Musician, MTV reality show host and producer, author and all-around gentleman, Fonzworth Bentley met up with ESSENCE.com to take a spin in the 2010 Ford Taurus SHO with 3.5 EcoBoost twin turbo-charged engine.
This vehicle is the first and only in its class to feature the EcoBoost engine. This engine provides better fuel economy and fewer emissions.
Bentley is into that: “I like it, it’s sexy.”
“With the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine,” a Ford specialist explains to Bentley, “you get the fuel economy of a V-6, and the horsepower of a V-8.”
“I’ll determine if it has the power of a V-8,” Bentley shoots back playfully as he enters the Taurus. “So let’s just say ‘theoretically’ for now.”
After a Push Button Start, he’s off.
Bentley’s interest in going green began in 2005 when Cameron Diaz invited him to participate on her MTV show ‘Trippin,’ where she and other celebs traveled to exotic parts of the world to determine ways to preserve them. Bentley visited the Atacama desert in Chile and the Patagonia glaciers.
“In Patagonia, that was the first time I could actually visibly see the effects of global warming,” Bentley says. "The glacier was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, but on the side of the glacier you could see the dates and how the ice had melted away through the years. It went from the 50s to the 60s, and when you get around the 80s, it looked like somebody had opened the refrigerator door.
“It was amazing, you could just see how much more it was melting.”
SHO stands for “super high output,” and Ford certainly keeps their promise there. Not only is the new cutting-edge engine more powerful while consuming less fuel and emitting less CO2, but the redesign of the vehicle—both interior and exterior—takes the aesthetic feel of the car to the next level.
“What do you think of the interior?” the Ford specialist asks.
“It has the suede leather moment happening,” he replies, pointing out the suede seats. “I ain’t mad at that.”
“Did you notice the doors are scalloped?” she continues, referring to the stitching.
“Scalloped?! Now that’s a term I’ve never heard before. But so you know, I prefer my scallops seared,” he says.
“I have to figure out ways to explain this idea of ‘green’ so that people can get into this lifestyle,” Bentley says. “I mean, being ‘greener’ is obviously doing the things as far as conservation goes. But ‘greener’ is also having a better diet. Being ‘green’ is maintaining healthy relationships…”
It’s a new way of thinking!