One Year Ownership Reports - 2013 FFH

[hermans]

I don't know...my wife is driving the car today. I'll look later.

[dkegel]

You must not have waxed it yet. Otherwise, you'd know. :)

 

Dave

[jeff_h]

Yes it's true. My 2013 FFH w/ lux pkg was built 11/17/12 and I took delivery 12/4/12 and it's on my car....

 

Then things changed shortly after that I guess -- mine was built 12/11/12 with luxury pkg and does not have the shiny black lower grille like hermans does, mine has the dull cheap-charlie type.

[hermans]

The car has been waxed. It wasn't important for me to remember at the time. I'll let you know.

[acdii]

 

Then things changed shortly after that I guess -- mine was built 12/11/12 with luxury pkg and does not have the shiny black lower grille like hermans does, mine has the dull cheap-charlie type.

Do you have ACC? It is possible they only have the ACC lower in glossy black.

[jeff_h]

Do you have ACC? It is possible they only have the ACC lower in glossy black.

 

Oh maybe that's the difference... I have the luxury pkg but not ACC.

[hermans]

Is the rear bumper trim glossy as well?

 

Dave

OK the wife got home and I looked. There is no black on the back of the car - gloss or plain....it's all Bordeaux Red.

[dkegel]

OK the wife got home and I looked. There is no black on the back of the car - gloss or plain....it's all Bordeaux Red.

The lower part of the rear bumper that houses the reflectors is black.

 

 

Dave

Edited December 18, 2013 by dkegel

[jeff_h]

Here's a side-by-side shot of the rear bumper to show the difference between the shiny piano black (on left, shows reflection and wax comes right off) vs the duller black(on right, doesn't show reflection much at all, and wax does not come off and looks like crap on the two places I smudged it onto that surface by mistake).

Edited December 19, 2013 by jeff_h

[mrobinso8]

Jeff_h Use "Black Again". It works great. Use it on mine and have used it since I started in 2003 with a Saab that had lots of that type of black that got messed up by wax or even the sun.

[hybridbear]

I confirmed this morning that our FFH with Luxury & Adaptive Cruise has glossy in front but matte in back. The old FFH with Luxury but no ACC was matte in front & in back. Are all Titaniums glossy in both front and back even if they don't have ACC?

[dkegel]

Are all Titaniums glossy in both front and back even if they don't have ACC?

 

Yes

 

Dave

[Eddie Sessum]

I believe Eddie has a Lincoln MKZH.

This has never happened to me, I just took a 1,500 mile trip all thru the mountains of CA, up and over numerous 6,000' & 8,000' grades, never had the least problem.

This car has been driven by a couple of Forum member to 120mph top speed.

I drive the gawd awful freeways in So. Cal, like today, 160 miles up and back - the car has enough power to merge in any situation I've been in, which is plenty and just today.

These are not Camaro's or Mustangs but do have adequate power for passing, merging and most driving requirements.

With 188hp it has more than a lot of econo-boxes. A Prius has 134hp.

Long distance travel is where the comfort and silence of the car shines, with a moderate load.

 

 

Just noticed this post after all this time, never had a problem merging. Maybe I commented on someone elses post about this?

[Texasota]

 

 

Just noticed this post after all this time, never had a problem merging. Maybe I commented on someone elses post about this?

 

Eddie,

 

This was quite a while ago but I think it was this post:

 

I read the transmission setup on the q50 hybrid blows.. So I wouldn't have liked it like that... The other day I was trying to merge into traffic and floored with a basically full charge a Toyota minivan taxi was able to cut me off. His van sounded horrible in the process of him being full throttle but I ended up having to pull off and stop because I didn't have enough power to merge. Yea we have more power than a prius and it's good most of the time. But we really could use a little more. And a turbo 4cyl in our cars during normal use wouldn't cause anymore fuel burn as 99% of the time we would be using minimal boost.

