David Garner

Mine's creeping up on 4000 miles, and I've had no issues. Same drivetrain, but mine's a 2014 SE. I'd get it to the dealership ASAP and get out in front of it. Make a record and be sure they correct it.

I love Meguiar's, but since Ford recommends it (and everyone else seems to as well), I'll buy some Lexol once my Meguiar's is out. Realistically, any decent product applied a couple of times a year should be fine. The seats have a protective finish on them as it is, so you're really simply trying to keep them clean and somewhat hydrated. Don't let them get terribly soiled or dried out, and they should look great for a long time.

Ouch! I'm stocking up on Pennzoil Ultra at Wal-Mart, and my dealer charges $21 for the labor and filter per oil change. After buying the oil, I'm still under the $59 you were quoted, and that's the entire cost of the oil (i.e., not simply the difference between the syn-blend the dealer should be using for your oil change and full synthetic)!

Good to hear. Mine still averages about 23 or so, but it's only at 3000 miles. Going for my first oil change soon to get the factory fill out and put in some synthetic.

Great to hear. I hope this is an actual fix, both for your sake and so others with the same issue can give their dealership some information on how to hopefully fix the problems in their cars. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, my 2014 only has a little over 2K on the odometer, but it has never done anything remotely like what you are describing. It is extremely smooth and well mannered, even when manually shifted or in sport mode. Make them replace it if they can't fix it. It's ridiculous to keep putting band-aids on a sucking chest wound.

Here's one that shows how it sounds from the cabin:

Here are a couple of videos on the 2.0L.

Everything I read on BITOG indicates low NOACK volatility and low SAPS are the keys for DI/turbo motors like this one. That's the biggest reason I chose it. I'm only hoping I can continue to get it -- it's apparently not very easy to find.

I might stretch it a bit and do a UOA to see what's going on. After 2 more changes, the break in should be well over and I should be able to get a good UOA. I may go with 7500 or so for those two and see what Blackstone recommends. That would put me at 18K on the odometer.

I just called -- they'll do a BYO change for $21. I'll probably try Penzzoil Ultra or Platinum, based on the UOAs I've seen. With rebates, I should have the total cost of the oil change in the $34 range for Platinum. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart has the Ultra for only a penny more, but they're out of stock. Anyone know where to buy this stuff? This seems to be the way to go without question, in either event. EDIT: Never mind, Wal-Mart has it ship-to-store. It's a bit of a pain, because for some reason my local stores don't seem to stock it, but it's worth the little bit of a drive to get it. After rebate, it's $12.72 plus $21 for the filter and change, plus tax on both. No brainer.

In this motor, supposedly, since the turbo is water cooled, that cooldown procedure is not needed. I do think it's probably a good idea to let it sit for 30 seconds or so if you've been running it hard, but the way I drive it, I'm not all that concerned about it. Ford says you don't have to do anything at shut down. From what the folks at BITOG are saying, the benefit of full synthetic in this motor is both to avoid shear and to give some measure of added temperature protection. Best I can tell, the UOAs bear that out -- some of the oils shear down to 5W20 weight by the time they're changed. The Motorcraft full synthetic and, IIRC, the Penzzoil Platinum did not, and they also seemed to avoid dilution issues. But then, that's someone else's car with their driving habits. I will likely discuss options with the dealership in terms of what full synthetic offerings they have, pick one I like, and then test at maybe 15K-20K to see what kind of problems there might be. If push comes to shove, I'll just change it myself, but I prefer to take it to the dealership for a lot of reasons. They will apply any TSBs or recall work, and I think using Motorcraft parts helps with any warranty issues, though I worry more about the filter than the oil where that is concerned. And I don't want to have to produce a stack of receipts and oil change records that I kept myself in the event it has a warranty issue that they try to blame on the oil. I had that issue in 2003 or so with a Malibu my wife was driving, and the dealership was trying to say it was run without oil. I managed to convince them that they did all the oil changes, and when I complained about oil consumption, they said it was "normal." So when I told them "the warranty company is going to pay to fix this or you are," they kindly got the warranty company to replace the motor, and I promptly traded that POS in on a Chrysler Town and Country that my mother-in-law still drives to this day. I don't anticipate any such problems with this car, but if I happen to run into any, I think I'll have an easier time dealing with the warranty issues if they did the oil changes. I may ask if they can do a BIY oil change with them providing the filter and labor, and I'll just bring them 6 quarts of whatever oil I choose that meets their standards. I can probably do that for roughly the cost of their full synthetic change (about $75 total), and get the benefit of rebates, etc. to keep the cost down. I'm almost certainly going to do that when I change the trans fluid and spring for full synthetic there as well.

I'm a bit stuck because I don't know yet what the dealership offers. From the UOAs that are being posted at BITOG and the various Focus ST forums, Penzzoil Platinum seems to be really good, and I know Ultra has the low NOACK and the low SAPS that those folks seem to prefer for turbo/DI engines. But the Motorcraft full synthetic also seems to be getting good results. I wish there were more good UOAs for this engine. As far as I can tell, not a whole lot of enthusiasts are using the Motorcraft blend, so there aren't any UOAs for that oil. The torture test on the F150 is solid, but this is a different motor, so I'd love to have a bigger base to draw from. I guess that's what you get buying a newer model.

