Today, we’ll cover my first set of drive-abouts on the Ecoboost course. For this one, I drove the Ford Fusion and its competitor, the Toyota Camry. Before anybody was allowed to drive these cars, we had to go through a brief classroom session, where the instructor told us a number of things and went over the course we’d be driving.
The main points were if we decided to drive one car aggressively or moderately, then to be fair, we should drive its competitor the same way to get a true sense of how they stacked up -well duh. Also, if we run over a cone on the course, go off course, or damage one of the cars, they would take our driving passes away and send us home.
I got in line and ended up taking out the Camry first. The model they had available to us was loaded up with options like leather, navigation, sunroof, and V6 engine. Before we get into the driving experience, let’s look at some Camry specs.
For starters, a base Toyota Camry starts out with an MSRP of $23,045. Of course, I wasn’t driving a base model. Mine was a Camry XLE, which comes standard with a 2.5L 4 cylinder engine and a base price of $25,665. But that doesn’t really stack up just yet, either. My Camry also had the upgrade to Toyota’s 3.5L V6 engine, which bumps its base price up to $31,275. Add to that the premium sound and navigation, and that’s another $2,635 for a total MSRP of $33,910 for the Camry I was driving that day.
How much Camry do you get for $33,910? 268 HP and 248 lb-ft of torque worth, that’s how much. That 3.5L V6 is paired with a 6 speed automatic transmission and propels the car via the front wheels.
Next up was the Fusion. This one was also well optioned and even featured AWD. Here are some Fusion specs and pricing info to consider. The base price for a Fusion starts at $21,900, which puts it at $1,145 less than a base model Camry. Of course, we’re talking top of the line models in this comparison, so scrap that figure and let’s look at what we’re actually dealing with here. My Fusion that day was equipped with Ford’s Titanium trim level. This meant that under its hood, the Fusion featured a 2.0L Ecoboost (turbo) inline 4 cylinder engine with 240 HP and 270 lb-ft of torque paired with a 6 speed auto. That’s 28 HP less than the V6 Camry, but 22 lb-ft of torque more. The Titanium package loads up a whole bunch of goodies, like leather interior, premium sound, and navigation, leaving very little that needs to be added to the vehicle. The titanium package also ups the Fusion’s price to $30,500. That’s $775 less than a Camry XLE that doesn’t come equipped with premium sound and navigation, and it’s $3,410 less than a Camry that does have comparable options.
With that extra bunch of money creating a gap between a Front wheel drive Fusion and a front wheel drive Camry, things needed to be evened up a bit. So, the Fusion also came with a $2,000 option that isn’t even available on the Camry: All Wheel Drive. That means that the Fusion I drove that day had an MSRP of $32,795, leaving it $1,410 cheaper than the Camry.
So, how did the two stack up against each other? The Camry handled just fine and had nice speed and acceleration. I drove both cars rather aggressively on the course, though the Ecoboost comparison track wasn’t really set up for a lot of crazy stuff, so it wasn’t like anybody could really beat up on the cars out there. The Camry was pretty good -nothing spectacular, but not at all bad. Just a nice, kinda peppy family sedan with somewhat ho-hum looks that will make it hard to spot in a crowded parking lot.
The Fusion handled great, as one would expect from a vehicle with all wheel drive. That optional system is not just for tackling snowy or slippery roadways; it’s also a nice option to have if you’re going to get aggressive behind the wheel but would rather not fling yourself right off the edge of a cloverleaf interstate on-ramp when you’re pounding the pedal to the floor. That said, I was disappointed with the performance of the Ecoboost engine. Maybe it was just the car I drove. After all, these vehicles at the Ecoboost Challenge have been touring the country all summer, getting pounded on by people just like me out to get a freebie track day and some thrills in a car that they don’t have to fix if they wear it out.
The biggest problem I had with the Fusion was a very significant turbo lag. On the Ecoboost course, there is one section of straightaway where you can floor the gas pedal and get the car really flying before you have to brake into a hard right, and in this section, the Camry, with its V6 did admirably. The Fusion did not. I floored the Fusion, expecting a real blast off and got nothing for what seemed like an eternity, then finally, the single turbo decided it was wound up enough to kick in and do something, and by that time, I was nearing the end of the straightaway and needed to start braking for the turn. It made me sad…. there’s just no other way to say it clearer. I felt let down. I had built up such great expectations of this turbo-charged engine because I remembered how much fun I had in the Ford Focus ST I test drove in a previous post on this blog that also features a 2.0L Ecoboost (albeit a high-output, tuned-up version of it that had no such lag at all), and I found myself pouting until I reached the slalom part of the course. The Fusion with it’s all wheel drive handled the slalom beautifully, and I suppose that makes up for some of the let down, but I have to give the driving win to the Camry. That turbo lag plaguing the Fusion is exactly the type of thing that would get me raging at my car, cursing it as I drive every time I stomp the pedal to get up to merging speed or just to fling it around for some fun and get met with a whole bunch of nothing while the turbo takes its time winding up. Booo, hiss!
That said, taking into account winter driving in Minneapolis, with snow on the ground and ice under that, the AWD system would be a blessing. And really, if I wanted to hot rod around, a family sedan is probably not what I’d choose to drive unless, of course, it was the Taurus SHO (featuring a twin-turbo 3.5L Ecoboost engine: I have featured a drive in an SHO in a previous post if you would like to know more)-they didn’t have any of those for us to play with that day, though I did spot a stunning dark green one in the parking lot when I left.
Here’s where the Fusion absolutely beats the crap out of the Camry though: looks. I know, I know -beauty is in the eye of the beholder and aesthetics are subjective and whatever else -but in this case, it’s just a plain and simple fact that the Fusion is a better looking car than the Camry -it is gorgeous. It doesn’t hurt that the front end looks like it was cribbed from an Aston Martin, though you can tell that they spent most of the money up there, too, because the rear end of the car, mostly the tail light enclosures, just doesn’t seem to have that same wolf-whistle-inspiring aesthetic.
The Fusion I took out on the track was actually a similar shade of gray to the Camry, but the real looker that day was the black one. It wasn’t just black, but black with a shimmering metallic element to it that made the car glisten every time the sun shone against it. I know I’ve more or less sworn off black cars due to my self-proven theory that they attract more speeding tickets, but if I was going to buy a Fusion, I would definitely pick that color. The paint is appropriately called “Dark Side”.
There's more Ecoboost Challenge stuff to come on this blog, including a tale of the guy I was talking to in line who ended up having his driving pass confiscated and got ejected from the event. I would highly recommend taking part in the Ecoboost Challenge when and if it comes to your neck of the woods. It's free and it's fun, and you get to take some swag home with you when you leave. Check out my haul. I've got a Focus ST racer poster, my lanyard, my bracelet (I know, not exactly a treasure), a free set of Sony earbuds, a beverage koozie, a little Mustang, and my favorite: a pewter Goodyear Blimp keychain that has a tread depth gauge on the flip side of it. The kind folks at Ford even provided free snacks, and you could snag yourself a free Rockstar energy drink at the same booth where you get the racer Focus poster. Best of all, of course, is getting to drive a bunch of cars and having a blast doing it!
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