 

In this thread:

 

 

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/7724-its-pretty-clear-why-more-hybrids-arent-being-sold/page-2

[Eddie Sessum]

I forgot about that post...

 

Wasn't saying it was under powered. Seems like they would have made it faster than a basic minivan tho.

[jeff_h]

Here is my one-year review, today is 12 days away from the one-year mark, but today was also the day I sold the car to Carmax and now have the Fusion Energi to match my wife's. There were $5,000 in rebates on the Energi and I got another $6,500 off on top of that (2013 making way for the 2014 models), so where I took a sales hit on the Fusion Hybrid it was offset by the great deal on the Energi (I finally have one with push-button start - I wonder how many remember that I had a Titanium Hybrid ordered that took too long?), and the tie-breaker was now getting another $4k tax credit for the PHEV.

 

Anyway, here are the pros and cons as listed in a Edmunds review and my take on them after having the car for just shy of a year and 34k miles.

 

Edmunds Pros - High fuel economy, advanced technology and safety features, eye-catching styling.

 

I agree with all of the above, and most prominently is fuel economy (we have many threads on this). Personally I got great MPG while owning mine but know that some others have had issues that probably go beyond variations in weather, trips, and terrain - with driving habits being a wildcard in the mix. I've noted in a couple past posts that while my lifetime MPG was about 50, when my wife would drive it on trips she would normally get 36-40 MPG, same car but where my style was/is "bring the average up" her style was/is "ain't nobody got time for that" so a person's driving style is HUGE on this model, seems more so than in the 2010 Fusion Hybrid that I had before this one. During the course of this year I passed the 300k mark in hybrid miles, with many more to go (God willing) with my daily long commute.

 

As for the advanced technology, yeah look at how far things have come in recent years, talk about leaps and bounds. My first exposure to in-vehicle technology was in the 70s when we learned to fold up a matchbook cover and shove it into one side of an 8-track tape cartridge to keep the tape from tracking funny and slurred-sounding like someone who'd had a stroke. Then in the 80s we transitioned to cassette, then the 90s to CD, and now here we are playing the stuff wirelessly from our phones via bluetooth. There are many other advanced things technology-wise, and they really make a long drive every day more bearable.

 

For the styling, I still love the way the car looks and think it's one of the best looking cars on the road - although a friend of mine still says that the front end looks like a catfish, I love the way it looks.

 

Edmunds Cons - Finicky MyFord Touch (MFT) Interface, austere interior design.

 

That Edmunds article is a year old so I assume they based that review on the MFT with Sync 3.5.1, as I was also not a big fan of it at first - and if they had reviewed MFT with Sync 3.6.2 maybe they may have had a different take on it, who knows. I had freeze-ups with Sync 3.5.1 on several occasions, had to do the delayed reboot on the system 3 times to get it working again, but have had zero problems with it since updating to 3.6.2 back in August. So for those reading this and wondering if MFT is too complicated, it does take a little time to adapt to it since most drivers are accustomed to rows of buttons and dials for different things, but once the driver is past that short learning curve it really becomes easy, at least it did for me. I got back into my 2010 Fusion Hybrid a few weeks ago and had to adjust some setting and the temporary shock of "what the heck are all these buttons and where is the thing I want?" was just like when I first got that car in 2009. So while I've posted how I wasn't a fan of MFT in posts many months ago, now after getting the 3.6.2 update and being used to it, I do like it.

 

As for austere interior design, I don't know what they are talking about as I really love the interior - this has to be where personal preference looms large as some like a lot of shiny trims accents that give more of an overall 'bling' look, but I like the more blended-in look with only a few shiny trim pieces for some contrast and that's about it. I wonder if many people know that the seats in the SE and the Titanium are quite a bit different? I've had the SE for just short of a year and she has had the Titanium Energi for 8 months -- the SE has squishy seats that allow easier side-to-side movement, whereas the Titanium seats are firmer 'butt-hugger' seats compared to the SE. I like the squishy better, but have no qualms over the butt-huggers. So for those considering a Fusion, best to go to your dealer and do a 'butt test' to sit in each type and see if you have a strong preference one way or the other.

