Interior of a Ford Fusion showing dashboard and center console

maintain and operate? Get ready...the days of admin cars priced in the lowr teens is about over, Second, die Taurus is available with a Flex Fuel or tees 635% eharm. sare gasrlime) WHtthrt. .is is a big deal in many areas. Neither the new Five Hundred nor the new Fusion an: M'- rated. The Fusion, however. is scheduled to be offered with a Hybrid powertrain in early 2008, laurus nenlannmant For their part, some at Ford Motor Co. think the new, mid-size l-usron is the replacement for the Taurus. Not so fast. The mid-size Fusion may indeed be a replacement for the ful]size Taurus in commercial, private sector and rental eets. However, for the vast majority of law enforcement eets, the practical replacement for the fullsize Taurus is the fullsize Five Hundred. (More on exactly what denes a car as mid-size or fullsize later.) While the Fusion is certainly priced closer to the Taurus than Ford's other sedans, the Fusion is clearly and defta nitely SMALLER than the Taurus. To the point, police eet managers have two choices from Ford for a basic, nonpursuit, detective. admin, investigator and support services vehicle...the MID-size Fusion and the FULLsize Five Hundred. The Fusion is slightly lower priced, denitely smaller and not necessarily more eco- nomical than the Five Hundred. Mill-Sill! IIIIEI'IIII' illlll ll'lllll The combined interior volume and think volume determines the EPA size classication for a vehicle, i.e., mid-size or full-size. The Fusion has 100 cubic feet of passenger space and a 15.8 cubic feet trunk for atotal of 115.8 cubic feet. This places it right in the middle of the mid~size class, which has a range [mm 110 to 119 cubic feet. That is a long way from the large car class, which starts at 120 cubic feet. In comparison, the Taurus has 104.7 of of passenger space and a 7 ct trunk. The rewiring L21.7 cf easily classies it as large car, or full-size car, The Chevy i'tnlnna .3 mm more .m (admm identical to Taurus) and 18.6 cubic feet (space-saver spare), respectively. Again, this 123.1 cf makes the Impala a full-size car. The Ford Five Hundred is 108 cubic feet and 21.2 cubic feet, respectively. for a genuinely large. rII-size rating of 29.: cf. The nearly 5 cubic foot difference in interior room between a mid-size Fusion and a full-size Taurus is about the size of a golf bag...a golf bag of difference in interior space between the Fusion and the Taurus (and Impala). And three golf bags smaller than the Five Hundred. Spaceewise. think Toyota Camry, Mazda6. Honda Accord and Nissan Altimu, These are mid-size cars. Dont think Taurus or Impala, Both these are full-size cars. Insteadl since the Fusion is rmly in the middle of the mid-size clnao, think Chevy hiolibu, (The Malihn is actually larger.) The Fusion is a suitable midsize cur. comfortable enough but a bit tight. It is slightly smaller on the interior than a Taurus, a situation made worse by the mandatory center console and floor sthifta: Rmim .lus memtlyadaqutae my seat, head, leg, shoulder. hip room for a normal-size, plain clothes ofcer, i.e., no duty belt. Not so for the rear seat. The Fusion has less leg room, but is typical for mid- size sedan, The head mam, however, is .vnuwh Less, and arguably not adequate for many adults. Entry into the Fusion is okay. Exit out of the Fusion is okay. Again. it is what it is. .a mid-size car. nliIEII'IIIII IIIII Susannsmn The Fusion comes standard with a 160 hp, 2.3L 4-cylinder and 5-speed manual transmission. A 221 hp, 3.0L VA 6 and 6-speed are optional. Emissions, wise. the 4-cylinder Fusion is rated as a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) by California standards. The Fusion is available with the same The Fusron is a midsize car with a mandatory center console and console-mounted emergency brake. It has less interior room than me column-shifted Taurus.