Ford Fusion 1.4 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Ford Fusion 1.4
Prices: £12,995-£13,595 – on the road
Insurance Group: 4-5
Emissions: 154g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 13.5s / Max Speed 101mph
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 33.2mpg / (extra urban) 53.3mpg / (combined) 43.5mpg
Safety: Twin front and side airbags
Dimensions: length/width/height 4020/1708/1503mm

COLD FUSION?

Our Rating: 7.1 / 10

The Ford Fusion 1.4 Offers An Inexpensive Way To Get A Grandstand View. Andy Enright Reports…

According to Ford’s advertising, the Fusion should represent nirvana for those more vertically challenged amongst us. No longer will you have to crane your neck to see past the traffic, no longer will you need to resort to an effete compact 4x4. The Fusion puts you head and shoulders above most other road users, even in entry-level 1.4-litre guise.

That’s the theory in any case. Ford have researched this market with forensic precision and identified that many – especially urban – drivers wanted a car that was as compact as a Fiesta-sized supermini but which boasted a commanding view so that they wouldn’t feel intimidated by the city’s more lumbering inhabitants. Seeing and being seen consistently scored highly amongst female car buyers and the Fusion is a nod in the direction of this important purchasing bloc.

The Fusion 1.4 offers a little more than a Fiesta with a booster seat. Ford dubs it an Urban Activity Vehicle, which tells us very little. In fact the Fusion blurs the traditional boundaries between tall superminis like the Honda Jazz and more conventional representations of supermini MPVs like the Vauxhall Meriva.

The Fusion has lately been revised, with restyling for the bumpers and grille, revised headlamps and tail lamps, thicker body side mouldings and body coloured handles and mirrors on selected models. Inside, a redesign concentrates on improving the feeling of quality and space. Highlights include a smarter fascia with easier to read instruments and a soft-feel upper section to the instrument panel. It’s certainly a big improvement on the cheap-feeling plastic of the original model.

In Style+ trim or Zetec, few will begrudge the premium. The Fusion cabin is supremely practical. The rear seats can fold down with their headrests in place, there’s a very low rear loading sill plus the driver’s seat is adjustable for height, guaranteeing a decent driving position.

As you would expect from anything based on the previous generation Fiesta, the handling is very good. Although the tall Fusion looks like something that may be slightly top heavy, your first corner will rapidly dispel this impression. Somehow Ford seem to have engineered a ride that’s able to absorb the ruts and bumps of city streets with a chassis that enjoys spirited driving. Refinement is a mixed bag, the 1.4-litre engine being reasonably well behaved at higher speeds with tyre and wind noise making a significant intrusion. The 1.4-litre engine needs to be worked quite hard to make respectable progress, hitting 60mph in 13.5 seconds on the way to 101mph. CO2 emissions are reasonable, the Fusion pumping out 154g for every kilometre travelled. Likewise, you’ll not be taken to the cleaners at the pumps, the 43.5mpg average fuel consumption a fine effort. Even around town you can expect to see over 33mpg.

The Fusion is, nevertheless, an enigmatic proposition. If it’s designed for those people who want a little practicality than a Fiesta offers, where does that leave Ford’s next model up, the Family Hatchback Focus? After all, an entry-level Focus is in the same ballpark as the Fusion 1.4 pricewise and offers a far more grown-up proposition. But therein lies the point. Whereas the Focus shouts thirtysomething, the Fusion is definitely twentysomething. Or twentysomething with the screaming kids, the garden centre obligations and the aspirational/imaginary extreme lifestyle you’ll read about in the Fusion brochure.

For something aimed so deliberately at the young and image-conscious, the Fusion pays more than mere lip service to mundane criteria like practicality and comfort. There’s masses of passenger space with a roof that’s almost gratuitously high, giving an overall impression of airy expanse. Ford seem to have missed a trick in not building in more MPV-style tricks however, the fixed airline-style table on the folded front passenger seat back being about the on