 

My other comments -

 

Reliability - I changed the engine oil myself every 5,000 since I'm OCD about that, and aside from that I only went to the dealer to get the "clicking/pinging sound" TSB (13-05-24) done and to get another fuel pump ordered for the 13S04 recall. Despite Ford sending letters in August that "sufficient parts inventory is now available to repair all vehicles" the one for this car is still on backorder after 4 months (that is something that Carmax can deal with) but I never had any symptoms of fuel problems and chances are that this car will never develop an issue with the fuel pump, but will still get replaced out of caution/obligation of the recall. So bottom line is that other than the clicking/popping that was fixed by the halfshaft TSB, I had zero issues with mine with regard to functionality of starting/drivetrain/etc and already mentioned the MFT delayed reboot stuff above. And another side note on reliability - my 2010 FFH (now owned by friend) has now passed 170k miles and still runs perfectly.

 

Driving style - to me the car feels and steers lighter than my 2010 FFH, I always liked the way it drove. The 2010 FFH drive feels closer to driving the Energi, maybe the NiMH HVB in the 2010 is heavier than the Li-Ion HVB in the 2013 so the 2010 had a bit of a lardass feel like you had a bit more junk in the trunk (as the Energi does, but it's not a bad thing just slightly different) -- the 2013 SE Hybrid did not feel that way to me, in comparison. Even though I drove as smoothly as possible 99% of the time, it also handled well during that other 1% when I was channeling Dale Earnhardt (DC traffic can make just about anyone get road rage).

 

So, below is the final summary for that car, and when someone takes it for a test drive at Carmax they are gonna see the lifetime summary of 50.9 (had it to 51.0 for a few days, then the weather started turning), and they are gonna get a car that was treated very very well and is just like new, I hope I see it driving around town - will be easy to spot with the shark fin. Update: Car was listed on Carmax site on Friday, sold by Monday.

Edited January 7, 2014 by jeff_h

[dkegel]

Reliability - I changed the engine oil myself every 5,000 since I'm OCD about that...

 

Wow! That's only roughly 2500 ICE miles. OCD is an understatement. :)

 

Dave

Edited December 26, 2013 by dkegel

[acdii]

Excellent review.

 

It does look like a catfish, especially in black, just missing the whiskers, a set of curb feelers will set the look perfectly.

 

Spot on with the seats too. I find the ti seats just a bit too firm for long drives, the SE Luxury are much more comfortable.

 

Surprised that you got rid of it shy of one year, but heck that does sound like a great deal on the Energi.

[corncobs]

Jeff great review may your luck continue with your new FFE!

[hybridbear]

Great review Jeff. Congrats on the Energi!

[jeff_h]

Great review Jeff. Congrats on the Energi!

 

Thanks - and I was asked by the finance guy about purchasing an extended warranty, and as usual I said I'd like to think about it so please just quote me the numbers. He said that the retail price for 7/100 was $2,340 but "right now they had a special going on" (I know I've written about that phrase 3-4 times) and they were offering it at a discounted rate normally only available to employees, which was $1,490. I just checked floodfordesp and can get it there for $1,115 for same plan (perhaps I should have notified this dealer's employees).

Edited December 26, 2013 by jeff_h

[hybridbear]

Thanks - and I was asked by the finance guy about purchasing an extended warranty, and as usual I said I'd like to think about it so please just quote me the numbers. He said that the retail price for 7/100 was $2,340 but "right now they had a special going on" (I know I've written about that phrase 3-4 times) and they were offering it at a discounted rate normally only available to employees, which was $1,490. I just checked floodfordesp and can get it there for $1,115 for same plan (perhaps I should have notified this dealer's employees).

