Brian Chee’s Opinion of the 2006 Ford Fusion’s Quality:
If you’re a Ford fan, quality and the Fusion is where it hurts. A lot. Because it flat out should be better, tighter and more impressive all the way around. Like a boxer who dances and jabs for 14 rounds, you gotta watch out for that right hander in the 15th. If you miss it, you’re sure to have empty pockets and one heck of a headache in the morning.

Count Ford out on this one.
Gaps vary too much outside the car, interior trim looks hastily assembled, and materials – from fuzzy mouse fur headliner to “leather” seat surfaces – fail to measure up to the competition. There’s the piano black inserts that look, ahem, inexpensive, and digital readouts that fade in the sun.

Thom Blackett’s Opinion of the 2006 Ford Fusion’s Quality:
Ford quality – one of life’s little mysteries. Within a two-week span, we had this Fusion and a 2006 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer in the shop. Oddly enough, the $23,000 Fusion exhibited material and build quality leagues ahead of the $43,000 SUV. Unlike the Explorer’s mish-mash of cheap plastics, the Fusion featured mostly soft-touch panels, padding on the armrests and window sills, a good attempt at competent construction, and intuitive ergonomics. The piano black trim on the instrument panel and dash looked cheap and hinted at its desire to easily pop off, the lower plastics, such as those on the console, left a little to be desired, and the leather felt like it came from a dehydrated Bessy. Some of the gaps were also noticeably off. Compared to past Fords, the Fusion represents a marked improvement, but when contrasted against current competitors like the Honda Accord, this sedan still falls short.

Christian Wardlaw’s Opinion of the 2006 Ford Fusion’s Quality:
Judged by appearance, the Fusion’s interior appears to be constructed of quality materials, but get up close and the prominent leather pattern on the dashboard, seats, door panels, and steering wheel offend rather quickly and give the car a low-rent ambiance. I also thought that some of the Fusion’s controls lacked the heft and dampened operation associated with a quality piece of work, too.

Ford also has work to do on improving assembly. The Fusion’s interior is decently screwed together – no rattles or squeaks in our test car. In fact, the only glaring faults were the fits of the side window demister vents at the upper outboard areas of the dash and rather loose A-pillar covers. But on the outside, the Fusion’s front fascia, headlights, doors, and trunk lid featured problems with flushness of fit and consistent panel gaps. Inside and out, the Fusion’s shut lines are wider than competitors, including those from Chrysler and GM. I almost lost my pen in the gap between the trunk lid and the right rear quarter panel.

Ron Perry’s Opinion of the 2006 Ford Fusion’s Quality:
Quality is still where Ford falls behind in this competitive market. On our test car, poor panel fitment was evident inside and out. For starters, the trunk lid was skewed to the left almost an eighth of an inch, creating a large gap on one side and an uneven seam on the other. At the seam where the plastic bumper meets sheet metal on the side of the car, the sheet metal overhangs the plastic by over an eighth of an inch on the passenger side. On the driver’s side, the seam is almost spot on.

For the most part, the interior seemed to be well built but closer examination revealed horrible fitment on the lid covering the storage box atop the dash. It is things like this that are unacceptable and project a feeling of cheapness that Ford can’t afford to have. Simple fine-tuning makes all the difference and Ford needs to pay more attention to the details.