A Midsummer Day’s...

MANILA, Philippines - “And though she be but little, she is fierce...” said Helena, of petite Hermia, in one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ Now, in the motoring world, I think the Hermia of engines has to be Ford’s latest Ecoboost technology—for a compact engine that can fit right on top of an A4-sized sheet of paper, it sure packs a lot of punch, per pound (or square-inch, for that matter!).

To drive it is to believe it. Certainly I have heard that the Ford 1.0L Ecoboost won International Engine of the Year for two consecutive years, beginning in 2012; but the deal-maker was when I actually had the chance to drive the new Fiesta Sport+ 1.0L Ecoboost on an Eco Fun Run from the Ford Makati dealership to Gourmet Farms in Cavite. As a matter of fact, I felt it was the perfect car for the occasion. We had an extremely gas-sipping, hot-looking car that came with class-leading safety features and a delightful array of smart technologies. And our Fiesta convoy rolled in vibrant summer colors, turning heads while cruising on the highway.

The Fiesta has always been one of Ford’s bestselling models since its local launch back in 2010, but I have to admit that the restyling of the all new Fiesta Sport+ has become a personal favorite. Perhaps it is because the car looks even bolder now—more feisty. The new grille on the celestial blue Fiesta that I drove had me daydreaming that it was like an angry mecha character from one of my videogames; and perhaps the swept-back chinky new headlamps added to the anime character vibe. Its new expressive lines make it more aerodynamic and sexy; but most of all, that tiny turbocharged powerhouse can churn out 125ps of power (comparable to a car with regular 1.6L displacement) with a peak torque of 170Nm @1400-4500rpm.

“Ford Fiesta continues to push the boundaries and seal its credentials as the small car that stands out from the competition,” is what Ford Philippines Managing Director Kay Heart emphasized during the new fiesta launch a while back. And the brand has not fallen short in keeping its word—it has certainly added a lot of value to the already feature-brimming Ford Fiesta.

Our Eco Fun Run route had us cruise through the Skyway one cloudy Thursday morning, continue on to the SLEX, and finally to the Shell station past the Tagaytay rotunda, where we refilled our tanks to determine who consumed the least amount of fuel during our journey. The drive itself, was a pleasant experience of what the new model had to offer; and aside from the comfy seats and modern interior (with its very distinct mobile-phone-inspired dashboard), what stood out really were the many smart features that came with the Fiesta.

As a tool to help us maximize our eco-driving, we were each given USB sticks (prior to the drive), which we were instructed to plug in to the car so that we could listen to audio files that spoke of fuel-saving techniques, intertwined with a playlist of cruising tunes, while driving to our destination. Intermittently, the lead and sweep cars would also communicate with each one of us in our respective vehicles via voice calls, which turned out to be extremely convenient thanks to the brand’s proprietary Ford SYNC—yes, this technology is now also available in the Fiesta—which allows the driver and passengers to sync their mobile phones with the car via Bluetooth, and thus answer phone calls (on speaker phone) and listen to text messages, without lifting a finger from the steering wheel or moving one’s eyes off the road!

Additionally, SYNC can automatically transfer up to 1,000 of your phone contacts to the car’s system; and you can also voice-activate phone calls by simply saying voice commands and stating the name of the person you want to call (as saved in your phonebook). To top it off, 3-way conference calls may also be set up through the Fiesta’s new instrument panel. And you can actually keep your phone connected for hands-free calls on standby, even while you’re simultaneously streaming music from a mobile phone of one of your passengers. SYNC can in fact, remember connection details for up to 12 devices!

Combined with its other smart technologies, such as its trusty Smart Keyless Entry (that lets you open the car by simply pulling on the door handle, for as long as you have the transponder with you), the new Fiesta is truly ready for the digital generation.

Another tool that came in handy for our eco-drive was Ford’s Ecomode, which is a software application that measures the driver’s gear-shifting, anticipation, and speed, in order to calculate whether eco-driving is being practiced, and to what degree. The driver is thus, rewarded with in-car kudos in the form of leaf icons—that light up on the instrument cluster, to signal that you’re doing a good job.

And after finally reaching the plotted Shell station and topping up...yours truly emerged as the big winner of the Eco Fun Run, with an astounding fuel consumption rating of 39.3 km/L! Yes, that means my 5-door Fiesta Sport+ combined with my eco-driving managed to get us to Cavite, from Makati (a total of 68 kms.) while consuming an extremely modest 1.73 liters of gas!

All things being equal, the big secret lies within Ford’s state-of-the-art engine technology that combines the benefits of direct gasoline injection with turbocharging and variable valve timing. In fact, you hardly even notice that the car is actually running on 3-cylinders, except you get to reap the generous benefits in terms of fuel consumption, and gain even up to a 15 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

Upon arriving at Gourmet Farms, the team completed the “Green” experience by: learning how to properly prepare and toss a salad, dining al fresco, walking through the vast farmlands and vegetable patches, and even harvesting our very own lettuce heads straight from the ground.

A faithfully holistic friend of mine once told me the difference between getting your vegetables from the market stand vs straight from the plot. “Although you may deem your vegetables from the market stand to be in good shape,” he explained, “Vegetables that are directly harvested from the ground are not just fresh, they are alive.”

Similarly, I encourage you to test and check out the difference of the new Ford Fiesta Sport+ with Ecoboost. It’s a little bag of surprises. But there ain’t no magic here. Only science.