2019 Ford Escape Titanium: owner review

At the beginning of this financial year, my 2015 Tiguan neared the 135,000km service and needed brakes, tyres, and the auto (yay DSG) started to do the weird 'slip' thing, so I quickly decided to try and find a worthy replacement.

Thanks to Facebook and its weird algorithms, a 2019 (delivered 2020) Ford Escape Titanium AWD diesel, ex FoMoCo demo, a year old with 8000km on it, and a bargain at under $38K, appeared in my newsfeed. One hour later, I had paid a deposit at Motorama, and a week later, Commbank gave me the money and away I drove.

My colleagues and husband noted that I traded my white diesel AWD wagon for a white diesel AWD wagon.

Why did I choose the diesel? Given that I do 30,000km a year, the diesel makes sense for me. The diesel is great to wind up to 112km/h with the cruise control on, it will sit there for hours on end if needed, and the fuel economy in this mode sits in the 6s. Much of my week is on the Pacific Motorway or Bruce Highway, and in both cases it does the job well. A week of not a lot of highways and it creeps up to 8s.

It’s also our family long-haul vehicle. We returned in early January from a 4800km trip to Victoria and back to the Sunshine Coast via Sydney. We managed to load two grown men, their gear, and esky etc, and two Schnauzers and their gear, and two Segway Ninebot scooters. The car is TARDIS-like when packed correctly.

It sat well on the road for long stretches and still got reasonable economy. Acceleration on passing was good, and dynamically it cornered well and handled the road okay. A sports car it is not, but it did the job well through the NSW Southern Highlands down to Kiama.

Comfort-wise, the front seats are great and supportive. The driver's side has better adjustments, but both are okay. The AC is effective, if not taking a little while to cool down a hot car. The screen and Ford SYNC interface are good, but like many people who can, I live off Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. On that, we ran both on our long-haul drive (we are a mixed marriage), and in many cases Android Auto was the better interface. The sound quality from the Sony system is perfect.

Rear-seat room is good, and the panoramic roof adds to the airiness of the cabin (but not on a blisteringly hot day).

Service-wise, it's only had one so far – a fixed price, and did what they said. The dealer was good (Motorama at Moorooka) and I’ll go back.

When I did some very quick research on these Escapes, it seemed they were very much written up as an underrated vehicle. Not perfect, but more than adequate and worth consideration. So far, I am pleased I followed that advice.

Owner: Kirk Muddle

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