Ford Fusion AWD system

I have an AWD Fusion. I have not had to deal with snow since I purchased it. On wet roads it seems OK, but, I am not one to push things. There is one particular driveway I regularly use that is a good indicator of how well anAWD or traction control system works - it is farily step uphill driveway with a metal grate part way up. Everythime it rains, my Frontier kicks in the electronic traction control when I go up the diveway and across the grate. Other cars I have owned with traction control do as well. The Fusion never reacts. I consider this to be a good sign.

I looked up the Fusion Road Test at Canadiandriver.com (

) and it seemed to me that it had positive things to say about the Fusion AWD system. Are you looking at a different article? Here is what I saw that seemed positive: "On a snow packed parking lot with temperatures hovering around minus five-degrees Celsius, I performed some standing start acceleration runs, quick S-turns, and sudden stops to see how much better the AWD model is than the front-wheel drive Fusion. My test car was equipped with standard Michelin Pilot MXV4 P225/50VR-17-inch all-season radials, so I wasn't expecting great grip in the white stuff. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by the car's traction and stability while cornering. Entering a corner, there was some 'ploughing' or understeer, but I found better steering control and improved traction and stability through the corner, and less oversteer when exiting a corner.

"Under acceleration, the front wheels don't spin like they do in a front-wheel drive Fusion (with the traction control turned off), nor hesitate (as they would with the traction control turned on). In everyday winter driving, the main benefits of AWD appear to be improved traction and stability when accelerating and cornering. However, I found no improvement when braking in a straight line, notwithstanding the fact that the Fusion's standard anti-lock brakes and powerful four-wheel disc brakes do provide improved steering control when braking on slippery surfaces. Since my car had all-season tires, I can comfortably give all of the credit for the increased traction and performance to the AWD system. "

Ed

Traction is a function of oned tires, not the type of drive system.

I've only ever driven a couple briefly.... There is a 6 foot plus pile of snow in my front yard as I write so I guess I might qualify for the "slippery road" part....

In normal operation, I felt that traction was very good... certainly none of the wheelspin that other FWDs we experiencing when pulling away from one very busy intersect near our shop... "Pushing" a little bit showed the same near seamless operation... If I had gotten rambunctious, I could see overwhelming the tires and/or having traction control step in.

These systems can only ever help "normal" drivers stay out of trouble.... Wieners are going to have trouble no matter what they drive...

and it seemed to> me that it had positive things to say about the Fusion AWD system. Are you> looking at a different article? Here is what I saw that seemed positive:>

No that's not the right article. Here is the article below that I found on Canadian Driver. Driving impressions.

******************************** 2007 Ford Fusion SEL AWD. Click image to enlarge Here in Vancouver, my first few days with Fusion AWD were the typically 'wet coast' winter kind. The AWD traction advantage over its front-drive counterpart was only barely noticeable. ******************************** That's why I was asking.

Whichever, the Ford Fusion AWD is quite a good package and an exceptional bargain with the low Ford finance interest rates/ discounts.

" The most important revelation was that Ford's AWD system, which can split torque 50/50 front and rear..."

Fusion AWD ( dated June 30, 2006 )] "In between corners the Fusion[SEL AWD] could be held at full throttle from the turn exit until the next turns entrance, without the front end running wide. Trying the same tactic in the FWD car resulted in the car understeering dismally, eventually putting the power down easily 50 feet outside where the AWD car did. "

In our usual electronic acceleration measures, the top-of-the-line Fusion SEL with AWD netted a 0-100 km/h time of 7.97 seconds and a =BC mile time of 15.78 seconds, with a peak of 146.2 km/h. A front-wheel drive SEL we tested earlier had turned in identical times of 7.97 and

15.78 seconds (quite a rare occurrence), but reached a slightly higher peak of 148.5 km/h at the end of the quarter-mile. The performance penalty vs the added security and surefootedness of all-wheel drive is thus negligible.

