My 2017 Ford Fusion Titanium AWD 100k Review

[jcartwright99]

It’s been 5 years since I’ve purchased my Fusion and it just turned over 100k a few weeks ago.  I've driven mostly in the Midwest and it’s seen all best/worst of the 4 seasons. It’s been driven through blizzards, torrential rains, and 110 degree highway runs. It's been fairly reliable during my time, only once stranding me on the side of the road.

 

Maintenance: I was pretty good maintaining the vehicle. I got the oil changed changed between 5-7k miles. I used either Motorcraft Partial Synthetic at Quicklane or Castrol Magnatec /Edge at my local shop. Only used 93 Octane gas, mostly filled at Costco. Out of the 72k I've tracked on Fuelly, I averaged 22.2 I flushed the transmission twice, PTU drain and fill once (due for another) and rear diff drained and filled once. New tires and brakes both have been replaced once. Each year air filter, cabin air filter, and wipers changed. Hand waxed 1-2 times a year.

 

The Good: The 2.0 Ecoboost was a solid midrange engine (behind the 2.7 and above 2.5 hybrid, 2.5 and 1.5).  Acceleration, from 50-90 power is strong. Starts to run out of breath just over 5k RPM. Handled respectably for a FWD bias system, especially in class. AWD never let me down. Sync 3 with Apple Car play (pretty much standard now but not in 2017) was really good. It's great on expressway driving and is comfortable for long trips.

 

The Bad: Eco or Boost but not both. City MPG was pretty bad. Mind you, I live in an urban area with horrible stop and go traffic, but sometimes would get 17-18 mpg. Ford lug nuts (enough said).Fit and finish could been better. The A pillars rattle over rough roads. The transmission was always weird. 2-3 shift felt weird 90% of the time.  The paint chips easily and the hood shows it.  It left me stranded with transmission cable issue and couldn’t shift.

 

Issues I experienced

1. Blown Speaker (fixed under warranty)

2. PTU seal leak (fixed under warranty)

3. Sunglass holder would not shut (fixed under warranty)

4. Transmission cable from shifter to trans needed replacing (not fixed under extended powertrain warranty)

 

Potential Issues: Engineering flaw with head design. If coolant intrusion occurs because of this engineering flaw, that will be 4-5k to fix. It was surprisingly left out of the recent customer satisfaction program which was only covers the 1.5. This reason alone made me fork over money for an extended powertrain warranty. 

 

Would I buy again? Maybe. That’s a tough question. Overall I’m mostly satisfied with my purchase. Fit and finish and retail value are pretty poor compared to an Accord. The Accord V6 would have been my first choice, if it had AWD. When I purchased, the Fusion had the market cornered for AWD (not so much anymore). 

 

In nutshell, it did its job as a family hauler without much fuss. It’s kind of a boring car though.  It had few issues but nothing too terrible quality wise. The potential engine issue was much unexpected as earlier iterations of the 2.0 Ecoboost were fairly reliable. I knew going in the transmission had reports of being wonky and needing good maintenance to keep going. These two reasons make it a maybe and why I am actively looking to order a replacement vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

[bzcat]

What are you going to replace it? 

[jcartwright99]

56 minutes ago, bzcat said:

What are you going to replace it? 

 

Short list

1.Maverick

2. Bronco Sport

3. Suburu Outback

4. Bronco*- If I feel like gambling on it getting built or dealer markup

[Trader 10]

35 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

Short list

1.Maverick

2. Bronco Sport

3. Suburu Outback

4. Bronco*- If I feel like gambling on it getting built or dealer markup

It’s probably going to be more difficult to get a Maverick built than a Bronco. 

[iamweasel]

2 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

It’s been 5 years since I’ve purchased my Fusion and it just turned over 100k a few weeks ago.  I've driven mostly in the Midwest and it’s seen all best/worst of the 4 seasons. It’s been driven through blizzards, torrential rains, and 110 degree highway runs. It's been fairly reliable during my time, only once stranding me on the side of the road.

