For me the choice was fuel economy. Before the Fusion, I had a '96 F-150 that on a good day would get around 12 mpg. At the time I was in college and that was too hard on me. The truck has 2 16 gallon fuel tanks and I was going through them both roughly every two weeks. That's not really much different than my driving habits now, just twice the amount of fuel required. Gas was just under $3/gallon and with tax it was almost $100 each time i filled up. While looking for replacements, the other car I was looking at was the Altima because of its reputation for reliability and of course fuel economy. After driving the Fusion, however, it was no contest. The Fusion had a nicer ride, basically the same gadgets, and much better rear visibility, which I knew I'd wanting since I was trading in a truck. My only regret was that I didn't get the V6. I was living in the South at the time, and that was just fine, but now I've moved to Southern California. With the many changes in elevation and much faster pace of traffic in general, the V6 would have made getting around easier and probably more efficient. Would I buy another? Probably. But that would have to assume that the quality of Ford products is at least the same or better than it is now.
