I really hate to say this on a Ford related site, and I have driven Fords for most of my life.

It was time to replace my wife's car and I was determined to buy a Fusion after all I had heard and read. To be totally fair I decided before hand to test drive a Fusion, Altima, and Sonata. All would be 2.5L 4 cylinder automaticis.
As a base performance comparison, my wifes old car is a 99 Ford Contour 2.5L 24 valve V6 and would serve as the benchmark.

All are good cars to be sure, but of the 3 the Fusion was the worst in the performance category, and the highest priced of the three.

The Altima was a fun car to drive and the CVT transmission kept the engine at or near it's peak power band, but it was sorely lacking in other features and the interior finished looked "cheap". It was the lowest priced of the three.

The Sonata won hands down. The 2.5L direct injected engine delivers amazing power and the 6 speed automatic keeps the engine right where it needs to be. The interior is smart and well appointed and the list of standard features is hands down better than any of the others. Price was in the center of the Altima and Fusion.

And to top it off, it appears the Sonata is closer to being "American Made" then the Fusion.

Long story short, I bought the Sonata and we took a 2K mile trip in it over Thanksgiving week, and we got 34-36 MPG doing 70-80 MPH most of the way.

I am going to need a new Pick-up in a couple of years and Ford had better up their game. Seems like to 2011's with the new engines is a good start.

Sign me "Exclusively Ford no more"
Dialtone

 

Congrats on your new ride bro. Hyundai has done some very good things in the past couple of years and the warranty is awesome.

 

Cool. Let us know how the Hyundai Half ton works out for ya.

Seriously, though, I'm sure Ford would love to hear this type of honest evaluation. It's how things are changed. Once they lose enough business, they'll change for the better, or else they'll die (and get bailed out by... well, you get the idea).

 

Congrats!!

I was just looking at the new Hyundai cars Sunday morning. That new Sonata for 2011 is a very nice looking car. Actually, I even liked the 2010 models. They stopped putting the V6 into the Sonata and now offer a Turbo 4 as the power upgrade. Even that Elantra has taken on the resemblance of Sonata and it looks pretty cool. They had no new Azera's or new Genesis cars on the lot though.

At the prices dealers are asking for clean, used cars, it might be a great time to buy new. The dealers are dealing and money is cheap to borrow. Big discounts are there for 2010 model cars too. A lady I work with just bought a new Regal and paid about dealer cost.

Hyundai has come a long way since that first Excel. When they begin to hold their resale value like the other quality imports, we'll know they have fully established themselves. Seeing how many people are repeat buyers, I'd seriously look into one.

 

Congrats on the new ride. Your purchase is an example of what makes this country great...we have a choice!!! By purchasing a car you're supporting many Americans...those who manufactured the parts...those who built the car...those who transported the car...those who sold you the car...those who will repair the car...etc...etc...etc.

 

had to drive one of them furrin' pos's once at the start of my divorce years ago as my 70 bird was broken . good thing that hyundai had sense enough to blow it's self up or i woulda !!!!!!!!! ugly uncomfortable piece of crap !!!!!!!!!!!

 

my wife and i tried a hyundai elantra one time, it was the only fuel injected car we have ever had that had remote start that you still had to go outside in the winter and pump the gas.. got rid of that thing right away.

 

Hyundai has come a light year since the old days. This is the same as the Toyota and Honda loyalists. They still live in the past and remember only when American car quality was sub-par.

 

Latest recall list puts Ford and Hyundai at the bottom for recalls. Toy is #1.

 

Toyota is #1 for recalls.... meaning they have the most recalls? Or the least?

 

Toyota has the most.

Here is the link for the article of all the big manufactors:
Toyota’s Problems Keeping Industry’s U.S. Recall Levels High in 2010

 

The experts were saying, "In Toyota's quest to out sell GM and Ford, their quality and reputation has been damaged".

If you look at recall history, Toyota was likely very low on the list until recently.

Was there ever a real problem with Toyota gas pedals or was that just a bunch of hog wash?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFKQK...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqcCG...eature=related