'15 Ford Fusion transmission lugs in eco mode

[LoneRanger]

2015 Ford Fusion at work that came off travel car designation for last year, was rotated into the personal assignment fleet this week and now goes home with me all the time

Nice car, just under 39,000 on the odo. Weird thing though, when operating in normal mode the logic in the transmission seems to favor lugging the engine (four cyl base). It will hold it right at the ragged edge of lumpy lugging even if you slightly tip into the pedal, until you give it more foot. Not so in the "Sport" mode, where gear selection and holding at more reasonable rpm is much more to my liking. And then there's that upshift/downshift thumb switch on the knob which is kind of entertaining but in all reality the shifts aren't quick enough nor crisp enough... likely has to do with limitations of the setup: base engine and base trans with a bell/whistle added to try and simulate the attributes of a stronger setup than what it actually is. ... just a few bitoger induced observations.

 

[gregk24]

Fuel economy my friend. The girlfriends 2014 Jetta 1.8T auto will sometimes lug as well in drive mode. Sport wont lug but holds the gears too long for normal driving, and tiptronic mode is nice as you select which gear you want and when, and it is pretty responsive.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I think it's a Ford thing. Every Focus/Fusion/anything Ford that is remotely base model has had that numb feeling in the drivetrain where it shifts too soon, seems to have nothing but fuel economy in mind. What is strange, is there's times when I'm giving it 2/3 throttle up a hill (to maintain or build speed), and when I crest the hill, letting off the throttle a good amount, it stays at 4-5k RPM (or whatever it was at) much longer than I would consider normal. My Mazda Tribute does that all the time. When it gets really annoying, I have to shift it into neutral, then back to drive to get it to upshift, otherwise it takes 15 seconds.

 

[SumpChump]

The six speed auto in my 4cyl 2013 Camry called the U760E is a born lugger. So much so that it induced torque converter shudder combined with poor TC vane design to result in wear and failure. TSBs resulted and software rewrites are the latest bandaid. They used to do three drain and fills to help mitigate the resulting wear material but now cheap out and just do the software update to make it search for gears more often.

 

[demarpaint]

Too many gears and not enough torque to use all those gears equals lugging imo. I test drove a 9 speed Jeep Cherokee with the ZF transmission and won't buy one as a result. Lugging, skipping gears, etc. they just don't have it right. I just don't see these things lasting very long either.

 

[Mantooth]

My Durango has an eco mode that upshifts quicker and delays down shifts. Luckily Dodge put a button in the center stack to disengage that wonderful feature. It's turned off every time I get in it and still manage to get almost 24 mpg.

 

[Nick1994]

My grandmother's 2014 Grand Carvan has an eco button, and makes it MUCH more nicer to drive. Otherwise it's always "on it's toes" and when on the highway, a little bit of gas makes it jump down 2 gears and take off like a rocket. Eco mode tones it down to normal.

 

[LoneRanger]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
My grandmother's 2014 Grand Carvan has an eco button, and makes it MUCH more nicer to drive. Otherwise it's always "on it's toes" and when on the highway, a little bit of gas makes it jump down 2 gears and take off like a rocket. Eco mode tones it down to normal.


Yep, that must be a mopar characteristic because I've rented both a 2014 Chrysler 300 and a 2015 Dodge Challenger before, both with the PentaStar V6 and both behaved much as you described.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Transmission programming has become such an important "feature" of a car for me, especially in this day where economy seems to be one of the top criteria given to the programmers. This is one of the reasons I've sold vehicles before. I've driven few automatics that I really like and, as a general rule, Ford/GM/Chrysler seem to consistently program transmissions that I don't like. Toyota isn't a whole lot better, though, and my father-in-law's 2016 Tacoma is really maddening.

Honda tends to be the most to my liking, but even within the same manufacturer, I can see (in the tach) and feel more aggressive torque converter engagement on our 2009 model compared with our 2005 model. As time passes, this type of stuff seems to get more intrusive.

 

[LoneRanger]

I will say this about the car: Ford totally nailed the compression and rebound damping-- the suspension on this car is really good. Nice level of road feedback without being harsh, smooths over rough RR crossings and such, firm and planted feel at speed and through curves, and feels very solid as if it might have very little to no body flex. They also nailed sound insulation. This is a base model but it is hush quiet as far as road noise and other noise from the outside environment. However, the engine intake and valve train noise are rather intrusive at times of brisk acceleration, in a typical four cylinder "howling frenzy" sort of way as it revs. That portion of the experience is not so great. But I'm not complaining. Keeps the miles off my Forester as I am required to commute in the Fusion now.

I have to admit though, that it's the only new car I've driven lately. Probably the competition like Chrysler 200, Chevy Malibu (?...), and others do as well or better. Don't know.

 

[Robster]

I also drive a base model, 2014 Fusion for work--I've been impressed with it for the reasons you mention. I think it drives / handles / rides like a bigger car than it is. My MPG averages 27.3 over the last few years (mixed driving). It is NOT overpowered by any means, but it suits it's role as a company car very well. If I was looking to buy an economical car for a small family, it would be on my short list.