 

Maintenance: I was pretty good maintaining the vehicle. I got the oil changed changed between 5-7k miles. I used either Motorcraft Partial Synthetic at Quicklane or Castrol Magnatec /Edge at my local shop. Only used 93 Octane gas, mostly filled at Costco. Out of the 72k I've tracked on Fuelly, I averaged 22.2 I flushed the transmission twice, PTU drain and fill once (due for another) and rear diff drained and filled once. New tires and brakes both have been replaced once. Each year air filter, cabin air filter, and wipers changed. Hand waxed 1-2 times a year.

 

The Good: The 2.0 Ecoboost was a solid midrange engine (behind the 2.7 and above 2.5 hybrid, 2.5 and 1.5).  Acceleration, from 50-90 power is strong. Starts to run out of breath just over 5k RPM. Handled respectably for a FWD bias system, especially in class. AWD never let me down. Sync 3 with Apple Car play (pretty much standard now but not in 2017) was really good. It's great on expressway driving and is comfortable for long trips.

 

The Bad: Eco or Boost but not both. City MPG was pretty bad. Mind you, I live in an urban area with horrible stop and go traffic, but sometimes would get 17-18 mpg. Ford lug nuts (enough said).Fit and finish could been better. The A pillars rattle over rough roads. The transmission was always weird. 2-3 shift felt weird 90% of the time.  The paint chips easily and the hood shows it.  It left me stranded with transmission cable issue and couldn’t shift.

 

Issues I experienced

1. Blown Speaker (fixed under warranty)

2. PTU seal leak (fixed under warranty)

3. Sunglass holder would not shut (fixed under warranty)

4. Transmission cable from shifter to trans needed replacing (not fixed under extended powertrain warranty)

 

Potential Issues: Engineering flaw with head design. If coolant intrusion occurs because of this engineering flaw, that will be 4-5k to fix. It was surprisingly left out of the recent customer satisfaction program which was only covers the 1.5. This reason alone made me fork over money for an extended powertrain warranty. 

 

Would I buy again? Maybe. That’s a tough question. Overall I’m mostly satisfied with my purchase. Fit and finish and retail value are pretty poor compared to an Accord. The Accord V6 would have been my first choice, if it had AWD. When I purchased, the Fusion had the market cornered for AWD (not so much anymore). 

 

In nutshell, it did its job as a family hauler without much fuss. It’s kind of a boring car though.  It had few issues but nothing too terrible quality wise. The potential engine issue was much unexpected as earlier iterations of the 2.0 Ecoboost were fairly reliable. I knew going in the transmission had reports of being wonky and needing good maintenance to keep going. These two reasons make it a maybe and why I am actively looking to order a replacement vehicle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting info.....

 

Ironically I just got a recall notice this week for my Fusion's shifter cable.   I haven't had an issue with mine yet, though.

 

I have 2 vehicles, my company car is a 2013 Fusion that I've had since Oct 2012.  Mine was one of the very first of the new bodystyle.  It's a Titanium FWD and now has 120K miles on it.  

 

The car has been wonderful.  I've had ONE issue, when a check engine light came on one day, but the car drove fine with the light on.  Took it to the Ford dealer the next day and one $250 sensor later it was done.  This happened about a year or two ago ~ 90K miles.  That has been my only repair.  I never had to get anything fixed under warranty, either, aside from a recall or two.

 

I do agree on the transmission - seems this engine needs an 8-speed badly.  With my 6-speed, it does lurch from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd sometimes during medium throttle.  If I'm easy with it or floor it then it seems fine and shifts smoothly.

 

MPG's for me are around 22-24 city and 31-33 highway.  I'd say that's ok at best, but my other car certainly is more efficient given it has a 420HP twin-turbo V6 with an 8-speed tranny and gets about the same fuel mileage.    (22-23 city / 30-31 hwy on that car.)

