2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid

As indicated in my "signiture" line, I use a Brake Buddy. I've had my Brake Buddy for 15 years now and never had a significat problem with it. I've had 2 minor issues and Brake Buddy sent me replacement parts for FREE. (Both issues had to do with the break away switch, not the main unit.)

There are many other types of auxilliary braking devices out there now, so just do your homework and check them out. As for me, I'm VERY happy with my Brake Buddy!

Hello again,

Thank you all for your responses.

My wife and I just came back from a day of test driving cars. This is a tough decision as there are so many great vehicles out there. The bar is set so high even compared to a few years ago. The last time we purchased a new car was in 2002.

Here are my impressions;

I loved the driving experience of the Focus hybrid however there was just not enough storage room to make it feasible, so it is off this list.

There was so much to love about the CRV however there was one thing that I just could not get past, and it was such a simple but annoying thing. The emergency brake pedal located on the left side of the foot well trapped my lower leg in such a way that I could not move my leg the way I would like to. This would be a problem on longer drives when I like to move my leg around and the placement of the pedal was in the way when I tried to straighten out my leg. What a dumb place to put this. I may need to omit the CRV as a choice based on this.

The Chevy Equinox was a very impressive car. It was the largest of the bunch and drove very nice. It is your typical crossover doing nothing outstanding but everything pretty good. It had the best choice for bells and whistles. Auto rear hatch door, power passenger seats, you name it it had it. It could a choice that we go with.

Last was the new Jeep Cherokee, the smaller sibling of the Grand Cherokee. Great car with lots of potential. It drove very nice and was very comfortable. There are lots of choices of models in the Cherokee lineup. If this was our choice we probably would go with the Limited model. Less off road capable than the top of the line "Trail Hawk" model but more capable than any other cross over in it's class. We would not be doing any hard core off roading, just easy stuff so more than enough capability.

It will be a tough decision but we are between the Equinox and the Cherokee. I do not think we can make a bad choice. The Cherokee has consistently receives better ratings than the Equinox so that may be the push we need. The price is fairly similar for either.

If anyone has any opinions on these I would love to hear them.

Best,

Stuart & Leslie

Remember, the Consumer Reports comparison is not current. The Cherokee is all new. Chrysler delayed introduction of this vehicle due to what they called "quality control" issues with the new transmission. Personally I do not want to be an unpaid test monkey for Chrysler. Maybe the second year would be a better time to consider this Jeep?

There is no Focus hybrid. Currently Ford's only two hybrids are the C Max and Fusion Hybrid.

S-n-L wrote:
Thank you all for your responses,

I love all of the positive info on this car. Tomorrow we will test drive the car and see what we think. Next question, what brake system to buy. I like the reviews of the SMI air force one.

Stuart

I highly, highly recommend the ReadyBrake system. You just can't beat it, IMO - Very simple, cable-operated braking system with ZERO electronics to worry about failing and burning up your brakes (like is known to happen with some electronic box type systems). Costs waaaaaay less than anything else, especially if you haven't bought a tow bar yet, and you get their ReadyBrute Elite kit that comes with tow bar AND brake system for 'bout the same as you'd pay for just a tow bar from anyone else. Fairly simple installation, too - no tapping into vehicle's brake system or electronics, you just run/install a physical cable from brake pedal to front bumper, thats it.

I see that the Fusion is off your list, and you're debating between the Equinox and Jeep Cherokee. Can definitely understand that if you need a lot of storage space, the Fusion wouldn't work, as its batteries do take away some of the trunk space. I think of the two you've boiled down to, I'd prefer the Jeep, but obviously its your decision. Good luck, whatever you decide. :)

Thats great your able to use the ReadyBrake Will. When we were setting up our FFH I e-mailed them and they were not sure it would work with an active brake system like our hybrids so I decided to use Blue Ox. Much simpler system for sure!

conmoto wrote:
Thats great your able to use the ReadyBrake Will. When we were setting up our FFH I e-mailed them and they were not sure it would work with an active brake system like our hybrids so I decided to use Blue Ox. Much simpler system for sure!

Ironically, conmoto, as far as the active braking system goes, its the exact opposite - Readybrake is PERFECT for such a system, better than most others.

Reason being, Readybrake really doesn't care if power braking is turned on or not. It engages brakes until there is no more 'push' on the tow bar, regardless how little or how much pressure it has to exert on the brake pedal to make that happen.

