Who owns a Ford Fusion?

Hello!

We need a new car and it is definitely going to be a Ford - Mondeo (as it is called in Europe) / Fusion (as it is called in the US.)
While we were waiting for it to be availabe in auttumn 2012, they closed down the factory in Genk and now we'll have to wait at least until late 2014 to get one.

Now we are evaluating to import one from USA.
But for some reason it is yet very very hard to find reviews of owners.
We would love to talk to someone who is owning one and who can tell us a bit of his experinces. Best would be 2.0 Ecoboost Titanium.

Is anybody owning one and would be willing to tell us about it?

that would be so great.

Thanks!
Christoph

(Edited on 2013-01-06 10:58:09 by kickers)

My dad has Ford Fusion 2012 fully loaded SE version and he is extremely happy with it, driving almost everyday for over a year now, I have driven his car and it is very comfortable very good on gas but a little slugish ( that would be just me since I drive  F-450 power house so realy cannot compare to this little thing , to be honest he is kind of a grouch and picky so I would trust his judgement even so that most of the time he is just overreacting but whatever I even think that you would gain from importing cause for some reason Fords for European markets along with Japanese cars are less attractively equiped and far more priced than for US market, but you do have to calculate duty taxes so I'm not sure how that will work, also if you have a close relative residing in US on green card or naturalized citizen then he can purchase and transport one vehicle duty tax free to his home country, I did that for my mom ended up just paying shipping fees.


From my personal experience with Ford I would say they started to produce much better quality over five years due to very competitive market in US, I own F-450 and used to own Mustang, on F-450 I got already 83000 miles driven with a lot of idiling time within 2 years of ownership and haven't put a single penny to it other than for regular oil changes and break jobs, as for Mustang 223000 miles driven in 6 year period without even single glitch. A lot of my friends owned from Taurus, Edge and Focus no problems there either, that said you will get a lemon from time to time depending on what kind of the day the screw gun holder has but that is really minimal with that brand.


Hope that helps


Regards


Chris.

Thank you very much!

Do you know which enigne it is equipped with? We are looking for the 2.0 240hp version which is already available in the acutal "Mondeo" here in Germany.
Is the 2012 model already the one that is shown on the ford dot com website?

I'm a bit confused about the tech equipment because on the US website you can only select the (Titanium) version plus 4 or 5 extras, whereas you can configure dozens and dozens of add ons to the (actual) Mondeo on the European websites configurators. Is the US Titanium version fully equipped with everything including rear camera, lane assitens, voice control and stuff?

Yes, it's a bit of a hell ride to import one. In the USA the Fusion is waaaay cheaper than in Germany, but shipping, cargo insurance, toll and fees, needed changes such as new flashlight, engine modifications to meet German laws and other things will end up in about the same price as I would pay for the German version when it's available. So it's not a money issue, it's more that we know that "this is our car". We got an Audi and we are not very happy with it. So a Ford, which my parents were driving almost for their whole life long is the only option. Plus the new Fusion looks really different from usual midclass sedans.

Just unsure to buy a car I had never even testdriven and never read a forum thread about...

He actually has SEL 3.0 V6 last model before new body style came in, the 2013 is actually build in 2012 but they market as 2013 because 2012 older models were still selling, I bought my 2012 model car in 2011 , the ecoboost motors are new so didn't hear much about them, sorry. As for the fully loaded Titanium yes it has everything, when you go Ford's website you will be able to add assist options and other stuff in the interior design section, I just build one and it came to about $37500 fully loaded without floor mats and cargo net, you can choose a package or build one from scratch.


What would you have to modify to drive there, the only difference that I am aware is the different gasoline octane count but in Europe you guys have a higher octane gas so it is actually better, using 95 will make that thing a rocket Unless there are other emmisions standarts there I do not see an issue with gasoline.


I just came back from the little field trip with kids and went to see what my dealer has and they do have plenty of them for sale, sat in one to see if there is difference from what my dad has as far the cabin comfort and space and it it the same but much better looking, took it for a spin around a parking lot and it does handle very similar way to the older model, can you go to a local dealer and perform a test drive or they don't have any showcase models ?

Thanks!

Yes they sometimes name the models from the actual year after the upcoming year. We got an Audi "Model Year 2004" which ws built 2003. Nonsense if you ask me

So the 2012 US fusion is not the 2012 Mondeo in Germany... That's news to me. I just googled the 2012 model and it looks completely different from "our" Mondeo. Nevertheless ford plans to build all future models worldwide on one common base so from the new one on they will be all the same. The 2.0 Ecoboost engine is not new in Germany, so I know this one is quite nice to drive. I'm more keen on the overall quality and reliabilty aspects of the new model.

I don't know every single modification to be made, but the color of the rear flashlights must be changed to orange, a "fog light" has to be installed which must be switchable in the cockpit including a status LED in the dashboard, it must have a third and seperated braking light and some other things of which I don't really know the english expressions.

I can't testdrive it at any dealer because they still only sell the "old Mondeo" here in Europe. It was planned to start the new one in mid 2013 but as I said they close down the factory in Genk (where the European model has been built ever since) and they need to make the factory in Valencia ready for the new model production first, which will take another year. So there simply won't be any new Mondeo / Fusion in Europe until late 2014. Only place where they have the new one is USA :-/
I can sit in one at the IAA exhibition in September...

(Edited on 2013-01-07 00:05:32 by kickers)

Yeah it is weird how they market cars on different continents, that is a lot of simple modifications but I'm sure it is worth it, this car is really nice and sorry for my language but pretty bad ass looking and build for its class Wish you all the best if I come across some new info I'll let you know, also if you have other questions or want me to go and check something let me know I'll be more than happy to help. Good luck.


Regards


Chris.