Drive mix benefits Fusion

Is there anyone out there who still thinks Ford doesn't give a hoot about passenger cars? If there is, it may have been tough to change those peoples' minds after the 2009 model year, when the new F-150 pickup truck and seven-passenger Flex wagon hogged the spotlight.

But with the arrival of the subcompact Fiesta on North America shores imminent, the Taurus name back on a redesigned package and the Fusion getting its own substantial changes to keep things very interesting in the midsize sedan category, 2010 is clearly focused on cars, cars, cars.

Now, it would be all too easy for the gas-electric Fusion to be just another hybrid, overlooked and forgotten among the nearly constant stream of models being released, but Ford has gone out of its way to try and avoid that.

First and foremost, this Fusion is touted as having the best fuel economy numbers in its class, by quite a bit, beating out hybrid versions of the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima and Chevrolet Malibu.

And though we don't quite reach the numbers you'd see on a window sticker, there's something interesting about our observed 6.5 L/100 km average. Unlike competing hybrids that make you work at getting great fuel economy, the Fusion Hybrid can be driven much more like a ‘regular' car, while still ending up with hybrid-good fuel economy. There's no need to be constantly monitoring your throttle input or to be accelerating at the speed of molasses when a light turns green to keep the engine from starting up. Ford claims the Fusion Hybrid will drive at speeds up to 75 km/h in pure electric mode, and though we don't reach those speeds, we get pretty close on a fairly regular basis.

And while it's difficult to tell the difference between hybrid and non-hybrid versions of the competing midsize sedans when sitting behind the wheel, the Fusion Hybrid has a ‘SmartGauge' instrument panel that helps to “train” the driver to be more fuel efficient. For instance, there's a small digital tree branch that grows leaves when you drive more efficiently, and loses them when you don't. It would be easy to call it a silly gimmick, but it's a dead-simple way of showing people how they're driving and nudging them in the direction of fuel-economy.

Ford's new hybrid system may not help the Fusion in terms of power, but when the automaker says it helps the Fusion drive more like a gasoline-only car, it's true. The transition from electric to gas power and vice-versa is almost seamless and there is a decent amount of power on tap when you really need it (we're talking passing on the highway and not drag racing, of course).

Hybrid considerations aside, this is an adequate midsize sedan for carrying four people (five in a pinch) in comfort. A smaller battery than the one used in Ford's first generation hybrid system means it doesn't use up a lot of space - the Fusion has the second biggest trunk behind the Malibu - and doesn't weight as much. Still, it has the highest curb weight of the four. We'd like to see a larger fuel tank for even fewer fill-up stops.

For the driver looking for the best possible fuel economy in a hybrid (isn't that supposed to be all of them?), the Fusion Hybrid is a no-brainer in the midsize sedan segment. Competitors make the choice a little less obvious when considering size, power and price, but for its freshman year, Ford's entry makes a very convincing case for itself.