A perky 100 bhp 16-valver. An enthusiastically shifting gearbox. Proven underpinnings of the best-selling European Fiesta. All make the Ford Fusion quite a fun car to drive. With large 15-inch wheels at the corners and a chassis honed at one of the best small car engineering set-ups in the world, I swear that you wouldn’t leave any corner in your daily commute untouched. Straightening corners comes naturally to the Fusion, and it becomes pretty addictive.
Ford’s marketing whiz-kids coined the term UAV – Urban Activity Vehicle –to define the Fusion, when the vehicle was launched in the country in September 2004. Yet it did not exactly populate India’s urban zones. The main reason was that it was priced way too high. The Fusion had everything going for it in terms of dimension, versatility, powertrain, looks, acceptable fuel consumption, yet the crucial value-for-money feature was missing.
What Ford bet on was that the Fusion was a unique vehicle, so it would create its own niche and command a premium. Ford’s assumption was not misplaced, because the Fusion has an SUV-ish stance (large wheels, good ground clearance, prominent wheel arches, height) and offers great interior room for passengers, but – a crucial ‘but’ here – it still was a hatchback. And hatchbacks are expected to offer VFM – ask Hyundai about their experience with the Getz. This, even if the hatchback offers you better interior room than most C-segmenters in the business. Nevertheless, you could get three-box sedans for the price the Fusion was asking. Then there was the Fusion Plus package, with the option of ABS and EBD, which made the price even more forbidding. No wonder that it made slow progress in the marketplace and you could even get discounts worth about a lakh of rupees.
Enter the new Fusion – wearing a look that makes it actually look new and a price tag that attempts to undo most of the previous damage. So what’s new about the new Fusion? For starters, the ‘lozenge’ shaped headlamps get prominent integrated amber turn indicators. The front bumper is completely overhauled and has a profusion of matte black plastic with cube-shaped mini-grilles – it looks smart without being too cluttered. The rounded bonnet line stays the same, as it has to meet pedestrian safety norms.
At the back, the tall tail-lamps get the clear lens treatment that make the rear-end less cluttered. On the inside, the rough plastic that overwhelmed the entire dashboard has been given the heave-ho and a new, softer, rubbery material with a better texture comes in place.
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