Inquiring about a used fusion hybrid

[jmlohrenz]

Hello all.  Looking at possibly buying a 2013 Fusion Hybrid SE.  it has 120k miles, and has recently had the transmission replaced.  is there anything in particular I should look at or be cautious about?  Looking for a cheap commuter vehicle that'll get probably 90 miles a day put on it 5 days a week.  Mostly highway driving with a few small towns to navigate through.

 

Thanks in advance.

[dogo88]

Just wanted to point out. Lot's of highway driving is not the forte of hybrids since most of the engine work will be the ICE and not the electric motor. 

[eisbaer]

Try and get a comprehensive service history on the car.

Find a list of recommended maintenance the car should have had done. Look those item over (or have a mechanic do it)

If something is going to go wrong specifically with one car, its most probably not going to give a heads up. Keeping it maintained and driving moderately is a good rule of thumb.

The car still gets about 40mpg highway, so does much better than a lot of other vehicles out there.

[mwr]

3 hours ago, eisbaer said:

The car still gets about 40mpg highway, so does much better than a lot of other vehicles out there.

Depends on how fast you drive on that highway. If 55-60 mph, should get considerably higher than that. If 80 mph,  probably lower. Driving through towns on the way should increase the mpg.

Edited May 31, 2020 by mwr

[jmlohrenz]

I should clarify, I live in the country, most of the driving is on 2-way county roads, so speed limits are 55.  Also, I've read about the transmission issue on certain models.  If looking up the VIN for the ones I've found around here, if nothing comes up, I'm assuming they were not included in that issue?  I've found a 2015 titanium with fewer miles, and a more detailed service record.  It has no active items or service items when I look it up at the ford site either.

[mwr]

12 minutes ago, jmlohrenz said:

I should clarify, I live in the country, most of the driving is on 2-way county roads, so speed limits are 55.  Also, I've read about the transmission issue on certain models.  If looking up the VIN for the ones I've found around here, if nothing comes up, I'm assuming they were not included in that issue?  I've found a 2015 titanium with fewer miles, and a more detailed service record.  It has no active items or service items when I look it up at the ford site either.

My FFH is a 2015 with almost 80K miles, and I've had no problems at all. The type of driving you describe would give you very good mpg, I'd guess in the mid to upper 40s or even more.

[Cobra348]

I'm with mwr on this.  They're dependable and I only had a door keypad DOA on my prior '17. You should be fine with either one.

[jmlohrenz]

Thanks for the tips.  I'm working with the dealer now on the 2015.  Hoping to get it this week sometime.  Just over 100k on the car, detailed service records, no open recalls or service issues, and just one previous owner.  Also looks like it got pretty much every available option for the titanium trim level as well.

[jmlohrenz]

Again thanks for all the info.  I went and picked up the 2015 hybrid titanium today. Love it.

[Cobra348]

If this is your first time with a hybrid, take a bit of time and the owner manual.  With the car running in Park, go thru every screen and button to see what it looks like/does.  Use manual for reference.  Don't change anything.

 

Then go thru again and make any setting changes you want.,  In the '15 I had it took me about 90 minutes to look it all over and set stuff.  Also, the various screens in the dash cluster have small help info too.

[jmlohrenz]

That was my afternoon today, or at least part of it.  Reset everything and then went through and customized to what I'd like.

[jmlohrenz]

Averaging about 39.2 MPG on my drive.  45 miles, county highways, so about 60 to 63 mph with a few towns (stop signs) between.  Have had 2 really windy days with cross winds.  Doesn't seem too bad does it?

[mwr]

1 hour ago, jmlohrenz said:

Averaging about 39.2 MPG on my drive.  45 miles, county highways, so about 60 to 63 mph with a few towns (stop signs) between.  Have had 2 really windy days with cross winds.  Doesn't seem too bad does it?

Wind, especially a headwind, will definitely reduce gas mileage. Also, wait until you have, say, 300 miles on a tank of gas and see what the mpg is for that tank.

[eisbaer]

The average is great for the the car overall. If you want to see what you're getting per drive, reset the trip meter each time. If a drive is above that average it will slowly tick up, if below, it will go down.

When i got mine used it was avg of 36.x, now its 40.7 after 2.5 months.

