What does it take for a 2010 Ford Fusion to hit 200,000 miles?
As it turns out, not much.
Opinion
SVT_MAN - Feb 02, 2019
A 200K Kind of Day
My 2010 Ford Fusion daily-driver's odometer just recently rolled past the 200,000 mile mark.While you might not think that's a big deal, I think any vehicle that makes it to 200,000 miles has earned its keep - and then some.
Even though it's just a number, 200,000 is a seriously large number. A number so large that some vehicles don't make it - and others require immense amounts of maintenance to get there.
As you'll see below, though, the journey for my Fusion to hit 200,000 miles has been relatively uneventful. That said, there are some things I did that definitely helped it get there more smoothly and inexpensively.
So let's answer the questions together: How long does a Ford Fusion last? What's the life expectancy?
Let's first take a trip down ...
I purchased my 2010 Ford Fusion on November 23, 2011 with 31,000 miles on it. If you do the math, that means I've done almost 170,000 miles in just over 7 years.
Another way to say it is that I've done just over 24,000 miles a year.
However, that isn't a completely accurate picture. After all, the majority of the mileage has happened in the past 5 years. Why, you ask?
Well, when I purchased the car, I had a fairly short commute length of right around 36 miles a day. But that didn't last long.
New Position = New Commute
Unfortunately, that "easy" commute was short-lived. In August of 2013, I took on a new position to advance my career forward. Along with increased challenges and salary, I took on a massively increased commute.
My easy commute was suddenly an 88-mile-a-day round tripper. Along with the increased mileage on my car each day, my commute now also included several miles of slow city-street torture.
Maintenance is key, folks.
I knew that I would be racking up the miles, so I also knew it would be important to keep investing in my vehicle's health.Thankfully, from the beginning of my Fusion ownership, I fed it full synthetic oil (Ford Motorcraft Full Synthetic 5W20). Additionally, I religiously changed the oil between 3,000 miles and 5,000 miles.
I know there is a lot of debate surrounding what kind of oil you should use and how often you should change it - but the fact of the matter is that new, clean oil is cheap insurance. That's just a fact.
And full synthetic has been proven over and over again to be less prone to breaking down in extreme conditions. So why wouldn't you want to fill your engine with it?
In addition to the oil fluid checks, I also performed a transmission flush and fill to make sure the transmission kept going.
The results? Well, the results speak for themselves.
I have a 200,000 mile vehicle with an original engine and transmission. You can't ask for much more.
Does it look and drive new?
Not exactly.
I will need new outer tie rods at some point, but they aren't really to the point where they need to be replaced just yet. Other than that everything is pretty tight. The car's on-center feel is basically the same as it has always been - which is to say, quite good. Especially for a car that doesn't rely on negative camber tricks with the front suspension. (I have comfortably gone 80,000 miles on tires for this car.)
The driver's seat leather is also fairly worn looking, but I've definitely seen worse. (I've seen cars with half the mileage have stitching tearing out.)
To be fair, for the most part, it drives and runs way better than you'd expect for a car with 200,000 miles on it.
That said, I recently had the Takata airbag recall performed on the car. (Yes, parts finally came in!)
While I had the car in the shop, I drove a 2018 Ford Fusion SE. You might be wondering how the car compared. Here's what I found: the newer Fusion drove better, had a quieter interior, handled better and had way more power. (It had a turbocharger though - not a fair comparison.)
So basically it made my Fusion look old and crusty.
But what should I have expected?
The Fusion loaner was nearly brand new. It had under 3,000 miles so it had about 1% of the mileage of my vehicle - it better drive well!
But at the end of the day, I wouldn't say it drove enough better to justify buying one over my current car which is still functioning perfectly fine.
It might not be exactly what you'd expect, though.
For instance, one thing you just can't get around damaging when you drive as much as I do is some minor paint damage. But it hasn't been caused by an inability to park or carelessness.
When you do this kind of high-speed highway mileage on a regular basis, you'll find that you end up with all kinds of crazy things thrown at the car. But to be honest - at least on my commute - it's mostly gravel trucks shooting stones at me.
So much so that I cringe every time I see an uncovered gravel truck. It basically guarantees I'm going to have to do some work soon.
