It’s hard not to get excited about performance vehicles, and the Ford display at the upcoming 2011 Los Angeles International Auto Show will house plenty of excitement. The Fiesta ST Concept, Focus ST and Focus ST-R will all be part of the mix, clearly demonstrating the DNA of Ford Global Performance Vehicles.
Fiesta ST Concept
The Fiesta ST Concept indicates the direction for a high-performance Fiesta with muscular and sporty styling, a dynamic sports chassis and a high-performance powertrain capable of delivering impressive fuel economy with low emissions.
Ford has announced a very cool segment-first feature on the all-new Ford Escape: a hands-free power liftgate. What makes it even cooler? Its motion-sensing technology is kind of like what’s used in interactive video games.
While the warning light in the dash will be shaped like a cup of coffee, the technology in the 2013 Ford Explorer may be a lot more valuable. Ford is introducing new lane keeping technologies, including a system that can help detect drowsy drivers, to help them stay alert and in their lane.
Many of us can remember a time, seemingly not that long ago, when wearing a seatbelt was optional, and maybe people even mocked you for clicking yourself in. A friend recalled how when she and her sister would travel with their dad in his sports car, she would sit on her sister’s lap in the front passenger seat. Funnily enough, he worked for an automaker, so her family was one of the first on the block to enforce seatbelt usage. Talk about your mixed messages.
We’ll admit that when iTunes, Word or any of our computer software alerts us to an update, we tend to hit “agree” to said update and not always read what it’s about. For all we know, we might have agreed to wear hot pants and a monocle to the office. So, we know that some of you might also be tempted to go on autopilot when you hear the Ford SYNC® system has a free update and either not pay attention to the details or simply ignore it. But here’s why you shouldn’t.
While you still have a few weeks to wait to see the new Ford Escape, we thought you might find this bit of trivia interesting: The next Ford Escape uses 25 recycled 20-ounce plastic bottles in the carpeting of each vehicle. It’s also the first time Ford has used this type of carpeting in an SUV.
Ah, to be a fly on the wall when Ford, GM, Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen decided to have a sit-down – maybe somewhere off the radar, like the Olive Garden? – to discuss electric vehicles in the United States and Europe. Would they agree on things? Would the conversation veer off into discussing technologies coming in future vehicles? Would Porsche order the Never Ending Pasta Bowl?
It’s easy to be cynical about Yellowstone National Park. Sometimes – perhaps for most visitors – the place comes off a lot like Disneyland. After all, most folks drive from one part of the park to another on the “grand loop,” a 140-mile road system that allows visitors to pop in and out of their cars to take in a view or, most often, snap pictures of wildlife that has grown so used to homo sapiens that they – the animals, not the humans – show no hesitancy about crossing roads or grazing within a few feet of the awestruck tourists.
Greetings from the Pahaska Teepee lodge, the last place to grab a room and a meal before you get to Wyoming’s eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. After a nine hour drive from Boulder, Colorado, it feels good to stretch my legs out on my cabin’s queen-sized bed. And even better to wash down a respectable buffalo meat quesadilla from the lodge’s grill with the Moose Drool Brown Ale I picked on my way through Cody, about 50 miles to the east.
Odd building materials in vehicles may sound quirky and clever, but the process is nothing new, and is all about doing good for the environment.