On the Road with Chef Dennis - Ford F-150 Media Drive Event

Transition over to that.

We'll just talk to her. Hey everyone, I'm Chef Dennis and we are here for On the Road with Chef Dennis and we're really on the road today because we're here with the Ford Motor Company and with their Ford F-150. And I just want you to introduce yourself to everyone, tell them what you do.

Hello, I'm Dan. I'm a product specialist here with Ford. I'm a what's called a right seat driver, actually hang out in the vehicle, explain to you what's going on feature-wise with the new F-150. Big change for us here. Obviously we're moving to a new aluminum body, moving to that military-grade, high-strength steel— or aluminum with that new body. Steel-wise, we're moving frame-wise from 23% usage of high-strength steel to 77%. So phenomenal new product, more capable than it was previously. We actually increased towing and hauling over last year's model.

That sounds good. Now the high-strength steel, I've been hearing a lot about that, and you guys pretty much have a hold on that for a while, don't you? Did you buy the futures in that, or?

Not on the Hi-Strike Steel, but what we have is that military-grade aluminum. That's the 6000 series. Yes, and we actually have proprietary aluminum. We have a couple different, uh, providers for that aluminum body as well. And with that body, we actually have the ability to make a body that's lighter weight, up to 700 pounds less weight than last year's model, but at the same time more capable at the same time with the vehicle.

Wow, so that's going to help with gas mileage and give you added strength.

Definitely. We actually increased fuel economy by up to 29% with this new generation. So, 29% improvement with our new 2.7-liter V6. It's an EcoBoost, so it's got a twin turbo on it. It's hard to believe, even though it's half the displacement of a Triton 5.4 V8 that we sold previously, it actually has more horse and more torque than that Triton 5.4 had.

That's pretty good. Now, how much can they tow?

Up to 12,200. That's actually industry best. That's with our 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. It also has industry-best hauling capability with our 5-liter V8 at 3,300 pounds.

Wow. Now, I, you know, I would love a truck. My wife is not too keen on that idea, but I do have a Ford Edge that I love.

Yeah.

And last time I was up in Daytona with you guys, I drove the Escape and was all set to get that, and then I moved up to the Edge a little bit.

Yeah.

Truck looks awesome.

That it is. Yeah, we made a lot of improvements. We increased the size of the interior, made the seats more comfortable, and added more creature comforts as well as safety features. Over those previous generations.

Well, yeah, I think that's important because a lot more people are driving trucks than just workmen that used to drive them and depended upon them just to get them back and forth to work. Now you got people driving because they're fun. Yeah, they're pretty. Yeah, and they feel good inside. And you got all the Ford technology along with it too, which just always amazes me how much you guys were on top of things with the Bluetooth, the wireless. I mean, I, I talk to my car, it talks back. It's like, wow.

Yeah, it is incredible. The, uh, the MyFord Touch system is absolutely been amazing for us. Gives you up to a 10,000 voice command system with that. So you can actually even say, "I'm hungry," and it'll actually pop up with different restaurants. You can actually voice command the climate control, your phone as well. So the capability of the system is absolutely amazing.

I've done the, uh, the climate control and the phone. I have not said, "I'm hungry," yet. I will have to. And I'm hungry for gluten-free, as I will have to say. We'll see what it turns out for me then.

We'll have to work on that one. Not yet. Coming soon.

Coming soon. It'll be a new one. Yeah, allergy-free for driving. So tell me a little bit more about— now, when is the F-150 going to be available in showrooms for people to see?

It's actually trickling out to dealerships as we speak. So we're on timeline for launching the product. We're actually in December, so we're hitting the dealerships as we speak. By January, you'll pretty much see them across the board at all dealerships. So Kansas City will be coming up and on board very shortly. We have Dearborn online right now. They're actually producing the '15. The '14 model is still at Kansas City, though any day, if not already, may have already happened, they're switching over to the '15 model as well.

