What Gives On the 4 Cylinder Fusion?

[BlackHorse]

Ok, so the other day I made a trip down to my Ford dealer to test drive a Fusion. Not because I want a current Fusion but because I'll be in the market for a hybrid Fusion when they come out. So I asked the salesman which version of the Fusion he felt would most closely duplicate the hybrid Fusion from a performance standpoint, the V6 or the 4 cylinder. He felt the 4 cylinder would be the best choice so we picked out a nicely equipped 4 cylinder Fusion and went for a drive. I just wanted to see how the car handled, how much road noise was there, it's level of refinement and so on. First let me say I like the new combination leather / fabric seats that Ford has done. This particular car had them and they were actually quite nice. The car was priced at 21 thousand, with the 5 speed auto, leather / fabric seats, the usual pw, pl and so on and a nicely leather wrapped steering wheel. The only interior piece I objected to was the radio. Ford is still using the rather drab square black radios in the Fusion. They should update to a system more akin to the new Escape which has a rather nice stereo console setup.

 

Ok, so the drive. The car handles quite well for a mid-size sedan and the seats are quite comfortable, although I haven't tried the all cloth seats. The 2.3 liter 4 cylinder motor was far too loud and sounded brash and coarse. It made an otherwise pretty refined car seem down right low brow. This has to be a Ford thing because I've driven 2.3 powered Mazda cars and there was no such issue. A couple of months ago I drove a 2.3 equipped Mazda 3 with a 5 speed auto and the motor was very smooth, very refined, easily on par with anything Honda is offering. The 2.3 in the Fusion sounded as if it were straining even though I know it's more than adequate for a car this size. What is the reason for this in the Fusion? Is it a cheap exhaust system or what? It really put me off about the car to be quite honest. There's no reason they can't attain the smooth refined feel from the 2.3 that Honda and Toyota manage with their 4 cylinder Accords and Camry's. This is the kind of thing that can really turn off a potential buyer in this segment, especially if they've also driven the Honda, Toyota or even the Mazda offering. Any ideas what the reason for this is?

[rsgnome]

I dunno wtf Ford did to the Automatic-equipped I4 Fusion, but I did notice similar behavior. It just was noisey, and unrefined and not very lively at all... Suffice it to say, my dad and I were not impressed... We went on to test drive a V6 Fusion(which was really great) and a Five Hundred(also a great vehicle, I think the new Taurus will be something special) that day.

 

My dad did end up getting a Fusion I4 with Manual transmission. The manual transmission really fixes those issues. The engine doesn't sound stressed, it's silky smooth, and it really doesn't need to rev much at all to get up and go. At my altitude, and tyhe commute he takes, that Fusion gets great gas mileage as well. It averages around 35 MPG.

Edited May 22, 2007 by rsgnome

[Surgen]

The current I4 Fusion isn't a good surrogate for the future Hybrid - I suspect the Hybrid Fusion won't share any powertrain components with the I4 Fusion. I find the Hybrid Escape drives a lot more like the V6, than the I4. If you want a better idea of what it will handle like, test drive the V6.

[BlackHorse]

The current I4 Fusion isn't a good surrogate for the future Hybrid - I suspect the Hybrid Fusion won't share any powertrain components with the I4 Fusion. I find the Hybrid Escape drives a lot more like the V6, than the I4. If you want a better idea of what it will handle like, test drive the V6.

 

I suspected the same thing as I have also heard the Escape Hybrid is more like the V6 from a power point of view. Regardless, I still wanted to see how the car handled, how refined it was from a materials point of view on the interior, things like that.

[smok]

Ok, so the other day I made a trip down to my Ford dealer to test drive a Fusion. Not because I want a current Fusion but because I'll be in the market for a hybrid Fusion when they come out. So I asked the salesman which version of the Fusion he felt would most closely duplicate the hybrid Fusion from a performance standpoint, the V6 or the 4 cylinder. He felt the 4 cylinder would be the best choice so we picked out a nicely equipped 4 cylinder Fusion and went for a drive. I just wanted to see how the car handled, how much road noise was there, it's level of refinement and so on. First let me say I like the new combination leather / fabric seats that Ford has done. This particular car had them and they were actually quite nice. The car was priced at 21 thousand, with the 5 speed auto, leather / fabric seats, the usual pw, pl and so on and a nicely leather wrapped steering wheel. The only interior piece I objected to was the radio. Ford is still using the rather drab square black radios in the Fusion. They should update to a system more akin to the new Escape which has a rather nice stereo console setup.

