A day after Valentines, I got a call from my Editor-in-Chief informing that he recommended me to Ford that I test drive the new Ford EcoSport with a theme of spending Valentines’ Dinner Date with someone. I readily said yes, and of course, it has to be with my wifey.
I picked up the EcoSport Titanium 1.0 EcoBoost on Friday the 15th of February in Northgate Alabang, then readily pass by to wifey’s nearby BPO office to fetch her on a usual routine going home. Little does she know that we were booked to have a post-Valentines date on Sunday, the 17th of February, and the venue chosen was Dr. Wine Bistro in Makati.
The next day Saturday, my 10 year old daughter Jheanna, an aspiring junior golfer, is scheduled to have a golf course familiarization in the nearby country club, so we decided with her mom to take the EcoSport with us. Luckily, the EcoSport, with a trunk capacity of 335 liters with the seats up, expanding to 1,240 liters with the second row of seats folded, it was able to easily fit a golf bag and a set of clubs. This 5-seater compact SUV has a design that takes advantage of every bit of space. It has many accessible compartments, including cup holders, side-door pockets, and a decently-sized glove box. When its rear seats are folded, my daughter who also loves to travel, imagined packing it with luggages and bags and at the most she asked me also if I can load a go-kart inside if ever she decides to do karting again.
The nice blue color of the EcoSport Titanium fits the car pretty well. The blue color also happens to blend well with green grass of the fairway.
On our way to the golf driving range, as we need to trek the non-tarmac road, the EcoSport provides a comfortable and light but responsive drive. Its 200mm ground clearance makes it ready for any passable surface. For an engine with a tiny 1.0-liter displacement and merely three cylinders, it sure does pack a punch, producing 125 hp at 6000 rpm and 170 Nm of torque at 1500-4,500 rpm. This is because of the turbocharger, wherein the engine is able to provide a lot of punch even at the low rev ranges. The 6-speed automatic provides the appropriate gearing for most situations, may it be through overtaking or when climbing up steep inclines.
My usual driving companions, which is my wifey and daughter, prefer to sit together at the back. They enjoy the amount of legroom at the back with no complaints at all. We were also happy with the peace of mind the EcoSport gives us, thanks to its generous list of safety features. This Titanium variant has six airbags, hill start assist, and electronic stability control. It even comes with a back-up camera, which is handy when reversing.
The interior is also a much nicer place to be in. Ford’s SYNC3 touch screen infotainment system is nice and responsive to use. It even comes with Apple CarPlay. The wifey’s iPhone is connected via USB and then a simplified version of the iPhone’s user interface is displayed into the infotainment system, which eliminates any excuses for anyone when they use their phones while driving. The six-speaker system also sounds great to our ears.
After a round of power drives and improving strokes, my daughter, wifey and I drove home, but as per my suggestion, we stopped first to our village’s salon where wifey gets her hair refreshed not knowing that I am prepping her to a wine-and-dine date on Sunday as my surprise post-Valentine activity.
The next day as our actual dinner date approaches, we decided to bring our common chaperone and no one else but Jheanna who since her birth has been our 3rd wheel company.
At first, wifey thought that we will just eat together in our favorite Japanese restaurant in Alabang Town Center but she was surprised instead of going south for our way home, I made an entry to the Skyway going North on our way to Dr. Wine Bistro in Makati. As we drove by, we were able to test the urban driving performance of the EcoSport as we leisurely drove at 80 to 100kph on the Skyway flawlessly. One of the key improvements of the EcoSport was its improved refinement and stability. This new one, even past triple-digit speeds, was more composed and quieter than the model it replaces.
Since it was a long time ago that I frequented the bars located in Poblacion Makati, I had a hard time finding a good parking space. Luckily enough, the EcoSport, being a small SUV with dimensions of only 4,325 mm in length, 1,765 mm in width, with a 2,519 mm wheelbase, was easy enough to fit through tight parking spaces as expected in Makati watering holes.
Dr. Wine Bistro provides a posh environment with good ambiance, but since I’ll be driving again on way back home, a couple round of wine, cocktails, and beer was just enough to have a nightcap. Our daughter enjoyed too as we chose to stay on the rooftop watching the stars, the skyscrapers, and taking selfies and a couple of romantic photos.
And that completes my post-Valentines date with my lovely girls; my wifey Charisse and daughter Jheanna. I coined the title of this article as Falling in Love Again with the Ford EcoSport 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium, simply because of the new 6-speed automatic and EcoBoost engine. It happens to be one of the EcoSport’s biggest improvements and has endeared me to take a second look at the new EcoSport. I better be careful with what I say though. My wifey may get jealous when I start to fall in love with the EcoSport.
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