we drive them for work being stewards of the environment and what not (ha)....

They are not bad... They are kinda peppy off the line (touchy pedal) all the fancy dash stuff can easily distract. We also have the volts, and the fusion is a clear favorite among our employees. The 20 miles is kinda misleading... they run to warm up and provide cabin heating, and on hard (normal for young whippersnappers) acceleration the motor kicks on...

The thing to consider is.... Are you going to save the cost of the replacement batteries on fuel, in the few years the battery takes to go bad (assuming none of the other numerous additional components fail before than)? Most likely you are better off getting a car with high mpg on gas.... and coming from a truck the standard fusion will seem like a sipper. (I would opt for the v6 with the hills around you, the 4cylinder non electric leaves some to be desired, but is adequate for majority of flatlanders.

Anyways, most dealers will let you test drive for a long weekend if you are seriously contemplating purchase and are pre-approved or what not...

GOOD LUCK!

 

Are there still tax credits for hybrids? Back when there were, the usual math showed it took 80k miles for the gas savings to equal the premium of the hybrid over the gas model (including the tax break). Joe's math seems to confirm that.

I'd go for the EcoBoost 4 myself, but with a slushbox it wouldn't be a lot of fun.

 

Why don't you just get a Tesla. They are really peppy off the line! Of course they also cost more than many houses...
So if you were to get a hybrid, or all electric, would you be willing to take it to the dealer for all the service? They have some pretty strict rules on them that if you don't follow could void the warrantee. And the local mechanic that I go to wouldn't be able to do a thing to them.

 

I don't know of any tax breaks on hybrids, but I think they still have them on electric cars. But the extra $5,000 for my hybrid paid for itself in gas savings in 2.5 years. That was at about 50K miles. I'm not driving it nearly as much now as I was then.

The only problem I've had with the Fusion Hybrid was with the cheapo regular 12v battery from the factory. It had a 36 month warranty and went out at 37 months. Ironic since the big battery is warranted for 150K miles. And you can't use the big one to jump the 12 volt.

 

This is the first vehicle I have ever owned where no one has touched it for service BUT the Ford dealer. Now, before everyone has a cow, remember I don't see them but every 10,000 miles. So, I've visited them for service 8 times in 4.5 years. And the last visit was free.

But you're right, I don't know what anything is under the hood. Nor do I ever want to work on it. I don't do that for a living, I do it occasionally for a hobby. Probably could get it cheaper, but I'd rather have the peace of mind. But that's just me.

I'll be getting new tires in August and they'll be purchased from and installed by Costco. And that will be a first for this car. Same tires are $50 each cheaper. And they come with road hazard insurance free.

 

I've had a 2013 Fusion hybrid (non Energi) as a fleet car since November 2012, before they even hit the showroom floor. Before that, I've had a 2007 and 2008 Escape hybrids. We run our fleet until 100k or slightly above and then they're sold. I was getting about 27 mpg in the Escapes while driving about 150-200 miles/day 5 days/week. I drive less now and get about 37 mpg in the new Fusion. Don't believe Ford's estimate of 47 mpg. The Feds questioned Ford after a few complaints and Ford lowered their estimate by 10 mpg, from what I remember. While I haven't had any issues with my hybrid, my co-worker did. She also received a 2013 Fusion hybrid a few days after I got mine. About a year after use, the a/c started going out and the turn signal switch was working intermittently. She later smelled smoke. There was a small electrical fire behind the dash. Car was at the dealer three times for same issue. Last and final time Ford came out and found that the vehicle wasn't wired properly and the replacement wiring wasn't on the factory schematic. Vehicle was in service for at least a month. There was also a recall or two on the 2013 hybrids. One was a reprogram of the ECM.

Overall, I have no serious complaints. Keep in mind that there's no spare wheel at all. The car sits very low and it's easy to hit a curb with the front wheels. I've already popped a tire once. Limping a few miles to the tire store wasn't fun.

As with any hybrid, remember to not touch the orange wire!

 

I am a salesperson who drives about 200 miles a day 4 days a week so I buy a new car every 3 to 4 years ( as soon as they hit 150,000 miles).
I bought a 2010 Milan Hybrid and traded it in May of 2013 with just over 154,000 miles on it. I never had an trouble with it at all. Got over 40 mpg every tank, I would but this car again. I do not know if I would get the plug in one you are looking at, The plug in takes up almost all of the trunk space. I bought a 2007 Prius and I hated it right from the start, after about 3 weeks of driving it I gave it to my wife and bought another VW Jetta diesel. Look at the Toyota Avalon Hybrid it is a very good car and it has more parts made in the USA than the Fusion, and the final assembly is done in Tenn.

 

Thanks guys for the very helpful comments. I'll check out the Toyota as well. I've been doing the math. Basically, if you make the math easy and say gas is $4.00 per gallon, the Energi would save me 1/2 gallon ($2.00) in gas every day, as compared to the 40ish MPG of the regular hybrid. It would save me a full gallon ($4.00) of gas as compared to a regular type vehicle getting 20ish MPG. So if you do the math based on driving the car every single day of the year (which is about what I do anyway), it would still take me quite a while to justify buying that Energi. On the other hand, the hybrid like Joe has is probably a good investment for the difference in purchase price. If you guys in California and other places are getting lower gas mileage than what is estimated, I'd be afraid that my numbers would be even worse considering the hilly terrain and my lead foot. And the comments about replacing those big batteries is also on my mind. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see dealerships (and/or junkyards) start charging huge "disposal" fees for those batteries when a car is taken off the road or traded in.

I'm still looking for a full-sized F-150 that can get about 50 MPG, but I just haven't found it yet. LOLOL But I'll keep lookin.......

I'll be honest, I have gotten to a point in my life that I put NO value in any modern vehicles. There is not one single new vehicle on the road today that I see and just say "Dang, I'd love to have one of those." Let's face it, we basically rent cars nowadays. They never hold any value, and by the time we pay them off, we're stuck with something that is worn out and not worth much as a trade. The only thing that has even slightly raised my interest recently was the rumors about Ford reviving the F-100 as a fuel-efficient compact truck, but apparently that has stalled.