Driving Impressions
The steering wheel has a nice, slightly soft grip that speaks of fun with corners. There’s cool instrumentation and a slick gauge layout that looks back at you with a clean and sporty wink, and a simple spread of controls that fall naturally to your fingers.
Not bad, Bill. Not at all, and a good thing too – for if you want to sell 800,000 Ford Fusions, the first battle in the war for hearts and minds is when a fella sits behind the wheel. If he likes what he sees and feels, you’ll get him to crank the engine over and take it for a drive. And if he likes that, and if the price is less-than or equal-to, then you give yourself a good chance of selling more than a few copies. The 2006 Ford Fusion fights that game so well that at times it was hard to believe that the Fusion was a Ford and not one of the many imports that have taken Dearborn’s car business away. Under the skin, though, it is at least part import, and it drives like one too, from the moment you open the door and sit in the comfortable seats. The steering wheel has a nice, slightly soft grip that speaks of fun with corners. There’s cool instrumentation and a slick gauge layout that looks back at you with a clean and sporty wink, and a simple spread of controls that fall naturally to your fingers. You reach for the air and its there, where you expect it to be. You search for the audio controls and find them quickly. Of all the things people want their cars to deliver, the 2006 Ford Fusion does virtually all of them well, from interior quality and quiet to fuel efficiency and plain old fun. Speaking of which, there’s enough fun in the 2006 Ford Fusion to make you feel alive, and enough comfort to keep tired commuters alive – and happy. It is an admirable accomplishment for Ford to deliver a sedan with this kind of driving character. After traveling through metro L.A. for 90 miles in a 2006 Ford Fusion SEL with V6 power and a six-speed automatic, this is a sedan that, in terms of driving fun, falls a notch or two below the Honda Accord V6 and above the soft-driving Toyota Camry. Behind the wheel of the Fusion V6, when you step on the accelerator you get virtually instant pickup. There’s a slight hesitation before the 3.0-liter engine hauls you up freeway ramps and through green lights, but it’s a pause that’s barely enough to notice. Though a complete test on a more challenging course is needed, city driving revealed that 221 horsepower and 205 lb.-ft. of torque are plenty to deliver a zippy ride in this vehicle. Cornering is deft; the suspension setup, though different than many offered today in the sedan category, handles bumps and road imperfections with virtually no intrusion to occupants and the rack and pinion steering gives acceptable input to the driver. The tires form a good patch of rubber on the ground and rarely squeal during hard corners, though the feeling here is that the tires will fairly howl under more aggressive testing. All in all, the 2006 Ford Fusion is a capable mid-sized sedan that strongly delivers what it should: a comfortable, quiet ride, and enough performance to keep drivers interested.
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