More than 500 kilometers with the Ford Everest

Those who are familiar with Thailand or who have traveled to that country that’s bannered internationally by their tourism spin masters as the "land of smiles", would identify places like Pattaya and Koh Chang with leisure — beaches, island paradise, resorts, souvenir shopping etc. But last week they were workplaces for some 29 motoring journalists, six of whom were from the Philippines — Pinky Colmenares of the Bulletin, Ron delos Reyes of Auto Review-Channel 4, Tessa Salazar of the Inquirer, Ardie Lopez of Auto Extreme-Channel 9 and myself — the rest from Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Thailand. But being a test drive event, it was more of having fun and excitement for the motoring media. The edge, however of the Pinoy journalists, was that we had no less than the top marketing man of Ford Group Philippines, Mr. Dave Macasadia, to look after us. With Dave’s well-known mild mannered personal touch, any trip can never be less pleasant nor less wholesome.

Our group left Manila a little after 10 in the morning of Wednesday, September 10 via PAL for an approximately three and a half hour-trip to Bangkok. After touchdown a two and a half hours of travel time via Thailand’s wide and well-paved highways took us to Pattaya where we comfortably stayed overnight at the Marriott Resort and Spa. The next day we were scheduled for another land trip to what is considered as the Detroit of the South East.

The Ford Regional Media Ride & Drive centered on the Everest, Ford’s latest SUV in the market that’s scheduled to be launched in the Philippines by November this year. The 2-day event started with a plant tour of Auto Alliance Thailand (ATT) located in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate, Rayong Province. This is a US$ 500 million state-of-the-art integrated vehicle manufacturing plant established in 1995 as a joint venture between the Ford Motor Company (50 %) and the Mazda Motor Corporation (45 %) together with Mazda Sales Thailand (5 %) to produce pickup trucks for both local and overseas markets.

The technical tour, I must admit, would have been more exciting if we were allowed to bring in our audio-visual equipment. Although I noticed lately that this limitation has been lifted in my more recent trips to similar automotive plants in Japan and Europe, probably considering that most of what’s being done in them worldwide were no longer well-kept secrets, except of course inside design quarters where new models and concepts are understandably under wraps.

After dozens of automotive plant tours in different parts of the world in more than a decade of being a motoring journalist, to me one plant is starting to look just like the other. However, the ATT is where the Everest is being made and shipped from to more than 50 countries worldwide including the Philippines and looking at a unit as it takes shape in the assembly line somehow made it a little different, thinking that one of those I was looking at just might be one of those that would actually end up in our roads.

After the plant tour and a lively Q&A with Ford executives lead by ATT president, Mr. Toshihide Saeki, Everest design engineer Mr. Ken Gutowski and Ford regional marketing executive Mr. Mike Pease, a fleet of nine brand new Everest SUVs were assigned to the journalists who were divided into several groups. Pinky, Tessa and myself together with Dave as the Ford representative were to drive with manual transmission while Ron and Ardie were given an automatic for the first day of test drive. Expectedly we were going to have a change in the next day for us to be able to experience the two modes. There were also five more other Ford vehicles composed of three Escapes and two Explorers, which the test drive marshals used to safely herd us through the test drive.

From ATT it was all drive and ride for two days all the way to Bangkok. Our first leg took all of 113 kilometers with me on the wheels before we stopped for lunch of mostly seafood at the Leam-Mae-Tim Beach Resort. Of course it took a little of getting used to as I had to shift gears with my left hand while I keep in mind to stay on the left side of the road.

After lunch it was Pinky’s turn to mess around with the windshield wiper when she needed to put on the signal light as "sweetheart" tried to get used to the left-hand drive while driving the length of 117 kilometers to the next stop, a gas station where Tessa took over for a 26 kilometer drive to a pier. That was where all the vehicles were loaded for a 30-minute ferry ride to Koh Chang, otherwise known in Thailand as the "last paradise island in Southeast Asia".

After a short sunset cruise a hearty dinner of seafood galore was prepared in the island at the very luxurious Aiyapura Hotel where we stayed overnight. A long warm bubble bath at the tub was the order of the day after almost seven hours of driving and riding and to get ready for another long day of the same.

It was again Tessa who took the wheel of another Everest, this time with an automatic transmission, for the winding and up and down island drive right after breakfast that took us again to the ferry for the ride back. All us passengers enjoyed the ride better as we got to appreciate the breathtaking view of the sea from the snaking roads of Koh Chang island.

After lunch at the Fisherman’s Village it was my turn at the wheel for the rest of the more than 300 kilometers of travel back to Bangkok. Except for looking blindly most of the time to your upper right side for the rear view mirror, which can be only found on the upper left on a right hand drive car, traveling in Thailand is a great pleasure, what with highways that mostly have three-lanes on either side and safely divided with fenced delineator in the middle.

During dinner we were advised by the test drive marshals that the rest of the drive to Bangkok may be a little tricky considering that rain was expected and we had to keep the convoy intact to avoid being lost when we reach the city, a prospect that was not very welcomed as none of us knew the local topography. Being the more experienced drivers among the four of us, greatly due to our seniority I suppose, Dave and I decided to split the remaining length.

Dave volunteered to take the initial leg before the final fuel stop and after seeing him drive splendidly through the changing weather, I told myself that I should take the opportunity to get my much sought after cat naps, which I took even on the last leg after Dave volunteered again to take the wheel to the finish line.

(Next week a close look at the Ford Everest)

Pit Lane Notes

Banderang tapos. That’s the term local horseracing enthusiasts would have dubbed Michael Schumacher’s performance in Monza as he lead from pole and finished ahead of everybody else giving up the lead briefly only during pit stops.

All the excitement in last Sunday’s race was all lumped at the start. The car of Justin Wilson leaped into the air causing an early DNF for the Jaguar driver after his tires touched with that of Fernando Alonso of Renault as the Spaniard was jacking up for position right after all the starting lights went out and when Williams-BMW’s Juan Pablo Montoya went wheel to wheel with Schumy but failed to pass the defending champion at the initial turns of the Italian Grand Prix.

But despite Schumacher’s win and Rubens Barichello’s third place finish right at the heart of Tifosi country, the Williams Team still lead the Constructors’ Championship ahead of the Prancing Horse Team with Juan Pablo’s runner up finish, which also kept the Driver’s Championship still within reach as the German only leads the Columbian with a mere 3 points while McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen is only 7 points from the leader, very surmountable with still two races left in this year’s series — the US Grand Prix in Indy and the final leg in Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix.

There are talks going around that Takuma Sato will replace Jacques Villenueve before the season ends. In fact, Sato might get to race in front of his home crowd because BAR Honda is thinking of making the move in time for the Japanese Grand Prix, which is set for next month. Although former champion Villeneuve was never informed that such a decision had been made, he is not discounting a fact that it is very possible that he would be out of BAR soon. Sadly, his present team is his only option right now, so if he is indeed going to be replaced, then there is a huge possibility that we won’t be seeing the Canadian next season. Then maybe also not, considering the acceptable finish he just had in Monza.

I reported last week that Ferrari was planning to protest all of the races this season because of the controversy surrounding the change of rules regarding the tires, but it now seems pretty farfetched because, according to an unnamed source from the FIA, it would be close to impossible to find evidence at this point. I guess it’s for the better — can you imagine the turmoil that the protest would have brought the league?

Happy Motoring!!!

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