Well I think my 2009 maxima SV's days are numbered. Its been one of my favorite cars I have owned, but 3.5 years in I am getting that new car itch. I have been eyeing the development of the 2013 Ford Fusion and now that they are hitting the street I sm going to go take a look. I am 69k miles in, so no warranty and with premium gas sitting at about $4.50, I would not mind a little better gas milage and regular unleaded. I should be able to get good value for the max on a trade so we shall see what happens. Its been a fun ride and I love this forum!

 

I'll admit I've never been in a fusion, but seems like a step down. Visually, at the very least. That's my thought, but no need to take that too seriously.

I'm sure they're quite nice, and I understand looking for a change. Hopefully you find something fun and are happy with it!

What would be Nissan's competitive match for the fusion you're looking at?

 

Have you seen the 2013 fusion? Nothing like the older blan looking model. Completely redesigned. The side profile has a similar look to the maxima, I think anyway.

 

I've been hearing good things about the new Fusion. Car & Driver did a comparison with 3 other sedans and it came in second. I'm eying the new MKZ as my next car which is basically the same car with more features.

 

the new Fords look cool, but I grew up with a Ford so would never buy one again. i like that they started out with a bunch of new designs and seemed to step their game up, but sorry they lost me with decades of creating garbage...too little too late imo

 

Decades ago Ford, GM and Chrysler had their heads in the sand. They were not producing good cars. However, to stay in business they had to change or vanish from the scene. They changed the cars to handle better and to be more reliable. I rented a fusion a few months ago and liked it. These are new times my friend

 

Exactly. Long term reliability and build quality of the "Big 3" has gotten a lot better the past few years.

 

This would be my first ford. I just really think its a sharp looking car. The AWD just got excellent reviews, it has most of the features of my max. I will say I might miss the CVT, my panoramic roof and most of all the steering wheel heater!! I am sure it wont have quite the same power, but will most likely be peppy enough. Still need to actually go spend some time with one first, before I make any final decisions.

 

Wouldn't the Altima be the NIssan competitor?

 

I don't know how your Max is optioned but from what I can tell from a quick online build, you'll come out cheaper with a fully loaded non-hybrid Fusion. Not a bad deal. I was thrown for a bit when I saw that the Fusion came with a turbocharged 2.0L engine. I am still getting used to the fact that turbocharged 4-cylinder engines are replacing 6-cylinder engines and becoming the new normal. As fuel efficiency requirements increase, we'll see more and more of this.

 

^Yup. The BMW 6/7 series can be equipped with 6 cylinders like back in the day. And a lot of models now have hybrid engine options. An advantage of the turbo 4 cylinders is that they often have more torque than a 3 liter N/A engine.

 

What about turbo lag? I drove a VW CC a couple of years back and it really seamed that it took a bit for the torque to truly kick in when I needed to accelerate to pass other cars.

 

I read a full review from edmunds and they had good things to say about the engine. The max has more horses and like I said I am sure its quicker, I always felt the CVT was quicker than a normal geared automatic, but its not like I am out drag racing on a friday night

"The Power of EcoBoost
It's worth noting that our 2013 Ford Fusion test car is an all-wheel-drive model, which likely contributed to its strong handling in our instrumented tests. As important, though, is that Ford succeeded in making a large car with a very long wheelbase drive like, well, a smaller car.

Part of the credit goes to the new 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine. It's now the most powerful engine in the lineup and it stomps out 237 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 270 pound-feet of torque at a low 3,000 rpm on 87 octane fuel. Compare this to the V6 in Honda's Accord — probably the best big engine in the segment — and the Ford's liveliness begins to make some sense. The 3.5-liter Honda mill needs 1,900 more revs to deliver 18 fewer lb-ft of torque. Advantage: turbo engine.

The new four-cylinder is smooth and quiet, too. There's virtually none of the unpleasant harmonics common to this layout and it gladly revs to its 6,500-rpm redline."

 

The 2013 Fusion looks nice but I don't know if I could buy a Ford product, my old man was from a generation of Domestics that just **** the bed when it came to horror stories of break down and financial repair, my generation was not as bad but then again I never owned one, yeah Ford made some bad cars and bland as driving a refrigerator, but asides from some of the low mileage break downs and crappy build quality most of the 1990 and 2000 Ford products are still on the road, gawd only knows how, and generally speaking the power trains even in the worst car never gave any real problems, the rest of the car fell apart, but Ford is all about doing it for as cheap as possible.

After living in GA, I have heard the phrase "that normally breaks on a fill in the blank domestic" never have I heard that about foreign cars.

