Yesterday, Craig and I “escaped for the day” with Ford Canada! It was an amazing day!
We met at Arta in the Distillery District in Toronto. After a light lunch and brief intro to the new 2013 FordEscape and all of it’s amazing features, we hit the road!
11 social media influencers (tweeters, bloggers and the like) were paired up for the day’s activities. Craig and I got to drive together.
Our first stop was the Drive to Discover event at Square One in Mississauga. On the way there, Craig asked me what I liked about the Escape so far:
The Drive to Discover event is open to the public and is designed for people to learn more about the 2013 Ford line-up, test drive a few vehicles and try out the Active Park Assist. There are interactive displays: a cargo challenge where you pack up a Ford Escape “tetris-style” as quickly as possible, an iPad driving trivia game and a movie shoot where you get to star in a Ford Escape commercial, and parallel park with the Active Park Assist. Oh, don’t let me forget to mention that the cargo challenge starts by you opening the rear gate hands free!!
The Active Park Assist is amazing! When I first saw it demonstrated at ShesConnected 2011, I found it a bit odd. I loved the idea of it, but coudn’t ever imaging doing it myself. Yesterday, I got out of my comfort zone and tried it out. Once the park assist is activated, all of the directions are on the My Ford Touch display. It tells you when to brake and when to shift between drive and reverse. I was lost for words when the asked me what I thought of it. Truly amazing!
The next part was my favorite part of the day….the closed test course that was designed by professional drivers!!! The first 2 times around the track, the professional driver was behind the wheel. First lap was slow so that he could talk about the driving techniques used for each section…speeds, braking techniques, where to look, where to put your hands, etc. The 2nd time through it was pedal to the metal. Though he did say that without helmets or 5-point harnesses he wasn’t going to go as fast as he normally would. But he sure did go fast! My shoulder is sore today from holding the “oh sh!t” handle and from getting jerked side to side. But it was so worth it! Being in a car with a professional and seeing the car’s full potential is awesome!
When we got our turn to drive the course, Craig went first and he did amazingly well. No pylons knocked down!!
Then it was my turn….
I did get to drive again! The second time I was a bit more aggressive, but it’s hard to do something that is against everything you’re used to doing.
Craig was going to go a second time, but we needed to drive off to our next adventure — rock climbing!
After a slow drive on the 401 at 3:30 in the afternoon, we made it to Rattlesnake Point park where we got to try some rock climbing. It wasn’t a hard climb, but I can say I did it!!
After taking our gear off, we headed back to the Distillery District for coctails and dinner. The photographer and videographer had quick presentions of some of the stuff they captured that day. When I get access to the photos and professional video, I’ll be sure to share them!
I can’t thank Ford Canada enough for inviting me on this amazing adventure. I really enjoyed driving the 2013 Escape. Not only did I learn a about the features of the new 2013 Escape, I learned a lot about myself too!
