Road Trip USA in a Fusion

5thFordWA · 09-02-2018, 12:39 AM

Had a peek at this Mondeo forum and realised there is a fair interest in the USA version, the Fusion. My wife and I had a great drive across Northern USA and into Canada in 2016 in a Fusion Titanium rental car. Thought some of you might like a few of our photos, the album in the link is specially selected for Fusion pics, from the hundreds we took on the 8,600km road trip (in 23 days).
Basically we drove from Seattle to Prince Edward Island, mainly via Interstate Route 90, with detours to Yellowstone National Park, Indianapolis, Detroit and the beautiful autumn scenic drives of Vermont and Maine. Then a 2 day drive down to Boston to drop off the rental car. A fantastic road trip for a Ford man.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qgHCkiYWKu10o0oi2

Note the photos are titled with a brief description.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
BTW, I had the car for 2 days before I realised the Fusion was the USA Mondeo - I had never heard of them! it seemed to be a fairly top range car, leather seats, 4 cyl turbo (I think 2.0 litre) - nice car.

Cheers.

cobrin · 09-02-2018, 01:39 AM

Us fellow Mondeoians know well of the fusion you speak of, we have the better equipped Mondeo going by one user with a Fusion or knowledge of it. Nice pics and hell of a trip by the looks of it.

sailaway · 09-02-2018, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5thFordWA

Had a peek at this Mondeo forum and realised there is a fair interest in the USA version, the Fusion. My wife and I had a great drive across Northern USA and into Canada in 2016 in a Fusion Titanium rental car. Thought some of you might like a few of our photos, the album in the link is specially selected for Fusion pics, from the hundreds we took on the 8,600km road trip (in 23 days).
Basically we drove from Seattle to Prince Edward Island, mainly via Interstate Route 90, with detours to Yellowstone National Park, Indianapolis, Detroit and the beautiful autumn scenic drives of Vermont and Maine. Then a 2 day drive down to Boston to drop off the rental car. A fantastic road trip for a Ford man.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qgHCkiYWKu10o0oi2

Note the photos are titled with a brief description.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
BTW, I had the car for 2 days before I realised the Fusion was the USA Mondeo - I had never heard of them! it seemed to be a fairly top range car, leather seats, 4 cyl turbo (I think 2.0 litre) - nice car.

Cheers.

Thanks for the pics and envy of your fantastic trip.

Noticed your dash mounted GPS and would have thought a Titanium Fusion/Mondeo would come with a in dash GPS.

Diesel or Gas? (Petrol)

5thFordWA · 09-02-2018, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailaway

Thanks for the pics and envy of your fantastic trip.

Noticed your dash mounted GPS and would have thought a Titanium Fusion/Mondeo would come with a in dash GPS.

Diesel or Gas? (Petrol)

It was a petrol turbo. Good performer. Just a day or so into the trip, a local asked which route we were taking to exit Yellowstone NP, and I told him it would be the North East scenic drive. He said he hoped we had a decent car, and I saw why when we climbed to the Beartooth Pass, as good as any European steep winding road, not for the faint-hearted. The Fusion did the job well, it was a lot of fun, the wife was not as enthusiastic!

Re the GPS. I had booked a basic rental, the Fusion was a great upgrade, so wasn't expecting onboard GPS. Plus my logic is to leave home with a fully updated GPS, which I am familiar with, rather than an unknown quantity. Since the US trip, have used it in Europe and UK, both of which cars were not fitted with GPS. It has been a good buy.

cyclone1410 · 09-02-2018, 06:22 PM

Love the photos. Just curious as to how expensive the car rental was. My wife and I are planning a similar trip in 2019 so want to start working out the budget.

Cheers

NX74205 · 09-02-2018, 07:42 PM

Did you specify a Fusion Titanium? I would've thought rental companies would only stock the fleet special Fusion S.

Getting the Titanium would be awesome. The bare-bones poverty pack doesn't get much at all - it only gets the first generation Sync - the one with a mass of buttons.

5thFordWA · 09-02-2018, 09:12 PM

Thanks for your interest.

Cyclone 1410:
Pics of Alamo documents below. At the time it was about $2275AUD. I did a fair bit of research and found the insurance was very important - something to do with US drivers are covered with their license in a rental, different than here. Alamo made it easy, everything is included for Australian drivers, the only extra I took on top was Roadside Assistance for about $5/day as I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Seems expensive but my travel agent quoted me over $3000 with a Budget rental. Note it includes one-way rate, but not specified amount, as I dropped it off on the other side of USA. Peace of mind. All booked on line before I left home.

