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2010 Ford Fusion S Bests Camry and Accord in Fuel Economy
10 January 2009
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| The 2010 Ford Fusion. Click to enlarge. |
The new entry-level 2010 Ford Fusion S has been certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city—beating both the gasoline-powered Camry and Honda Accord models. The news follows certification of the Ford Fusion Hybrid at 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, topping the Toyota Camry hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. (Earlier post.)
The 2010 Ford Fusion fuel economy certification was conducted at Ford’s testing laboratories in Allen Park, Mich. The Ford Fusion S and the base-level Mercury Milan, are both powered by a new 2.5-liter Duratec 4-cylinder engine mated to a fuel-efficient six-speed automatic transmission.
First launched on the 2009 Ford Escape, the new Duratec 2.5-liter I-4 gives the 2010 Fusion 175 horsepower and 172 lb-ft (233 Nm) of torque, 14 more horsepower and 16 more lb-ft of torque than the preceding year’s 2.3-liter engine. The 2.5-liter uses intake variable cam timing (iVCT) technology to optimize valve timing, creating a broad torque curve that helps deliver increased power along with improved efficiency.
The powertrain also incorporates electronic throttle control (ETC), dual-mode crankshaft damping, new intake and exhaust manifolds, and a new underbody-only catalyst, which refine performance and contribute to greater fuel efficiency.
Other Ford fuel economy leaders in different segments include:
The Ford Focus with 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and manual transmission delivers 35 mpg on the highway, 5 mpg better than the Toyota Corolla’s 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine and 2 mpg better than the Honda Fit’s 1.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, both also with manual transmissions.
The all-new 2009 Ford F-150—recently named Motor Trend magazine’s Truck of the Year—achieves 3 mpg more than the Toyota Tundra pickup on the highway and 1 mpg better in the city with its 4.6-liter V-8 engine, compared to Toyota’s 4.7-liter V-8. The F-150’s larger 5.4-liter V-8 achieves 2 mpg better on the highway than the Tundra’s larger engine.
The 2009 Ford Escape with new 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine achieves 28 mpg on the highway, the same as Toyota’s RAV4 and 1 mpg better than the Honda CR-V, both with 4-cylinder engines.
The Ford Expedition achieves 20 mpg on the highway, beating Toyota Sequoia’s 4.7-liter V-8 engine by 3 mpg and its 5.7-liter V-8 by 1 mpg.
We promised to offer best-in-class or among the very best fuel economy with every new vehicle we introduce, and we are making good on that pledge with hybrids, new high-tech gasoline engines, new six-speed transmissions and other fuel efficient technologies.
We’ve done it in the heart of the truck segment with the new 2010 Ford F-150, and now we’ve done it in the heart of the car segment with Fusion. We understand how important fuel economy is to customers, and Ford is committed to delivering leadership. The great news is that our significant investment in fuel efficiency leadership is going to continue to pay off with every new vehicle launch.
—Barb Samardzich, Ford’s vice president of Powertrain Engineering
The Fusion S with the six-speed automatic transmission features a base price of $20,870 (including destination and delivery charges). The base price of the all-new Ford Fusion Hybrid is $27,270.
January 10, 2009 in Fuel Efficiency | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Bryan | January 10, 2009 at 06:53 AM
The hybrid sounds like a great car. The S also.
Do people want it?
Or has the Insight and Prius saturated the market. Will a $7 premium without the geek look sell – do geeks buy the Prius for the “road presence”.
Or, - I'm thinking “Hot Dam, not only can I buy a hybrid, I can buy a Hi Tech, hybrid American car and still not send money overseas nor be called a fiscally irresponsible geek” (even if I am).
Then they say:
Ford Fusion Hybrid (36 mpg Hiway; 41 city) - $27,270
Fusion S w/ 6 spd AT (34 mpg Hiway; 23 city) - $20,870
Ummm $7 ? . .I don't drive THAT much in the city. Oh well, great mileage on both cars.
I hope they sell millions of each.
Posted by: ToppaTom | January 10, 2009 at 07:05 AM
The Big 3 are the pterodactyls in the coal mine.