I drove 30 miles to a destination on the highway and the trip was 27.6mi (9.8EV), 46.4mpg & 32mins. On return I took the back roads and it was 28.4mi (18.7EV), 58.0MPG & 54mins driving.

You really have to find that sweet spot for forcing it into EV mode with your driving characteristics. Understand maybe why the situation is that its using the battery or why its using the engine. They do need to be driven slightly differently to a full gasoline vehicle.

Edited June 11, 2020 by eisbaer

[jmlohrenz]

Yeah so I've noticed.  after first tank it calculated out to 39.2 mpg, but I've just been driving with eco cruise on and not much else.  it seems like it'll run with the ICE right at 40mpg and never switch over to the EV.  If I bump the throttle a bit and then let off back to normal cruise it'll kick in.  I'm guessing that is what it would take to fully take advantage of the EV.

[Waldo]

The FFH is not an electric car with a gas generator.  It is a gas car with a hybrid system designed to balance out the inefficiencies of a gas engine.  A gas engine will run most efficiently at a very specific throttle postion/power output.  That point is somewhere around highway speeds.  Basically when you're running at 65-75mph on the highway, the gas engine is operating at it's most efficient point, so there is no need to try to force it into EV mode (except for coasting down hills or slowing down).  That will actually reduce efficiency because energy is lost every time you charge/discharge the battery.  The only time I force it into EV mode at higher speeds is when I know I'm going to be slowing down shortly, that way I free up the battery to make sure I can capture as much regen energy as possible.

 

At lower speeds it's a different story, because cruising along at 40mph the gas engine is not running efficiently.  It is more efficient to cycle the gas engine on and off.  Basically for best efficiency you should run the gas engine hard (high speeds or accelerating or charging the battery) or don't run it at all.

[mwr]

I'm content to let the car do its thing and I just sit back and drive. And I use plain cruise control, not eco, because I like the way it holds the speed constant. The gas mileage I get that way is fine with me.

[Cobra348]

Just a comparison between the prior '17 and the current '20 using cruise.  I think they have done something to tweak ECO mode on cruise.  I don't have to fight to get it in ECO when I know it could/should be on flat highway.  Tanks are running about 50% ev which is about right.  The 17 was a fight to get above 40% ev.

 

A 95 mile trip between Oswego, NY and west side of Rochester, NY is getting over 52 MPG when the '17 was hard pressed to get over 40.  No changes in routes traveled - locally or trips.  No changes to driving style, except I'm using ECO mode on the '20.  I did some testing on the '17 and found normal mode to better than eco on that car.

 

Because of the higher mileage with no pattern changes and the increased ev % on full tanks I gotta think they tweaked something.  The numbers I'm getting are better than the '15 I had and that hit maybe 46 MPG on the run to/from Rochester.

 

Downside to eco ... slow acceleration and you might need to goose it some.  Especially visible on the uphill.  Also, eco has a tendency to "level off" about 1 MPH lower than cruise is set for (ie., 54 MPH when 55 is set and visible).  Small irritants to me, tho might not be to others.

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Cobra348

[mwr]

19 hours ago, Cobra348 said:

Just a comparison between the prior '17 and the current '20 using cruise.  I think they have done something to tweak ECO mode on cruise.  I don't have to fight to get it in ECO when I know it could/should be on flat highway.  Tanks are running about 50% ev which is about right.  The 17 was a fight to get above 40% ev.

 

A 95 mile trip between Oswego, NY and west side of Rochester, NY is getting over 52 MPG when the '17 was hard pressed to get over 40.  No changes in routes traveled - locally or trips.  No changes to driving style, except I'm using ECO mode on the '20.  I did some testing on the '17 and found normal mode to better than eco on that car.

 

Because of the higher mileage with no pattern changes and the increased ev % on full tanks I gotta think they tweaked something.  The numbers I'm getting are better than the '15 I had and that hit maybe 46 MPG on the run to/from Rochester.

 

Downside to eco ... slow acceleration and you might need to goose it some.  Especially visible on the uphill.  Also, eco has a tendency to "level off" about 1 MPH lower than cruise is set for (ie., 54 MPH when 55 is set and visible).  Small irritants to me, tho might not be to others.

 

I'm curious what led you to get a 2015 FFH, then a 2017 and then a 2020. Obviously you love them, as I do, but why a new one every 2-3 years? I still love my 2015 FFH with 80K miles ?