Hello fellow Fusion owners.

After much deliberation we have just bought a 2004 1.6 3. Very pleased with it. Read all the car reviews and as usual found 90% of it to be elitist rubbish. Owners reviews were much more helpfull.

Look forward to discussing topics with all soon.

Regards

MM

Happy motoring...! B)

Hi Musicman

I just got my Fusion today after 25yrs of Fiats. My first Ford ever.

What made you choose the Fusion may I ask?

Completely agree with you about the elitist rubbish (a lot of it was very nitpicky to my mind).

Cheers

Sam

I agree. Lots of utter drivel written by fashion focused idiots. After a test drive, my 2009 1.6 tdci + is being collected tomorrow. It replaces my trusty Fiesta which has a knackered bearing that has become so loud, it sounds like a jet taking off. £200 in labour & no guarantee that the problem is fixable :(

Cheers,

Martin

Here it is! I am very happy with it. I hope & expect it it to be as reliable & fun as my the Fiesta it replaces.

Martin

Hello all :-)

I have had several french cars and although ok was never convinced about them. Had an older Passat and cannot recommend highly enough. Solid and reliable. At 200,000 miles had to go. Always enjoyed fords. Find them very comfortable for driving position and reasonably priced for a decent car. Ran Mondeo's ( My Favourite car ) as Company vehicles as a rep for 50,000 miles a year and they always got me home. Vauxhall Carlton was a good car, again high milage meant it had to go. Mark 2 Vectra V6 was fun but compared to the Mondeo felt of less quality.

Have recently changed jobs and needed a car. My company pay a petrol allowance. Needed something comfortable, reliable with reasonable runniing costs. Wife has a Focus Mk1 and its been great. I wanted an 05-11 version but could not get one with low milage for the money I had to spend. I do carry samples so the very small city cars were not an option. The Fiesta was an option but the boot was going to be tight. I came across the Fusion.

Read all the reviews and found this car to be a grown up Fiesta. Fitted the bill perfectly. Bigger boot, decent running costs, Ford driving position and ofcourse that wonderfull heated front screen. I personally dont mind the looks, The car mags saying it was ugly and unloved. Maybe because of this it makes it more exclusive than your average Focus or Fiesta. I have the 1.6 petrol. Mags have said that these cars are slow. Well let me use there own benchmark against them..... focus 1.6 0-60 time is 11.4 sec, and the mags say this is ok. fusion 1.6 0-60 10.8 sec but this is slow. no doubt the tester had just got out of the Porsche he was previously testing straight into the Fusion.

All the fusions I went to look at were well looked after. most had lower mileage. I picked a 2004 1.6 3 with all the goodies and only 41,000 miles on the clock.

Generally the car is solid, well made. there is more noise in the cabin when driving compared to the focus, but not unduly so. Tyres make a bit more noise, and because of the more upright stance there is slightly more wind noise. Steering is very light. Wonderfull for parking. boot is large for size of car, seating postion is very comfortable and high. this is a boon as I have several calls a day and it makes entrance and exit a piece of cake.

Dont know why I wrote all this as I am talking to the converted.

enjoy your cars everyone. We have found that 'Diamond in the rough'

MM

Welcome to the Club!

Great choice.. My favourite model Fusion. Happy motoring!

2004 Ford Fusion 3 TDCI.

Here it is! I am very happy with it. I hope & expect it it to be as reliable & fun as my the Fiesta it replaces.

Martin20140510_155017.jpg20140510_155031.jpg20140510_155048.jpg

Smart looking veh! Love the colour.

Sadly I couldn;t find a dark grey one which looks cool to my mind! so I opted for silver instead, which has always been a good (kind of lucky) colour for me. I've found that with every other colour other drivers would bump into me, even deliberately damage the car. Red (2 Fiats 20yrs apart) was worst for attracting mayhem.

Hello all :-)

I have had several french cars and although ok was never convinced about them. Had an older Passat and cannot recommend highly enough. Solid and reliable. At 200,000 miles had to go. Always enjoyed fords. Find them very comfortable for driving position and reasonably priced for a decent car. Ran Mondeo's ( My Favourite car ) as Company vehicles as a rep for 50,000 miles a year and they always got me home. Vauxhall Carlton was a good car, again high milage meant it had to go. Mark 2 Vectra V6 was fun but compared to the Mondeo felt of less quality.