I wonder the same thing. I have a 2014 in Dark Side, so you can't get that color off of Amazon or whatever. I wish they'd come back online and offer the new colors.

It may be silly. Unfortunately, my last car started burning oil at about 135K, so I have a cautiousness about it that borders on the psychotic. With the issues with heat from the turbo and fuel dilution from the DI, I just want to ensure I'm doing all I can to keep it running. I'm not a "trade up every few years" kind of guy, so I want the car to last. I am willing to use synthetic for added protection, if it does in fact add protection. If it doesn't, I'd rather save the extra funds. It sounds like you are saying more frequent changes and using full synthetic are both overkill. I'd prefer to think that's the case, but I'm a bit gunshy after my last car gave up the ghost too early.

Thanks. The thing is, I would only be using it for an added measure of protection, because I would also be changing the oil within recommended intervals (likely at or near 5K per oil change, which is sooner than required). So the typical reason for using synthetic -- longer OCIs -- is not there with me. I'll be changing it more frequently.

I'll be getting changes at the dealership. Question is, with an aluminum, direct injected, turbocharged motor, are any of you springing for the full synthetic or just going with the blend? Folks over at BITOG mostly suggest full synthetic due to those issues. What is everyone here running (and what are your OCIs)?

To be fair, it wasn't much trouble. The dealership is about 5 miles from my house. I think most people sell the keys on ebay, honestly. Maybe some dealerships do as well. It's ridiculous. My Camry (used) and my Fusion are the only two cars I've ever bought that came with 2 keys/fobs. And we paid more for my wife's van than either of those cars, making the lack of the 2nd fob even more ridiculous. Just a pet peeve of mine. I think if the car the dealer/seller is selling doesn't have 2 keys, they ought to provide the 2nd one at their cost. Especially a dealership that's going to charge you an obscene amount of money to program the new one.

Congratulations! I think you'll be happy with it.

It really irritates me when sellers don't give you both keys to the car. I had to go back to get the original key to my wife's van, and I had to buy a key fob for it off of ebay. I hate it so much I actually made a return trip to the dealer to give them the other key to my Camry when I traded it in, just so the new owner would have both of them. Sorry I don't know the answer to your question. I just wanted to voice my disgust that you're having to even bother with it.

I average in the 25 MPG range with mixed driving, but it's 23 or under in the city, usually under. Mine's the SE with the 2.0, and it's rated for 22 in the city and 33 on the highway. I rarely get those numbers in pure city or highway driving. And if you drive in any sort of spirited fashion, you're looking at 20 MPG at best, and really under 25 on the highway if you're hitting the gas a lot. It's not really an economy car when you drive it hard. The good news is it encourages easy driving until you need it to be spirited. It's an easy car to drive modestly. I wouldn't say it's the best of both worlds, but it seems to me to be a really good compromise. The more I learn the car, the more I'm finding that driving it reasonably most of the time, and using the power available to get out in traffic or merge, is a good way to go. My Camry did better on the interstate -- it topped 30 MPG easily, whereas the Fusion struggles to get to that magic 30 and I don't think I've ever seen 33 MPG, but since I don't drive on the freeway at speed much (stop and go here in Atlanta), that doesn't matter as much to me. In every day driving, it does about as well as the V6 Camry, and it's a much easier car to drive in terms of tapping the power when you need it and leaving it be when you don't.

I think junehhan nailed it -- it's very, very smooth..........for a four cylinder. It idles a bit louder, and under moderate acceleration, you can really tell it's a four cylinder because it has that distinctive buzz, but it's not really bothersome at all. Much quieter and more refined than my mom's four cylinder Accord, and really smoother than any other four I've ever driven. The exhaust note under heavy acceleration is much more noticeable than the V6 Camry I traded in on it. It still sounds like a four, but it sounds like a really mean four. More growl and scream than buzz, to my ears. If you're used to a six or a V8, it will sound and feel more like a four cylinder. But if you're used to the 2.5, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's a great engine.

I just went over 1000 yesterday, and I was also surprised at how much immediate power is available. It's almost more impressive from a dead stop than it is merging. But I'll use the power more for merging. It's nice to know it's there but I don't need drag race launches for my driving needs.

Same one I got (mine's the 2.0 Ecoboost). I love this color. Congratulations!

Your buddy would probably have a hard time loving any car audio system. I appreciate audiophile quality sound, but it's really hard to get that in a car, for a lot of reasons. Perhaps that's why I don't mind the mid-level systems from the factory. Though as I said in another thread, the 6-speaker system in the Fusion sounds better to my ears than the JBL system in my top of the line Camry I traded in. It's a matter of perspective, I think. If you're used to top end car stereo, any factory system will sound bad. And if you're used to top end home audio, any car system will fail to live up to that.