The economic crisis has several more stages to work through, with each of them having the potential to match or exceed the losses thus far which have been as much as $30 trillion globally.
I expect Ford to need a bailout as soon as this year, and now consider it probable that some European and Japanese automakers will need bailouts to survive.
The entire auto industry was ill-prepared and much of it will need assistance to survive. Even those who were explicitly aware (ex. Renault/Nissan) that conditions would worsen to the point that only 1 or 2 of the Big 3 would survive have taken a beating.
Long-term viability of Ford (and GM more so) will perhaps hinge on the willingness of current executives to enter Chapter 11 while the company still has the money, or pre-arrange DIP financing.
At least the UAW cannot strike while the companies are receiving loans.
Posted by: joookes | January 10, 2009 at 08:06 AM
I look forward to the downsized turbo engines the Japanese will need to offer to keep up with highway MPG gains. Ford is readying a 1.6L DI turbo engine which approaches 40 mpg highway for launch within 2 years.
Posted by: joookes | January 10, 2009 at 08:13 AM
Are they really ready to mass produce it ? I already read that they haven't scale the battery supply chain and therefore will only manufacture this car in small volume just like the Escape Hybrid. So more hype than real ? will see...
Posted by: Treehugger | January 10, 2009 at 10:41 AM
Umm, Treehugger. This is an article about the Fusion S - an ICE powered vehicle that needs only its starter battery. So with Ford's EPA mileage beating out Camry and Accord - what would keep them from full production?
Posted by: Reel$$ | January 10, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Is it just me, or did anyone else notice what could be a really cool car...that looks like a 12 year old wearing braces twice the size of their face! LOL Man, who designed that ugly grill across the front?
Posted by: DaveD | January 10, 2009 at 02:56 PM
Ford dunking over the heads of Honda and Toyota. Sounds like the first time ever since the first oil crisis. Now get the fat ass workers to work.
Posted by: Peace Hugger | January 10, 2009 at 04:33 PM
Another step in the right direction. I know they probably won't, but Ford could really differentiate themselves by offering AWD with the 4-cylinder. For those of us that want AWD, there are too few fuel efficient choices. They could really corner the market. The worst case scenario would probably knock off 2 mpg city and 3 mpg highway. An AWD sedan that gets 21/31 would be pretty desirable, in my opinion.
Posted by: alpha1847 | January 11, 2009 at 05:52 AM
Nice engineering...But does Ford have a battery supplier, or is this another low volume boutique Greenwashing exercise.
Posted by: dursun | January 11, 2009 at 06:29 PM
Durson, this article is not about the hybrid.
Posted by: alpha1847 | January 12, 2009 at 04:18 AM
In the long run this puts competitive pressure on the owners of the family car market (Honda/Toyota)to increase gas mileage where it is most needed-in real, useful, affordable cars. Same goes for trucks. I'd keep the big three going if only to provide this service. In fact, perhaps this is how we should see the big three bail-out.
Posted by: RD | January 12, 2009 at 08:33 AM
Aw heck... I'm paid, err, PROgrammed to make negative remarks about any 'merican product so who cares what the article's about?
Posted by: Reel$$ | January 12, 2009 at 08:45 AM
What helps Ford in this case is the fact they've switched to using a six-speed automatic, which allows the car's engine to run lower revs at highway speeds, improving fuel economy quite a bit. That's why the 2010 Ford Fusion achieves 34 mpg highway, very impressive considering that they're using the world's most stringent fuel economy test, the EPA 2008 test.
Indeed, Honda could easily improve their fuel economy ratings just by going to a six-speed automatic. The 2009 Honda Accord sedan with the 2.4-liter I-4 engine rated at 190 bhp only gets 29 mpg, hampered by the five-speed automatic; going to a six-speed automatic allows Honda to drastically change the gears ratios for highway speed operation, which could mean highway fuel economy in the 33-34 mpg range.
Posted by: RaymondC | January 18, 2009 at 08:09 AM
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Ford has really put a lot of effort into improving its product line since Mulally took over as CEO. Their cars are now on par in terms of fuel economy and has even earned top safety picks recently. A lot of talk has been given to the publicity of the Chevy Volt (which should be great), but Ford has made a lot of quiet improvements to get to this point.