Ford Ecosport: Philippines Adventure Experience

Ford got us to drive the Explorer and the Escape on ‘Day 1’, and it was now time to take on the Ecosport as we moved on to the first half of ‘Day 2’ of the Ford Experience drive in Philippines. The Ecosport needs no introduction and is one of the most successful compact SUVs the Indian market has seen till date.

Ford believes the success behind their Ecosport is a representation of the evolving customer demand. Compact SUVs have seen rapid growth thanks to customers wanting nimble efficient vehicles that are easy to drive and park in busy urban areas. They offer many of the same benefits of the larger SUVs including roomier cargo areas, high driver position and a sense of robustness. These SUVs are perfect for city driving as well as weekend escapes.

The plan for us today was to experience the life of a Ford Ecosport owner by completing multiple city errands and a quick escape from the city before heading back to the hotel. To begin with, we headed out in the 1.5-litre automatic petrol version (India spec) towards the town of San Fernando and this needed us to drive on the highway built over the Mega Dike access road. This man made elevated structure was built after the Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, and serves to protect the city of Angeles from the aftermaths of another volcanic eruption.

Post this, we stopped by a lantern shop to find out the story behind these decorative articles. Filipinos are predominantly Catholic, so they celebrate Christmas in December. However, lantern shops spring up next to the roads from as early as September, and locals begin selling these lanterns. For the Filipinos, lanterns serve as decorations like Christmas trees, so they are hung and lit in the front of their houses to make the ambience more festive. These lanterns are made from one such sea shell that is flat and transparent, and the local artists paint them so that they become colourful when lit. We also tried our hand at decorating such lanterns!

After reliving our school days with this activity, we then drove through the packed city streets, and pulled over at a food joint called ‘Susie's Cuisine’ in Angeles. We were guided on how to make the local popular sweet snack called ‘Halo Halo’ to lighten our spirits further. This snack is similar to our ‘Falooda’ and involved mixing ingredients like banana, coconut jelly, white kidney beans, violet yam, condensed milk, crushed ice, caramel custard and milk. Apparently, it is quite heavy and driving after consuming a ‘Halo Halo’ wasn’t exactly my idea of having a break.

Our next stop was the busy Nepo Mart, a market where we had to try our hand at bargaining with the local stall owners to buy local edible delicacies, some souvenirs and a crate of tender coconut. No doubt, we surely went through the ownership experience of an Ecosport like expected, and with only the Endeavour left to be driven for the Ford Experience drive, we quickly headed for the hotel for lunch.