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Ford Fusion vs. Accord

13K views 97 replies 34 participants last post by  THE BIG TUNA 
#1 ·
Last week in Phoenix I rented a Ford Fusion Titanium. Compared to the Accord the Fusion has a lot of the features that members of this forum whine about not offered on the Accord. It came with metal name plates on the front door sills, paddle shifters, dual exhaust tips integral with the rear bumper, memory seats, auto dimming rear view mirror, backup sensor and probably several other features I didn't have time to discover. One annoying feature was that the driver seat would automatically move backward when the engine was turned off and would move forward when the start button was depressed.

The Fusion feels like a much heavier and more solid car than the Accord. However, it also seems more ponderous and the steering seems heavier and more isolated from the road. Road and wind noise is also more isolated. The engine and drivetrain noise is about the same. I never looked under the hood to see if it was an Ecoboost I4 or V6 engine. The transmission shifted very smoothly but it was obvious that it was a geared automatic. When accelerating the RPM would rise and fall as the transmission shifted gears.

After returning the car I looked it up on Ford's website and discovered that the Titanium models start at just over $30,000. This would mean that the Fusion I drove would be more in line with the bottom of the Acura TLX line.

This week I'm in New Jersey and have rented a Subaru Legacy. After driving it for a few days I will make a report to this forum since it is more similar in price to the Accord.
 
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#2 ·
One annoying feature was that the driver seat would automatically move backward when the engine was turned off and would move forward when the start button was depressed.
WHAT?!?!?!

What kind of trickery is this? There better be a way to shut that down.
 
#6 ·
Luxury cars have had this feature for at least 15-20 years. My cars that have this feature have the ability to turn it on an off. As well as moving the seat rearward for easy egress they also move the steering wheel up and away from the driver and restore the wheel position after engine start.
 
#4 ·
I don't like American cars, they feel plastic and cheaper. There are some that I would buy like Ford Mustang but I would stay away from Ford.
 
#7 ·
I had a new Impala on rental recently and it was anything but plasticy and cheap feeling. It puts the Acura TLX to shame in fit/finish and quality of interior materials.
 
#5 ·
This week I'm in New Jersey and have rented a Subaru Legacy. After driving it for a few days I will make a report to this forum since it is more similar in price to the Accord.
I for one am looking forward to this. Hopefully your rented Legacy was a 2015 with the 2.5 and CVT. I'd love to know exactly how that stacks up against the I4 Accord. I never got a chance to look at a Legacy before buying the Accord. Subaru's resale (much like Honda's) and standard AWD make them a very attractive option! Perhaps include some pics too.
 
#8 ·
Take a look at what Car and Driver thinks of the Accord, and then see where they rated the Legacy: Out of 11 Family Sedans, the Accord is #2 and the Legacy is #10.

You can read all of the reviews here:

Honda Accord Reviews - Honda Accord Price, Photos, and Specs - Car and Driver

Click on each car to read the review.

In contrast to Car and Driver, Consumer Reports rates the Legacy and Outback as two of the best cars available in their Oct 2015 issue. I am not going to go into details, but CR seems to be overly enamored with Subarus, IMO.

For my purposes, unless there were a compelling need for AWD, I would choose the Accord every time. And I am totally unbiased. ;)
 
#9 ·
RE: I never looked under the hood to see if it was an Ecoboost I4 or V6 engine.

After driving the car and looking at the website, you did not figure out that a V6 is not available in the Fusion? {shaking head}

RE: When accelerating the RPM would rise and fall as the transmission shifted gears.

Breaking news! Flyboy has discovered that, "When accelerating the RPM would rise and fall as the transmission shifted gears." Imagine that.....in step-gear automatic transmission! ;)

RE: Compared to the Accord the Fusion has a lot of the features that members of this forum whine about not offered on the Accord.

The Fusion Titanium is the top trim level, so it should be compared to an Accord Touring. You might want to do that in detail before you accuse members here of whining about what is not offered on the Accord.

RE: One annoying feature was that the driver seat would automatically move backward when the engine was turned off and would move forward when the start button was depressed.

I wonder how many drivers would find that "annoying?" Did you check to see if that feature can be turned off in Vehicle Settings?

RE: After returning the car I looked it up on Ford's website and discovered that the Titanium models start at just over $30,000. This would mean that the Fusion I drove would be more in line with the bottom of the Acura TLX line.

You could also say that the Accord Touring is "....more in line with the bottom of the Acura TLX line."

Rather than making broad, unsupported statements, which are not very useful, why don't you do a detailed comparison between the Fusion Titanium with all the bells and whistles (except AWD) and the Accord Touring? {not holding my breath}
 
#21 ·
You are correct the Fusion does only come with an I4. I resent your sarcastic and uncalled for personal attacks with comments like not holding my breath or rolling eyes. Like anyone else I can be wrong and accept constructive criticism. You would be a very rotten instructor because you can only criticize with sarcasm and scorn. Your entitled to your opinion but you can treat others with respect.
 