 

Ok, so the drive. The car handles quite well for a mid-size sedan and the seats are quite comfortable, although I haven't tried the all cloth seats. The 2.3 liter 4 cylinder motor was far too loud and sounded brash and coarse. It made an otherwise pretty refined car seem down right low brow. This has to be a Ford thing because I've driven 2.3 powered Mazda cars and there was no such issue. A couple of months ago I drove a 2.3 equipped Mazda 3 with a 5 speed auto and the motor was very smooth, very refined, easily on par with anything Honda is offering. The 2.3 in the Fusion sounded as if it were straining even though I know it's more than adequate for a car this size. What is the reason for this in the Fusion? Is it a cheap exhaust system or what? It really put me off about the car to be quite honest. There's no reason they can't attain the smooth refined feel from the 2.3 that Honda and Toyota manage with their 4 cylinder Accords and Camry's. This is the kind of thing that can really turn off a potential buyer in this segment, especially if they've also driven the Honda, Toyota or even the Mazda offering. Any ideas what the reason for this is?

 

 

I totally agree, good description.

 

I think the problem is that the 1st gear revs up to high, and then there is a delayed shift to second.

 

I drove a 4-cyl 2.3 Mazda 6, and it shifted real nice. I am not sure how Ford can fix it. Maybe a re-program?

[TomServo92]

I totally agree, good description.

 

I think the problem is that the 1st gear revs up to high, and then there is a delayed shift to second.

 

I drove a 4-cyl 2.3 Mazda 6, and it shifted real nice. I am not sure how Ford can fix it. Maybe a re-program?

 

I just test drove an '07 that didn't exhibit 1-2 shift that you describe. Perhaps they've already re-programmed it.

Edited May 22, 2007 by TomServo92

[BlackHorse]

I just test drove an '07 that didn't exhibit 1-2 shift that you describe. Perhaps they've already re-programmed it.

 

This was an 07 and regardless of whether they reprogrammed the shift point, the motor still sounded like it was going to come out from under the hood and attack a nearby tree. It's loud and brash and needs some serious refinement.

Edited May 22, 2007 by BlackHorse

[RichardJensen]

This was an 07 and regardless of whether they reprogrammed the shift point, the motor still sounded like it was going to come out from under the hood and attack a nearby tree. It's loud and brash and needs some serious refinement.

Have the sales rep pull the battery cable, wait half a minute and then put it back on. Repeat test drive. At moderate throttle the transmission should shift out of first and into second quite early. The thing won't pull for much (because you're not holding it through the HP sweet spot of the powerband), but it will be considerably more refined.

 

Or test drive with a manual. Eventually the automatic will learn your driving style and shift at roughly the same points that you would shift on a manual.

 

Demonstrators get rode hard and put away wet, and it totally screws up their adaptive shift logic.

[BlackHorse]

Have the sales rep pull the battery cable, wait half a minute and then put it back on. Repeat test drive. At moderate throttle the transmission should shift out of first and into second quite early. The thing won't pull for much (because you're not holding it through the HP sweet spot of the powerband), but it will be considerably more refined.

 

Oh man I shouldn't have to go through all that to make the engine run smooth Richard. Come on. I've test driven plenty a smooth Honda Accord and never had to fuss with a battery cable to get it to run with a good degree of refinement. Ditto for the 2.3 powered Mazda's I've driven that ran smoothly and quietly.

[RichardJensen]

Oh man I shouldn't have to go through all that to make the engine run smooth Richard. Come on. I've test driven plenty a smooth Honda Accord and never had to fuss with a battery cable to get it to run with a good degree of refinement. Ditto for the 2.3 powered Mazda's I've driven that ran smoothly and quietly.

You wouldn't have to do that with the car you buy.

 

The problem is not the engine, it's the transmission. It has adopted the 'maniac driver' shift pattern, and therefore holds the shifts until redline. That's 1-2k worth of noise you don't need.

 

Anyway, I have driven a few Hondas and I'm not impressed with their shift logic. I never got used to it.

[BlackHorse]

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt Richard, you know more about Fords mechanically than I. I think maybe I'll see if there's a local car rental place that has a 4 cylinder Fusion and drive it for a couple days and see how it pans out. Finally it would be a great idea if the salesmen would explain this to customers when they test drive the car. "The motor sounds like that because the shift logic takes time to adjust to your driving style, its normal." A lot of customers will just think its an unusually loud motor.

[RichardJensen]

Salesmen are the reason why those things end up set to "Wannabe Andretti" in the first place. You think that, as a general rule, they're going to explain to the customer, "Uh yeah, this thing is all screwed up because I've been taking hot laps of the mall parking lot in it"?

 

Try the rental--although it too probably is set in 'maniac' mode.

[BORG]

I've learned that the best way to drive any of the Duratec engines is to treat them gently off the line. Don't lean on the throttle, it will make more commotion than action, apply the throttle gradually and let it work through the gears. The chassis is designed for more action but the drive trains lack bottom-end grunt. All the power is in the upper gears so be patient before you get there.

[mettech]

Drive a Honda and see how a 4-cyl is suppose to sound like in the last 1-2K RPMs.

