[deepfusion]

My Fusion has completed three years with me now and covered 42,500 kms.

So it is imperative that I pen down my life with my obedient workhorse, my humble Ford Fusion TDCi plus.

*****The (Hi)Story:

It was October-November, 2008, when I was in the midst of my job changing mode, when I also thought about changing my car too. At that time, I was driving a Honda City ZX (Gxi) which I had bought about 6 months back (15th April, 2008 to be precise). I was not satisfied with the driving dynamics of the car, although I was not much of a literate when it came to cars. So, I thought it to be appropriate to change the car as well.

The question ‘which car’ started hounding me.

My mom and my wife were against me changing the car as they found the City to be good as it had all the bells and whistles. But I had to look beyond Honda. I was firm.

So started looking for a car. Ventured into different territories, Toyota (innova), Chevrolet (Optra-magnum/CRV), Ford (Fiesta), Tata (Safari), Mahindra (Scorpio/Logan), Hyundai (Verna), Mitsubshi (Lancer), Skoda (Octavia/Fabia). I had not set criteria for selecting a car, except that it had to be a diesel. I test drove all the above mentioned cars, but somehow, did not drive the Fusion, which I had eyed since 2005, when it was first launched in its petrol Avatar. I had shortlisted Octavia, Magnum, Lancer and Fiesta. The choice was referred to my Supreme Court a.k.a. my better half, who ruled out the lancer for being too low, and Octavia for being too pricey and congested. The choice now was between Magnum and Fiesta, not comparable in terms of performance. I rejected the Magnum due to the rude behaviour of the Chevrolet dealership and the Fiesta tdci Sxi won.

So, we finalised and went to the Ford Dealership I had been in touch with for the Fiesta SXi. My wife had never seen a Fusion before the day we were at NCR Ford, Defence Colony. While I was discussing the modalities and discounts, she took a look around the showroom, and saw the Fusion + TDCi standing in a corner. A salesgirl accompanied her, and explained o my wife the good things about the car. I had almost finalised the deal for a platinum Fiesta SXi, at a very good price, when she came to me and announced that we had to buy the Fusion. I had to surrender all the benefits I had achieved/snatched from the dealer, and we bought ourselves the Fusion TDCi Plus, on 11th January, 2009.

****The Deli(very): good experience. Far-far better than Ring Road Honda, Karampura. Extremely polite, courteous and well behaved, accommodating and friendly staff, delivery in 10 minutes flat. No hassles whatsoever. Took the Fusion straight to Gurudwara for BABA’s AASHIRWAD.

***The (Love) Story: I had parted ways with the City on 5th December, 2008, and had been driving my M800 since then. The moment I sat in the Fusion, the seat height, the taut steering, the soft touch plastics, the stance, which was always there in my subconscious mind since the day I test drove it for the first time, the sombre looks, the fact that I would not have to drive the M800 anymore, which did not have the bare essentials, like the heater-blower working, all combined, gave me such a pleasing feeling that I cannot express how joyous I was.

The Fusion has been with me ever since that day.

I have made innumerable highway trips, on the harsh Indian Roads. Almost twice in a month I visit my parents, about 150 kms away in Haryana, I have travelled to Nainital, to Rohtang, to Jaipur, to Salasar (Churu), almost on all kinds of terrain.

A one worded praise of the beloved Fusion:

INCREDIBLE

**My life (with) the Fusion: I have had so much fun with it all through this time. It has made me learn how to drive, how to deride the roads which I had to respect thanks to the Honda City, how to enjoy every corner/u-turn, how to set-up and enjoy music and so on. It has become a part of my life now.

*The irritants: The Fusion has had its share of problems.

A fool broke the front wind shield, someone rammed his car into my Fusion from behind at a red light, and this happened twice. Damn this traffic and driving (ill) manners.

The A.S.S. The turbo charger of the car conked, and had to be replaced. I have had to approach Ford India, almost every time I faced even petty issues with the car.