Very cool. And right in this area we have the Southern Ford Dealers. Is that right, Katie?

Correct.

Southern Ford Dealers, and they are pretty awesome. I follow them on all the social media. It's amazing how you guys have integrated yourself into social media too. It's an important part of it. And this is a Google+ Hangout on Air that we're doing right now. And it's gonna make a YouTube video. It does it automatically. You can stream from anywhere. We're using your Verizon hotspot, Jetpack, and it's working really well. We got a great upload speed on it. So we've got drivers ready to go. I know we've got a couple drivers gonna go in the car, and if any of your other people would like to talk, you know, send 'em on over. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about the Ford or what should I know?

We're gonna be in Florida for the next couple weeks. We're here till December 22nd. You can find us at f150drive.com. F-150 Drive tour, uh, I'm sorry, yeah, it is f150drive.com. I was mentioning the Twitter comment there, but, uh, f150drive.com will have all our different locations. You can find us there, you can come out, test drive the product, give an opportunity to win the truck as well. Plus we have some prizes for coming out and saying hello as well.

Very cool.

I know I had a great time driving your other cars when I was up in Daytona. In fact, I got flagged off the course because I wasn't real good with the clutch and they were kind of yelling at me, but they did have a driver go in and take me around the course a few times, so that was, that was a lot of fun.

Nice, that's awesome.

But I did drive the other ones, you know, it was just that.

What were you in? Were you in a—

I was in a Fiesta.

Was it an ST then, or—

Yes, and they had the track vehicle, and I'm trying like crazy to go around, and I had a great time with it, but he's yelling, the clutch is smoking, stop, stop! And I'm like, oh my God, this is embarrassing.

Yeah.

But then he put a driver in with me, and I saw the full potential of the car. Scared the bejesus out of me a little bit, but it was great.

Yeah, it's a phenomenal little product. 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine, 197 horsepower out of that little thing.

And then you have the— which one is the—

Fiesta?

No, the green car.

What we have is a Fusion hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and then we also have Focus Electric.

I drove one of them and I was amazed how much power it had.

It's phenomenal. My wife and I have a Lincoln MKZ hybrid, so it's the same powertrain, has a 2-liter, uh, Atkinson cycle, uh, 4-cylinder in it mixed with that hybrid technology. We own 3 vehicles, and that's the vehicle that we both fight for to drive daily.

It is our favorite.

We're actually over 42 on average. So, and she has, uh, for work she does a 45-mile drive to Dearborn each day. So it is phenomenal fuel economy. And then the creature comforts, you just can't beat it. Absolutely amazing.

I think that's what Ford does a lot more than a lot of the other cars, because before I bought the Edge, I test drove other models, and I'm looking at them going, why? Yeah, you know, and after you get in something like— when I sat in that leather, I was like, oh my God.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's only going to get better. Yeah, we're about to launch new generation, uh, Fusion— I'm sorry, uh, the new Edge as well, based off the new generation Fusion architecture. So it's going to be a little bit bigger vehicle overall. The interior will be a little bit more modern, bigger interior cabin with more technology.

But you know, technology is the way everyone's going, and you guys seem like you have the lead on that for sure.

Yeah, some of the systems that we have with the 360 camera view, it actually has the ability to look like a bird's eye view down at the vehicle. There's 4 cameras in the truck that give you this image. So in a parking lot situation, you can actually turn it on up to 5 miles per hour, utilize this system to go through a parking lot, make sure, especially in that blind right corner of the truck, that you're not going to clip.

So that's on the F-150?

It is. In fact, uh, one of the vehicles that we have here today, we have it. So we'll take it out for a test drive and that will show off that feature. Wow.