So, yes, I've had to do some light body work on the hood and roof a few times.
I also discovered that the rear trim shook itself a bit loose - which in turn caused some surface rust on the rear deck lid. See below:
Not to worry though. Using a rust repair tutorial from ChrisFix, I taught myself how to remove the rust and how to do some light body repair. It wasn't the easiest to do with temperatures in the mid 30s, but I made it work.
After grinding the rust down to bare metal and covering it with a rust inhibitor, I used body filler to smooth things out. Then, after a coat of primer, I sprayed a few coats of Atlantis Green Metallic back on, along with a few coats of clear.
Does it look perfect? Nope.
But I'm not ashamed because I also don't paint stuff for a living.
Even so, it looks pretty good for an amateur fix. From 10 feet away it's impossible to tell there's anything going on.
Moreover, it should provide adequate rust protection for at least a few years. And, for a vehicle with 200,000 miles on it, the body is very clean - especially for a Midwest car that endures the ravages of salt and corrosion each and every winter.
All I've changed are spark plugs and air filters. Everything else is original to the engine.
The only things that have cost me any out-of-pocket money - engine-wise - have been a sensor and a purge canister. (To be clear: I have spent some maintenance money on suspension and emissions control. I purchased a new set of upper control arms at 140,000 and redid the catalytic convertor at 150,000.)
Engine-wise, at around 50,000 miles, I replaced a throttle position sensor. The Bosch sensor was misbehaving. It must have been a bad sensor because it hasn't hiccuped on me at all since.
Another issue I had was at around 180,000 miles. It was at this time that the check engine light came on and threw a code for the purge canister. This problem is the closest thing to a true mechanical problem the car has had. But you'll laugh when you discover what kind of investment it takes to fix.
The code scanner indicated I needed a new canister purge valve for my Ford Fusion, which is a small plastic part on the front of the engine. If you're wondering what the heck that is .... here you go: the purge valve precisely controls the amount of fuel vapor that is purged from the charcoal canister - so, yes - it's important for idle quality and emissions.
But after determining how easy it would be to fix, I decided to do it myself. I plunked down the massive expense of $16.99 at AutoZone.
Then I took 5 minutes to install it. Literally.
It was definitely the easiest wrenching I've ever done on a car - even easier than changing a battery.
In fact, I'm confident it took me longer to find my tools than it did to replace the part. So, for less than the price of an oil change, and less time than it took you to read this article, I would highly recommend doing the purge canister yourself if you ever find your Fusion in need of a new one.
Absolutely. This car owes me nothing and has been mechanically excellent to this point. I will need new outer tie rods at some point, but they aren't really to the point where they need to be replaced just yet. Other than that everything is pretty tight. The car's on-center feel is basically the same as it has always been - which is to say, quite good. Especially for a car that doesn't rely on negative camber tricks with the front suspension. (I have comfortably gone 80,000 miles on tires for this car.)
The driver's seat leather is also fairly worn looking, but I've definitely seen worse. (I've seen cars with half the mileage have stitching tearing out.)
To be fair, for the most part, it drives and runs way better than you'd expect for a car with 200,000 miles on it.
That said, I recently had the Takata airbag recall performed on the car. (Yes, parts finally came in!)
While I had the car in the shop, I drove a 2018 Ford Fusion SE. You might be wondering how the car compared. Here's what I found: the newer Fusion drove better, had a quieter interior, handled better and had way more power. (It had a turbocharger though - not a fair comparison.)
So basically it made my Fusion look old and crusty.
But what should I have expected?
The Fusion loaner was nearly brand new. It had under 3,000 miles so it had about 1% of the mileage of my vehicle - it better drive well!
But at the end of the day, I wouldn't say it drove enough better to justify buying one over my current car which is still functioning perfectly fine.
So, what's gone wrong?
Some things you'd expect to wear out on a car with this much mileage, right?It might not be exactly what you'd expect, though.
For instance, one thing you just can't get around damaging when you drive as much as I do is some minor paint damage. But it hasn't been caused by an inability to park or carelessness.
When you do this kind of high-speed highway mileage on a regular basis, you'll find that you end up with all kinds of crazy things thrown at the car. But to be honest - at least on my commute - it's mostly gravel trucks shooting stones at me.
