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S. Muralidhar

WHAT would you call a vehicle that is built to look like a sports utility vehicle, is as roomy inside as a sedan and is almost as compact on the outside as a hatchback in the B-segment? Fusion. An apt name and that's exactly why Ford has zeroed in on it to christen its Urban Activity Vehicle.

The Ford Fusion attempts to blend all the attributes, of an SUV, a family van and a sedan set, within the body style of a compact hatchback.

In August last year, we did a brief profile of the Fusion and had asked readers to await the launch of this car. Now, the segment-defying Ford Fusion is finally here, beguiling small car and sedan buyers alike to reconsider their decision to shop for a car that is bound by convention and body-style.

Is it the right car at the right price? Is the combination of qualities that the Fusion offers worth it? Read on to find out.

Unique stance

The Fusion would have looked every bit a Ford even without the blue oval logo fixed at the centre of its honeycomb style bonnet grille. It shares styling touches with other Ford vehicles. But this vehicle will be unique in the Indian car mart, a sort of pioneer for more crossovers to come.

The crossover look is a theme that runs right along the Fusion's body style. The chunky front and rear fenders, the deep wheel arches and moulded lipping, the tall stance, large hatch door at the rear and the longer wheelbase (compared to smaller hatches) give the Fusion SUV characteristics.

In the front, the Fusion's look is dominated by the clear-lens headlamps, which sport a peeled-over, squared-off teardrop design.

The stocky rear-view mirrors offer good visibility to the driver, but don't fold fully, due to their half-stalk mounts and may be a bit of problem in congested traffic conditions in Indian cities.

With wide opening doors and the perfect seat height, entry and exit for both the driver and rear passengers will be easier vis-à-vis most other vehicles in any class.

At the rear, the Fusion sports a vertical tail lamp cluster that is set high on the D-pillar and earns an inevitable comparison with the Honda CR-V's rear styling. The large tail gate slopes all the way down cutting into the U-shaped rear bumper.

This gives the Fusion a low loading height at the rear, and the absence of a ledge means the floor of the boot is directly accessible from the outside, making loading and unloading a breeze.

The Fusion is taller and wider than the Ford Ikon, though the wheelbase of both the cars are equal. While the Ikon was based on the old Fiesta platform, the new Fiesta and the Fusion share a new platform that was developed by Ford.

Unlike the Ikon though, which due to its sedan styling, has a fairly large overhang at the rear, the Fusion's wheels are set nearly at the extremes of a vehicle with the same wheelbase. This dramatically improves the Fusion's handling and driving dynamics.

Practical interior

Inside the Fusion, the dashboard layout and interior theme is simple, uncluttered and practical.

There is not much of an attempt to excite the user with flashy design, though there are a few surprising titbits and novel ideas that have been incorporated into the interiors to make it more practical and user friendly.

The quality of switches and knobs are excellent. Almost all the controls are within easy reach of the driver except the bonnet release lever and the short, stubby knob of the powered outside rear view mirrors.

Circular dials of the instrument cluster are well lit and easy to read. While the speedo and the rpm dials are the regular analog type, the fuel-level, engine temperature and trip meters are digital displays.

With its sharply sloped A-pillar, the Fusion gets a lot of flat area on top of the dashboard for storage.

So, in addition to the small rectangular open storage tray at the passenger side of the dashboard (in other markets this spot would have had an airbag), there is also a glove box and another square storage box with a flip open top capping the centre console area of the dashboard.

The Fusion also offers a number of storage options inside with the most thoughtful being the one under the front passenger seat, which can be used for putting away the user's valuables.

In addition to a cup holder and a removable ashtray at the front, the rear seat's centre piece can also be removed and replaced with an armrest which too has a couple of more cup holders.

The boot area in the Fusion is taller and wider than comparable hatchbacks in the B segment, but is not large enough to compete with sedans such as the Hyundai Accent and the new Honda City.

Other features on the dashboard include the headlamp-levelling switch for adjusting the angle of the headlamp beam.

An uncommon feature is also the switch for turning on the car's headlamp, which is not incorporated into the stalk alongside the steering column that is usually also used for flipping on the turn indicator lamps. Instead, in the Fusion, the headlamp is turned on using a knob (much like the fan speed knob for the airconditioner) located on the dashboard to the right of the steering column.

