirement (it's called "FIRED" if you're salaried), and swore I never would buy another Ford again.......then I drove this loaded sposts version of a Fusion.....and bought it. Eating a lot of my own words here, but being a big boy, I can do that, be sure to check out some of these American cars. They AREN'T anything like the domestic cars of yesterday....Actually I wanted a Nissan Altima.. Maybe there's still hope for the Big 3 yet!....if they let the products do the talking, and do them right....:bglasses: :bglasses:
Well I've said for years and years that the only thing that the asian import companies have over american iron is a much better marketing department. They know how to sell. They've been telling us how great the cars are, how they last, but you don't see a lot of 20 or 30 year old imports on the road. Look at what hyundai is doing right now. If you loose your job, they will make the first three months payments (first three after you loose your job), if you still can't get it together you can return the car. No credit hit, nothing. Now you're going to have to finance through them to do this, and if you buy a car that's that cheap, (and I'm only talking about the price right now), you put say.... $2500 down, stretch the loan out for 5 or 6 years, and you are going to have to have a car when you find work, you won't be able to finance a good used car cheaper, plus you would be out the down and any payments that you make, so they are not going to see too many people take them up on it. Great marketing, I give them credit. I think the American cars are far better as a whole (we sell some crappers to compete in the cheapo market), but American car companies are not that great at the P.R., they depend on the loyal customer base from the past and that's going away with the younger guys.
I agree with that. For years they tried to cover up cost reduced designs and customer service after the sale was more to provide additional source of revenue to the dealer via warranty (much of it bogus) and direct pay from the customer...Customer service was an oxymoron. In this case, the car sold itself. I wasn't planning to buy anything, and if I did would probably be a Ford Edge or a Nissan Altima. What a pleasant surprise. Sadly, we'll be selling our 5 speed ZX2. Love that little car.
Dave , I'm thinking Fusion also , Haven't driven one yet but it might be the hybird , we will see gas at 4bucks a gallon again.
Did you get the AWD version? Pretty good looking cars IMO, I just wish they came with a manual transmission.
No, no AWD. Have a 4 x 4 Escape and my beast, a 97 F250 4 x 4 Powerstroke diesel....We'll get by, even in Michigan... The 2010's have paddle shift so it's pretty close to a stick. Mine is a 2009 with the same 6 speed trans, but paddle shift not available in 2009. We've always had at least one stick and that's all I've ever raced all my life (long time...:laugh: :laugh: ). We're having to sell our only 5 speed car to make room and I really hate to see it go. It's a 2000 ZX2 loaded (incl leather interior) that I actually bought twice..Once new for my daughter to commute to school, and then from her when she graduated and the dealer wouldn't give her squat for it on a trade. Great car, like new.
I drove the Fusion last August and really liked it. I almost bought it, but.... when I stepped down hard on the gas (WOT), the AC went off !!! :rant: I assumed that it was broken so I asked the salesman to see if the shop could correct the problem. The answer came back "There's no problem, they are designed that way to save energy (gas)." And, NO they can't disable that feature. For those of you who don't know, August in SW FLA is HOT, HOT, HOT. The way I drive, I figured that I'd only have AC about half the time--UNACCEPTABLE. The salesman was upset, he spent half the day and thought he had a sale. :af: I was upset, I thought I was buying a new car. :af: My wife was upset, she thought I was an a$$hole :af:__I probably am. o No: I still like the car but I can't live with the AC like that. I'm still looking.:Brow: Thanks for letting me "Vent", I've wanted to tell that story for the last 7 months. :spank:
Jeff, I'm thinkin all you would need to do is find the switch that cuts of the A/C and bypass it. Lots easier than removing all the smog stuff was on old cars. Most salesmen dont know their a.. from a -- , well you know..... :eek2:
I think all the newer cars do that, and have for many years. There is no "switch" anymore--- it's all sensors and software. The computer controls everything. If you have to drive your Ford at WOT in Florida, it's underpowered!
It is a good safety/marketing feature; they really arent trying to save you MPG to be nice; they don't want you to have a bad opinion of performance when the AC is on. My Moms old escort lx was nice but try and pull out or merge into traffic that is at speed with the AC on could get you killed. Peppy and fast with out it on but it suddenly gained 4 tons in weight it felt like with it on.
