Thoughts from the Curb

Dec 22, 2008 - 2009 Ford Escape in Canada

Greetings from Mississauga, Ontario. The hometown of one James D. Riswick.

I'm up here on Christmas vacation and to get around this frozen tundra, I enlisted some help from my friends at Ford Canada who set me up with a 2009 Ford Escape XLT 4WD with the 2.5-liter four-cylinder. Other than being a way to get around, this is my first time experiencing the Escape's new four-cylinder. It's now enough to move the thing, but it's constantly moany and unhappy sounding. There'll be more Escape thoughts as the week goes on, though.

To pick up the Escape, I went through what I figure to be a true Canadian right of passage. Getting the keys from the confused Sunday morning security guard at Ford Canada HQ, I marched out into the uncleared parking lot (there was about 20 cm of snow on the ground) to find the Escape covered in powder. There was a good 50 cm of snow built up in between the Escape and the Flexes beside it. With the ice scraper and brush Ford was kind enough to provide, I cleared off as much of the car as I could -- including the roof -- to avoid being one of those jerks who drives down the road providing an extra dose of blizzard to those driving behind. It took about 10 minutes, but I finally got the car cleared.

Some would consider this a pain in the ass, but I live where it's 72 degrees and sunny during the 51 other weeks of the year. I can clear off one Ford Escape on week 52. But holy crap was it cold. The in-car thermometer read -14 C last night (do your own conversion) -- and to think we were just shivering in L.A.'s record-low 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Wimps.

-James Riswick

5:57 am | Categories: car reviews, driving adventures Permalink | Alert Administrator

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