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Tag Archives: comfort


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Sunset // #RangerRaptor

Sunset.

A quick change, and time for the technical presentation hosted by our Chairman, Steven Armstrong.

Then dinner, and catching up with Elisabeth and Florian, from the other employee pair.

We were all exhausted, sand-blasted (I swear sand poured out of my ear like a cartoon), and smiling from cheek to cheek – reflecting on our good fortune to be here at all but also on the experience of being in such an effortlessly capable vehicle in such exciting surroundings.

You know, we are still only on day one… stay tuned!

I’ve been taking part in a really special @fordeu event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #RangerRaptor More…


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Tea Break // #RangerRaptor

Go on, do as we did after our first bout of dune driving (no pics of during, it was all too exciting and fast for stills, but the Ranger handles it with no more effort than a trip to the shops) – take five minutes and catch up with the other posts on this blog, or maybe check out my colleagues’ YouTube channels…

Florian

Filip

Drink it in…

I’ve been taking part in a really special @fordeu event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #RangerRaptor More…


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Turn the Airways Blue // Wake Me Up

So I’m back in the UK after my first product launch event (please not my last!).

As I’m heading into work today, to a place that is certainly NOT Northern Spain, I’m mindful of this research from Spotify and Ford earlier in the week, that despite my Love of Loud, a melancholy song may actually be the best way to ease into your morning, showing us “that the morning commute is an important transitional time”.

According to Amy Belfi, a cognitive neuroscientist from New York University who is an expert on the effects of music on the brain, “What was particularly intriguing was that far from having to be ‘happy’ songs those most likely to have an uplifting effect could equally be brooding and melancholic. Of course, ‘sad’ songs can actually make us feel good about ourselves. They may remind us, for example, of difficult experiences that we have overcome and learned from.”

I’ll be posting my final posts soon, so for now I’m listening to Green Day, Wake Me Up When September Ends, and taking time to reflect…

Ford_2017_ScienceOfSound_03

I’ve been taking part in a really special @forduk event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #newfiesta #FordFiesta


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Robot Buttocks // Sunscreen

You may have guessed, but the titles I choose for these blog posts aren’t always *quite* what the press pack says…

Anyway, we were handed a handy list of 5 things we absolutely did not know about the All-New Ford Fiesta (to be fair, I only knew one of them) before we came out.

Apparently the leather seats have been tested to ensure they are resistant to damage or staining from sunscreen, or more relevantly in my case from a new pair of jeans. I mean, skin can fade and you won’t be a smurf forever, but when that stuff transfers to something you can’t wash… ugh.

1280px-Nao_humanoid_robot

And robot buttocks are employed to sit 25,000 times in the seats, to test their durability. I feel like after a few years with any car my seat has been sat in way more than that though, given the amount of times I get in and out of my car to

a) go back in the house and check I didn’t leave my straighteners on

b) go back in the house and check I closed all the windows (I’m quite forgetful)

c) get in the back of the car to pick up whatever toy my littlest (3) has dropped and is now screeching about

d) repeating c) again, and again, and again…

e) move the cat from the driveway to avoid hefty vets bills when I return home…

I could go on.

Anyway, I’m at the end of day 1 of the launch event, and I actually drove! For the first time in a left-hand drive car, in a foreign country – it was amazing and slightly terrifying in equal measure.

Comfortwise, here is my initial verdict. 

We paired up to take the cars out, and Pete and I drove a 3dr Fiesta Titanium, and the handling and suspension was great – I enjoyed the ride as passenger and even as a nervous driver. The seats were comfortable and felt ‘held in’.
A friend asked if a 6ft2 person could fit in and a journalist was only too pleased to answer that he could! 

At 5ft 0 I have the opposite problem. I found that the (cloth) seats adjusted beautifully, both in height and in forward movement, so I felt comfortable behind the wheel. However (as per most 3dr cars) when you move the seat quite a way forward you end up dislocating your shoulder to reach back for the seat belt – so that’s my niggle.

I certainly had no problem leaping in and out for photo opportunities and the boot, while small in comparison to my SMax (of course) held everything we needed for the trip. A thumbs up for the robots then!

I’m taking part in a really special @forduk event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #newfiesta #FordFiesta


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Ground Control // A Fibreglass Cow

It’s has been a looooong time since I’ve flown anywhere on my own.

I recommend it.

After our welcome from hosts Chris Muers, Product Marketing Manager, Chris Rushton, Fiesta Marketing Manager and Oliver Rowe, Public Affairs Manager, and a getting-to-know-you bacon roll for the Fellowship in the lounge, we boarded our private charter plane and were off…

As I listened to the shop-talk from the journalists around me (including the story of the fibreglass cow which I wish I’d heard more than the end of…), I settled back.

This is the first time, to my knowledge, that the Company has sent ‘tame’ employees on a product launch and having represented the Marketing & Sales team in my HR role for a number of years I can see why the opportunity was something people often wistfully mentioned.

Lunch was served, chicken with quails egg and peppers, gorgeous goats cheese and French bread, a light brownie.


None of it shared, bargained or swapped, no need to cast around to check that everyone has something they want and won’t cry because it’s on their plate.

No need to upend everything for an urgent toilet visit with a child who swore blind they didn’t need a wee five minutes ago.

A seat for my bag.

Above the clouds.

Bliss.

Before I came out, I watched a couple of YouTube videos describing what going on a trip like this is like. I’m struck by one of the journalists very honestly saying that while the trips can (sometimes!) be pretty luxurious, it’s not about the company trying to curry favour or ‘buy’ a good review, more putting the journalists in a healthy state of mind and body to do a review justice. I think that sounds fair, don’t you?

While on the plane, plenty of journalists beavered away at their press packs and laptops on the plane, working through the specifications, preparing a structure.

I wonder how many pre-prepared paragraphs will be blown away when we get to the cars..?

I sincerely hope we do a good enough job while we are here to ensure the Company offers this again (and I already hope I can be part of the team again one day too!).

Now our descent… the adventure begins in earnest…

I’m taking part in a really special @forduk event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #newfiesta #FordFiesta