 

If I had to be nitpicky and complain about some things:  My driver armrest now has a 1-inch tear in the vinyl, there are some flakes in the inside pockets of my wheels, and I cannot stand the plastic chrome exhaust tip covers.  They look good, but are too tightly wrapped / too far away from the main exhaust pipes so black soot gets all over them.  I am constantly cleaning them.  I feel like the pipes should have extended further into the chrome surrounds to help the soot exit without grabbing onto the plastic tips.

[akirby]

I loved my Ruby red 2013 Fusion Titanium 2.0  Only had minor issues including a failed door latch prior to the recall.

[akirby]

1 hour ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

Short list

1.Maverick

2. Bronco Sport

3. Suburu Outback

4. Bronco*- If I feel like gambling on it getting built or dealer markup

Mavericks are running 8-10 months with a big backlog of 22 orders that will get converted to 23s.  Might be awhile.

[jcartwright99]

26 minutes ago, akirby said:

Mavericks are running 8-10 months with a big backlog of 22 orders that will get converted to 23s.  Might be awhile.

 

I mean it's all a gamble but I anticipate that vehicle demand will lessen every month, with the exception of vehicles > 60K. If I were to guess based on the information I've seen is that we'll have a lot of orphaned orders in late 2022 and in 2023.

[DeluxeStang]

4 hours ago, akirby said:

Mavericks are running 8-10 months with a big backlog of 22 orders that will get converted to 23s.  Might be awhile.

In a way, I'm ok with this as long as the maverick doesn't receive some insane price increase of like 3-5 grand. I'm fine with waiting close to a year, especially if that means these annoying issues with the hybrids have a chance to be resolved before taking delivery of ours.

[twintornados]

Bronco Sport Badlands...will have the same 2.0L EB.

[jcartwright99]

1 hour ago, twintornados said:

Bronco Sport Badlands...will have the same 2.0L EB.

It will have the updated 2.0 EB with head design fix. I have no qualms about the engine performance. I think with the 8 speed it will be even better.

[twintornados]

23 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

It will have the updated 2.0 EB with head design fix. I have no qualms about the engine performance. I think with the 8 speed it will be even better.

 

I would say that the Bronco Sport Badlands is your jam then....

[T-dubz]

I loved my 2013 fusion. The interior and exterior both looked great. I had the smaller 4 cyl but it still felt plenty powerful. Unfortunately it just had too many problems, the biggest being the transmission going out at 70k miles. It’s the reason I buy the extended warranty on all my new cars now lol.

[jcartwright99]

37 minutes ago, T-dubz said:

I loved my 2013 fusion. The interior and exterior both looked great. I had the smaller 4 cyl but it still felt plenty powerful. Unfortunately it just had too many problems, the biggest being the transmission going out at 70k miles. It’s the reason I buy the extended warranty on all my new cars now lol.

 

This transmission won't be missed. This transmission was designed with a JV with GM. I recall reading that Ford put slightly less durable parts in it to save money. It showed. There were even rebuild kits that put the higher quality GM parts in there. By the time I got mine, they had worked most of the bugs out but the shift quality was still weird and very inconsistent. Also as they aged with more miles, they become even more rough around the edges. Lets hope Ford learned their lesson.

 

 

[akirby]

2 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

It will have the updated 2.0 EB with head design fix. I have no qualms about the engine performance. I think with the 8 speed it will be even better.

Our 22 Nautilus has the new 2.0 and 8 speed.  It’s flawless after 2 months.  Doesn’t have a ton of power but it gets moving with less than 50% throttle.  

[akirby]

11 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

I mean it's all a gamble but I anticipate that vehicle demand will lessen every month, with the exception of vehicles > 60K. If I were to guess based on the information I've seen is that we'll have a lot of orphaned orders in late 2022 and in 2023.

Possible but remember a lot of those orders are $25K vehicles so I don’t think they’ll be as likely to drop out.

