The images: seemingly endless roads that vary from paved to rough; equally endless rows of houses and trees; the wind blowing on your face; the soundtracks from the stereo vary as the terrain changes... The only thing that matters is the road ahead. Long rides and drives, whether in cars or motorcycles, connote paradoxes — both aimless wanderings and purposeful journeys. That’s why of all the names of cars I’ve come across, the Escape would always hold a special meaning.
As other car names connote engine power or maybe the vehicle’s origins or design inspirations, the Ford Escape hints of something like having the power to say "enough with the commonplace because it’s time to experience the extraordinary." And that’s exactly what a good SUV must mean to its owner, the vehicle is a symbol of potential for something amazing to happen for a change.
So we said enough with the workday drives between the house and the office and took the road that for once could lead somewhere unexpected. The Ford Fearless Escape Media Ride and Drive took its participants from humdrum Manila to Ifugao, Cagayan Valley and the Ilocos Region on the Ford Escape 3.0L V6, which just happens to be the most powerful subcompact SUV in the country.
The road led to many surprises as the first lunch of the entire trip was served at the highest point of Dalton Pass. Under the noonday sun as the winds picked up, what would ordinarily be lunch at the office cafeteria or some crazed fastfood became a picnic overlooking Nueva Vizcaya. Leave it to Ford Group Philippines to arrange lunch where no man has lunched before. FGP got its own chef and kitchen to tag along.
On the other hand, the downside about riding a private vehicle on a cross-country trip is that one misses out on how subtly the geography changes. I don’t only mean the lay of the land or the shifts in the climate. Take a boat trip for example. As the ship pulls away, let’s say from the port of Manila, the people are all generally speaking in Tagalog. Now as the ship approaches the port of Bacolod, one would notice how the language changes to Ilonggo. This occurrence simply just happens, as if there is an invisible pull on the tongue or the mannerisms of everyone to shift cultures. But during a long ride on a freeway, it’s like one is just simply teleported to another culture instantly. It was easy to spot the mountain trails and feel the colder weather of Banaue, but not until the cultural presentation of the Ifugao men and women did the reality sink in, that we have become just visitors merely looking in from the periphery. The lure of the road has merged with the lure of the unfamiliar.
And much of the unknown in North Luzon comes with the driving, I suppose. To come upon a stretch of road that one had never passed through before must be a kind of quiet thrill for the designated driver. And if there’s one thing that was proven on this test drive, it’s that the Ford Escape has the guts to match any daring driver or face any unfamiliar road. Don’t let the size nor the style fool you, the Ford Escape can go where a driver wants to go with its pulling power, agile maneuvering and smooth transmission.
I had to transfer cars during the trip (started on the Everest and ended up in a Ranger) that the only time I ever really dug my butt deep into the stylish, leather passenger seat of an Escape was during the drive from Cagayan to Ilocos Norte on a road which skirts the northernmost coast of Luzon. During what was practically a rally race for our infra red Escape driver Mike Black (Hot Wire) and his navigator rally race veteran Andre Palma (The Philippine Daily Inquirer), I slept. Let’s just say I dreamt of Fort Ilocandia’s smorgasbord breakfast buffet as Mike and Andre managed the bad roads in dim light and the good coastal roads in pitch-black darkness while we all hurried to get to Laoag before midnight. Dreams of omelettes, all kinds of cereals and fruits, endless coffee refills and rows and rows of all kinds of bread... Sleeping like a baby during the most tricky part of our trip — that’s my experience of the Escape’s roomy interior and superb ride.
There was really not much to worry about when taking an Escape through tricky roads. It’s built with various safety features like safety cell construction, dual airbags and an Anti-lock Brake System. So whether it’s on the snaking mountain roads of Ifugao, on the rolling hills of Cagayan or the tricycle- and kuliglig-infested National Highway in Ilocos, an Escape can overpower danger (although it can’t overpower a bad driver).
When I got to my destination in sunny and surf-friendly La Union where I asked FGP to drop me off on the group’s way back to Manila, it turned out the Ford Escape 3.0L is a vehicle my Ilokano friends would call "nainut." They couldn’t believe it when I told them that one of the participants in the Ride and Drive actually logged 10 kilometers to a liter. Epektibo, napigsa, natalged, nalagda, komportable ken nainut (efficient, powerful, safe, durable comfortable AND economical) — can the Ford Escape be all that? Well, the Escape is definitely all that and more. The virtue of an SUV is more than its specs and its design. It comes with a promise to take you somewhere more interesting than where you already are. And though at the end of the trip you are right back where you started, it doesn’t mean nothing has changed. Why don’t you try to go on an OBT yourself?