[TomServo92]

Drive a Honda and see how a 4-cyl is suppose to sound like in the last 1-2K RPMs.

 

I lived with a Honda 4-cylinder for about 3 years so I definitely know how they feel. I didn't find the Fusion I4 to be any different in sound or harshness.

[twintornados]

The transmission control computer needs to adapt to the drive style of the owner. My Fusion shifted "odd" for the first few days of me owning it, partly because it had not adapted to my style, and partly because I was having "fun" with my new V6 (previous car was an I4 Focus)....I have settled down my drive style and my car drives smooth as glass, and I have a buddy with an I4 Fusion and he says it rides and drives like silk.

[NickF1011]

Drive a Honda and see how a 4-cyl is suppose to sound like in the last 1-2K RPMs.

 

Hope it sounds better than the 4 cyl in one of my ex-GF's Accord from a few years back. If that thing didn't have a manual, God help me...even WITH a stick you had to wind it to 5000+ RPM to get it out of its own way...and it didn't sound too happy to be at those RPM either.

[theoldwizard]

... The 2.3 liter 4 cylinder motor was far too loud and sounded brash and coarse. It made an otherwise pretty refined car seem down right low brow. This has to be a Ford thing because I've driven 2.3 powered Mazda cars and there was no such issue. A couple of months ago I drove a 2.3 equipped Mazda 3 with a 5 speed auto and the motor was very smooth, very refined, ...

Your comments have been made by several auto journalists ! Are you a pro skulking here ?

 

IIRC, those are the same engine. The EFI system is different. The Fusion weights more, so I wonder what the final drive ratio are for the Fusion versus the Mazda 3.

 

That engine is a Mazda design that is truly a global engine (Wikipedia list it as Ford/Mazda global straight-4). It is built in many sizes from 1.4L to 2.3L and in may different factories. Rumor was there is a 5 cylinder, 2.5L version of that engine that was never built.

 

Volvo designs/manufacturers all of its inline gasoline engines. It will be interesting if Volvo will be able to continue to do so in the new "global Ford".

[RichardJensen]

The Volvo/PAG I-6 is being built at Bridgend.

[Biker16]

The Volvo/PAG I-6 is being built at Bridgend.

 

My dad has a I4 Fusion as well and when I drive it it does the same thing, It is like it it too sensitive, and anticipates the down shift.

 

the problem is that , the noise is induction noise. now Why the same engine in the MZ6 is quieter, I don't know. The engines are the same, engine mounts are the same, The difference must be in the Transmission programming and in te induction tuning.

 

I really can't buy this adaptive bullshit, the thing must hold the gear better than it does. The ECU must better measure the Delta V of the accelerator better than it does.

[MGallun]

can it at least get out of its own way? i test drove camry 4cyl, accord 4cyl and altimia 4cyl.. and ya, they all were quiet and stuff, but big ole dogs. god, i would hate to own one and get in a spot where u need to mash the gas, and just not go anywhere.. havent test drove fusion 4cyl yet.. i will try this weekend i think.

[akirby]

can it at least get out of its own way? i test drove camry 4cyl, accord 4cyl and altimia 4cyl.. and ya, they all were quiet and stuff, but big ole dogs. god, i would hate to own one and get in a spot where u need to mash the gas, and just not go anywhere.. havent test drove fusion 4cyl yet.. i will try this weekend i think.

 

A lot of drivers never exceed 50% throttle anyway, so it doesn't matter to them. My wife is one of them. She has no problem with speed (as long as she's driving) but if you try to accelerate quickly or take a corner fast she thinks you're about to have a wreck.

[BlackHorse]

Your comments have been made by several auto journalists ! Are you a pro skulking here ?

 

I can only wish that were true. I'd love to have a job at just about any of the mainstream auto industry mags as a staff writer. Hurt me. Spend all day driving around in the latest brand new cars, all paid for by the company and then espouse my two cents about it. I'd love that. No sir I regret that I'm not a skulking pro.

 

Given that I've seen comment on both sides of the aisle here I think the best thing for me to do is go ahead and rent a 4 cylinder Fusion and drive it a couple days before I make any final decision. But that radio still bugs me.

[Roadrunner]

I totally agree, good description.

 

I think the problem is that the 1st gear revs up to high, and then there is a delayed shift to second.

 

I drove a 4-cyl 2.3 Mazda 6, and it shifted real nice. I am not sure how Ford can fix it. Maybe a re-program?

 

Lived it, hated it, fixed it.

 

There is a TSB that makes dealers re-program the car's shifting pattern and the issue discussed here goes away completely, I believe.

Edited May 22, 2007 by Roadrunner

[smsfordman]

The 07 have been reprorammed to shift sooner and smoother, less rpm. You can take 06's back for a reprogram at the dealer to take advantage of this update.