With Ford's hybrids, active power braking is on all the time, so it just means that Readybrake doesn't have to put as much pressure on the brake pedal, before brakes engage enough to make the Readybrake actuator release. No extra adjustment necessary for Active braking as is the case with other systems.

I was actually nervous also about ReadyBrake with our Ford Fusion Hybrid at first, but for totally different reasons. I knew the Active Braking wouldn't be a problem, I just wasn't sure it was physically possible to route a cable from the pedal to the front, with all the hybrid components in the way up front. Called NSA (Readybrake manufacturer), they said it had been and could be done, but it was a little tight. One RV dealer told me it could not be done, was just not enough room (read: they didn't want to do it). Another (better) RV dealer said it could be done, and they did the installation. Did a great job, too, very happy with it.

Will

Hello everyone,

After much debate, test driving and thinking we ordered a 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited, 6 cylinder. The Fusion, as much as we loved the car, did not have enough trunk space.

The Cherokee won out for having enough space and giving us off road capability. Also, the car is just a blast to drive with a beautiful interior.

Happy holidays,

Stuart

When towing a ford fusion hybrid, do the regenerative brakes charge the batteries when your aux braking system activates? Or does it have also have a conventional braking system with brake shoes and such. I'm thinking about getting one of these cars, not sure how the brake system works. With my Honda, I've never even used an aux braking system and never had a problem. I can't even tell it's behind my coach and have done a couple emergency stops with no problem. But it's a lighter car than the Fusion so I suppose I'll need a braking system if I buy one.

I'm replacing my 09 Honda CR-v with a fusion, mainly for the increased fuel efficiency. If anyone want's my Honda, it's all set up for towing with a roadmaster tow bar and I plan on selling it once I buy the Fusion Hybrid.

Just changed our toad from Jeep Wrangler to 2014 C-Max. Basically, just as easy to tow, but the mpg is almost triple. Battery life-wise, CA makes the mfg warranty the batts for 10yrs or 150K miles.

We also have a 2009 Prius with over 90K on the meter, and have had no battery issues with it at all. The Prius is not towable 4-down, and I hated using a dolly for the one summer that it was necessary.

jetjam wrote:
When towing a ford fusion hybrid, do the regenerative brakes charge the batteries when your aux braking system activates? Or does it have also have a conventional braking system with brake shoes and such.

No, and yes.

When towing a Ford hybrid, Ford instructs you to leave ignition switch in ACC position, which means the drivetrain and regenerative braking is off. Sooo, no, the high voltage batteries do not get charged when your aux. braking system activates.

The Fusion hybrid does have a conventional braking system as well (4 wheel disc, ABS). This is what is used when your supplemental braking system pushes on the pedal.

The way the braking system works on the Fusion hybrids, is that it has both regenerative braking as well as conventional braking. Regenerative braking is only turned on, used, when driving the vehicle (not towing). Depending on how hard you brake, regenerative braking is used first, with conventional braking kicking in only if you push harder on the brake pedal and need to stop quicker.

Every time you stop, once you come to a complete stop, it shows you a 'score' of how much of your braking was done with regenerative braking. If you can anticipate your stops and brake gently more often, you use more regenerative braking that provides charge to the batteries, meaning you can run in EV mode more and get better mileage. Gentle braking definitely helps your mileage with a hybrid. If you frequently wait 'til the last minute to start braking, you will not see as good mileage with a hybrid.

This also means that the conventional brake parts (pads, rotors, etc) on a Fusion hybrid last almost forever, because they are used much, much less than they would be on a conventional vehicle.

Anyway, hope this answers your question about how the brakes work on a Fusion hybrid. We've had ours for over a year now, and absolutely love everything about this vehicle. As already said, its soooo easy to tow, IMO the easiest and most simple auto tranny vehicle there is for flat towing. Mileage is absolutely amazing, and its just really cool having a vehicle that can run silent, without burning any fuel for a lot of the time. Kinda like having a large, fast, very comfortable golf cart in campgrounds, haha.

Only downside you may not like: Check the trunk in the back. Due to the batteries it has, there is not quite as much trunk space as some other vehicles. Not an issue for us, but may be for some. For us, it 'discourages' DW from shopping and buying as much stuff, since not as much room to put it, hahahaha. :B