'13 Ford Fusion Hybrid.. don't be in a hurry

Here is hoping you get a good one. I'm confident it will be after talking to another owner today. I'm pretty sure there were a bad batch made end of October.

 

I have looked through quite a few of these Fuelly.com reports of '13 Fusion Hybrids and because the drivers report %driven on the city vs highway it's crystal clear that the car is doing fine on the highway, but is running well below the advertised mpg in the city even with the same driver. This is the case with every car, highway driving is much better. It's not a surprise for Prius owners, multiple traffic lights kill. One would wonder whether it is related to the colder weather, but most drivers do not report location.

But it is strange that the 2004-2009 Prius average fill-up is 45 mpg, very close to the EPA estimated 48/46/45. What's bizarre is that the EPA estimate is higher for the city even in a Prius, which is a crazy assumption assuming one drives at the speed limit.

I'm thinking that two things are happening here. The EPA's city cycle is inaccurate for hybrids and even more out of whack in the '13 fusion hybrid and the colder temperatures exaggerate the city mpg selectively, because the engine does not have time to heat up. I'm betting that the summer readings from city driving will be higher, but still not reach the advertised mpg.

 

My 13 and 10 both do very well in city, in fact the 10 exceeds city. The 10 does very well both city and highway.

 

Your '13 says 35.3 mpg with EPA numbers at 47 mpg. What am I missing?

 

Because its broke and Ford refuses to acknowledge it has a problem. At 4500 miles the plugs fouled. They have been replaced, a bandage job, and it still only gets 36 at best at 65 MPH. I did see a couple trips at 41, but I had to drive really slow to get it there, no more than 2000 RPM, and as much EV as possible and not exceed 55 MPH.

I posted on the Ford FB page, one last attempt to get it fixed before I get nasty with it.

 

Hmm, when this happened with the GenII Prius (a rare occurence) it was discovered that the HV battery was to blame. It was found related to the lack of a filter for the HV battery vent that's located in the rear passenger seat. The fan was collecting hair and dirt and messing up the battery cooling. There were plenty of signs of improper battery behavior without warning lights as the battery would not go through its cycle normally.

 

The hybrid side is working fine, in City its doing OK, its the highway portion that is sucking gas. Anything over 50 MPH and it quickly drops. Besides, its only 2 months old, not enough time to get dirty.

 

Not surprising since the highest average speed of any of their test cycles is only 48.4 mph (Detailed Test Information). And, during those two 48.x mph cycles, the engine is already warm and the lab temp is 68 to 86 F.

 

Took a long sit in a 2013 Ford Fusion hybrid. Sticker was like $30,200 something. Pretty comfortable inside. Wow was it hard to find the lever to release the steering wheel to adjust it.

$30k plus car, but no push button start which seems kinda lame. I just love fumbling keys into an ignition switch.

The B pillar seemed awfully wide. Seemed like it might be hard to look over left shoulder for good view. Front seat bottoms seemed just a tad on the short side, lot of my thighs overhanging the front.

Hybrid battery definitely takes up more space in the trunk than in Camry, but at least Fusion doesn't have a skewed, offset steering wheel like the new and some ways un-improved Camry.

 

I have gotten so used to just getting in my car pressing the Start button and putting it in Drive, that I sometimes forget to push the Start button and just try to put it in Drive, with no results. Then the "Oh Yah!" moment hits.

 

The HyTi has push button, and is only $500 more than the one I have but without park assist. Would gladly pay the $500 more and not get the PA in the car for the extra items the Ti has.

At least with the key start, I never forget to turn the car off. Did that many times in the Toyotas, and I'm just used to using a key.

 

Cause Ford got saps like us to buy their early production ones before they spun up the HyTi line.

 

I noticed in the '13 Fusion Hybrid the driver's seat bottom is kinda short (not the best thing with long legs / thighs), but yesterday drove a previous gen regular Fusion (2010) which had a reallllly short seat bottom. It sucked.

My favorite .... luxury seats with extendable seat bottom (like in BMW, yum)