so, i test drove a ford fusion today and i thought it was pretty solid. it handles well and has some good power. however, when i read reviews of it there were some really horrible opinions. some people had issues such as noise and transmission. i think the car looks nice, although the camry and accord are more powerful by a significant amount. anyone else test drive one or any thoughts on the fusion?

 

I would wait until they start putting the turbo i4 in the Fusions (the same engine they put in the Masdaspeed 6.) Unless Ford is completely retarded and never puts it in there. They have been telking about it for almost 2 years now. Then get one with a manual trans. I like the car. But I am Ford biased. I grew up with one and my father-in-law is the commercial accounts manager at a large Ford dealership in town. So when my wife gets a new car, it will be a Ford.

 

Windstar (Fix Or Repair Daily) (Found On the Road Dead) (Failed On Race Day)

 

I like fords too... I thought that heated tailgate idea they have is great... on the old fords my hands used to get cold when the car broke down and i had to push it. Now they stay nice and toasty WHEN it breaks down...

 

yeah we had a taurus for many years. it was good except for the tranny .

 

I don't mind fords much, they are actually pretty good on average... Dodge trannies on the other hand scare the poo out of me. Every tranny tech I've asked about who makes the worst one immedietly says the same thing. Dodge

 

Ive never liked fords.

my parents used to have a windstar and it broke down after about 20k miles....
before that they had an early ford SUV (cant remember what it was... but it was white) and IT broke down after 30k ish.
Then they owned a mazda 626. Engine was perfect. Only problem is that was the generation with the ford transmissions... and THAT blew out after 10 thousand miles or so.

theres a reason behind my non-ford liking...

 

The Taurus trannies were notorious for going out very much like the 6th gen accord trannies are.
I have been told Ford won't even rebuild them.

My 91 Mustang is a champ. Tons of mileage and will still smoke the tires. I'd still drive it if the rear view mirror wasn't loose, the roof didn't leak, the steering wheel didn't have about 2 inches of play in it, the tail lights matched (I backed into someone in college and replaced the broken light with one that didn't match to get out of a ticket), and it didn't have 2 dents on it where SOB's hit me.

 

To come to the resuce of Dodge, here I am!

Yes, 90's Dodge transmissions are horrible and have failed multiple times. Culprit? Not enough fluid capacity to keep the fluid cool and we all know heat is a transmissions #1 enemy. We had 3 Mopars, our 79 Lil Red, 92 Dodge Spirit, 94 Plymouth Voyager. The tranny on the Voyager went out at about 50k and got it rebuilt, then went out again a little after 100k, so we got rid of it and got a 02' Ford Taurus. On the other hand, our Spirit we bought w/ 30k on it when I was still in Elem. school. Anyways, my dad put a $35 tranny cooler on it after it went into safe mode (also when I was in elem. school)and have not had one problem w/ the transmission since (170xxxk miles now). The only thing Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler transmissions need are a $30ish transmission cooler and they are just as good as the rest.

Okay, i've done my job!

As far as the Tauras goes...its a pretty good car.Good power, but it leaks a smidge of coolant, and had to get a switch replaced (the one for the brake pedal, 4get what its called) that wont let you move the gear selector, and I guess its sort of making a weird noise on startup. Oh, and one of the bearings in the wheel is going bad. So its about a 50/50 car.

 

I don't know if I'd call that a dodge resuce or affirmation of a massive 10 + year design flaw *L*

The tranny cooler does make sense though.... but I don't see why they never fixed it..