Small estate – Ford Fusion. Anyone have one?

Worth considering?

Only if you’re 75.

Had one (and in my early 30’s) and know another cyclist with one.

Great little cars if a little firmly sprung.

Two bikes in the back easy with the front wheels off and the bars just peeping between the front seats.

No boot lip, no big light clusters, decent Ford handling, comfy seats, and cheaper than the Fiesta as its not so well known. A really good choice if you don’t want a anything longer – its only a few mm longer than a Fiesta.

Front passenger seat folds forward as well so you can move silly things like flat pack wardrobes and rolls of carpet, which normally need something much longer like a Mondeo.

Absolutely fantastic in the snow with some all season tyres on it (Kleber Quadraxer) as well, both wife and I drove it past stuck 4×4’s in the snow with no bother 🙂 Saved her a night stuck on the M23 with all the other poor suckers as she was one of the few that could get up the hills on the side roads.

We had the 1.6 and my wife put 60k on it in two years, mid spec (Fusion 2) which had the all important heated screen.

The wife has one as a runabout. We got it because there is no lip on the boot opening so getting the double pram in and out was easy.

Ours is an 03 plate and fairy basic spec. 1.3 petrol and fuel economy isn’t brilliant. I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time in it and can’t comment on how it is as a bike carrier, but for the job it has to do it has been excellent.

Not a Fusion, but we had an old Seat Vario / VW Polo estate for many yeas that was an ace little car, with massive practicality that far outweighed the size of car.

Also look at the Honda Jazz, 2nd generation 2008 onwards much better than 1st one.
The ‘Magic’ seats means a versitile interior with loads a space in the back for bikes an whatever else you need to carry.

My wife has a 2005 Mazda2 (the square one). Shares many of the parts of the Fusion but better screwed together according to our mechanic. She’s had it 7 years and its been super reliable over 90k mmiles
They’re practical, okay on fuel (1.4 petrol) and generally a very good car.
Because it shares many parts, the garage tends to fit the Fiesta parts as they wear out as they’re cheaper than the exact same Mazda branded component.

The only negative is that the seats are rubbish on long journeys, say over 2hrs. For short trips you don’t really notice it.

I got a 1.2 petrol as a hire car a few years ago to drive through the Pyrenees and it was slow, tinny and the boot was really awkward for luggage (it would not take a suitcase and a 70l rucksack which ever way we tried) so we used the back seat.
On the plus side it didnt break down and it eventually made it up all the mountains.

100% would not own one, but that seems to be at odds with everyone else!