Jeff, my '67 Electra with vacuum operated climate control did the same thing. Just made sense to me! I had the AC running on full right up to the starting line, nailed it on the last yellow, and it came right back on after the finish line. Devon
The A/C cut-off switch is designed to do exactly as you expereinced. When you desire all the power the engine can muster it need to stop using the 25 or so hp it tales to run the A/C. As soon as you are asking for less than maximum power the switch is deactivated and the A/C resumes operation. It is only intended, in theory to be necessary when accelerating away from a standing start or a passing/mergine manuver where full-throttle is REQUIRED. So how often do you have the throttle against the floor anyway? Do you powerbrake all the time or what? This isn't jsut a Ford engineering practice every manufactured has an A/C cut-off switch in the system. Bypass it at your own risk of voiding the warranty.
Years back they used a lot more cutouts on the A/C compressor at Ford (where I was). When we first launched the Tempo/Topaz, we had to recall the first 1000 and halt production until something suitable could be done. They had cutout switches for WOT, Power Steering lock, and a coupla more I forget, think there were 4 total. What happened is on a routine test drive around Kansas City, the car was so underpowered and the huge compressor took so much hp away from the already anemic power available, that the A/C remained off for over 5 minutes on one part of the cycle. There were time delays associated with each, and they overlapped. I know they eliminated the power steering one, not sure what else to get it acceptable. Still bad for surge (when the A/C comes on and off with the cycling pressure switch), and total power usage. The Tempo was an offshoot of the original Escort which also was way underpowered. It was even worse with the 1.3 liter engine originally planned for the base model (worked OK in Europe, but then again, they don't use a lot of deodorant and didn't mind a little discomfort....may have even had a window open...) Wind tunnel testing showed the power draw was more for the A/C at 60 MPH than to propel the car. The throttle was tipped in so far to maintain that speed (car thought it was climbing a mountain). So they cancelled the 1.3 and went with the 1.6 as the only engine you could get in 1981. The basic problem with the A/C is we had to use the same FS-6 compressor that was originally designed for the Lincolns and big cars. We seriously underdrove it to run a lot slower as it was way excessive for the demand of the system.. OOOPS, sorry. Brain fart from a long forgotten facet of my career in Ford A/C Development. I know....:boring: o No:
A/C engineer Dave can tell me I'm full of it if I am, but I thought another good reason to disengage the compressor at WOT is to prevent over-revving the compressor. They size the pulleys so that the compressor spins fast enough at idle to keep you cool -- which means it's spinning too fast at redline.
Depends on the compressor design. Modern ones are rotaries, and have to spin faster than a positive displacement (sliding piston) one to get flow at low RPM. Rotaries are not as good at idle or lugged down in low speed traffic. Rotaries typically have no RPM problems and will turn your balls blue if set up right. Compressors are totally controlled by the engine control module these days, so they can pretty much dial in what they want. Fuel economy guy wants it off as much as possible. Emission guy also wants it off as much as possible. Performance guy also wants it off as much as possible. Only the A/C guy and the customer want it on as much as possible. If it needs more engine, give it to them.... We just discovered the new Fusion has "mood illumination" in the cupholders and floor courtesy lamps. No way we'll show that to the grandsons..... Now to figure out what a blue tooth is and get new phones to take advantage of that stuff in there. Think I dated a girl in Ann Arbor years ago that had a blue tooth.....scary memory......
I joined the Fusion Fan Club back in November with a SE with a 4 banger and auto. Pretty good car so far and decent gas mileage. I shopped around for a domestic, and I couldn't sit in a Malibu or Impala without banging my head on the headliner. I didn't want a Dodge/Jeep because on the east side of Detroit, Mopars get stolen 9 out of ten cars. I could fit in a Pontiac Vibe, but they were not throwing any deals out there for it. The Fusion fit the bill nicely. They had a $2000 rebate, $1000 Ford employee discount, and $500 for applying thru Ford Credit. I got the Fusion for $6000 LESS than the Vibe!Even though it is MADE IN MEXICO I asked my neighbor (whose Employee discount I used as he is a retired Ford employee) about his feeling on that and he said it has a blue oval on the grill so the money comes home to Michigan. And I really like the Sirius radio!:TU:
nissan altima is a piece of crap. smart move w the ford. Wrenched toyotas forever. like the american engine performance much better. and the trans shift patterns.