The Fusion looks good and most of the new owners are young ppl who Ford never **** on, but just the fact that they turned around build quality cause they almost went under makes me go, I think I will buy something else.

 

Yes, the Fusion is in competition with the Altima, Camry and Accord, NOT THE MAXIMA. And that is a very competitive field for the Fusion.

The Ford TAURUS is in the Maxima's general category, although aimed at a somewhat less-sporty audience. The Ford Taurus SHO, however, is for the sporty set. It has a turbocharged V6 that generates 365 HP, and has AWD. I seem to recall that a turbocharged 4 cylinder option for the Taurus arrived a few months ago, but haven't checked it out.

Ford reliability in passenger vehicles took a big step up around 2005/2006. Reliability had always been good for most of their truck lines. My wife has always owned at least one Ford truck at all times during the last thirty years. As they reach 150K to 200K miles, she gives them to our son, who drives them to work each day in Atlanta traffic. He keeps his Acura TL Type 'S' in his garage except for weekends and special occasions.

I like the Taurus, but according to Consumer Reports, it has average reliability, while the Fusion gets CU's highest rating for reliability.

 

Get a Ford Taurus SHO. Twin turbo 365hp (I think) All Wheel Drive...

That's what I almost got, but the Maxima looks way better...

It's still a monster of a car, and I would not hesitate to own one. I don't care for all that chrome on the grille...maybe some plasti-dip, or an aftermarket all black one to give a more aggressive stance.

 

I moved on to a EVO cause im into the modding and speed thing.... but moving on to a fusion....thats crazy ....

 

I would take a serious look at the MKZ hybrid, Lincoln offers really nice deals and you get so much more

 

So you are telling me that the Fusions sold from the Ford dealer lots are not quite as powerful as the Fusion in which Matt Kenseth won today's NASCAR race? Who woulda thunk?

 

Last two days I spent a lot of time at Honda dealers getting my wife the CR-V and I couldn't keep my eyes of the new Accord. To me in person they look so good and the sport model is only 23k available with manual tranny. I know its 4 cylinder but like someone said above I wouldnt be racing it. Worth a look.

 

I think I am going to go for a test drive Wednesday. I had a couple issues to get cleared up with my Max. I had a busted rear wheel bearing that had to be fixed, to the tune of $330 On the + side my car is a whole lot quieter now, lol. I also have a service engine soon light on, so taking it to nissan to tomorrow to see whats up, runs fine, hoping they can just reset it.

I am thinking of adding the Kia Optima to my test drive list. Always kind of liked them, though there is something a little awkward about the way it looks, cant put a finger on it. Anyway will see what happens. No final decisions yet.

 

I just traded my '09 Fusion SEL V6 for a 2012 Maxima sport/tech about a month ago. I had my Fusion for 3 years and had nary a problem. I bought it used in '09 as an executive car with 30k miles and it had @68K miles when I traded it in. It was a great car while I had it and I have zero complaints with it. I drive a Ford every day for work and I swore that I would never buy one for myself, but financial situations and a divorce changes plans faster than you think. I was very surprised at the build quality, reliability and fuel economy of that little car and was almost sad to see it go. Almost.

 

I thought you can reset the service warning with the two buttons left to the steering column. With you mileage there are no more then replacing drop in air filter and servicing engine oil, coolant and ATF which all requires simply drain and refill.

 

Ford fusion sucks... Think it over ...

 

Not the new one.

 

Well on the advise of some here I went to autozone this morning and had them pull the codes for the service engine soon light. It came back with 4 codes, P0014(2) P0024(2). I had an appointment with Nissan today. Not sure what to do. I hate to have to dump money into a car I might be getting rid of soon. On the flip side I assume this will impact my trade value so not sure what direction to go. This is why being out of warranty sucks.

 

This is like a downgrade..... That '13 looks like an Aston Martin too much... I can't imagine you going from a "Premium" Max to a Kia/Ford. Doesn't make sense. I'm done w American Cars... I was gonna get an Chevy Malibu but during my research I check their main user forums and the type of problems these cars have are unacceptable...

 

And that's a bad thing?

 

yes it's a bad thing to have a car which design is based from a high end car... like most hyundais are. its sad car designers cant copyright their designs.

 

Ford used to own Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Mazda. So I'm sure the designers might have split between brands or their design teams used concepts with different vehicles of different brands. So, not exactly copying since they were affiliated with Aston Martin. If the Fusion looked like an entirely unaffiliated car, then I could see it as "copying". But I don't care who copies who, as long as it looks good.

 

OK that's an exception if they own/owned them it's a different story. But Hyundai I would never buy.