:hysterical: those poor employees are getting ripped off :hysterical3:

[GrayStrider]

Our one-year anniversary was on November 28. 26,445.9 fabulous miles in that year. That included one trip from SoCal to Las Vegas, and a summer road trip to Carlsbad Caverns and area from SoCal. Love our car. Purchased it after seeing the new models covered in Consumer Reports magazine during early summer of 2012 (I believe). Hubby was originally interested in the Energi model, but I talked him out of it after doing some reading of early reviews of the CMAX hybrid vs CMAX energi models, taking into account the typical drive we have to work and back and not being able to charge it while at work. Had never seen a FFH 'in the flesh' until we saw it that night. So glad the lady Prius owner who was trying to buy it didn't make it through financing that afternoon, which allowed us to take it home that night. I think it was the second FFH they'd had in their inventory. I'd watched it online going from dealer ordered to arriving at the dealership and seeing pictures of it. It arrived at the dealership on a Monday, and we took it home two days later. Comfortable to ride in, even more fun to drive!

[GrayStrider]

Here is my one-year review, today is 12 days away from the one-year mark, but today was also the day I sold the car to Carmax and now have the Fusion Energi to match my wife's. There were $5,000 in rebates on the Energi and I got another $6,500 off on top of that (2013 making way for the 2014 models), so where I took a sales hit on the Fusion Hybrid it was offset by the great deal on the Energi (I finally have one with push-button start - I wonder how many remember that I had a Titanium Hybrid ordered that took too long?), and the tie-breaker was now getting another $4k tax credit for the PHEV.

 

Anyway, here are the pros and cons as listed in a Edmunds review and my take on them after having the car for just shy of a year and 34k miles.

 

Edmunds Pros - High fuel economy, advanced technology and safety features, eye-catching styling.

 

I agree with all of the above, and most prominently is fuel economy (we have many threads on this). Personally I got great MPG while owning mine but know that some others have had issues that probably go beyond variations in weather, trips, and terrain - with driving habits being a wildcard in the mix. I've noted in a couple past posts that while my lifetime MPG was about 50, when my wife would drive it on trips she would normally get 36-40 MPG, same car but where my style was/is "bring the average up" her style was/is "ain't nobody got time for that" so a person's driving style is HUGE on this model, seems more so than in the 2010 Fusion Hybrid that I had before this one. During the course of this year I passed the 300k mark in hybrid miles, with many more to go (God willing) with my daily long commute.

 

As for the advanced technology, yeah look at how far things have come in recent years, talk about leaps and bounds. My first exposure to in-vehicle technology was in the 70s when we learned to fold up a matchbook cover and shove it into one side of an 8-track tape cartridge to keep the tape from tracking funny and slurred-sounding like someone who'd had a stroke. Then in the 80s we transitioned to cassette, then the 90s to CD, and now here we are playing the stuff wirelessly from our phones via bluetooth. There are many other advanced things technology-wise, and they really make a long drive every day more bearable.

 

For the styling, I still love the way the car looks and think it's one of the best looking cars on the road - although a friend of mine still says that the front end looks like a catfish, I love the way it looks.

 

Edmunds Cons - Finicky MyFord Touch (MFT) Interface, austere interior design.

 

That Edmunds article is a year old so I assume they based that review on the MFT with Sync 3.5.1, as I was also not a big fan of it at first - and if they had reviewed MFT with Sync 3.6.2 maybe they may have had a different take on it, who knows. I had freeze-ups with Sync 3.5.1 on several occasions, had to do the delayed reboot on the system 3 times to get it working again, but have had zero problems with it since updating to 3.6.2 back in August. So for those reading this and wondering if MFT is too complicated, it does take a little time to adapt to it since most drivers are accustomed to rows of buttons and dials for different things, but once the driver is past that short learning curve it really becomes easy, at least it did for me. I got back into my 2010 Fusion Hybrid a few weeks ago and had to adjust some setting and the temporary shock of "what the heck are all these buttons and where is the thing I want?" was just like when I first got that car in 2009. So while I've posted how I wasn't a fan of MFT in posts many months ago, now after getting the 3.6.2 update and being used to it, I do like it.