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#13 ·
I wonder if they will consider it "normal" to replace the expensive catalytic converter under warranty every 60,000 miles. Burning a quart of oil every 1,000 miles will ruin a cat.
 
#14 ·
Not to mention replacing the whole engine. How many drivers out there do you suppose ever check their oil level between oil changes? I would speculate that the vast majority of drivers don't check their oil themselves...ever. They simply go get an oil change when the sticker or "maintenance minder" tells them to and that's it. So if it's been over 5k miles they could theoretically run their brand new Subaru completely out of oil!
 
#20 ·
One annoying feature was that the driver seat would automatically move backward when the engine was turned off and would move forward when the start button was depressed.
This can be disabled. It does make ingress and egress easier, but it's so slow that you find yourself not wanting to wait for it. Ingress and egress, by the way, is somewhat awkward with the Fusion.

(Off topic, but one of our neighbors when I was growing up had a Monte Carlo. The driver's bucket seat could be rotated a full 90 deg so that you were facing the open door when you got out.)

The Fusion feels like a much heavier and more solid car than the Accord. However, it also seems more ponderous and the steering seems heavier and more isolated from the road.
Heavy, solid, and ponderous is exactly how the car feels compared to the Accord.

I like the Fusion. It's worst aspect, in my opinion, is very poor rear visibility. But it's a reasonably nice car to drive, roomy feeling, and has an enormous trunk. Fit and finish, on the one I've driven, was excellent. To one of Graycar's points, they offered a V6 till very recently. I think they used to offer a MT, but I've never seen one and I don't think they offer it now.
 
#24 ·
This can be disabled. It does make ingress and egress easier, but it's so slow that you find yourself not wanting to wait for it. Ingress and egress, by the way, is somewhat awkward with the Fusion.

(Off topic, but one of our neighbors when I was growing up had a Monte Carlo. The driver's bucket seat could be rotated a full 90 deg so that you were facing the open door when you got out.)


Heavy, solid, and ponderous is exactly how the car feels compared to the Accord.

I like the Fusion. It's worst aspect, in my opinion, is very poor rear visibility. But it's a reasonably nice car to drive, roomy feeling, and has an enormous trunk. Fit and finish, on the one I've driven, was excellent. To one of Graycar's points, they offered a V6 till very recently. I think they used to offer a MT, but I've never seen one and I don't think they offer it now.
My complaint with the auto seat adjustment is that when the seat is all the way back when you enter and to start the car with the push button requires that you have to stretch to depress the brake peddle to engage the starter. Otherwise, you have to press the button once to move the seat forward and then again to start the car.

The rear view camera helps but the rear visibility is not any worse than my Accord coupe. The fit and finish is excellent.
 
#40 ·
All this is subjective. Flyboy wrote a detailed review of how the Fusion struck him. I consider him a good source.
My (subjective) comment is, what's the reliability? Fusion gets dinged by owners badly. Subaru isn't much better, it's a "used to be" like Volvo on reliability and, as someone said, resale value.
 
#46 ·
Last year I drove a 4 cylinder 2012 Ford Fusion rental and it was a huge gas guzzler. I had to fill it up with gas in that car frequently. The electrical door locking mechanisms sounded weak, cheap and unrefined. The only pros was that it had good acceleration and the leather seats were comfortable. For a family sedan, I don't think I would ever buy one. I prefer Honda. However, for a sports car I would definitely buy a Ford Mustang.
 
#49 ·
>seat automatically adjusts to your preset position when you turn on the car. Annoyance.

>RPMS vary (gasp!) because it has gears. Annoyance.

>doesn't lurch or drone or rubber band like a modern car should. Annoyance.

At least it has those metal door sill name plates.
 
#58 ·
It would be very easy to use the same ZF 9-speed auto already in use in the Acura V6 models and the new Honda Pilot (higher trim levels). Whether it will happen is pure speculation, but I think there is a reasonable chance that we will see this transmission in the 10th gen Accord V6.

I researched the price of a remanufactured CVT, and it is lower than I would have guessed. Read about it in the link below.

http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/4239441-post34.html
 
#62 ·
The fusion has a pretty nice interior. I liked how well put together it is [was cross shopping it]. though up here in canada land the manual insisted premium fuel with the turbo charged engine [though regular would work] is that what you found too?

How did the turbo feel?
 
#70 ·
The Fusion with its Aston Martin front was a sharp car when it was introduced. There are two issues I see. One it's a fleet car, I have been in quite a few sales men's cars and as the original poster said, he rented it. So resale value will stink as GE Fleet and Hertz put these in the auctions. The second issue is the trunk. It is very poor (especially for salesmen) for opening diameter and size. The Honda has a better trunk and more roomy interior. It also is not a rental fleet car like Impala, Camry, Passat, Altima and Fusion.
 