Have recently changed jobs and needed a car. My company pay a petrol allowance. Needed something comfortable, reliable with reasonable runniing costs. Wife has a Focus Mk1 and its been great. I wanted an 05-11 version but could not get one with low milage for the money I had to spend. I do carry samples so the very small city cars were not an option. The Fiesta was an option but the boot was going to be tight. I came across the Fusion.

Read all the reviews and found this car to be a grown up Fiesta. Fitted the bill perfectly. Bigger boot, decent running costs, Ford driving position and ofcourse that wonderfull heated front screen. I personally dont mind the looks, The car mags saying it was ugly and unloved. Maybe because of this it makes it more exclusive than your average Focus or Fiesta. I have the 1.6 petrol. Mags have said that these cars are slow. Well let me use there own benchmark against them..... focus 1.6 0-60 time is 11.4 sec, and the mags say this is ok. fusion 1.6 0-60 10.8 sec but this is slow. no doubt the tester had just got out of the Porsche he was previously testing straight into the Fusion.

All the fusions I went to look at were well looked after. most had lower mileage. I picked a 2004 1.6 3 with all the goodies and only 41,000 miles on the clock.

Generally the car is solid, well made. there is more noise in the cabin when driving compared to the focus, but not unduly so. Tyres make a bit more noise, and because of the more upright stance there is slightly more wind noise. Steering is very light. Wonderfull for parking. boot is large for size of car, seating postion is very comfortable and high. this is a boon as I have several calls a day and it makes entrance and exit a piece of cake.

Dont know why I wrote all this as I am talking to the converted.

enjoy your cars everyone. We have found that 'Diamond in the rough'

MM

You know, MM, I think you hit it on the nail with diamond-in-the-rough. Glad you're enjoying yours.

For me, it's a very different beast - and oh-so much more comfy than the Fiat. Seems like Ford designers put quite a bit of thought into customer's actual usage rather than the aspirational posing value...?

As to the style question, coming out of Asda yesterday I had a distracted lapse of memory (keep taking the ginseng!!) and was vaguely headed for a red Punto in the car park. I glimpsed the Fusion and thought 'hey that's a nice looking car' in the moment without clocking it was mine!!

I think the car journos took a dislike to the Fusion for some odd reason (prob to do with their temp access to Porsche/Ferrari/Mercedes Sports/Landcruisers etc) and just wrote it off. So far my neighbours have been genuinely very complimentary and like the 'serious business mini SUV' looks as one put it. But then, I live in the country where folks are far more interested in substance over style and utility over posing value.

As to power...well, I miss the 1.2 Fiat's nippiness and am still getting used to the 1.4 FusionD's low ratio gearing (?) but I really like the Fusion's work-horse feel and that it seems to love romping along motorways without breaking a sweat. I can't believe I ever felt safe in a Fiat which, even from new, didn't really feel at home on motorways.

Smart looking veh! Love the colour.

Sadly I couldn;t find a dark grey one which looks cool to my mind! so I opted for silver instead, which has always been a good (kind of lucky) colour for me. I've found that with every other colour other drivers would bump into me, even deliberately damage the car. Red (2 Fiats 20yrs apart) was worst for attracting mayhem.

Thanks for the kind words. I am happy with this car now that I have done a tank full of miles. On the plus side, everything works as it should & the ride is very comfortable, although I would imagine the traction control option makes a difference. I tended to throw my Fiesta in to corners, but the Fusion requires a little more finesse. My only niggle so far is the turbo lag. The Fiesta was a far more responsive engine in terms of boost. I notice the Fusion needs a little more revving to go, but when the rev's lift, it really is quite nimble.

As for the colour, it took a few months of looking to find a plus model in this 'sea grey'. I like silver myself, but the gun metal metallic colours have a nice sparkle. They sure show the dirt up though,

Is it a 1.6TDCi?

If so to combat the turbo lag try an EGR Blanking Plate.. Cost about £5 and certainly wakes the Fusion up a bit! You could easily install it yourself too

2004 Ford Fusion 3 TDCI.

Is it a 1.6TDCi?

If so to combat the turbo lag try an EGR Blanking Plate.. Cost about £5 and certainly wakes the Fusion up a bit! You could easily install it yourself too

2004 Ford Fusion 3 TDCI.

It is a 1.6tdci. I've just looked at the guide by 'Lenny' in a different thread regarding the fitting & results. It looks like a great addition, but my skills aren't up to doing that mod. I wonder if I could get a local mechanic to do it. Thanks for the pointer.