 

As for austere interior design, I don't know what they are talking about as I really love the interior - this has to be where personal preference looms large as some like a lot of shiny trims accents that give more of an overall 'bling' look, but I like the more blended-in look with only a few shiny trim pieces for some contrast and that's about it. I wonder if many people know that the seats in the SE and the Titanium are quite a bit different? I've had the SE for just short of a year and she has had the Titanium Energi for 8 months -- the SE has squishy seats that allow easier side-to-side movement, whereas the Titanium seats are firmer 'butt-hugger' seats compared to the SE. I like the squishy better, but have no qualms over the butt-huggers. So for those considering a Fusion, best to go to your dealer and do a 'butt test' to sit in each type and see if you have a strong preference one way or the other.

 

My other comments -

 

Reliability - I changed the engine oil myself every 5,000 since I'm OCD about that, and aside from that I only went to the dealer to get the "clicking/pinging sound" TSB (13-05-24) done and to get another fuel pump ordered for the 13S04 recall. Despite Ford sending letters in August that "sufficient parts inventory is now available to repair all vehicles" the one for this car is still on backorder after 4 months (that is something that Carmax can deal with) but I never had any symptoms of fuel problems and chances are that this car will never develop an issue with the fuel pump, but will still get replaced out of caution/obligation of the recall. So bottom line is that other than the clicking/popping that was fixed by the halfshaft TSB, I had zero issues with mine with regard to functionality of starting/drivetrain/etc and already mentioned the MFT delayed reboot stuff above. And another side note on reliability - my 2010 FFH (now owned by friend) has now passed 170k miles and still runs perfectly.

 

Driving style - to me the car feels and steers lighter than my 2010 FFH, I always liked the way it drove. The 2010 FFH drive feels closer to driving the Energi, maybe the NiMH HVB in the 2010 is heavier than the Li-Ion HVB in the 2013 so the 2010 had a bit of a lardass feel like you had a bit more junk in the trunk (as the Energi does, but it's not a bad thing just slightly different) -- the 2013 SE Hybrid did not feel that way to me, in comparison. Even though I drove as smoothly as possible 99% of the time, it also handled well during that other 1% when I was channeling Dale Earnhardt (DC traffic can make just about anyone get road rage).

 

So, below is the final summary for that car, and when someone takes it for a test drive at Carmax they are gonna see the lifetime summary of 50.9 (had it to 51.0 for a few days, then the weather started turning), and they are gonna get a car that was treated very very well and is just like new, I hope I see it driving around town - will be easy to spot with the shark fin. Update: Car was listed on Carmax site on Friday, sold by Monday.

 

Wow, 98% lifetime brake score?? Over nearly 35K miles?? Ours is something like 82 - 83% over 29K miles. I try hard to work on my score when I'm driving the car, but I still end up having to do a quick stop here or there that drops my average.

[hybridbear]

Wow, 98% lifetime brake score?? Over nearly 35K miles?? Ours is something like 82 - 83% over 29K miles. I try hard to work on my score when I'm driving the car, but I still end up having to do a quick stop here or there that drops my average.

The low brake score will have a huge affect on your MPGs. When you don't get surprised by a red light, are you usually getting 100%? What about freeway exit ramps? Those are often the hardest to get 100%. Our Lifetime Brake Score in the black FFH was 99% when I reset it at PCM update time over 16k miles and was 99% again over the final 3k miles till we traded it in. The first 700+ miles in the white FFH I was able to maintain a 100% Lifetime Brake Score. Right now the Lifetime is 99% with 1500 miles on it. I have only had to hit the brakes hard once in those 1500 miles.

Planning ahead and driving defensively really limits use of the brakes and leads to better MPGs. You may want to check out some of the info in this thread about that: http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/6994-fuel-economy-tip-list/

Edited January 14, 2014 by hybridbear