A very detailed review, and one which I enjoyed reading. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Last time I was in the US the few new Fusions that they had were all reserved for other supposedly more important customers than me, so I still await my chance to sample it.

My suspicion is that a car that the driver will enjoy, it is the pick of this class, with one exception. That car would be the new Mazda 6, which has had very good reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

Of the others in the class, I liked the Passat 2.5SE (the S is a bit basic), and the latest Altima, and Sonata. I was less impressed by the Legacy 9just a bit bland these days, lost most of its Subaru-ness), but all of these are milkes better than the utterly dull Camry and the now acceptable but no better than that Avenger and Chrysler 200. I've not yet tried the latest Optima (which I like) and the Malibu (which I suspect isw way below average and your review does nothing to persuade me otherwise).