Ecoboost Challenge

I just got back from the Ecoboost challenge and I've got to say I'm impressed.

I've been to many of these things and this is the first one that didn't use up most of my time trying to sell me the product.

This was simply 3 different courses with 10 different cars so all you did was drive.

I began with the Hypermiling and everyone ahead of me was getting 50-60 mpg and I got 163.8 mpg. There was to be a Hypermiling shoot out and then told me to be back about 10 minutes before, but once I got there I found out 2 people got 260 mpg. I guess they drove totally on the battery.

The Comparo drive pitted the F150 against the 2014 Silverado, the CRV to the Escape and the Camry to ??? (I forget cause both were so forgettable).

I was impressed with the F150 V6 Ecoboost. I have a 2011 FX2 F150 with the 3 valve V8 and that little 6 felt like it would have creamed my V8. The Silverado was tough to drive. The center console hit the back of your right arm and limited your steering wheel range of motion.

The Camry had a lot more torque steer than the Ford product.

But the most fun was the autocross courses set up for the Focus and the Fiesta. 252 Hp and 270/lbs torque. I watched the times and everyone seemed to be in the 40 second range with a few 35's. Then suddenly a 32.7 popped up so I knew there was hope for a faster time.

I got into the Focus first and got a couple of low 33's so I thought I'd cream the 32.7 in the Fiesta, but alas and alack that was not to be. I turned identical times in the Fiesta as I did in the Focus. I was 33.1 - 33.4. I'm sure it was something I was doing wrong since I haven't gotten to Autocross in a couple of years, but it was great fun.

If you've got the chance to sign up you need to do it. It's not the sales job that Caddy, Mercedes, Chevy, BMW and the others have been.

Very cool I wish they would do something like this near me. I would love a fiesta st someday I just wish it was a 3 door.

I got 273.1 on the hyper mile challenge...and got creamed by a hardcore hyper miler with 561.you have got to be kidding me. The fusion was really impressively nice for the class of car it is.

our times were similar on the fiesta. I got 33 something on the fiesta but the timing messed up on the focus.

The f150 interior was better, but I liked the ride and engine of the silverado.

The one thing that really surprised me is the taurus. The back seat sits really high and there was an odd mix of upscale features and poor execution and assembly.

I thought the Fiesta ST was pleasantly racy and entertaining for an econobox, but the Focus ST had noticeably better power delivery and plenty more refinement. At $24,100 It's well worth the three grand premium over the $21,400 Fiesta... but when you notice that the 305 hp Mustang V6 lists from $22,200 the other two are pretty much forgotten.

I made the leaderboard!

I never even saw the leaderboard.

Ojala how did you get over 200 mpg? Did you drag the brake even during acceleration & steady state driving to regenerate elec?

registered for Orlando on the 14th....

The one think the Elantra does not have is some power, the Focus is very, very tempting.

Aww dammit, I knew I shouldn't have looked in here.

http://www.ford.com/cars/focus/focusst/?searchid=97455149|4422355469|397225947&ef_id=UiIEwQAAAeJPfBEP:20130908043639:s

nderwater wrote:

Aww mannn

I enjoyed myself at the Dallas one too.

The fiesta was very well put together and was neutral on the handling, got a 34 something seconds on a run but on the second run that felt a lot smoother I came up to the bumper of the guy in front of me.

On the hypermile test I got 340 mpg and came back for the hourly shootout were I got 365.4 mpg and won a very nice pair of sony headphones, that go together with a pair a won at a BMW event a few months back.

A good fun time regardless of how very hot it was.

I then stopped by the Italian car show and drooled over some beautiful classic car lines while enjoying tiramisu.

I did stop by the Honda motorcycle dealership to see what they had to round out a nice gearhead day, got the ok a few months back from SWMBO although now she is back pedaling.

And on Sunday some sailboat racing to finish the weekend, not a bad one.

In reply to NoBrakesRacing:

I did Cars and Coffee, Ecoboost Challenge, and the Italian Carfest. Went through two shirts and a lot of bottles of water.