#77 ·
Found on road dead. Ford, long ago, decided it was better to make deals with thug unions. The unions cared nothing about the global health of the auto company. They only cared about shaking them down for as much $$ as they could. This went on for decades. And the japanese autos saw this, and got way ahead on quality control, tolerences, etc.

End result is Ford would have gone bankrupt if not for Mulally taking out a huge loan before the crash.

Still, what Ford is left with, is a culture of unions taking precendence over quality. That's why we bought the Accord. Japs simply do it better. It's not about options. A car is an engine and 4 wheels. The engine is the real key. Ford refuses to become a leader in regards to their engine quality. They are fine with the fact that the engine breaks down much sooner than with others. They'll promote "ecoboost" because they believe in marketing over quality. It's a huge mistake on Ford's part, and they will go bankrupt one day. And the feds may not have the $$ to bail them out when it happens.
 
#83 ·
Honda

Honda's U.S. sales slipped 7% as consumers spurned cars during the month. Low gasoline prices crushed the Japanese automaker during the month, driving car sales down 17%. The Accord sedan fell 20% for the month and the Fit fell 52%. (from Auto industry sees strong August sales)

THIS is why I expect to get a good deal on a 2016 Accord. I don't care how many 2015s they still have on the lot, if they want to get out of this slump, they'll have to be ready to deal.
 
#87 ·
People are fickle when it comes to cars. When gas prices start rising again, they'll surely abandon their gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs and come crawling back to Civics and Accords.

My neighbors just had a baby, so they traded their fairly-new Camry for a brand-new Tahoe. Now, this sorta thing always cracks me up. A mid-size sedan is perfectly capable of accommodating a baby and all of the extra baggage that comes with it. Why on earth do people nowadays feel that nothing short of a giant SUV or minivan will be sufficient once they have one child? Maybe by the time the 2nd (and especially 3rd) child comes along, I could see needing something bigger than a mid-size sedan. But the first one? I don't know, maybe my extreme dislike for large vehicles such as trucks and minivans is coming into play, but I just don't get it.

I'm sure that once gas prices get close to $4+/gallon again, that Tahoe is gonna have a 'For Sale' sign placed in the back window in a heartbeat lol.
 
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#91 ·
No it's not racist. Jap is short for Japanese. Meant nothing racist by it. I'm complimenting them on their work. You are ignorant, not me. Sorry pal.
 
#96 ·
Kay well any way. I've actually been impressed with the ford Fusions over the past few years. My in-laws LOVE Ford (Murica mentality) and they have two early 2000s large and in charge SUVs that have been to the shop more times than I can could count. I have heard many horror stories of unreliable/poorly made Fords but it seems that much like Chrysler or Hyundai they have stepped their game up and gave companies like Honda a run for their money. Good! Itll push Honda to innovate more!
 
#97 ·
I test drove Fusion and Camry before buying a 2016 Accord LX. Seat comfort, power train, quietness and good road manners were my main concerns during test drives. I'm 62, 5' 10" and 170 pounds. I'm recently retired from 36 years in the auto service business. Here are my thoughts on these cars.

The Camry LE 4 cal was what I was most interested in. Good ride/handling compromise, fairly quiet and maybe the best power train of these three. However, the very short seat bottom cushions were uncomfortable for me. An '06 Corolla and a 2011 Camry LE I had also had this problem. Many people find these seats just fine, just not me.

The Fusion SE with a 1.5 Eco Boost was quite a car. It had the best seats and quietest interior. Road manners and handling were first rate. It's a very solid and tight feeling car. I would have bought one except for two things. First, after 36 years in, under and around cars, I wasn't ready for a domestic car. Second, The depreciation is very high. Since I like a new car every year or two, depreciation is by far the greatest expense in ownership. That makes a Fusion almost as expensive to own as an Avalon Limited.

The Accord LX I drove was a pleasant surprise. I drove this car almost as an afterthought.
Previous Accords I'd owned had (for me) all-day comfortable seats and the 2016 Accord LX was the same. I drive 700 mile days several times a year so seats are a big deal. I was dubious of the CVT, having only driven Nissan and Prius CVT's at work (both awful). The Accord CVT works great. The surprisingly good low and midrange torque of the 2.4 DI engine works very well with the CVT. Only the very coarsest road surfaces like aggressive chip seal are a bother. A low purchase price and low depreciation combined with really good overall driving car does the job for me. The almost astonishingly good gas mileage is icing on the cake.
 
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#98 ·
My brother just got a new 2016 Fusion SE last month. I was very impressed with it. 8" touch screen Sync system and back-up parking sensors, and satelite radio. The seats felt very nice (cloth) and it rode very smooth and quiet.

2017 model which is coming out soon is supposed to get a slight refresh and updated infotainment.
 
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