So I live in Kansas and I recently was driving to drop my son off near Seneca, which is up near the border of Nebraska. I was traveling down Highway 99 when I discovered a bridge had washed out and the road was closed. So I did what any person would do I broke out the map and looked for an alternate route. I found one so I set out to bypass the down bridge I found a gravel road that according to the map would get me where I needed to go. it was a very narrow road and only had enough room for one car to travel down. After about 2-3 miles it went from gravel to mud (found out later that prior to recent heavy rain they had just put down several inches of fresh dirt) Things started to get a little slippery. I had two choices, trust the AWD system or proceed to drive backwards for 2-3 miles. I grew up on a county road with lots of dirt/mud roads and spent about 5 years living on the east coast to include upstate New York so driving in slippery situations is nothing new to me.
You can't tell from the picture but the mud was ankle deep in places. I did actually get stuck at one point because I was too low so I had to empty the four people out of my car and then at that point I could keep going. I learned several things.
1. The AWD system in the fusion is nothing short of amazing.
2. When the sensors on the system (abs/speed sensors) get dirty or blocked the car shuts off the AWD system (reason I eventually did get stuck)
3. Making your family walk well you drive is not a good idea. :chuckles:
4. Random strangers in Kansas are good people.
5. Cleaning mud off the underside of a fusion is a major pain in the a$$. :angry:
This was after I had cleaned out the wheel wells that night. I had to clean them out in order to drive it home as the suspension couldn't move because the wheel wells where completly full of mud.
How low it was sitting because of the weight of the mud there is usualy about an inch gap between the tire and the fender.
When I first got to the car wash that night the whole wheel was covered in mud and had an inch layer of mud coating the inside of the wheel.
All in all I am very impressed with the car. I thought for sure the car was not going to make it. Several times I thought for sure it was not going to keep going but it just kept going. I actually ended up in several places with mud up to the side skirts and it just kept going. I do think that if I hadn't been able to drop it into second and leave it there I doubt it would have done so well. I was able to keep the wheel speed nice and low with lots of tourqe to pull me along. Once the AWD system shut off it wouldn't move, lol. I found out that multiple people had gotten stuck on that very same road the day before but I had made it a good mile further then two 4WD suv's did. Took a very nice farmer and a very large tractor to get me and a guy in a blazer that tried to get to me to pull me out. In the end a couple hundred I paid the guy and about $60 in quarters and 3 hours at the car wash my car is fine with no damage.
You can't tell from the picture but the mud was ankle deep in places. I did actually get stuck at one point because I was too low so I had to empty the four people out of my car and then at that point I could keep going. I learned several things.
1. The AWD system in the fusion is nothing short of amazing.
2. When the sensors on the system (abs/speed sensors) get dirty or blocked the car shuts off the AWD system (reason I eventually did get stuck)
3. Making your family walk well you drive is not a good idea. :chuckles:
4. Random strangers in Kansas are good people.
5. Cleaning mud off the underside of a fusion is a major pain in the a$$. :angry:
This was after I had cleaned out the wheel wells that night. I had to clean them out in order to drive it home as the suspension couldn't move because the wheel wells where completly full of mud.
How low it was sitting because of the weight of the mud there is usualy about an inch gap between the tire and the fender.
When I first got to the car wash that night the whole wheel was covered in mud and had an inch layer of mud coating the inside of the wheel.
All in all I am very impressed with the car. I thought for sure the car was not going to make it. Several times I thought for sure it was not going to keep going but it just kept going. I actually ended up in several places with mud up to the side skirts and it just kept going. I do think that if I hadn't been able to drop it into second and leave it there I doubt it would have done so well. I was able to keep the wheel speed nice and low with lots of tourqe to pull me along. Once the AWD system shut off it wouldn't move, lol. I found out that multiple people had gotten stuck on that very same road the day before but I had made it a good mile further then two 4WD suv's did. Took a very nice farmer and a very large tractor to get me and a guy in a blazer that tried to get to me to pull me out. In the end a couple hundred I paid the guy and about $60 in quarters and 3 hours at the car wash my car is fine with no damage.