Quick View: The Ford Fusion

Maybe it’s SUV fatigue, maybe we’re ready to grow up from the cars we bought when our kids were little, or maybe we’re feeling like a small turtle in a large shell in our big cars. But whatever the reason, America is having a renewed love affair with the sedan, and car makers are ready to romance. 

Ford, in its mission to once again lead the US car industry, applied all its brainiac thinking to how it could build the world’s most awesome car, and won nearly 500 patents in the process. The carmaker has placed big bets on three aspects of car design: fuel-efficiency, use of recycled or sustainable parts, and beautiful design.

 

Recently Ford re-introduced the Fusion, a sedan that takes this new mantra to heart: It’s interior is sustainable and highly styled; it’s engine options offer great gas mileage, and it’s exterior is elegant and sophisticated.

 

First, the Fusion is offered as a driver’s car: multiple engine options allow buyers to choose performance or gas mileage: the hybrid gets up to 47 miles per gallon city or highway, while the EcoBoost option achieves both good gas mileage and performance at high speeds. 

 

Ford has streamlined the command console’s buttons with a flat surface that responds to light pressureThen, the interior was crafted for responsibility: If you really wanted to, you could eat the seats: seat foam is made from soybean oil rather than petroleum (saving untold millions of barrels of oil from consumption and tons of carbon emissions from our atmosphere). Also, there are the recycled soda bottles that are used to make interior panels and recycled fabrics that are used to make the floor carpeting. So far, this is a car you can feel good about.

 

But Fusion is also a car that will make you feel good: It’s gorgeous, it’s smart, and it’s intuitive. Its interior is sublime and understated, with chrome accents that and instrument and media panel icons in cool colors that don’t scream “look at me!” It has three charge ports, a USB port, it can download apps from your phone, it can type texts for you, and it won’t actually do your nails but it will help you to book your appointment and guide you to the nearest salon.

The instrument panel includes a readout that shows how efficiently you’ve been driving.And as beautiful as it is on the inside (and under the hood) its exterior is even more sublime: Gone are the bulbous bumpers and rounded corners that long distinguished American cars from elegant overseas imports; the Fusion’s elegance is shaped for flight; even when standing still, you can almost see water droplets whisking back over its fine lines. It’s a pretty, sophisticated sedan. 

Pricing starts at about $21,000; with all the luxury and fuel-saving options, the Fusion tops out at about $34,000.

Why to Buy: Beautiful interior with tons of luxuries; great gas mileage; detailed attention to environmental impact

Best Feature: Technology, both inside and outside; Beautiful paint palate–Ice Storm Blue: Mmmmmmm.