My view about the Fusion:

The positives:

- Solid car,
- Good driving stance,
- Good ground clearance,
- Good steering response,
- Reasonable maintenance,
- Good brakes,
- Spacious, can easily seat five adults, with luggage,
- Stable at high speeds,
- Eats up the speed breakers and road undulations,
- Extremely practical.

The negatives:

- People quibbling, “you bought a Ford after Honda City!”
- The Service centres,
- The six month service interval on Fusion while the same TDCi engine is
required to be serviced at one year in the Figo,
- Light throw.
- Why are Ford people always in a hurry, first they were quick to bring
such a car in the Indian market before it maturing, then, when the
market started maturing, they withdrew the car. Likewise for the
Mondeo.

Practically I have zero negatives about my Fusion.

Coming up:

the service and repair bills till date.

[Jebs]

Excellent review so far. Congrats. I really like this car since it launched and still it's my hot favorite. But FORD played spoilsport. I always like to read reviews about Fusion. Keep going man. Put some pictures for the same.

[shankar.balan]

Nice!
Always glad to read about Fusions. Loved that vehicle. Wish I had bought it in 2008!

I completely agree that it was a bit ahead of its time and the Ford chaps are fools and always in a hurry. Imagine had they continued the Fusion for just 2 more years with some few upgrades like Airbags etc. They could have easily leveraged their Figo and Fiesta manufacturing to continue with this product because the market is clearly maturing towards nice Urban SUVs with good driving dynamics and diesel power. Maybe with their leveraging they could have even priced it better to attract more consumers. This way they could have brought in the EcoSport with 4WD and attracted a different consumer entirely and given some competition to the Yeti and Scorpio and XUV and so on.

All in all, a great product indeed - the Fusion.

Originally Posted by deepfusion

My Fusion has completed three years with me now and covered 42,500 kms.

So it is imperative that I pen down my life with my obedient workhorse, my humble Ford Fusion TDCi plus.
The positives:

- Solid car,
- Good driving stance,
- Good ground clearance,
- Good steering response,
- Reasonable maintenance,
- Good brakes,
- Spacious, can easily seat five adults, with luggage,
- Stable at high speeds,
- Eats up the speed breakers and road undulations,
- Extremely practical.

The negatives:

- People quibbling, “you bought a Ford after Honda City!”
- The Service centres,
- The six month service interval on Fusion while the same TDCi engine is
required to be serviced at one year in the Figo,
- Light throw.
- Why are Ford people always in a hurry, first they were quick to bring
such a car in the Indian market before it maturing, then, when the
market started maturing, they withdrew the car. Likewise for the
Mondeo.

Practically I have zero negatives about my Fusion.

Coming up:

the service and repair bills till date.

[ghodlur]

@deepfusion,

Nice review, pls justify it by posting some nice pics of the workhorse.

Agree completely with you for the positives mentioned, in fact had Ford not decided to discontinue the Fusion when I was exploring the option of buying a car, I would have gone for it. It was perfect city as well as highway car, IMO it was the first premium hatchback. Sadly Ford could not capitalize on it.

Happy many more mile crunching and drive safely.

[condor]

@DeepFusion, so the review finally comes, after 3 years ! Good. The Fusion's a good car, let down by bad pricing, and to some extent an under-powered 1.4 TDCi. I would have loved to see a 1.5TDCi in the Fusion & the Fiesta. The 1.4 is very well suited for the Ikon.

Please post some pics of your car. Wishing you a long & happy ownership of the Fusion.

[schitre05]

I still believe in the car and feel its not to late for Ford to re-introduce the car in the market with modern touches.

Good to see that you are happy about the car. I feel its a perfect car for a small family with a pet (who can use the huge boot).

[MAS]

Excellent Review deepfusion.

As you will be aware i owned a Fusion TDCi for 4 years (run 1.31 Lakh km) before going in for the New Ford Fiesta. The Fusion is the most under-rated car in India and Ford did not market it well.