The Fusion SEL and SEL AWD we ran through our usual simulated emergency braking tests, from 100 km/h [62.14 mph], stopped over respective distances of 43.75 and 42.8 metres [difference of 3.1 feet] , both weighted averages.

2006 ford Fusion V6 SEL (FWD):

STANDING-START ACCELERATION

0-60 mph: 7.5 sec 0-100 km/h (62.1 mph): 8.01 sec 0-quarter-mile: 15.7 sec @ 91.2 mph

BRAKING

60 mph-0: 132 ft

" An active, on-demand coupler can deliver the precise amount of torque to the rear wheels up to 100 percent "

"...shifting power to the individual wheel that has traction..."[ what percentage of side to side power?]*

"...If necessary, the system can even change the engine speed if it's too fast for the situation..."[ applies to the AWD models only?]*

*According to the Ford Fusion 2007 brochure AWD section ( Canadian edition )

"Every Fusion model is a worthy competitor for others in its class, but the AWD version is in a class by itself. Nicely done."

Unit conversion:

1 foot =3D 0.3048 meters(or metres), 1 miles =3D 1.609344 kilometers, 100 km/h =3D 62.14 Miles/hour (mph) , 1 km/h =3D 0.621371192 mph

Illustration of Ford Fusion AWD from Ford:

Ford Fusion AWD Sel "Driving (Too Fast) on gravel" Note: 225/50R-17 Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 on both the FWD and AWD SEL models.

Whichever, the Ford Fusion AWD is quite a good package and an exceptional bargain with the low Ford finance interest rates/ discounts.

" The most important revelation was that Ford's AWD system, which can split torque 50/50 front and rear..."

Fusion AWD ( dated June 30, 2006 )] "In between corners the Fusion[SEL AWD] could be held at full throttle from the turn exit until the next turns entrance, without the front end running wide. Trying the same tactic in the FWD car resulted in the car understeering dismally, eventually putting the power down easily 50 feet outside where the AWD car did. "

In our usual electronic acceleration measures, the top-of-the-line Fusion SEL with AWD netted a 0-100 km/h time of 7.97 seconds and a ¼ mile time of 15.78 seconds, with a peak of 146.2 km/h. A front-wheel drive SEL we tested earlier had turned in identical times of 7.97 and

15.78 seconds (quite a rare occurrence), but reached a slightly higher peak of 148.5 km/h at the end of the quarter-mile. The performance penalty vs the added security and surefootedness of all-wheel drive is thus negligible.

The Fusion SEL and SEL AWD we ran through our usual simulated emergency braking tests, from 100 km/h [62.14 mph], stopped over respective distances of 43.75 and 42.8 metres [difference of 3.1 feet] , both weighted averages.

2006 ford Fusion V6 SEL (FWD):

STANDING-START ACCELERATION

0-60 mph: 7.5 sec 0-100 km/h (62.1 mph): 8.01 sec 0-quarter-mile: 15.7 sec @ 91.2 mph

BRAKING

60 mph-0: 132 ft

" An active, on-demand coupler can deliver the precise amount of torque to the rear wheels up to 100 percent "

"...shifting power to the individual wheel that has traction..."[ what percentage of side to side power?]*

"...If necessary, the system can even change the engine speed if it's too fast for the situation..."[ applies to the AWD models only?]*

*According to the Ford Fusion 2007 brochure AWD section ( Canadian edition )

"Every Fusion model is a worthy competitor for others in its class, but the AWD version is in a class by itself. Nicely done."

Unit conversion:

1 foot = 0.3048 meters(or metres), 1 miles = 1.609344 kilometers, 100 km/h = 62.14 Miles/hour (mph) , 1 km/h = 0.621371192 mph

Illustration of Ford Fusion AWD from Ford:

Ford Fusion AWD Sel "Driving (Too Fast) on gravel" Note: 225/50R-17 Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 on both the FWD and AWD SEL models.

the ice was there as I left the space. The next guy

Some brake pedal usage may have cut down the time to a minute or two.