Yeah, that is amazing because I, I can't imagine driving without the rearview camera now. Yeah, I know a lot of vehicles have it on them, but I mean, I, I—

that would really be— it's a game changer in my opinion. I, I've had it now for a few months and it absolutely is amazing with that 360 camera. It gives you so much more confidence in the vehicle. It cracks me up every time I look through the parking lot, you look at these trucks as they show up at these different events, all these trucks are misparked. They always miss their spot. It's a big vehicle. This camera gives you that confidence to know that you're properly placed in the parking spot without having to get out of vehicle, take that look. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. And then we have other cool technology, the Lane Keep Assist, that literally will nudge you back into your lane if you start to drift out of it, or it will give you haptic feedback, a little alert like a vibration and a rumble strip type feel.

I would love the lane assist because right now I have my wife and she's like, move over, move over.

That would be—

she's your current assistant. She's my current assistant. I would rather have another assistant.

That's awesome.

Yeah, there really is. I, you know, it's almost— I'm waiting for the flying cars next step. That'll, that'll be when Ford comes out with those.

We're working on it. We're working on it.

Soon.

Soon. Well, great. Thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed the call.

Good luck today.

Thanks.

Well, wow. We're going right along, and I just want to call out a few people. And we're going to say Mia Voss is in the house, and she's saying, go, Sheffy. Vroom. Elena Bellamonte is here from England saying hi. Tim Longwell is watching. We're having a great time here. Coach Moore is in the house. Looks like Phyllis is here. So Phil Aston coming to us from, from, uh, from England. And so we're having a good time. People are watching and people are talking about us now. Katie, you help coordinate a lot of these events.

I do.

And you do the Southern Ford Dealers mostly, or—

so I actually am more on the corporate communication side through Direct Impact. So what we do, we handle more of the public relations, communications, and messaging that goes out to all the audiences that may not know about Ford Motor Company and some of our products.

Very cool. So how many of these have you been— have you done this year so far?

This year we have done 3. Okay, so we've done 3. Yeah, 3 so far. And then our last one we did was a combined tour with EcoBoost. So you got to test the competition, um, and that's what you were at. Yeah, yeah. So we, we had the C-MAX out there, which is one of our hybrid vehicles as well as testing out some of the, um, smaller compact cars.

Yeah, I think the C-MAX is what I drove, right? And that was— and it was— and talk about a test track for that day because it was raining.

It was. So you, you got to test all the features including windshield wipers.

Yeah. And you know, like I said, I was impressed at how it worked, how it drove. The feel of it is just really good, right? And, uh, so I think you're having some fun doing these too, aren't you?

Yeah. Oh yeah, I, I enjoy it. I I think that it's nice to be able to get out and be able to test the vehicle without any kind of sales pressure and just really learn about the vehicle before you make a decision. And it gives you more education.

Well, you know, I tell you, I don't know if it's Florida or the Southern Ford dealers or what, but when I went to buy my Ford, I'm still thinking a little bit like a northerner.

Yeah.

And my wife especially, and she's going, well, uh, can't you do a little better on that? And he goes, let me get my managers going. Oh, here it comes, here it comes. He goes, oh, I hear you're going to have lunch. Well, when you think about it a little more, come back and see us. Like, really? You're going to let us walk out of the dealership? Usually you're attacked in the north. You get attacked. But here it was, they were so nice. I went to Jared Gordon Ford and they were just really, really nice people from the finance manager. You know, I wasn't buying and all these things, you know, that's fine, that's fine, you know, no pressure. And that's what I love most about the driving experience and everybody there. They were there to answer questions. They were there just to make sure you were having a good time, and they wanted you to buy a Ford, but if you didn't, you know, it's fine, right? You know, you're lost.

Yeah, they want you to be making the best decision that's most appropriate for you and your family.

Yeah, and there were just a lot of choices, and I kept looking at some of the bigger ones, and I'm going, I'm supposed to be downsizing a little bit, you know. It's a guy thing, you know, it's like it's a boys and their toys kind of thing. So I would love to bring home one of these trucks. But like I said, I got, I got us, I gotta live there too. So yeah, be me in the truck and that would be it.

