2013 Ford Fusion at the Detroit Auto Show - NAIAS

Coming into the NAIAS, like most people, we were not expecting too much, and for sure not too much that we haven’t already seen spy shots of on the interwebs. That was true for most cars, but there were a few really good surprises.

2013 Ford Fusion:
I did hear that Ford would be bringing the new Fusion to the Detroit Auto Show, and was looking forward to a boring redesign that added accent lines and changed the headlight and taillight design a little. The Fusion is a decent car and last year was one of the best selling years for the Fusion, so why would they bother to change it that much?

Oh, how naive I am. The new Fusion is a complete redesign that merges their European design language into the family sedan. I personally think it looks great for a non-premium mid-sized sedan. It has an Audi-ish profile, a European Ford Mondeo rear, and an almost Aston Martin like front fascia.

It’s not just the looks, but this new Fusion will be offered in many models. Ford will let you chose from a plug-in hybrid, an eco-model achieving 47-mpg, and the standard. The standard car will offer a choice of powertrains starting with the 2.5-liter 4-cylinder pushing 170 hp and 170 ft-lbs of torque. You can also choose from 2 different EcoBoost engines including the 1.6 EcoBoost with 179 hp and 172 ft-lbs of torque and the 2.0-liter EcoBoost with 237 hp and 250 ft-bls of torque. No word on manual or auto transmissions as of yet, but I can say I’m really looking forward to testing out this new ride!

The Chevrolet Code 130R and Tru 140S Concepts:

Chevrolet introduced two concept coupes at the 2012 North American International Auto Show aimed at inspiring next-generation buyers to take the wheel and suggest ideas for a car they can co-create.

These two concepts have been talked about a lot this past week after the reveal at NAIAS, but we had no hit of these before hand. Chevrolet knows they need to focus on the youth market, and what’s more youthful than small and sporty coupes?

The Code 130R, which is a name that confuses us all, is a rear-wheel-drive, small coupe that could take on the likes of the new Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ. The styling is a little quirky, but you can see the Chevrolet heritage bulging out and it’s even sporting some Corvette “cross-flag” emblems on the fenders. Under the hood look for a turbo’d 1.4 liter engine pushing 150 hp and 148 ft-lbs of torque matched up to either a 6-speed auto or 6-speed manual transmission.

Personally, I think GM needs this car. Not just Chevrolet, but even as a sleek Buick. I hope they continue to develop on this platform, but take more styling cues from the Tru 140S.

So what is the Tru 140S? Another confusing name fore sure. Unlike the 130R, the 140S is a front-wheel-drive coupe design. It’s said to have the same engine and transmission setup as the 130R. I’ve heard this design being compared to an Eclipse and I think that fits well, but I’d really like to see this in a RWD platform. The design is really stunning and would make some waves for sure in the compact coupe market.

We had the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid for a few weeks during the Christmas break and really enjoyed our time in it. This is our video showing a little bit of what we thought about the new Milan. For a full review check out our post here, or hit the jump to see the video.

Feel free to let us know what you think about the video in our coments here on txGarage or on our YouTube page.

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

Today at the International Auto Show in Detroit they announced the North America Car and Truck of the year. Ford had a clean sweep with the Ford Fusion Hybrid winning car of the year and the Ford Transit Van winning truck of the year. We wont get into the Van winning Truck of the year, mostly because here in Texas we had the F150 win Texas Truck of the Year which is more suitable for us.
On the other had the Ford Fusion Hybrid, although we didn’t drive the Fusion Hybrid we did drive the Milan Hybrid – built on the same platform. We really liked the Milan Hybrid and Ford’s Hybrid system despite it being a Hybrid.

Check it out the 2010 Milan Hybrid here.

Check out the 2010 Ford Fusion here.

2010 Ford Transit Van

2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid

Driving on icy highways is no fun anywhere, but in Central Texas it becomes downright dangerous. A large percentage of Texans drive trucks, rear-wheel-drive with no traction. Couple that with the fact that we never seem to be prepared for ice or snow and it really gets dangerous. Heading home from visiting family for Christmas Eve, we hit the worst part of a bad snow day. A two hour long journey would be turned into a five hour marathon as we crept along the icy highways. We hit an enormous amount of traffic and hardship along the roads. Trucks would spin their tires desperately trying to climb hills; 18-wheelers would jackknife or would be unable to gain traction; Mustangs and 350Zs littered the ditches and medians; and mangled vehicles crept down the highway trying to get home. All I could think of, after the safety of my family of course, was not hurting this new press vehicle loaned to me by Ford. Surprisingly though, this 2010 Mercury Milan handled the snow and ice with ease, never did I think I would be happy that I was driving a front-wheel-drive car.