 

Or you can get a stock Lariat 2.0L for a mere $42K at a dealer somewhere in the Midwest.

[jcartwright99]

19 minutes ago, akirby said:

Possible but remember a lot of those orders are $25K vehicles so I don’t think they’ll be as likely to drop out.

 

Or you can get a stock Lariat 2.0L for a mere $42K at a dealer somewhere in the Midwest.

 

I think the bottom to lower middle consumer will mostly drop out of the market for a while. Nobody but Ford knows who the consumer is putting in orders for the Maverick. We do know it is Ford's cheapest vehicle so would it be a reach to say a lower income bracket? Each month the charts/data become more telling. The sub prime lenders are getting hit hard right now so belts are finally tightening as far as lending. Now we are starting to see more defaults in the prime market. If this continues, they too will start to tighten up the lending.  For those with great credit scores and cash, this won't be an issue. For others, this will probably drive them out of the new car market.

[jcartwright99]

52 minutes ago, akirby said:

Our 22 Nautilus has the new 2.0 and 8 speed.  It’s flawless after 2 months.  Doesn’t have a ton of power but it gets moving with less than 50% throttle.  

 

This good to hear. I haven't heard too much bad in regards to the 2.0/8 speed combo. I will visit my folks in a couple weeks so I will have to test drive their Nautilus with this combo. 

[iamweasel]

1 hour ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

This good to hear. I haven't heard too much bad in regards to the 2.0/8 speed combo. I will visit my folks in a couple weeks so I will have to test drive their Nautilus with this combo. 

 

Ironically, enough, we got my wife a Bronco Sport Badlands in January and the 2.0L/8-speed combo is awesome.  The trans shifts great no matter how you drive it.  I like driving in Sport Mode which turns off the auto start/stop, and it's very quick off the line and when passing.  It probably feels faster than it really is, which is not a bad thing. 

[akirby]

1 hour ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

This good to hear. I haven't heard too much bad in regards to the 2.0/8 speed combo. I will visit my folks in a couple weeks so I will have to test drive their Nautilus with this combo. 

Early edge and nautilus models (2019?) had tranny issues with hesitation and stumbling but that seems to have been fixed.

[kyle]

14 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

 

Short list

1.Maverick

2. Bronco Sport

3. Suburu Outback

4. Bronco*- If I feel like gambling on it getting built or dealer markup

 

Might be able to get the Fusion Outback!!!

[twintornados]

20 hours ago, akirby said:

Our 22 Nautilus has the new 2.0 and 8 speed.  It’s flawless after 2 months.  Doesn’t have a ton of power but it gets moving with less than 50% throttle.  

 

The same drive train was in my 2021 Corsair...plenty of pep but not quite as <ahem> "blistering" as my 2017 MKC with the 2.3L EB / 6 speed combo.

I never understood why Ford would put the bigger (2.3L EB) in the Corsair and not the Nautilus.

[akirby]

2 hours ago, twintornados said:

 

I never understood why Ford would put the bigger (2.3L EB) in the Corsair and not the Nautilus.

Me, either.  Seems like a no brainer.

[bzcat]

6 hours ago, twintornados said:

 

The same drive train was in my 2021 Corsair...plenty of pep but not quite as <ahem> "blistering" as my 2017 MKC with the 2.3L EB / 6 speed combo.

I never understood why Ford would put the bigger (2.3L EB) in the Corsair and not the Nautilus.

 

Then they would have more difficult time trying to upsell the 2.7

 

Also have to think about it in the context of Ford as oppose to Lincoln. Edge with 2.0/2.7 makes perfect sense with Explorer 2.3/3.0. It's all segmented the way that is supposed to not overlap.

 

[Tico]

I had a 2013 Titanium 2.0 Turbo.  I loved it.  Didn't want to trade it but did on 2.3 Turbo Mustang in 2020 after 78K miles.  No major issues though lots of recalls since it was a '13 (first year for that  generation).