Twin siblings are hard to tell apart. Take the actress/model pair of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen—though each one has her own sense of style, it’s hard to tell who’s who, perhaps unless you’re the mother. That’s the case with people, with automobiles, luckily the situation is different. Even if two cars were developed as twins (i.e. shared engines, platforms), a simple tweak of the steering ratio or suspension can develop each vehicle to gain a very different personality. The Ford Escape and the Mazda Tribute is one great example. Born from a collaboration between these two companies (Ford owns a 34 percent stake in Mazda), they’ve come out with a cost-effective solution to develop a compact sport utility vehicle. Since then, both SUVs climbed the sales charts, becoming a sales success worldwide.
However, sharing a common starting point also opens up the biggest conundrum. How can you distinguish one from the other especially since Ford and Mazda have different corporate philosophies. On one side is “Built Ford Tough”; a motto describing the American make’s rough-and-tumble attitude. On the other is “Zoom-Zoom”; implying the Japanese brand’s sporty character. As a result, both SUVs received critical knit picking for being too alike. They were called ‘badge jobs’, meaning that aside from aesthetics, both were essentially the same product. It’s not a bad thing, but that’s not necessarily a good thing either. Now that a mid-cycle refresh was in order, it just made perfect sense for these two corporate twins to part their separate ways.
From the exterior treatment alone, it’s easy to notice the differences between the two. As expected from platform twins, there are shared elements such as the silhouette and the door cut lines. In terms of details though, they’re very different. The Ford Escape is decidedly more traditional with its upright stance and shared-off shape. It’s rugged in every sense even with the embellishment of chrome on the grille and sporty smoked dual bulb headlamps and tail lamps (with LED bulbs). The Mazda Tribute has undergone a more radical change eschewing boxy for something sexier. The headlamps, still housing single bulbs have been chinked up. In combination with the pentagonal grille, it looks very much like the last generation 323. From the back, the story’s the same with the Escape’s upright hatch compared to the Tribute’s pentagonal hatch and brake lamps.
Inside though, these differences are moot as both have the exact same interior albeit with different trimmings and materials. Therefore, whether you’re opting for the Ford or the Mazda, you’ll end up with a solid, nicely made cabin with sensible ergonomics and a comfortable driving experience. As for the differentiating details, the Ford has a two-tone black/beige design with blue lighting while on the Mazda, it’s pure black with red lighting. Generally, both are done well, but I prefer the younger looking Tribute interior, especially the piano black center console. Though more scratch-prone than the matte silver finish on the Escape, it matches well with the red-lit gauges and the three-spoke leather steering wheel that I like as well. Having the same interior means both share the same faults, and though few, are worth mentioning here: one is the handbrake position, which is on the wrong side of the center tunnel making it hard to reach. Second is the panel dimming switch that controls the gauge lighting but not the center console, making night-time driving a retina burning experience (especially on the Escape’s blue scheme).
Launched just several months apart, it was a corporate decision to drop the fuel guzzling V6 engine on both models. Now, there’s only one single engine available: a 2.3-liter inline-4 good for 157 horsepower and 203 Nm of torque. This is the same engine from the pre-facelift Escape/Tribute twins, but now has electronic throttle control for better response and fuel economy. Likewise, both are offered with just a 4-speed automatic with floor-mounted shifters. On paper, the only difference is that the Escape is still offered with an automatic all-wheel drive system dubbed ControlTrac II while the Tribute makes do with front-wheel drive.
Despite the similarities, the driving experience sets these twins apart. Again, the Ford Escape feels more like a traditional SUV, having a much more gradual throttle response. It seems that the throttle has been calibrated for a relaxed drive, and this shows in the transmissions longer shift between gears. The ride feels the cushier of the duo, but the steering feels slower. The Tribute has more urge from the get-go with a quicker reaction from standstill. The ride’s firmer, but feels more planted and sorted than the Ford. There’s much less wind noise in the Mazda as well, and the steering feels a tad sharper. Both brake well, but I found the pedal feel of the Tribute much better than the Escape’s. Fuel economy figures are not that far apart: 6.84 km/L for the Escape XLS and 7.25 km/L for the Tribute. Both do around 9.6-10 km/L on the highway. In short, if you enjoy driving thrills, you’re better off with the Tribute. If you’re the chauffeured kind, you’d want to be in the Escape.
Both are solid choices and it was wise for Ford Group Philippines to segregate the Escape and Tribute’s pricing to encompass all sorts of budgets. However, I can’t help but notice that the Ford Escape XLS (2WD) and the Mazda Tribute are just separated by just 4,000 pesos (the Tribute’s actually cheaper now by 100,000 if you apply for their discount offer). Unless you want the security of all-wheel drive, where you have little choice but to go Escape, my winner in this comparison is the Mazda Tribute. I’ve never considered myself an SUV guy, but I loved the Tribute’s excellent road manners, sporty styling and much better interior kit.
By Ulysses Ang | Photos by Ulysses Ang
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