There have been quite a few rumors floating around for years now that “next year” is the year that Ford will dump its Mercury brand. Although the entry level luxury Marquee has been around since 1939, the brand hasn’t been a sales contender in any class for as far back as I can recall. The 2010 line-up consists of only three vehicles, the Milan, Mariner, and Mountaineer – you can also still buy a Grand Marquis, but only by special order now. So seemingly the skeptics are right. Ford isn’t investing much into Mercury and has been starving it for years.

I personally, after seeing and driving this new 2010 Milan, hope the rumors are not true. Although the Milan is still nothing more than a Ford Fusion with elegant sheet metal, at least it’s a big step in the right direction from previous generations. With the new looks and standard equipment on this car, it really does have enough to distinguish itself apart from the Fusion. For the money, I believe that the Milan is a much nicer and better looking than almost any other car in its class right now. I say “right now” because the upcoming Hyundai Sonata will be a fabulous car, not to mention the new Buick Regal that is going to hit the auto shows soon. With Ford absolving itself of Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin, you would think that in the coming years Ford would be able to put more R&D into the Mercury brand giving them a new life-line.

So why is this Milan so important and so much better than its predecessor? Well just look at it! Mercury was really allowed to break from the Fusion body design and produce something drastically different in looks to the Fusion. Starting with the trademark “waterfall” grille the Milan has a curvy and lustful appeal to the front end. The headlights are more squished and stretched to curve up into the hood with the flowing body lines. The rear of the vehicle is more of the same with a more rounded rear end and tear drop tail lights with a beautiful new lighting design.

The interior of the car, although not distinguished much at all from the Fusion, is still one of my favorite interiors to be in for a car in this class. By far one of my favorite things about the interior is what’s not there as much as what is, namely fake wood grain. Why car makers connect wood grain interior with luxury is beyond me, but Mercury opted for a darker grainy material that looks better and really gives the car an upscale feel. The second best thing about the interior is the seats. The two-tone leather with exposed stitching looks wonderful and the bolstering and eight-way power adjustable seats make it incredibly comfortable, even on a five hour drive. You also get creature comforts like heated seats, dual climate control, ambient lighting, and steering wheel mounted controls. The next best thing about this Milan’s interior is Ford’s SYNC system. It’s a system you have to play with to understand how great and easy it is, although do it before you take off otherwise you will crash your new car. The menus are easy to read and understand, you get lots of information at your fingertips. You also have a great voice interactive system that allows you to hook up a phone or a USB device (i.e. iPod). It didn’t take long before I had my iPhone hooked up and playing my playlists, and when a call came in I could simply answer it via Bluetooth with a touch of a button on my steering wheel. The SYNC system has been hailed as one of the best infotainment systems, even over Mercedes and BMW, and is now being copied by many manufacturers. The only real gripes I would have with the interior firstly would be the extra storage compartment on the top of the dash. It makes good use of the space, but is the only part of the car made of cheap plastic and didn’t look like it fit well. Secondly, my daughter’s car seat had a hard time fitting well in the back seat; it just wasn’t wide enough from seatbelt to seatbelt buckle. Lastly, would be a radio mute button. It is always nicer to be able to hit one button to mute the audio and hit it again to bring it back to the volume you had it, instead of turning a dial or holding the volume button down on the steering wheel. That’s it, my three complaints of the car and they are nitpicks.

I know what you’re saying, yes it looks good and yes it has a nice interior but how does it drive? This is an enthusiast site after all. Well for a simi-luxuries, hybrid, sedan it’s not that bad. The driving dynamics match directly with the Ford Fusion, as it shares the chassis and steering, and we really liked the Fusion. There is not a lot of body roll, although it does exist, and the steering is tight and gives good feedback. This isn’t a car you’re going to buy to take to the track or even drive enthusiastically, but it’s not the boring slush-mobiles of the past.