Yes, you don't want to be living in the truck.

No, no, definitely not. Although it is roomy and spacious and has a lot of amenities, but still, it is.

I was surprised. I've never been a truck girl until this truck came out. It's, it's one that I think can also be utilized by many women. I feel confident using it because you have so many new technologies and features.

Well, that too, and it's not as intimidating to drive.

Exactly.

I mean, you get in there and you know where the controls are. It's not like you feel out of place in it. The vehicle is comfortable, the vehicle's got technology, so you get into it and it's just like a— fits you like a glove. It doesn't matter if you're a small woman and it's a truck, you can still drive it.

Exactly.

There's no— you don't have to steer because the steering's really, really very, uh, sensitive. So, you know, it works really well. So I think that's the big difference. And having worked in the construction industry early on, I go in a truck and expect to smell a lot of other things.

Sure.

And you don't smell those because these are nice vehicles used for families too, right?

Right.

Plus they'll haul a whole lot of stuff.

Yes, they will. If you need any kind of towing, about 12,000 pounds.

I know, I had to go rent a truck. I bought a new grill, and I had to go rent something to put it in because I couldn't quite get it into the back. It was just too big. But I mean, something like this, you can fit all kinds of things in there, right? Tailgating too, you know, if you like football or any other sports.

Yep, that's the biggest thing. I think tailgating, especially with a lot of the new LED light features in the bed of the truck, I think it makes tailgating and any kind of either concerts— makes all of that a little bit more flexible, and you have some ability to utilize those features for those events.

Absolutely, and it looks pretty cool pulling up in it too.

Yes.

Gotta love that. So it looks like we're doing good here. I'm looking to see if there's any other comments. Oh, saying lucky over there, wish it was t-shirt weather. Let me tell you, it's going to be 80 at the end of the day. We are having a good time. Okay, so we're going to show you a test drive, and Jen Vargas is with us, and she's going to get in the car— the truck— and she's going to drive it around and give us a bird's-eye view while she's driving. So that's going to be pretty much Great. And when is your next Ford event in the area?

So we are still coming up, it's unannounced as of right now, but we're looking, we have some events coming up in 2015, so we'll be excited to share with you and a lot of our other Central Florida bloggers and social media influencers in the area. So we're excited for the coming up year.

You like this new show idea?

I do, it's great.

It's pretty cool. You know, it's just I haven't gotten outside like this before, so I'm going to be interested to see how the sound is because there's a lot of other things going around. But this microphone's directional, so hopefully it's not picking up too, too much. But we'll see. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. So, but for on the road, for our second adventure on the road, I think we're having a good time.

Great.

And I like the windblown effect in your hair too.

It looks good.

It's really good. Oh man. So we're having— oh, here's Nazim coming to us from Milan. Hi Nazim, good to see you there. And Azim has a Ford. He has a Fiesta, I'm pretty sure. We were talking about that.

Nice.

It's over there too. It's a little more serious with the gas mileage. But let's see if we're in vehicle. Let's turn to Jen. Jen is behind the wheel. Jen, I'm gonna mute you for now and you can, uh, just drive and I'll do commentary. That cuts back, maybe. So if you, you've test-driven one of the F-150s?

I have. Sound is showing. That's your new mod. Okay.

While we're waiting for her to get started. Are there any more of this style event? Aren't there a couple more BJ's coming up?

There are. There are a few more going through December 7th here in the Central Florida area, and then they're continuing throughout Florida. So, and then there's also some opportunities again, like he said, um, in other parts of the country. So check on f150drive.com. Okay, look for an area near you. And then if not, you know, again, they're going to be— they're trickling into dealerships. So you know, always stop by your, your local dealership and be able to go in and at least check out the vehicle.

Yeah, yeah, because they have a lot of nice vehicles there. And, you know, like I said, they're really nice people around here, and they're happy to see you and happy to let you test drive. We'll have a good time going into it. Yeah, I'm always amazed at how dealers have changed the game too. Like, a lot of them have theaters in there almost with these big screens. They have Wi-Fi areas. They have all kinds of creature comforts for you just to sit and relax.

Luxury.

Yeah, like I went in there for my first service and I had sat down, kicked my computer on, was working about 10 minutes, she goes, "Okay, you're all done." She goes, "But you can stay if you want, relax for a while, enjoy yourself." Wow. Yeah, it was so quick. And I just pulled up without having any reservations or anything either and just went through and changed the oil, checked everything out.

That's great.

Okay, oh, here's Tim Longwell saying he has his trusty 1996 Ford F-150 XLT. Ford tough. Wow, that's— doing the math real quick— that's 18, 19 years old. Yeah, that's a pretty good testament to Ford. And Harley, uh, 2012 Harley F-150. Love the truck. We have some Ford enthusiasts here.

Yes, we do.

That's good. And Jen is still getting ready to drive, I think. Saw the steering wheel there, so let's hope she's taking off pretty soon.

There she is.

She's still learning. Oh, look at all this.

She's learning all the features.

Yeah, and there are some features. That was one of the nice things when we did set up the car. They came in and they showed me how to change the phone phone over, they set my wife's phone up on it, they spent time teaching me how to use everything, and they said every Saturday they have a class. So I was like, yeah, okay.

That's great.

So I do have to go back to the classes. I have those numbers on my door. I haven't figured out how to program yet. I figured I should have, just in case. Yeah, you never know.

Just in case you forget your key. Always a good backup option.

This is very true. We actually have outlets. We actually have two 110-volt outlets with a common 100-volt building. So it's added this location.

You know, they really know how to make things really pleasing too, especially for men because we're so visually oriented, and you get to see all these That was a big truck. Yeah, not a Ford truck, but a big truck. But, uh, the visual statement that it makes, you know, you almost feel like you're in the cat— uh, an airplane or something because you have all those controls you're looking at.

And that's, I think, strategically designed, you know, it's for, it's for the everyday man, you know, that needs to be able to do it, but also for the woman.

Yeah, I like pleasing both aesthetically to both —how a lot of things have been finding their way onto the steering column too, right? So you can change things there without having to be less distracted while you're driving. Yeah, and I know mine has where you can switch from entertainment to phone to a compass on it just, just with your hands. So you can do a lot of things without even looking over. Right.

Yes. Mix that in with that 360 camera view, gives you that additional help. There's a lot of additional difficulties to be met.

Oh, here comes the street cleaner again.

Portuguese.

All right, that truck stayed for a while. And now Sam is saying he has a Ford Fusion now. I used to have a Fiesta. That's right. She has a Ford Edge. She got one just about the same time that I did. Okay. Kathleen's up in New York City and she does a lot of social media work. She's one of Verizon's social media people and works with a bunch of different companies. Great. She's pretty fun.

I'm typically driving this for me. Sure. It's a kid— like, I don't know, a U-Haul truck thing. I never thought that I'd feel comfortable driving it, but I actually feel comfortable driving it.

I see some movement. Uh, we'll come back, Jen. She'll be back later. So, uh, we're just enjoying the day out here. It's a beautiful day in Florida. Are you from Florida originally?

I am. My parents were military, but, uh, I grew up primarily in Florida.

Okay, so you're used to this. Yes. For us, it's just paradise because coming from Philadelphia area this time of year.

Yeah.

But you know, the biggest thing was it was always so gray.

Oh, really?

Yeah, it was just gray. It was, you know, the sun would peek out every now and then, but the whole winter— and it wasn't so much the cold or the snow, it's just you never felt cheery because it was just always gray. Here, you know, it'll snow, it'll rain like I've never seen rain in my life before.

It will actually ask you if you want to eat nearby or in a city or a destination as well. You can control your climate, control your phone, and even your radio stations. And you could also make, um, it's Bluetooth capable, correct? You can Bluetooth stream music directly on over. If your phone's connected, you can also have text messages come through as well. It will notify you of text messages. Now I can use this. Is it the parking? 360-degree camera view.

Here we go.

That is perfect. I'm in! Nice job. Thank you, Rich. Thank you. Thank you. We got a hat for you if you haven't gotten that yet as well. A gift for the BJ's. Thank you. Here you go. Thanks. It was awesome.

Looks like Jen is out of her truck and she just parked it using the 360 Assist. So we're going to talk to her for a few minutes to see how her ride was. And she gets done. And, uh, then it's almost time to sign off for our, uh, On the Road with Chef Dennis Ford Tough Tour. Yes, I love it. And you guys, I will be in Fort Lauderdale next weekend, and our third On the Road with Chef Dennis will be at the Winterfest Boat Christmas Boat Parade. So you can find me there. It'll be 7 o'clock next week, so you can put that on your calendar. There she is. Here comes Jen. She'll talk to us about her ride. Yeah, it was a little choppy, and but you know, we did get the gist of it, so. Okay, well, so how did you enjoy your ride? This is Jen Vargas, for those that you don't know.

I, I liked it actually. I, I am not a big truck driver. I, I don't drive big things for fear that they're just too heavy, or I have to get used to the brakes, or there's some kind of learning curve that I don't want to go through. That was actually pretty smooth.

And I heard you parked it with the 360 assist, right? I did.

Was that cool? That was very cool, and I parked perfectly. Wow, it was very neat. Yeah, I just— I, I felt like it was— it was not like driving a very large vehicle, as the F-150 is. It felt like I was driving kind of a sedan. It had that same comfort level. The, the pedals come up to you. Wow. You can adjust the seat, and I'm short, so I can't reach anything, shelving, anything. I can reach the— you can adjust it and it has a memory that will keep you, uh, you don't have to adjust it again after you adjusted the first time. So that was good for me. That's pretty awesome.

I feel bad for the 6-foot-4 guy behind me, but well, I think they'll adjust it to him after, after a bit. But that's really— that's— I think that's the big thing that you're saying is you felt comfortable in it. You didn't feel intimidated by it. No, it's a good-sized truck. It is. And, you know, you can still drive it with ease and not be worried, worried about yourself in it. So, you know, and even with me, you know, I, I, I'm not that kind of rugged truck driver either, although I may look like it. But, but sometimes you have the bigger vehicles, they get to be a little intimidating, and you're almost afraid, you know, of what's around you driving them. But with this kind of technology they're building into it and all the creature comforts, it just makes it an enjoyable experience. Yeah, it's, it's amazing.

It's virtually soundproof. They're like triple seals on the doors, and the seats in some of these models, I believe, heat up. Yeah, on cold nights, if, if you're in the snow in Florida, of course.

I, I've, I've had my heated seats on. I laughed when they told me it came with it, but I've already had them on about 3 times.

You know what though, for your lower back when you're sitting for a long time, when you're on a long drive It's very helpful.

Yeah, so I've enjoyed them, although I didn't think I would, so I'm happy they have them. Yeah, heated mirrors I don't think I'll need, but the heated seats definitely.

Yeah, the mirrors— everything about this truck is huge. Everything about it is huge, but I didn't feel, like I said, intimidated. Very cool. Not at all. I was, I was a little scared when I put it in drive the first time, but then I was like, oh, okay, it turns normally. There's not this yank sort of effect, and it just— it drove very smooth. It turned smooth, it stopped smooth. It wasn't anything that I had to just jam on the brake. Yeah, it's neat.

Very nice. Well, thank you so much for taking us with you on your test drive and for talking to us. And, uh, we're on the road with Chef Dennis and we're getting ready to wrap it up, so we're going to say goodbye for now. And remember, next Saturday night I'll be in Fort Lauderdale, so look for that. So thank you so much and have a great day. Bye!