[FocusGuy7476]

Renault has a pretty good chance to come to North America, since they are partially owned by Nissan.

Nos, I believe that you were looking at the Fusion before you bought your new Focus. Your the target demographic for the Fusion but didn't buy one when you were looking for a new car, why is that?

[NOS2Go4Me]

Lemme sum it up in point-form, and these are my opinions... YMMV:

Focus: great handling, Duratec makes for snappy performance (esp. over SPI), great brakes, excellent fuel economy, good re-fresh of the 1st gen. body, heated seats/mirrors, traction control and ABS standard, 50-series tires standard, classic Focus dash (good), better roadside (5 year)

Fusion (2.3L): decent performance, droning engine noise, ugly-sounding intake, squishy suspension, overly-firm anti-sways, ugly rear end, no heated seats or mirrors (for decent price), good dash cluster, horrid seats, numb brakes, lack of gear selection in auto, no T/C, had to get 2006 to get incentives.

In a nutshell, we felt coddled in the Fusion and not encouraged to drive. In the Focus, the 16" 50-series tires and excellent suspension enable you to drive more enthusiastically, right off the lot.

The Fusion has more highway pull, but you can't select gears hardly. I know they're slushboxen, but if I want to pick a gear... let me!

Plus, it's either a Fusion with no TCS, no heated seats / mirrors and s***tier seats or a loaded Focus with a weaker sound system. Seriously, the weakest part of the Focus is the sound system. That's easily fixed with 300-500 dollars' worth of speakers for the doors, a proper 4-channel amp and a new headunit. You could arguably do the same to the Fusion, but then you still have a car that handles like a newborn calf AND has no TCS.

Plus, if I wanted the "handling" setup of the SEL 2.3L, it's at least 27Gs before the auto. No thanks, my Focus was $20Gs off the lot with the auto, and that's before my extra rebates and bonuses.

Plus, I still think the ass of the car looks hideous. Every time I catch myself wondering about the Fusion, I just say, "Could you really live with yourself when you have to wake up next to that ass every morning?" :blink:

That's like saying would I be happy if I had stayed with my ex. But not as bad. Nowhere near as bad.

The Fusion will do well for lots of folks who want to have a decent amount of room in a car, more than a Focus, who want to look trendy and who are ready to leave the stock performance handling arena.

Thankfully I don't really fit that demographic.

[Drivesthebeast]

I liked the Fusion AWD SEL V6...lots of pep from the engine and 6spd combination, which would easily walk away from a lot of cars in the same class out on the highway. The suspension in the V6 was nice and taught, not sloppy like the 4cyl model, the leather seats and interior had a nice ultra-modern contemporary design and layount which I liked (lot nicer than the Taurus). The AWD made the car feel more connected to the road, with greater feel for where the car was in the steering wheel. I think the only thing holding the car back is the tires (same as any Ford product, besides the Mustang, as the Pirelli's are rather quite good).

I was going to buy one, until I saw that it was going to cost me over $40,000 after taxes and all of the applicables, hence why I went to look at used Lincoln LS's, and Mustangs.

I think that if I had to switch to a family car though, the Fusion AWD SEL V6 would be my first choice, unless of course, Ford releases the Interceptor...then that car would be #1 for me.

L8tz