I bought a....

[Satty]

Isn't suspense a bitch? I bought a car today and I'm not going to tell you what it is.

I'm kidding, its an '06 Ford Fusion S, I-4, stick, no options, Redfire Metallic or whatever the hell it is they call that color. Its schweet. Pics tomorrow.

Link to pics

Edited June 30, 2006 by Satty

[the_yellow_dart]

Congrats. Seems like a good buy to me.

[ocnblu]

Wha happun to the Maxx and Riggle? I thought you didn't want a new car? Anyway... congrats, it's the best looking of the triplets. Pics, please!

[Flybrian]

Boooo!

[Satty]

I didn't want a new car because I only wanted to finance for 36 months so I could get a new car in 3 years, which is why I started looking cheap, which lead to the MAXX and Regal. But the idea of a full warranty and something new was extremely appealing, and the Fusion is a great enough car in base form that I was willing to go to 60 months. They were offering $1000 in free gas but I took a $1000 rebate instead, ended up paying $16250 after that and my recent college grad rebate (tricks on them I dont graduate until December, HA! But really, they knew that).

[Sixty8panther]

Well congrats.

If you have to drive FWD might as well make it a Ford and not Toyota.

BTW: good for you for getting the stick, at least you will have a car that

is somewhat fun to drive, you will not get bored with it as quickly.

[VenSeattle]

But doesn't it bother you that the Fusion SEL doesn't have options available on the Camry XLE even though you weren't considering those options anyway? j/k

Congrats Satty! Hope you enjoy it and look forward to the pics.

[Satty]

Well congrats.

If you have to drive FWD might as well make it a Ford and not Toyota.

BTW: good for you for getting the stick, at least you will have a car that

is somewhat fun to drive, you will not get bored with it as quickly.

The manual is extremely smooth, the whole drivetrain is great. It was a bitch finding one with a stick, the dealer closest to me had one (which I ended up buying) and all of the other dealerships in the region had none. My last two cars were red, I was hoping to get a color that doesn't show scratches/dirt as much, but the car looks great in this color. I had to run copies of the insurance cards up to the dealership (financed through Ford, they almost wouldn't let me drive the car off the lot after signing the paperwork because I didn't have full coverage on the Honda, which were the only insurance cards I had on me.) and while going up there I was caught in traffic, several times I noticed the people in the other lane looking at my car. Its sharp, and is a great drive. Now I just need to go find my digi and snap some pics, unlikely to happen before the sun goes down.

[loki]

cool,

since you don't have pics yet i was going to post the smilies "this thread is useless w/o pics" are those gone?!!!!!!

[ocnblu]

A good choice, Satty, really. Malibu is not available in a 2.4L/5 speed, nor is G6 or Aura... a shame. Edited June 30, 2006 by ocnblu

[Cory Wolfe]

What Ocn said... but yeah... good choice. The Fusion is alright... Just... please do something about the piddly-sized wheels of the base version...

[bobo]

Good choice in cars. Hope you have many happy miles in it and not too much baby puke.

[!!!TED!!!]

Congrats on your new car.

Zoom zoom with a blue oval. Keep us updated on how it performs.

[Satty]

What Ocn said... but yeah... good choice. The Fusion is alright... Just... please do something about the piddly-sized wheels of the base version...

Uhhh...., you mean the 16 inchers that are a tick narrower than the wheels on the Solara? I'd prefer alloys because they're easier to clean and just look better, but really the wheel covers look pretty good, not the embarassing hideous ones you see on a lot of cars. From a distance they really do look like 7 spoke alloys.

I took delivery with 242.9 miles, now it has 331.5. And its freaking awesome.

[Satty]

Link to pics in the first post, a nice little photo album of my new ride. It doesn't have a name yet.....

[VenSeattle]

There's a blue Fusion that lives a few doors down from me. It looks great. Yours does too. Congrats!

The Fusion has far more personality than a Camry IMO... That actually goes for any of Ford's triplets.

[Sixty8panther]

All those Taylor Hicks commercials got to you huh?

I love the light tan interior, so much cooler than the

gray that seems to be in 95% of cars today. Also,

gotta love how the dash reminds you with option

delete plates that there's at least four options you

did not get.

Seriously though, good for you for sticking to your

guns and not settling for an automatic. I despise

a$$hole dealerships who are too lazy to order a few

cars with manual transmissions and then they try to

convince you that even though you SAY you want a

stick you really NEED an automatic... who wants to

shift in 2006 right?

Over the years I've told more than one saleman to

go screw himself as a resulty of that exact

conversation. I don't know why every dealership I

have worked at was convinced that there's no

demand for manual transmissions.

Oh Yey! A 2002 Camaro SS T-top in black... AUTO.

Way to F%$#ing go there brick Tamlin.

[pow]

Great choice... the Fusion is a great car. At $16K, it makes you wonder if Ford is making any profit.

[Satty]

I love the light tan interior, so much cooler than the

gray that seems to be in 95% of cars today. Also,

gotta love how the dash reminds you with option

delete plates that there's at least four options you

did not get.

The interior color was also not my first choice, but charcoal (with piano black trim) isn't available on the base model. It does look good though, I'm not complaining. I too could do without the blanks. The three to the left (driver's side) of the "Fusion" logo are for the DIC, the other side of the logo has the passenger airbag light, button for the hazards and another blank that may not actually be for anything. I haven't seen that spot filled by anything in any car.

I'm still loving it, I really think Ford has a winner and is an MCE away from being best in class. Make ABS and side airbags standard and clean up the center stack (make all interior colors look as good as charcoal) and they'll have a car that is better in almost every way than the CamCord at a better price.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Is the dealer name a joke?

Anyway, nice car, Satty. One of the only front-drive cars that shine.

[Sixty8panther]

BTW: What's up with the Ritz Carlton Keychain?

[VenSeattle]

The three to the left (driver's side) of the "Fusion" logo are for the DIC, the other side of the logo has the passenger airbag light, button for the hazards and another blank that may not actually be for anything.  I haven't seen that spot filled by anything in any car. 

I checked Mercury's website on the Milan... it's the place for the Traction Control off switch.

[capriceman]

Nice Car but In traffic behind one the engine sounds like a weed wacker. But the Color looks nice on it!

[Satty]

Is the dealer name a joke?

Nope, bought it at Friendly Ford.

BTW: What's up with the Ritz Carlton Keychain?

If I told you I'd have to kill you, or erase your memory.

[mustang84]

Were the folks at Friendly Ford actually friendly?

Nice car...congrats Satty!

[Satty]

Were the folks at Friendly Ford actually friendly? 

Nice car...congrats Satty!

They were great. The saleswoman was awesome, she pretty much handed me the keys and asked if I had any questions. She let the car sell itself. Then when it came time for paperwork, they were awesome with trying to get the car financed even though the loan on the Solara wasn't paid off yet. So yes, they were very friendly.

And the car is still awesome.

[Satty]

Update: Its got a $h!load of miles on it now and its been great. And while its not easy, it is in fact possible to put a lawnmower in the trunk. And the interior is impossible to keep clean. The car is filthy, but I love it.