The car has all the positives from the road presence to the ground clearance. The only negatives i could think of are
- Door Rattling Noise
- Road noise - NVH was bad
- Excessive Steering response on bad roads
- Headlight design - Poor light throw on to the road

The car will serve you for many years to come. Keep this thread updated.

[Fordmanchau]

Wonderful review Deep!!
The same time in oct-Nov of 2008, I was also looking out for car and when I went to the Ford showroom, I was delighted to see the Fusion. Budget was a constraint, so booked the Ikon.
But these days if I see a Fusion on road, I still keep staring at it. A very good car but was overpriced at that time.
Hope you have a very good ownership ahead too.
And put some pictures please and detailed one at that.

[GTO]

Super review of an infrequently seen car (online & off). Thanks for sharing. I think the Fusion was one heck of a drive...a lot of fun behind the wheel. However, I do think Ford was confused on the positioning; was it a hatch or a mini-SUV? There isn't a doubt that the Fusion was poorly marketed. Here is a nice related thread

How do you find the ride quality?

[ampere]

Finally I get to see one of the few Fusion reviews! Need I say anything more?
You have it for three and I have it for 7! Absolutely love the way it drives.

I have not driven it like @MAS (1.,3L in 4 year!s). But myodo is nearing 90K.

Congrats and wish you many-many more miles to come and go by.

[ghodlur]

@Deepfusion

We are still waiting for the pics. Also wanted to know whether Ford is providing extended warranty on Fusion if your normal 2 year warranty has expired. How about the availability of spares since few months back I had enquired at local Ford dealer and they said that spares are a little bit difficult to procure, dont know how true.

[deepfusion]

Originally Posted by ampere

Finally I get to see one of the few Fusion reviews! Need I say anything more?
You have it for three and I have it for 7! Absolutely love the way it drives.

I have not driven it like @MAS (1.,3L in 4 year!s). But myodo is nearing 90K.

Congrats and wish you many-many more miles to come and go by.

I suppose I must mention here that I had put it on sale, just a few days back, on the constant insistence of my wife, but then the better sense prevailed, and I withdrew the advt.

Thanks for the wishes.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Deepfusion

We are still waiting for the pics. Also wanted to know whether Ford is providing extended warranty on Fusion if your normal 2 year warranty has expired. How about the availability of spares since few months back I had enquired at local Ford dealer and they said that spares are a little bit difficult to procure, dont know how true.

The car is quite dirty as of now. I had applied collinite and didn't finalise the finish, and the car is looking as bad as it could.

I am just going to Harpreet Ford for the service plus a few rattles that need to be fixed.

After the service, I shall upload the pics as well as the service log of the 42750 kms that the car has done till date.

I also took the extended warranty for two years last year in January, when the initial warranty was about to expire. I was told that the extended warranty could be taken any time before the initial warranty expires.

Availability of spares is not a big issue, I suppose. The front strut of my car had been damaged and had to be replaced. It was done right then. No waiting required. And it is a fusion specific strut.

But off and on we do get to see mondeo getting serviced/repaired. A bit of waiting is all that's required.

[deepfusion]

I am attaching the service log of the Fusion.

Attachment 881455

And some photographs

The first three pictures were taken outside guest house at Manali on 5th January, 2012, and the rest were taken after the car was serviced on 28th January, 2012.

[desideep]

i always wanted a Fusion, nice GC and big on space though small on outside, as it was not being sold any more. i own a FIGO.

[deepfusion]

In all, the total amount spent on maintenance of the Fusion has been about Rs. 70,000 during these three years, which apparently is on a higher side.

But, if I break up these expenses into Service, repair, accidental repairs, and accessories, including music system, it gives me a picture which is very surprising.

Have a look.

On service, I have so far spent Rs. 22,759.
On Repairs, Rs. 2,123,
on accidental repairs, Rs. 3,028, all due to the zero depreciation policy during the last year.
And on accessories, including music system, Rs. 42,000.

If we analyse the expenses on a Ford Fusion vs. a Maruti swift, its lower or at par with the swift.