Yep, looks like my last and current 3.5 Eco and my Escape with the 2.0 Eco.

 

Usually caused by Turbo lag.

 

Looks normal to me, my 5.0 is similar. (According to how recent it's been washed as to the severity!).

 

The black soot is a characteristic of direct injection engines. One of the many reasons the new engines have gone to dual injection is to crack down on carbon particulate emissions. The EPA is enforcing stricter emissions rules and from what I read, VW is starting to install participate filters on its DI Turbo cars to comply (sound familiar?)