Ford Fusion Sport: The Ultimate Sleeper Of 2018?

If there’s one thing I don’t like about the rise of social media’s presence in the car world, it’s that making a genuine sleeper car is now almost impossible. As soon as a “sleeper” hits the mainstream media, it will naturally attract a lot of hype from enthusiasts who want to “fly under the radar”, so to speak. This means you can’t be sneaky by buying a Volkswagen Golf R or an Audi S4—most people will be able to identify that it’s a fast car.

However, there is one new Q-car that seems to have defied the odds, and gone into petrolhead stealth mode. Enter the 2017 Ford Fusion Sport.

To the untrained eye, it looks just like a normal 2017 Ford Fusion/Mondeo. In fact, for all intents and purposes, the body styling of the Sport is identical to any other trim line. The only subtle clue that it’s got some jam to it are the wheels. They don’t look like anything out of the ordinary, but the slight resemblance to the famed Cragar chromed wheels found on many high-performance muscle cars of the 1960s was no accident. Still, the homage to the American muscle car glory days could easily fly over anyone’s head. Considering the visual flamboyance of the Focus RS, Mustang, and Fiesta ST, the Fusion Sport looks about as vanilla as the inside of an ice cream sandwich.

This isn’t because Ford forgot that they had an ST division. They didn’t design this car so that you could kill a mosquito sitting on the apex of Eau Rouge. The only transmission you can get is a 6-speed slushbox. The rich swaths of leather and soft-touch throughout the cabin let you know that Ford hasn’t really made any efforts at weight reduction. It’s meant to be a family car, and a nice one at that.

If you ask me, this is just fine. For most people, the average daily drive isn’t particularly challenging. Sure, you could get a manual Mustang GT for around the same price as the Fusion Sport. Trust me, though, you’ll want to buy the Fusion if you actually plan to use your car for real life. This is especially true if you live in an area that even gets a tiny skiff of snow in the winter. Or if you have friends that would like to sit in your back seat. Yes, the ‘Stang is a brilliant car, but its practicality handicap is a lot more annoying than you might think.

So how much excitement does the Fusion Sport give up in comparison? Not as much as you might think. 0-60 mph takes about 5.3 seconds, about a second slower than a comparable Mustang GT. But when you consider the fact that the Mustang has two more cylinders, 110 more horsepower, and a more race-appropriate gearbox, one second doesn’t really seem like a lot. What’s more, the 2.7-litre EcoBoost V6 in the Fusion Sport has enough torque to put backspin on a wrecking ball. I’ve experienced this engine in a much-heavier Ford F-150, and it had enough juice to walk all over a HEMI-powered Ram Sport.

Granted, the Fusion Sport is probably more of an Uber driver’s car than a “driver’s car”. But for $35,000, it’s good value and a perfectly sensible car to buy. The big motor in the Fusion Sport makes it smoother than a White Russian, and it has an understated aesthetic that qualifies the Ford as a true sleeper.

But is it the best mid-sized sleeper that you can get for around $40,000 US?

No.