Normally when testing out a car, my first thought is, How far can we go!? Right now, with the restrictions we decided to just hit up some local family favorites, and test it out on our day-to-day routine. The 2021 Ford Explorer hybrid was up to the challenge!!
Another thing that happened right before this, we got a new puppy!! So, the timing was perfect as we had a lot of puppy related errands and shopping that needed to get done right away.
My first stop was Costco, hadn’t been in a very long time and needed bird seed and a lot of our larger basics. Super convenient vehicle for that, and so much space. This SUV is just so easy to drive, parking is a breeze too.
We checked out a pet store for some necessities, and of course I could not resist a puppy pool!!! Summer stuff is selling out so quickly everywhere, I really didn’t want to wait and risk not getting it. While I was checking out I realized it might not fit because we already had a lot of stuff in there, tons of room for everything. The seats at the back go down very easily with the push of a button, and it makes for an amazing amount of shopping room!!
We tried to go to the Farmers market on the weekend, but the lineup was way too long – so we headed out for a little drive to do some shopping and pick up our groceries for the week that way. It’s the perfect road trip vehicle, you feel like you could just drive forever. And with it being so good on fuel and that it’s a hybrid – you really could!! Picked up my absolute favorite cookies at New B’s cafe in New Bothwell – I even got a bunch extra to freeze!! Make the trip worth it, and just can’t resist their Grandmother cookies. Also grabbed some pantry staples at the Stony Brook pantry in Steinbach – dried beans, baking supplies, lucky charms marshmallows and a lot more.
One thing we have been doing a lot of this past year is eating in the car – and the Explorer had so much room we could have a car picnic! We went to the Half Moon drive in for dinner – and thankfully this car is super comfy because the lineup was super long there too! It’s always great to see a local business doing so well, and they were so efficient and friendly that no one seemed to mind waiting. One super cool feature on the Explorer is this quick park button – instead of actually going into park, when you’re waiting at a drive-thru and you keep having to move and stop and move and stop – you just click this and it’s a temporary park. My husband absolutely loved that feature – it’s one of those things that sound a bit weird, but that once you use it, you love it. Seems there’s a lineup everywhere these days, so definitely something we ended up using a lot.
The weather had been all over the place around then, so one thing we really liked was all of the driving modes. There’s seven selectable drive models – Normal, Trail, Deep Snow/Sand, Slippery, Sport, Row/Haul and Eco mode. You can pretty much use each of those in one week at the right time of year in Winnipeg!!
Lots of bells and whistles, so many neat safety features – like the lane keeping system which alerts you if you’re starting to drift a little bit. Definitely a super safe and comfy drive. I really like how cozy it is, very family focused and how you can change things around a lot to suit any size of family. Great for summer – tons of room for supplies, for towing a boat or camper – and everyone comfy and cozy during it.
I also wanted to add in that we followed all the rules and safety stuff during this time – as we always do. Ford did a great job too with all of that, the dealership is handling all these new rules effortlessly. Always nice to see, and very appreciated. I’ve always loved reviewing Ford vehicles and all of the opinions expressed above are completely mine – I actually ended up choosing the vehicle I drive now based on testing so many out before.