In February this year, just before the lockdown was imposed on South Africa, I was extremely lucky to have a two week trip to Cape Town and the surrounding Winelands planned as my annual holiday, which was not only an incredible way to see the country but also to spend time with family, as I am originally from Cape Town and had not been back in some time.
Ford was gracious enough to offer us the use of one of their vehicles to get around, and of course, I leapt at the offer, with Ford being one of the biggest and most prolific motor vehicle companies in South Africa, and the fact that I did not have to outlay an extra expense hiring a car was a huge help.
I was told that the vehicle would be an Everest 2.0 which is an SUV – but not being a very car orientated gal, nor a raging motoring fanatic, I was not quite sure what all of that entailed.
The car was dropped off while I was still in transit, so imagine my surprise to see that the Ford Everest 2.0 was a giant, sexy, gleaming beast waiting for me when I arrived in Cape Town – it’s taller than me, as you can see!
Initially, I was a bit worried about driving such a ‘big’ car – but by day two I was loving just about everything that the Ford Everest had to offer. Sitting quite high up allows one the feeling of seeing everything that’s going on with ease and with the parking assist reversing was much smoother than I anticipated it to be.
The Ford Everest 2.0 seats 7 people comfortably, without luggage, and although the boot itself is small, the back seats fold down to offer a very large space, a family of 4 or 5 could easily travel in comfort and style with all their luggage. We made use of the space by purchasing wine at many of the farms we visited and the boot came in really handy.
Its interior is sleek and the seats comfortable, and even though I was driving long distances, I didn’t often feel stiff or that I need to stop and stretch my legs, and tacking the Franschhoek Mountain Pass was an utter breeze.
The vehicle is automatic, and as I drive an automatic at home, that made life easier. Sporting a sunroof, Active Park Assist (which is a HUGE help in tight spaces as it literally steers the car for you) and the vehicle is super safe with 7 airbags located in key areas and all the mod con’s like a voice automated system that allows you to manage all your devices without taking your hands off the wheel and a huge display screen – making following a GPS much easier, trust me.
I did struggle a bit with parking, I think just due to the fact that I was new to the size of the car and very aware that I must not scrape it which likely made me more nervous, I just parked further away, or if in some cases the bays in the underground parking garages were very small, we parked right at the end and straddled two bays – I think that was my only real issue with this car, and as I have said, most of it caused by me being a nervous Nelly!
I adored that the car was keyless, so even if the key is in your handbag, your thumbprint is enough to unlock all the doors – as a single woman this is a huge plus especially at night not to be searching in your handbag for your key in a parking garage or on the street, and it has a Stop-Start button to get you going, so no key needed at all, it took some getting used to the first few times – old habits die hard as they say!
From a fuel consumption point – the car is diesel, and we drove roughly 500 kilometres on one tank of fuel which got us through the entire two weeks, from Cape Town to Franschhoek, Paarl and Robertson (we scaled a few mountain passes, and took it off-road at Marbrin Olive Farm as well), which is not bad going considering- and it cost me roughly R 1 000 to refill the tank when we got back to Cape Town, I think that’s not a bad deal at all.
The vehicle pricing begins at around R 525 000 – and then, of course, there are extra’s etc that you can add which carry their own cost, all the bells and whistles.
As I said at the beginning of the article I am not a motoring expert at all, but I do like driving and have to say this was an extremely easy car to get used to driving, smooth and seamless are words that pop to mind, and if you are in the market for a new vehicle, please do reach out to your Ford dealer to see what they can offer you.
Find out more and #GoFurther with Ford – HERE…
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