We don’t normally rave about a rental, but in all honesty, we don’t normally rent things anything but asunder, so this experience has been a big exception for us in at least a couple ways, but the overall benefits of these neo-fangled Ford Explorers have us junior explorers giddy as geoducks, and I just don’t think I can say enough nice things about it.
First of all, on the day of our southbound departure for the grand city of San Francisco, Patrick came outside and saw the luggage loaded mini-truck and declared, “coooool” adding only, “that’s really, really cooooool.”
He summed it up nicely at that point, but I’m critical by nature, and not just because I’m in a new phase where I whine all the time, but because it’s my job. I was ready to see some benefits in this car, but I was also ready to take them with the needed grains of salt to be fair, imbalanced. What I didn’t realize was that grains of salt wouldn’t cut it, I needed whole salt licks, and that’s a really tough order to swallow.
The first thing we noticed was how quiet and spacious it was, even loaded down with enough supplies to keep a quarter dozen junior journalists afloat for a seeming eternity. It was comfortable, smelled nice, and drove even nicer, whether in corners or on straightaways. I liked it already, but I wasn’t convinced, not yet.
What we really liked was that the Explorer had a navigation system, which seemed as much a new discovery to Daddy-O as it did to us, but within a few hours of transit, we discovered the strange, well-concealed screen that dropped to reveal a DVD player… wait a minute, you’re telling me that new cars can come packaged with devices to show endless cartoons in transit? This is just about crazy already right here. I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to tear myself away from The Incredibles long enough to finish this review, but I’ll try.
The sound was good, the movies were good, the ride was sleepily smooth and the peace of mind our handlers enjoyed was second to none. Is this what modern cars have to offer or is it just the Ford lineup?
The parents also liked that the powerful V8 still got double the gas mileage of our current quasi-big-rig, and that it could effortlessly handle the high speeds of interstate highways. Sure, they liked that we were happy and that all of our stuff fit well within the confines of the cargo compartment, but I think they were more interested in stopping for coffee than getting us where we were going.
But the nicest things we all liked were the little things. The backup warning that kept us from bashing into strangers, the cargo tie-downs, the kiddy-window and lock lockouts and the general ease of driving it.
I guess I shouldn’t act all surprised since our current car is already a Ford (and it ain’t daddy’s first). So if not surprised, what am I? I don’t know, I guess disgruntled. Yes, disgruntled is a polar opposite of pleasantly surprised, but if you had to go from a fine wagon like a brand new Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorer back to our Cretaceous era conversion van, you might wind up disgruntled too.
Above - There isn't much in this life or this car that can make a ride much more bearable than motion picture entertainment.
(Article appears courtesy of www.PerplexingTimes.com)