 

Hey guys,

Well I went and test drove a fusion today. The dealership only had a base and a lower end SE model, both with the low end 175 hp 2.5l engine. It also had no leather, no mytouch etc. So maybe I should not have looked at it. Anyway as expected with that engine in it, it really lacked any sort of punch. Going up hills was a little bit of a challenge and it struggled to respond. It was also hard to get anything useful out of the interior since it was base interior and had different stereo and tech. I will say they front of the car looks tremendous in person, though the side and rear profile are not as exciting. There was plenty of leg room, good size trunk. Handling was nice. But due to the model, not very impressed. I am going to take a look when they have a titanium AWD in stock to give it a fair shake.

I then followed up this trip with a quick trip the Kia dealership. I did not have time to drive an optima, but sat in and spent a couple minutes with an SXL (top of the line) model. I was very impressed with it. Interior was very well done, great tech, very comfy seats in nappa leather, panoramic sunroof like my max(fusion does not offer this), heated rear seats (fusion does not offer). I was much more impressed than I thought I would be. I need to drive one next to see what I think and then wait for that higher end fusion to come in.

I love lots of things about my max, but also dont like some things. It will always be the first care that got me into cars (I am 40 now) and never really had any connections to any of my past vehicles. So the max was special in that way, but its just time I think to look on. I am out of warranty, had to dump money in for some issues lately, it has always been creaky(think its the glass roof). Just looking for a change I guess. I dont think either car is really a step down, they are all comparable cars. I know the max is a little bigger, maybe altima is more fusion comparison I think the kia shares more traits since both are supposed to be sporty. I would not buy another max since they are basically the same car as what I have, and who knows when the next generation is coming out.

Anyway going to circle back next week with both dealers. Who knows maybe I will change my mind and wait a bit. That 2014 Maxda 6 is coming out soon and that looks rather interesting as well, though I liked the original concept car much more.

 

My first instinct is the same as yours. But then I find myself stopping to reconsider.

My son still despises Hyundai because of the problems he had with his Excel back in the late 1980s, and the lack of help he received from his Hyundai dealership. Through the 1990s, I totally agreed with his opinion. Hyundai was simply one of those companies that produced millions of crackerbox econo cars.

But something happened within the last decade or so. Hyundai has worked very hard to improve both the reliability and image of its products. Their reliability is not quite up there with Honda or Toyota, but isn't nearly as bad as it was twenty years ago.

More than that, Hyundai and Kia are selling very well worldwide, and did so through this recession. The Hyundai Motor Company (which includes Kia) is the fourth largest automotive company in the world, hence too large a segment of the industry to completely ignore.

The competent new Hyundai Azera is in the Maxima's price ($31-$35), size and power (293HP) range.

The very nice Hyundai Genesis is a step above the Maxima at $34,200 to $46,500 and HP from 333 to 429.

The luxurious Hyundai Equus is at least three steps above the Maxima, with the Signature series starting at around $60,000, and the Ultimate series starting nearer $70,000. Both come with 429 HP. Testers say the Equus is fully comparable to such vehicles as the Mercedes S and BMW 7 series, both of which can easily run well past $100,000.

So, even though Hyundai in the U.S. is still operating under the shadow of former problems, today's Hyundais are a far cry from those forgettable Excels of bygone days.

 

My 3 cars prior to my max were all Hyundais. I had a 97 elantra, then a 02 sonata then an 06 sonata. I do a lot of driving so at first bought for the long warranty. But I never had any major issues with any of them. In fact the two sonatas I did nothing but oil changes, tires, brakes, wipers over the course of ownership. The most reliable cars I ever owned. In fact I had such good luck with them I was nervous to by the maxima It has proved to be a little less reliable than the sonatas, but a lot more fun to drive.

 

Good Luck marjen with the sale/trade of the Maxima and the new ride, check back here and let us know what you got and how you like it

 

I actually test drove a Genesis earlier this year when comparing cars. The car is well appointed and handles well however the suspension does not soak bumps very well. One car that I almost bought was the Volvo S60 T5 it had everything going for it but a tiny trunk which was a deal breaker

 

Yea I heard that a lot about the Genesis.

 

The Genesis is on the top of my list to replace my Altima. Rear wheel drive is a must have this time around. I'm just waiting for the 13's to roll out and will probably get a white (new color for 13) R spec. The discounts on the remaining 12's are tempting...

 

i dont know if Fusion would be a worthy replacement... id say SHO taurus would be much better if you would want to move on from a max and dont experience much difference

 

It would be nice if you did not detract from the dignity of the site with your childish video