So much so that I cringe every time I see an uncovered gravel truck. It basically guarantees I'm going to have to do some work soon.
So, yes, I've had to do some light body work on the hood and roof a few times.
I also discovered that the rear trim shook itself a bit loose - which in turn caused some surface rust on the rear deck lid. See below:
Not to worry though. Using a rust repair tutorial from ChrisFix, I taught myself how to remove the rust and how to do some light body repair. It wasn't the easiest to do with temperatures in the mid 30s, but I made it work.
After grinding the rust down to bare metal and covering it with a rust inhibitor, I used body filler to smooth things out. Then, after a coat of primer, I sprayed a few coats of Atlantis Green Metallic back on, along with a few coats of clear.
Does it look perfect? Nope.
But I'm not ashamed because I also don't paint stuff for a living.
Even so, it looks pretty good for an amateur fix. From 10 feet away it's impossible to tell there's anything going on.
Moreover, it should provide adequate rust protection for at least a few years. And, for a vehicle with 200,000 miles on it, the body is very clean - especially for a Midwest car that endures the ravages of salt and corrosion each and every winter.
Okay - so paint. But what else?
Nothing mechanical on the engine has been a problem. No, really!All I've changed are spark plugs and air filters. Everything else is original to the engine.
The only things that have cost me any out-of-pocket money - engine-wise - have been a sensor and a purge canister. (To be clear: I have spent some maintenance money on suspension and emissions control. I purchased a new set of upper control arms at 140,000 and redid the catalytic convertor at 150,000.)
Engine-wise, at around 50,000 miles, I replaced a throttle position sensor. The Bosch sensor was misbehaving. It must have been a bad sensor because it hasn't hiccuped on me at all since.
Another issue I had was at around 180,000 miles. It was at this time that the check engine light came on and threw a code for the purge canister. This problem is the closest thing to a true mechanical problem the car has had. But you'll laugh when you discover what kind of investment it takes to fix.
The code scanner indicated I needed a new canister purge valve for my Ford Fusion, which is a small plastic part on the front of the engine. If you're wondering what the heck that is .... here you go: the purge valve precisely controls the amount of fuel vapor that is purged from the charcoal canister - so, yes - it's important for idle quality and emissions.
But after determining how easy it would be to fix, I decided to do it myself. I plunked down the massive expense of $16.99 at AutoZone.
Then I took 5 minutes to install it. Literally.
It was definitely the easiest wrenching I've ever done on a car - even easier than changing a battery.
In fact, I'm confident it took me longer to find my tools than it did to replace the part. So, for less than the price of an oil change, and less time than it took you to read this article, I would highly recommend doing the purge canister yourself if you ever find your Fusion in need of a new one.
Would you do it again?
It has been the perfect commuter car for me in this season of life. It has a smooth, comfortable ride, an excellent audio system, and great connectivity options using the SYNC system.
I can't say the car is that exciting, but for a commuter car I also don't want a pile of garbage that I'm constantly fixing. Because of my long commute, I truly don't have the time, energy, or patience to take a car into the shop. Luckily, because the Fusion has been so reliable for me, I haven't needed to.
Aside from regular maintenance like brake jobs, the aforementioned TPS, and the purge valve, I haven't touched the car.
So, if you're looking for a reliable daily driver, the second generation Fusion (2010 - 2012) is one of the America's best kept secrets. If you can find one.
Apparently people are holding onto these cars because I've even had dealerships call me asking if I was willing to trade it in - until they find out the mileage, that is! =)
I'm apparently not the only person with a high mileage 2nd generation Fusion though. I recently found out through my twin brother that he knows someone with 2nd generation Fusion with even more mileage - 216k actually.
While I can't tell anyone for sure how long their car will last or what the life expectancy is, the Ford Fusion has undoubtedly been good to me.
"But dude. My car made it to 300,000 miles!"
Wait. Hold on.
Stop the presses!
Your car made it to 300,000 miles and you've never done any work to it?! Wow. Well, that's great! No, really. It is. Why don't you tell us about it in a blog post?
Well - what are you waiting for? Start writing your blog post, now!
