Ford Fusion

The Fusion’s powertrain lineup has been completely overhauled for 2010 and offers more choices, starting with the four-banger, now enlarged to 2.5 liters from 2.3 and blessed with 15 more hp and 16 additional lb-ft of torque for a total of 175 hp and 172 lb-ft. The manual and automatic transmissions that mate to the four-cylinder each have an additional forward gear this year, too, for a total of six. In spite of its frugal intentions—Ford claims 33 mpg on the highway, but had no figures for city-cycle mpg at the time of this writing—we found the motor to be willing, revvy, and smooth. Ultimate acceleration is on the lazy side of adequate, but the midrange punch is quite satisfying. Ford claims a 0–60 time of 9.5 seconds, but that was the pokey time we recorded in a 2.3-liter car with a five-speed automatic. Additionally, a 2.3-liter Fusion with a five-speed manual was clocked at 8.1 seconds to 60, so we expect the 2010 model to handily outpace Ford’s estimates.