It's actually pretty simple! You'd surprise yourself :)

2004 Ford Fusion 3 TDCI.

Ive bought the 1.6 16v ford fussion2 what is the difference between the fussion 1..fussion2. .and fussion 3??? And I think on motorways the wind doesn't half catch you..but yeah correct they are good on fuel nippy if need be and ive taken parcel shelf out and put dog gaurds up n plenty room for my 2 dogs English staffiture bull terriers no sweat loads room..like the fact all seats in back fold away n sort of turns into little van..kool..with capital K I love my fussion2 and will have a long time

Ive bought the 1.6 16v ford fussion2 what is the difference between the fussion 1..fussion2. .and fussion 3??? And I think on motorways the wind doesn't half catch you..but yeah correct they are good on fuel nippy if need be and ive taken parcel shelf out and put dog gaurds up n plenty room for my 2 dogs English staffiture bull terriers no sweat loads room..like the fact all seats in back fold away n sort of turns into little van..kool..with capital K I love my fussion2 and will have a long time

The Fusion 1,2 & 3 are the different trim levels. These were revised later & now there's the style, zetec & titanium. Somewhere in there the '+' was made, but I can't tell you when. Talking of wind, I put a set of deflectors on my old Fiesta & while they made no difference to buffeting noise, they were great for dual carriageway with the windows down. Thanks for the reminder, I will get tjese for my fusion.

It's actually pretty simple! You'd surprise yourself :)

2004 Ford Fusion 3 TDCI.

I had the DAB upgrade done today & while collecting, I had a chat with the service technician (mechanic :P). He told me, off the record that the blanking plate will flag an error on the ECU & depending on circumstances could put the car into limp mode. He advised also that a poorly manufactured plate would breakup & it would be better to simply bypass the valve altogether. He suggested a Haynes manual to view the layout & work it out from there. Regarding your comment above, he said that if I am able to change a headlight bulb from the instructions in the manual, then the blanking plate shouldn't be any harder, providing I have the correct tools.......Interesting & food for thought.

Cheers

Never heard of anyone getting errors from blanking and I only have positives to say about it!

He's dead right about the cheaper ones breaking up however! And if you're going to get one make sure it's a full block and not one with a little hole.. These go against the whole point of blocking it! Just make sure to get a Stainless Steel Block and I highly doubt you'll have any problems

2004 Ford Fusion 3 TDCI.

These plates seem to be all prices. I can see one that's £3 & is 2mm stainless steel. I now have the Haynes manual & will look at the various videos guides etc & the cost of tools, before making a decision to do it.

On another topic. My other half & I have just returned from a week long break that involved a fair bit of driving. I'm really, really pleased with this car. We have covered 800 miles on just over a tank & a half or £76 (Approx). We are both amazed how well the car performed in a variety of conditions & road surfaces. The engine ran really well, with a decent amount of smoothly delivered grunt where required. As far as the flat spot at pull off, a nominal adjustment to the amount of rev's & the clutch lift has more or less eliminated any niggle. Some of the roads driven were not much more than tracks, with one in Wiltshire between Devizes & Stone Henge (?) being a real dog. The Fusion coped very well & with the extra luggage & equipment for camping, offering plenty of space & comfort as well. I am especially happy with the auto wiper feature, that has already made me a lazy git, tutting when I have to actually press the stalk for a single sweep.

If I were to have a niggle, I would have to say that the boot lip/bumper holds a lot of water & thus are quite dirty after the trip. Not much to worry about. Any questions or comments are most welcome.

Ive bought the 1.6 16v ford fussion2 what is the difference between the fussion 1..fussion2. .and fussion 3??? And I think on motorways the wind doesn't half catch you..but yeah correct they are good on fuel nippy if need be and ive taken parcel shelf out and put dog gaurds up n plenty room for my 2 dogs English staffiture bull terriers no sweat loads room..like the fact all seats in back fold away n sort of turns into little van..kool..with capital K I love my fussion2 and will have a long time

I think the Fusion 1 is the starting point. fusion 2 added heated screen and aircon. fusion 3 added heated screen, aircon, alloy wheels and front spots.

Regards

MM

I think the Fusion 1 is the starting point. fusion 2 added heated screen and aircon. fusion 3 added heated screen, aircon, alloy wheels and front spots.

Regards

MM

I can confirm my fusion 2 + has heated screen, air con, alloys, fogs and a factory fitted tv and DVD player ;)