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Ford and Me

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Friends // PLAY

Music connects, uplifts, affects… and FordSocial reports research from Spotify that reveals “that it is during solo drives, in our own private space, that we cue up secret playlists, turn the music up and sing our hearts out. For many of us, there are playlists that we only dare turn to in the car, an especially intense place to listen to music where the sound is designed to perfectly fill the space we are occupying.”

You know already that when I heard I was to join the launch event team I turned the volume right up with some Faith No More. My tastes are pretty varied – I know I’m feeling down when I haven’t got the heart to sing along to the radio, and I flip between stations to find something that fits – be it smooth Motown, ’80s pop, ’90s rock… but if I can play steering wheel drums while I drive it’s probably a winner – Guns’n’Roses tends to hit the spot pretty reliably!

The new B&O PLAY Sound System for editions of the all-new Fiesta is said to be the most powerful for a car in its class. “Engineers spent a year listening to more than 5,000 tracks to ensure the premium 675-watt technology sounded great whether enjoying Adele, Foo Fighters or Jay-Z – or chilling out to classical music – no matter how quietly or loudly you play it.”

So I polled my friends to find out what their go-to, turn-it-UP tracks are for the car, and while we cover a huge range of musical tastes, here are the tracks that came up time and time again:

  • Bon Jovi – It’s My Life
  • ELO – Mr Blue Sky
  • Guns’n’Roses – Sweet Child of Mine
  • Killers – Mr Brightside
  • Meatloaf – Bat Out of Hell
  • Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (another 41-year old in the mix!)

All of which I would cheerfully turn all the way up. As you can see, I have excellent taste in friends!

My colleagues at this launch event chose these:

  • Hazel: Power / Little Mix
  • Pete: Leeds United / Amanda Palmer
  • Nathan: Living on a Prayer / Bon Jovi (we like Nathan!)
  • James: Cocoons by Bungle (James used to be a DJ)
  • Adam: Storm Queen / Look Right Through 
  • Rick (@Ford):  Victoria / The Kinks

Even our Chairman, Andy Barratt, has recently shared his musical tastes (from Coldplay to Górecki if you’re asking).

So what was my verdict on the B&O system in the All-New Fiesta?

Spanish radio is not good. And whoever had preprogrammed a playlist into the system had missed our tastes entirely!

But when you find something you love you can turn up the sound and despite being as loud as you want it sounds wonderfully balanced – surrounding you from all angles, with depth, rather than attacking you with a front wall of noise. 

As someone who tends to like to tick the options box the extra couple of hundred pounds is worth considering, and of course the B&O PLAY system is included as standard with the Vignale, which was our Day 2 drive.

2018-ford-fiesta-b-o-sound-system

To find out more about Ford’s research with Spotify, click here.

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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Epic // Fall in Love

You can touch it, smell it, taste it so sweet…

(Faith No More, Epic)

I’ve never owned a Fiesta; well I have in a way because my husband had one for a few years between his (sshhh… notFord) convertible and his current Focus, as a nippy consort to our workhorse Grande Dame, my Ford S-Max.

With three small children the S-Max is a necessity, and we love it, but I used to delight in escaping with the Fiesta for occasional trips – like being set free, with rollerskate handling, a responsive pop of energy, and the sheer joy of gamboling along country lanes – taking the Fiesta out was like a little holiday, making journeys from want rather than mundane need. I miss that car…

So when my employer (Ford, in case you hadn’t guessed) offered employees the chance to spend some close-up and personal time with the All-New Fiesta I jumped at the chance to apply.

I’m no petrolhead – I only know what I like and what makes me feel good.

For me the car has always been a symbol of my independence; as a teen it freed me from reliance on parents and painfully irregular rural public transport, and opened up a way to swing through traffic and swoop towards the sunset.

Now I’m (a little) older, and once the children are dropped off at school and I’m on my own in my bubble of sound and comfort, it’s a symbol of me-time, a few minutes’ freedom to rediscover what makes my heart beat a little faster, and what makes me uniquely… me.

I heard I’d been selected to join the product launch event just as I was heading out the door on another school run – and turning the volume up, foot down, I threw my S-Max round the country lanes, and I’ll admit a little whoop may have burst out – much like the Faith No More song blasting out (I am THAT person in the MPV playing ’80s/’90s rock loudly and singing along without a care) I felt pretty Epic…

I know that the secret to falling in love with our cars is getting behind the wheel, so preparing for this product launch event feels a little like preparing for a blind date – I’m thinking about how I’m going to get there, what I’m going to wear, and of course whether I’ll like the car – or instead experience whatever the car equivalent might be of that evening I had once where my date let a door swing back in my face, or the time when another date refused to get a round in…

But then what if I like it very much indeed..?

You want it all, but you can’t have it…

(Faith No More, Epic)

Can I..?

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