My test car had the hybrid system in it, with a 2.5 liter four cylinder motor and an electric motor under the hood. The battery pack is stuck back in the trunk taking away some of your space but I still found the room plentiful. You can also get this car with the standard 2.5 liter Duratec four cylinder engine pushing 175 hp and 172 lb.-ft. of torque, or the 3.0 liter Duratec V6 engine with 240 hp and 223 lb.-ft. of torque. No matter what engine you get, Ford says that the Milan and the Fusion are “America’s most fuel-efficient midsize sedan” thanks to the Duratec technology. Of course we got the most fuel-efficient option with the hybrid system that Ford says will do 41 MPG in the city and 38 MPG on the highway, they say you can get 700 miles per tank, and that you can run the car in electric mode up to 47 mph. Let’s start with the mileage statistic because most MPG ratings on cars seem to be inflated. When I first got the car I reset the miles per gallon recorded in the information display, then drove the car like I would any normal day. My normal day of driving consist of two minutes of country road to the highway, then thirty-five minutes of highway driving to my exit, then about 2 more minutes of city roads to my office. So let’s just call that highway driving. My average, normal driving, on the highway was just at 38 MPG, astonishingly right at the advertised number. My next task was to reset the MPG again and take some time to drive some city streets. After a day roaming around Dallas wasting gas, I came away with 42 MPG. Thats 1 MPG higher than the advertised figure! What a great system this is! So I set out another task, two birds with one stone kind of task, where I would drive the car hard and see what kind of fuel economy I would get. This is a two bird with one stone approach because I was determined to prove to other drivers that hybrid drivers don’t have to be slow, pain in the neck, hyper mileage drivers. So after a few days of thinking not about fuel economy and jamming the right pedal to the floor, I came out with an average of 34 MPG. Most cars couldn’t get that if they tried their hardest. I was actually impressed. Of course all this great gas mileage comes at a price, almost $4,000. It is a hefty price for a great new technology, and living in a state where most commuters are like me – having a mostly highway driven round trip – won’t really get the benefit of the gas savings. We also have new technologies coming out with diesel engines and even Ford’s own EcoBoost engines that deliver great gas mileage without stripping an extra four grand from your pocket book. It would be more of a determination of your commute and where you live on if it would be worth it for you, although 34 MPG average is nothing to sneeze at.

All in all, I was pretty happy and impressed with the new Milan. It has a great new body that sets it apart from the Fusion. It has a fantastic interior, and it has fuel-efficient new powertrains. Ford still has a long way to go though to bring the Mercury brand up to a level above everyday Ford vehicles. They need to continue to differentiate their models with nice bodywork and upgraded interiors. They need to focus on competing with brands like Buick, Acura, and even Infinity, not with Honda, Toyota and Chevrolet. More exciting refreshes like the Milan will allow Mercury to compete with these brands if only Ford will give them the opportunity. Otherwise the rumors we all have heard may bring Mercury to the same fate as many other, now non-existent brands.

2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid

Today we took delivery of a 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid supplied by Ford. We will be testing it and reviewing it throughout the holidays and by the end will have a nice video for you to enjoy. For now check out these first pictures of the car we snapped during the delivery.

First let’s look at the styling. Frankly I love it! Some people think the new “3 bar grill” design is too much, but I like the aggressive look and the way they made the headlights mach up with the grill it just beefs up the front end. I was never a big fan of the old headlights but they did a fantastic job integrating these new lights with the front end.  The open mouth and more European front help the car look more elegant while still looking like an American machine.  Another redesigned area of the car that I was happy with was the rear. The new tail lights round out the design well. Wrapping up the European look in the back is the rear diffuser, looking sporty but not being too big for a normal family car.

2010 Ford Fusion

Where Ford really out did themselves is in the interior in this car. I told you how great the interior was in the 2005 model, well just know that the 2010 is ten times better. The material used for the door trim and the dash, the softness of the steering wheel, and the comfort of the seats just add to an all around better car. The standard Ford SYNC system has one-upped brands like BMW and Lexus giving you functionality they are now trying to copy.

2010 Ford Fusion

On to the engines, the Fusion has a 2.5L four-cylinder with an all new six-speed automatic gear box producing 171hp and 171lb-ft of torque and rated at 23/34mpg. This base engine is quite good in power and in MPG, but the top of the line Sport edition will be packing a 3.5L V6 also matted to a six-speed automatic gear box. With the V6 you get a plentiful 263hp and 249lb-ft torque while still maintaining good MPG. We should also expect to see a Fusion GT with the NEW 3.5L Eco-Boost V6 (which is so amazing I could write a whole article about just that engine) producing about 340hp. My recommendation to Ford if they decide to produce the GT would be to make sure the suspension and front tires can take that horsepower being a front wheel drive car.  

2010 Ford Fusion V6 Engine

The biggest fuss with the new 2010 Fusion is the new Hybrid model.  With the hybrid Fusion you get a gasoline-electric hybrid system that easily cranks out 41MPG averages. Again Ford is leading in the technology department with others struggling to produce such a useful vehicle with such good gas mileage and still keep it at an affordable price.

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

If you know me you know I like fast cars with rear wheel drive and a nice manual transmission, but for an everyday family sedan this has to be one of my favorite cars out there. The refinement and technology put into this car by Ford is a step above the rest at its price range, and it’s always good to be in a Great American car.