Engine and performance

The Fusion has been launched with only one engine option. The 1.6 litre, all-aluminium engine in the Fusion comes from the same `Duratec' family that the Ford Mondeo's bigger two litre comes from. With a peak power output of 101 PS at 6,400 rpm, this four-cylinder, 16-valve engine is easily one of the more powerful in its class.

This refined, free-revving 1.6 in the Fusion is a delight on the highway, offering loads of power and enough rpm bandwidth in each gear for easy overtaking and cruising.

But this engine has been slightly re-rated for improving fuel-efficiency and the compromise is a bit of sluggishness in the lower rev-bands. Peak torque of 146 Nm also kicks in only at 3,400 rpm. So, there is the inevitable hesitancy especially in the first two gears when the engine rev is below that threshold.

Once the engine is pushed past the 3,000 rpm level, the improvement in torque and power delivery is impressive. The Fusion is not meant to be a great performer in the fuel efficiency front. Realistic mileage expectations will be about 9 kmpl in city and about 14 kmpl on the highway.

The suspension set up in the Fusion features independent MacPherson struts with offset coil springs and damper units combined with dual path body mounts and stabiliser bar at the front.

At the rear, suspension is semi-independent twist beam type, with coil springs and a twin tube damper. Shock absorbers both at the front and rear are gas-filled.

The suspension set-up assists in providing an adequately smooth ride quality for the Fusion at higher speeds. But at low speed the ride tends to be a bit bumpy both due to the softer suspension and the low profile tyres.

Pricing is the key

The Fusion is a truly global car and has a lot going for it. Despite the lack of excitement in its interiors, it is still a neat package for urban car buyers, who want a car that will also help them make a statement and not just one that is the most practical. But the Fusion has two features — pricing and fuel efficiency — that will be a drag on its attractiveness.

Priced between Rs 6.2 lakh and Rs 7.3 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai), the Fusion is pitted against some of the most prominent names in the premium mid-size category such as the Honda City, the Hyundai Accent and Viva and even the low-end variant of the Mitsubishi Lancer.

Despite its size advantage, the Fusion is still capable of carrying only five passengers comfortably, something that all the other sedans will also do well. The Honda City and Hyundai Accent/Viva will be able to offer a bigger boot and fuel-efficiency will be almost on par with the Fusion.

On the other side, customers shopping for a vehicle in this price segment will also have the Mahindra Scorpio under their scanner.

In this value-crazed market, pricing will be the key determinant for the position that customers will assign to the Fusion.

Interiors, inside out

TILT steering is standard, so the angle and height of the steering wheel can be adjusted.

Some of the innovative, neat touches that Ford has given to the Fusion's interior features include the circular air-conditioning vents' direction-adjusting fins which come in the form of a ball that can be rotated nearly at a 180-degree angle both horizontally and vertically.

The powered outside rear-view mirrors also get a neat single toggling switch that is compact and lets the driver chose between the two mirrors, while allowing four-way adjustments for getting the perfect viewing angle.

But the highlight of the interior is the matt-silver insert on top of the short-stalked gearshift stick that also comes with a stepped bellow cover. Unlike the relatively poor quality cable-operated remote boot release lever in other cars in this segment, this job is done with electrical assistance in the Fusion by pushing a round button located on the dashboard.

The Mondeo-style, three-spoke steering looks neat and comes with matt-silver inserts in the higher-trim variants.

Another useful feature is the two roof-mounted map lights or reading lights for the rear passengers. The theatre dimming interior light with courtesy delay (this leaves the front map light on for a few seconds after closing the doors) on the pricier Fusion+ was another thoughtful feature that we liked.

A few of the features we found irksome were the bonnet release lever being located in the passenger side footwell below the glove box, the two step mechanism for the high beam and the turn indicators which Ford continues to offer in the stalk to the left of the steering column, instead of the more comfortable right-hand side stalk.

On the whole, the car's interior focuses on practicality and almost looks spartan, largely due to the amount of plastic, the choice of seat upholstery and dull colour coordinated theme.

The finish of the dashboard panels is good for a vehicle in this class, but the quality of plastic used could have been better.

Furthermore, with so much plastic all around, the interior tends to feel a bit tacky. Fabric inserts and chrome finished door handles in the top-end variant lend a bit of upmarket feel to the Fusion+.

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