kentak

I haven't really tried any full throttle "runs through the gears"; as much due to lack of opportunity as opposed to "break-in" considerations. I've played with it a bit though. Shifts occur pretty quickly if you just tap the shifter forward or backwards, to downshift or upshift. Holding the lever delays the shift. When cruising at about 50-60 mph pushing into manual gets you 4th gear. When you start shifting a number appears that indicates which gear you are in. Interestingly, when Ford first introduced a manual shift automatic (1966 Fairlane GTA) it was called SelectShift back then too!

I got a Fusion Sport AWD about 2 weeks ago and decided to it share with you. It's silver with black interior. I had driven the Mazda 6 s GT and the Honda Accord Coupe EX-L with a V-6 and 6 speed stick, all great cars. The Accord coupe was a really fun car with great speed and response with the stick. The Mazda was comfortable and quick. The Fusion, however, combined a very solid, quiet, roomy interior, large trunk, sure-footed handling, plenty of smooth power and AWD. My Sport has the 402 group and Navigation so it's loaded with goodies. The separate instruction manual for just the Nav and Sync has over 180 pages! The backup camera is very nice and along with the blind spot warning devices gives a safe driving experience. The only low point is the hood prop instead of gas lifts. Stowage of the prop is very clumsy. Other than that relatively minor detail this car feels like a real quality piece that has been fine-tuned by designers who really likes cars. Some of the ambience lighting, one of eight color choices; too bad the dash doesn't tie in with the ambience lighting.

I was just in my local Ford dealer looking for a Fusion Hybrid. They are selling them as quickly as they get them. Unfortunately they are not getting very many. Sad thing is the Fed tax credit for hybrids goe from $3400 to $1700 on April 1 and the only way to get it is to place a purchase order for a car sight-unseen with $1000 down. I am tempted but... The next one coming in is already sold and no one knows when it is coming. Interestingly, the salesperson said that the main problem seems to be getting them back into the US from Hermosillo. Sure would like to see one. I would hate to miss out on $1700!