The New Car.

As you all know, I’ve been teetering at the edge of a new car purchase for quite a few months. This search was hastened as the Mazda suffered from two pretty intense accidents, the first with a deer, the second with a jeep.

This put me in a tough spot. The accident with the Jeep totaled the Mazda. So I needed a new car ASAP. Thankfully, I had already done some research and had decided upon the 2012 Ford Fusion SEL.

Why the Fusion?

The Fusion provides a middle of the road choice. With this car I can feel confident that I’m not overdoing it, but still afford some of the options that enhance driving pleasure. This is a car that could provide me some comfort without breaking the bank for performance that I wouldn’t utilize to its fullest potential.

Sure, it doesn’t have the flare of a BMW or Acura TL… let’s not forget that roommate Nick had even deemed the Fusion as Vanilla… But the price tag is much easier to take. Plus, since my company is a member of the X-plan, negotiating was cake. The end price for the SEL ended up hovering around 26k. Negotiations took all of 20 minutes and got me about $3,200 off the sticker price.

Mike D's New Car

Basics:
2.5L 175HP I4 FWD
~33 MPG

Under the hood

A few of the luxuries:
Leather interior
Microsoft SYNC
Heated seats
Power everything
Moonroof
Surprisingly enjoyable ambient lighting
Passanger temp controls

Spacious!

My general thoughts: So far so good. The car drives well. It’s comfortable and as a mid-size, much more spacious than I’m used to.

You may have noticed it’s not a standard. I decided to bail on that criteria after realizing that the only manual options were bare-bones. No options, no luxuries.

Microsoft SYNC is ridiculous. The car will connect to my iPhone via bluetooth – nothing special about that. But more than just phone, SYNC can play my music collection via bluetooth as well… or Pandora if I want to stream that. It’s pretty snazzy.

It has a 17 gallon gas tank. Holy Moly this is convenient. When leisurely highway driving is in the mix this equates to 600 miles without needing to fill up.

Anti-utilitarian spoiler

I love the interior and the shape of the car. I’m not a huge fan of the faux spoiler – seems unnecessary. But that’s not a big deal for me.

Complaints? The visibility stinks. I opted not to spend the extra $1000 for the ‘driver vision’ package. This included a back-up camera and Blind Spot indicators. In retrospect, this would be nice. I’m pretty sure someone could put a picnic bench behind the car and it’d be impossible to see it while in reverse.

Special thanks to all those people who provided recommendations as to what I should purchase. I took everything into consideration and really appreciate the time you donated to the cause. Thanks!!

8 thoughts on “The New Car.

  • 9/21/2011 at 4:03 pm
    Permalink

    Dude! I love the Sync in my Focus! Streaming Pandora or, this is my favorite, listentoamovie.com while driving is awesome! Also the ambient light thing is fun as hell! Red lights so it doesn’t ruin your night vision, (in my case) blue lights to match the dash. But I’m curious what a Passanger?

    Also why is the spoiler faux? If its there its not faux. thats pretty much it.

    Reply
  • 9/21/2011 at 10:31 pm
    Permalink

    DUDE – stupid choice!!!
    My Subaru, with a little under 30K cost me only 18K…which with warrantee (good for another 50K!) and loan at 18% or so, cost me around 21,000 (overpaying 400 each month for a few years), is AWD!! And let me tell you, it’s a real pleasure, almost 5 or 6 days out of the year, when it snows more than an inch or two. And this is a small price to pay for the 165HP I reap from its game-changing 24-25MPG combined I’m reeling in. I mean when it’s not in the shop for really expensive repairs, because let’s face it, 82,000 miles is a lot to ask of a car. Especially if it’s 7 years old. And I got this thing for 2-3K under blue book!
    Sucker!

    Reply
  • 9/21/2011 at 10:32 pm
    Permalink

    PS – I’ll buy your spoiler!!! Because it’ll sure look fast, as you pass me on the highway, while we’re both “hypermiling”

    Reply
  • 9/22/2011 at 2:52 pm
    Permalink

    You can’t hypermile in an automatic car! Sander, you should have gotten a 5 or 6 speed if you wanted more than 25mpg.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Sander Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *