Ford Escape

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The 2021 Ford Escape is a modern and functional SUV, with a host of features to impress the whole family. Explore it in more detail by taking a Virtual Test Drive!Sponsored by Ford

Doing what we do, CarAdvice writers are often asked by friends and family, and through our contact page: which car is best for me?

Doing what we do, CarAdvice writers are often asked by friends and family, and through our contact page: which car is best for me?

When I did some very quick research on these Escapes, it seemed they were very much written up as an underrated vehicle.Owner: Kirk Muddle

The Escape was purchased just under three years ago to replace a Toyota RAV4 V6. My wish list included preferably a traditional automatic gearbox rather than a CVT, the full suite of active safety features including radar cruise control, decent performance, no “premium” European brands and new or nearly new. Despite my attempts at persuasion, my husband’s wish list was that our next car had to be an SUV. I had shortlisted the Subaru Forester (servicing costs, CVT and lacklustre performance ruled it out), the Kia Sportage Platinum or Hyundai Tucson 1.6 turbo (both just about to be facelifted and at the time didn’t have the technology features I was looking for) and the new Honda CR-V. The Honda really impressed with its looks, practicality, economy, warranty, equipment and drove pretty sharply although there were no deals to be had as the car had just been released. However, a test drive of the Ford Escape showed performance and handling that felt much more assured than the competition. An ex Ford company car from a Ford main dealer in Melbourne, ten months old with only 2500kms on the clock, a compelling discount from new and generous trade-in sealed the deal. It’s a 2.0 Titanium ZG with the added Technology Pack that was absolutely loaded with equipment; it really is a comprehensively equipped car. In black with privacy glass, chrome accents and the 19-inch ST-style starfish alloys it’s also a bit of a sporty looker with a nice stance on the road. Performance from the 2.0 turbo 178kw engine makes the Escape an entertaining drive with 345Nm of torque. I’ve found that there’s an occasional off-boost (?) flat spot between 1500 and 2000 revs where the car feels like it’s taking a quick breath but otherwise there’s always plenty of power available when moving away and when demanded, it positively flies when passing slower traffic. Personally, I always keep the gearbox in the standard Drive setting as the Sport shifts can feel a bit too aggressive and grabby for daily use. The Sport setting is simply another “notch” below Drive and it’s quite easy to knock it down into the Sport setting without realising. Ride on the standard 19-inch alloys is always a bit fidgety and unsettled and as other reviews have attested, the ride on the Trend’s 18-inch wheels is noticeably more comfortable on our rough Victorian roads. Handling is perhaps the chink in the Escape’s armour; it handles with assurance and there’s plenty of grip through tight corners but although body roll is contained, corners betray the weight and height of the car. It’s definitely better than other more comfort-oriented SUVs and quite car-like, but you always feel that you’re sitting on a highchair rather than in the driver’s seat. Fuel economy has always been a bit adrift of Ford’s 8.6L/100, even with the lightest of right feet. My daily commute is forty minutes through suburban traffic and I’m usually seeing a combined figure of 10L/100 or worse; it is at its most economical on long motorway journeys where it can average 7.0L/100. It also requires 95ron premium unleaded, so it’s not a cheap car to run; a tank lasts between 500 and 600km, Ford’s stop/start working smoothly and unobtrusively. Annual servicing has been very reasonable, and Ford’s fixed-price servicing means no nasty surprises. Ford’s guaranteed courtesy car has provided me with a Mustang GT, a Ranger XLT and an Escape Trend. Things I’ve not enjoyed about the car? The mechanism for folding the rear seats is actually at the base of the seat in the cabin and not accessible from the boot which is a bit annoying, the powered tailgate is slow (and mostly unnecessary) and the entertainment system can sometimes take ages to pair with a phone, blaring out, the radio suddenly after a minute of failing to open Apple Carplay. Ford’s lane-keep assist can be really obtrusive, suddenly dragging the wheel out of your hand, especially in corners when you might choose a tight line and is best turned off. I found the interior nowhere near as ugly as reviewers have stated although it’s obviously a face-lifted version of an older design. There are a lot of things going on aesthetically and lots of different shapes and textures vying for attention, but the dials are attractive, clear and legible, the infotainment screen falls easily to reach and is high in the dash and everything else falls easily to hand. Incidentally, Ford’s Synch 3 is intuitive and quick in operation. Things to recommend the Escape? It’s definitely a driver’s SUV, so far as that is possible. It’s also a “Goldilocks” size; not too small to pack with people and stuff but not unwieldy or hard to park in small spaces. As I said, it’s been well-made and reliable, very well-equipped and cheap to maintain (if not to fuel). Passengers appreciate the space in the rear, a light-filled cabin with the panoramic sunroof and low road and engine noise. There are even fold-out picnic tables for those in the rear. It has been faultlessly reliable and despite my fears, no rattles or squeaks have emerged. Other than 2 recent front tyres and a new battery, nothing else has needed replacing in 35,000kms. The dead battery (after having been abroad for a month) turned out to be a complete fiasco. It’s hidden way up on the top of the engine bay on the passenger side, half underneath the windscreen. This means that it’s hard to access and various things have to be removed before it can be accessed; the RACV had to trailer it away for Ford to supply and fit a new battery which was surprisingly expensive (independents were much dearer than the main dealer). My Escape shares a garage with a Mazda MX-5 NC weekender and over the Summer I was using the Mazda more and the Ford less. My husband passed away last year after a short but hard battle with an aggressive cancer and with no kids and no stuff to lug around, I realised that the Escape wasn’t the sort of car I needed any more, so it has been traded in. I’m looking forward to my 2020 Volkswagen Golf GTI which should suit my needs much more as well as completing an “enthusiast’s” garage. I know I’m preaching to the converted here, but after two RAV4s and the Escape, I’m happy to be turning my back on SUVs although I know I’m in the minority.

I gave in to the other half insisting she wanted an SUV. I couldn't even have a sporting sedan or wagon, so after deciding to get rid of the beloved Alfa I thought I'd also throw away my last ounce of enthusiasm to drive anything remotely enjoyable. We seriously considered a Suzuki Vitara Turbo or the even more practical but weirder looking S-Cross with the same engine. But despite being much kinder on fuel, insurance and service intervals lost out to the Ford, I also wasn't convinced with the FWD at limit handling and an AWD Vitara was hard to find. Another family member owns a Focus ST with a version of the same 2.0lt ecoboost engine as the petrol AWD Escapes and really that's what the mid size SUV feels like; a heavier, jacked up Focus ST with more useable space. No it's not as sharp as the Focus on initial turn in and you can feel the extra 300+kg of weight mid corner, but its actually better powering out of sweeping turns where you can feel the awd and torque vectoring working to push and pull out of corners. Keep the right foot buried and you'll get past that initial understeer where the Focus starts plowing on into torque steer or encourages a bit of lift off overseer. I would love to see how the new ST-line trim with lowered springs handle compared to the regular suspension, which is still firmer than most in this class. With traction control switched off, drive is actually sent more evenly to the rear wheels, it helped when we were slightly bogged on dirt track going up hill. It's actually quite capable on the loose stuff, but despite the decently high ride height, spring rates are too firm to be comfortable off road for too long, way too much suspension jiggle over corrugated surfaces. It was like the engineers couldn't decide so they gave it a 4WD ride height but keep most of the firmness and dampening of the Focus. No it's still no hot hatch alternative but it's more fun to drive than any of the 2.0 turbo fwd sedans or wagons tested, Mondeo, Sonata, Optima (not that the other half liked them anyways) . I would like to see how the new Mazda6 turbo steers and if the CX-5 had the same 2.5 turbo unit in it, it would probably be what we'd have owned instead. The Escape has grown on me and with the transmission in Sport mode, using paddle shifters its quick enough, I'd probably be looking to add a tuning chip and minor intake, downpipe work to extract another 30-50kw when the warranty runs out. Although not widely reported here, US owners have commonly found the 6 speed auto appears to be the weak link in the driveline, and I know one local owner who insisted on constantly towing a caravan 'within spec' and is currently on a 3rd transmission, luckily under warranty. I'm taking no chances and will do trans fluid flush and change every 50,000 km with additives. The new 8 or 9 speed trans rumored to be in the next all new Escape would solve this issue. Otherwise its easy to live with, Sync3 although basic looking is one of the better infotainment and sat nav systems out there. Dash design and interior plastics are still typically Ford but with drive away prices about $5-8k lower than anything similarly powerful eg. Tiguan 162tsi or Forrester GT, its a bargain. Unless you really need that sun roof, 19inch wheels (instead of 18s) and Ford quality leather seats, stepping up to the Titanium trim isn't worth it, we did get the auto tail gate and i wish we had the safety pack but this car was floor stock at the dealership and it can't be retro fitted. Still deciding if we miss leather seats enough to get them re-trimmed or just order custom fit 'leather look' seat covers from the U.S. for a few hundred dollars. The only issue we've had in the first year of ownership is having to head back to dealership 3 times to fix a head unit module under warranty and with half city and half suburban driving i can't get better than mid 11s for fuel economy. It is E10 compatible, when i did try I would only fill up with E10 that is rated at 95ron, wouldn't risk 94ron E10. But with e10, fuel economy would jump into the high 12s, so have decided it's not worth the trade off in dollar savings (despite being about 14c cheaper than premium) or the fact the engine was running rougher and had less response - would like to try e85 if I ever get a custom tune. Overall a good decently powerful, practical mid size SUV that is capable tackling the loose stuff on odd occasion. If only it was a couple hundred kg lighter or came in a higher state of tune circa 220kw it'd be perfect, but that's what the after market is for and given this engine was used in earlier Volvos, Range Rover Evoques and Jags with 2.0 turbos (when Ford had owned these brands) , its a relative bargain.

###Background Following our appearance on the BBC TV program Wanted Down Under, which gave my wife and I a taste of the Aussie lifestyle, we moved to Perth WA in 2017. I decided I would need to buy a car almost as soon as I landed. One of the things I had noted in our two week visit to Australia in 2016, was that many Aussies prefer their cars larger and often think nothing of a fairly long commute to and from work, driving 50 or 60 km in each direction from the outer suburbs to the CBD. More like the USA than the UK, where road congestion makes longer journeys a bit of a nightmare. ## My Requirements I wanted something with a bit of carrying capacity so I could chuck the odd bit of flat-packed furniture in, comfort on the highway for those potentially long commutes and a bit of off-road ability in case I wanted to go exploring. I have always liked my tech and as someone who uses an iPhone, CarPlay was fairly high on my list. Not a priority, but always in the back of my mind, was a desire for something with a bit of get up and go, not a roaring V8, nice though they are, but something I could put my foot down and still feel a sense of urgency when overtaking. The above was pointing towards an SUV, which I understood from CarAdvice, was one of the fastest growing segments and so there would be plenty of choice. ## My Choice Eventually, after considering several different makes, I settled on the new (okay not new, per se, more rebranded) Ford Escape, previously Ford Kuga. I went for the engine I felt would give me that bit of urgency, the 2.0 L Turbo with 178 kW of power and 345 Nm of torque. Not a fire-breathing performance vehicle by any standard, but reasonably comparable to a hot-hatch, and better than most of the other similar vehicles in the segment. One of the other reason for choosing the Escape was the fact that it is not as common on the road as many other higher selling SUVs, and I liked the look of it, particularly in the Deep Impact Blue I chose. Specification wise, I went for the mid-level Trend automatic AWD plus two option packs that gave me things like AEB, keyless entry, blind spot alert, hands free tailgate, etc. And, of course, it came with the CarPlay I wanted. ## First Impressions The hand over of the vehicle was pretty much what you would expect with any new car, nicely presented in the showroom and they went through all the controls, in excruciating detail, to the point where I just wanted to leave and drive the darned thing away. To be fair the salesman did eventually say, “If I’m boring you, just say and you can read about it later in the manual.” So I did… Then I wondered if I had been a bit rude, especially after he handed me a bag with two rather nice bottles of wine in! For the first week or so, I used the built in Ford Sync technology for the satellite navigation and music, but then I tried Apple CarPlay and haven’t gone back since. I found the built in Sync voice activation to be very fussy and non-intuitive. Apple’s Siri has it’s fair share of faults as well, but I found it superior to Ford’s solution for setting destinations for example. This was my first experience of CarPlay and what I still find frustrating, is that you have to choose one or the other, either the built in Sync system or CarPlay. What I would have liked is to use the car’s built in radio at the same time as the CarPlay navigation. I /can/ play the radio, but it involves backing out of CarPlay, selecting the radio station I want to listen to, then going back into CarPlay, a bit long-winded. I know this isn’t exclusive to Ford, it is the same in all cars. What I would like is for the car’s in built systems to link more directly in with CarPlay. Okay, so this is a car review website not a technology one, so enough of the tech. What about the car itself? ## The Accident I had a rather unfortunate incident after only seven days of ownership. Stopped at the traffic lights, at around 4:00 PM on a Friday afternoon on my way to a friend’s house to watch the rugby, when a Holden Commodore drove at full speed (Police estimated over 70 kph) into the back of the line of stationary cars. There were several cars behind mine, but the impact was such that they were all shunted forward and eventually the car behind me crunched into the driver’s side rear of the Escape. A couple of the panels were a bit bent out of shape, but fortunately the car was drivable. Not so fortunate were some of the other cars, four cars were a complete write off and another two needed to be towed away. Luckily although there was a bit of blood and some very shaken people, nobody was seriously injured, including the Commodore driver. Just shows how good modern cars are at absorbing impact damage. As a result my car was off the road whilst they replaced the damaged panels. I was loaned an old Holden Barina for a couple of days. It really made me appreciate just how good the Escape was! ## Longer Term Having now had the car for nearly nine months, what are my thoughts? I find the Escape comfortable on both short and longer drives. I’m glad I decided on the Trend with its 18 inch alloys, rather than the sharper looking 19 inch ones on the Titanium as I think they are probably more absorbing of ruts and bumps in the road. Very glad that the Escape has a reasonable, for Australia, service requirement of every 15,000 km or annual, whichever comes first. I am finding that I am racking up the kilometres quite fast due to my commute. It came as a bit of a surprise just how frequently cars need servicing, in comparison to the UK. My last car in the UK, a Peugeot RCZ, needed servicing every 20, 000 miles (around 32,000 km). I guess it has to do with the climate, which is much better than the UK of course, so no complaints on that front! ## Cons Although the engine has a reasonable amount of go, I find I leave it in the S (sport) mode all the time, as without it can feel a bit asthmatic in the ‘normal’ D mode. I also find the engine note under hard acceleration to be a bit ’screamy’. It doesn’t have the nice deep acceleration noise of a good V8, or even V6 for that matter. Have found upgrading the Sync tech a pain in the butt. In theory, I should be able to connect the car to my wireless NBN system and it will upgrade to the latest version, if one is available. In practice, whilst it connects okay as my router is fairly close to where the car is parked, the onboard system is incredibly slow and always ends by saying update not available, although I know one is! Have tried doing it the ‘old fashioned way’ by downloading the update to a USB thumb drive, but it fails every time with an error message and so far, I have had no response from Ford’s support. Whilst the car has AWD I don’t think I would trust it on anything more than a gravelled road, not least as the tyres are not really designed for anything but the road. Having said that, for the occasional trip to camp site it is fine. ## Summary Nine months later and with the benefit of hind-sight, would I still buy the Ford Escape? Yes, the answer is probably yes. I still find myself sometimes look longingly at the previous model Holden Commodore V8 Redline, which had some good deals at the time I bought the Escape. But, it would have cost more, would not have been as economical to run and would probably have been less flexible as a practical mode of transport. But the sound of that V8 engine….