[ZTWsquared]

NOS2Go4Me,Nov 25 2006, 01:33 PM Wrote:After driving the Focus and seeing that the great incentives on the Fusion actually made for the same monthly lease/buy payments as the Focus... I have the following conundrum: WHICH CAR???

Hey Adam ... good luck with the decision – not sure what your primary selection criteria is with the new car, but I thought I’d pipe in with some observations.

The 2006 Fusion does not have the side airbags or foglights standard as they do for ’07 – and frankly I would not buy that car without the side air bags based on what I’ve read. On the other hand I won’t buy a Focus without side air bags either.

Comparing 2007 models, there is indeed an additional $1500 delivery credit on the Fusion vs. none on Focus, which does narrow the MSRP gap to $3050 assuming you can get the whole 1500 from the dealer. They are not obligated BTW to disclose this incentive to you or give you any portion of it as it is a “dealer” incentive normally hidden from the consumer.

Accordingly, with the same 0% financing on both, the monthly payments on Fusion would have to be higher given the price disadvantage.

For a 36-month lease the Fusion does have 4 ppts residual advantage, but a lease rate disadvange (4.5% vs. 2.9% for Focus) … so again, not having done the math, my educated guess is the Fusion payment would be higher.

NOS2Go4Me,Nov 25 2006, 01:33 PM Wrote:… but then again the Fusion outruns the Focus.

I’m kind of surprised to read this … I know it’s got an extra cog in the slushbox but the Fusion weighs 30% more than the Focus (800 lbs!) but comes with only 18% additional hp and torque. Having said that I couldn’t find any 0-60 or ¼ mile info to compare so I stand to be corrected.

I have all the Ford spreadsheets for comparing monthly payments; feel free to send me the info if you'd like a financial comparison.

Cheers