NX74205:
Alamo usually have an interesting system where you choose your car from a group of similar vehicles at pickup, but this one they allocated the car, maybe because it was a long distance rental? I ordered a basic mid-size Chrysler 200 (or similar) but was upgraded to "full size" (see the Alamo document). Yes, I think I was lucky to get the Titanium, it added enjoyment to our holiday, although a basic would have done the same job.

The only problem it had was a bit of oil consumption, but after about 4 days of putting in a quart of good oil (in total), it stopped using oil - probably needed a good highway run to "clean the bugs out"! Lucky they had a mechanic at the wheel - I check the oil and coolant every morning in a rental car - I dont want to be the one that cooks an engine. The speed limit on the Interstate 90 in Montana and Wyoming was 80mph, I only went to 75 but thats about 120km/hr, so it got a good workout. The Fusion had about 24000 miles on the odo.

5thFordWA · 09-02-2018, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyclone1410

Love the photos. Just curious as to how expensive the car rental was. My wife and I are planning a similar trip in 2019 so want to start working out the budget.
Cheers

Hope the above post helps. But let me say, travelling across the USA was easy, we winged it most of the way, choosing our accommodation on the day usually. Motels were US$90 - 110 per night, including hot breakfast. It was my first time driving on the right side of the road, but was OK with it, a bit of concentration required. 3 road rules to be noted: 4-way Stop Signs are common (basically first in, first to go). You must STOP when a big Yellow School bus stops - whichever way you are travelling! And you must move to an outside lane on the highway, if an emergency vehicle is stopped in the emergency lane.

I should get around to posting up our trip in the main forum, considering we went to the Henry Ford Museum, and did a factory tour in Dearborn - where they assemble F150s - the aluminium bodied ones we don't get here.

roddy1960 · 10-02-2018, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5thFordWA

Had a peek at this Mondeo forum and realised there is a fair interest in the USA version, the Fusion. My wife and I had a great drive across Northern USA and into Canada in 2016 in a Fusion Titanium rental car. Thought some of you might like a few of our photos, the album in the link is specially selected for Fusion pics, from the hundreds we took on the 8,600km road trip (in 23 days).
Basically we drove from Seattle to Prince Edward Island, mainly via Interstate Route 90, with detours to Yellowstone National Park, Indianapolis, Detroit and the beautiful autumn scenic drives of Vermont and Maine. Then a 2 day drive down to Boston to drop off the rental car. A fantastic road trip for a Ford man.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qgHCkiYWKu10o0oi2

Note the photos are titled with a brief description.
Hope you enjoy the pics.
BTW, I had the car for 2 days before I realised the Fusion was the USA Mondeo - I had never heard of them! it seemed to be a fairly top range car, leather seats, 4 cyl turbo (I think 2.0 litre) - nice car.

Cheers.

Beaut trip and photos , really enjoyable. Glad you enjoyed the Fusion too. Imagine if the 2.7 litre twin turbo came with the Australian spec Mondeo. They're a pretty good donk by all accounts. Cheers Rod.

cyclone1410 · 11-02-2018, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5thFordWA

Hope the above post helps. But let me say, travelling across the USA was easy, we winged it most of the way, choosing our accommodation on the day usually. Motels were US$90 - 110 per night, including hot breakfast. It was my first time driving on the right side of the road, but was OK with it, a bit of concentration required. 3 road rules to be noted: 4-way Stop Signs are common (basically first in, first to go). You must STOP when a big Yellow School bus stops - whichever way you are travelling! And you must move to an outside lane on the highway, if an emergency vehicle is stopped in the emergency lane.

I should get around to posting up our trip in the main forum, considering we went to the Henry Ford Museum, and did a factory tour in Dearborn - where they assemble F150s - the aluminium bodied ones we don't get here.

Thanks so much for the info. Looking forward to the holiday post. Cheers

**GO FURTHER** · 11-02-2018, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5thFordWA

Re the GPS. I had booked a basic rental, the Fusion was a great upgrade, so wasn't expecting onboard GPS. Plus my logic is to leave home with a fully updated GPS, which I am familiar with, rather than an unknown quantity. Since the US trip, have used it in Europe and UK, both of which cars were not fitted with GPS. It has been a good buy.

When I did a US road trip 6 years ago, I did exactly the same thing... Took my trusty Garmin with me.

I rented the USA map data for 30 days (cheaper than buying it) and preloaded every place of interest I was going to visit plus all my motel stays.

I hired a Lincoln Continental SUV which came with a GPS, but it is much easier to use the GPS you are familiar with, especially when you have to concentrate driving in a foreign country and on the other side of the road on US freeways.

The Lincoln was a pleasure to drive with all the luxuries and my Garmin never led me astray.

I would highly recommend taking your own GPS preloaded if going overseas on a road trip.