The 2020 Ford Fusion Hybrid is better than the Toyota Prius - drive a hybrid without the stigma!

For transparency, I am not a fan of the Toyota Prius. Sorry. They are very reliable, quality vehicles, but I just...can't. Much of this has to do with the "left lane Prius" attitude that I see among many Prius drivers I experience on the road. While these stereotypes may not be true for all Prius drivers, the brand messaging of the family of Prius vehicles drives me nuts. As you will hear in this video. What if you want to drive a hybrid but you don't want to deal with the stigma of a Prius? Now, thankfully there are lots of great options for full electric and hybrid vehicles on the market. In 2022, almost ever every car manufacture sells at least one fully electric or hybrid vehicle in the US. However, new cars are expensive, and you may want to find something that is used. When hybrids first entered the US market in the late 90s and early 2000s, Toyota produced the Prius and Honda produced the Insight. Slowly, other manufactures started making their own hybrids, but the clear industry standard quickly became the Toyota Prius. Ford entered the hybrid market in 2005 with the Escape Hybrid, then in 2009 with the Fusion (as well as the Lincoln MKZ and Mercury Milan variants). While Toyota pulled well ahead of other manufactures, Ford hybrid sales were strong and were shown to be a viable alternative to Toyota products. Even though I have driven several Prius models (including the second generation, third generation, Prius V, and Prius C), I had never driven the Fusion alternative before. I had experience with the standard Fusion and generally liked it (besides the "powershift" transmission), but this the first time I had a chance to compare another hybrid competitor with the Prius. The Fusion Hybrid, especially the second generation, gives a quality ride and comes with a lot of convenience features to produce a solid value for the money. I drove a well-appointed Titanium trim that included features such as adaptive cruise control with stop/go traffic support, and air conditioned seats, for example. There is a lot of technology in the car as well that makes it feel quite modern even though this generation was introduced back in 2014. The size and the dimensions of the car give a lot of room for the driver and all the passengers. It overall feels like a very solid ride and yielded about 45 miles to the gallon while I had it for the day. My biggest complaint (besides the seat that was uncomfortable at times) was the performance, especially on the freeway. Accelerating to speed seemed like a massive struggle for the drivetrain. While the engine drone was not too loud, you could hear the engine constantly working to keep the car going 65 mph. I had a hard time keeping the car at constant speed because it felt like I was constantly adding more throttle, but the adaptive cruise control did help keep things constant. Overall, the Fusion would be a great alternative to the Prius if someone wanted a solid commuter that did not include long stretches on the freeway, and if they had passengers that they regularly carried. EVs and hybrids have becoming increasingly popular due to changing trends of younger drivers entering the car market, higher fuel prices, and an overall awareness of sustainability. General understanding of how these alternative fuel vehicles work have allowed for higher levels of acceptability, and in turn, a growing percentage of sales compared to traditional gasoline powered cars and trucks. While seeing hybrid and electric vehicles at car dealerships is now very normal, vehicles like the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, and the Ford Fusion Hybrid, helped pave the way for other manufactures to produce the great vehicles we have today. Parts of this video do include some fun rants about the Prius, but to give it credit, it did change the car industry for the better. While I may not be in the target market for either of these vehicles, I am glad that we have different options for different vehicles, depending on their needs.