We have to admit that life is boring—it’s filled with daily routines: we wake up at a particular time, dress in a monkey suit and go to work in a Toyota Corolla (or a Honda Civic, depending on what your company’s car program uses). All in all, it’s a very square existence, probably just exciting enough to make you laugh out loud at today’s Dilbert strip punch line.
Despite all our daily tediousness, there are certain breaks that take us away from the usually mechanized and passionless thing we call life: vacations, out-of-town trips, shopping with friends, bonding with officemates and so on. In these short instances, we feel alive—life is not just purely beating the eight o’clock bell on Monday morning.
Now, imagine this kind of life and place it in a car. Enter the Ford Escape.
As boring as a Honda Civic could be, the Escape is its perfect antithesis. Being one of the biggest volume sellers in the US market, the Escape is Ford’s assault weapon in the soft-roader category beating the pulp out of competitors such as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and nine others in the same league. In the vastly competitive SUV market in the US, the Escape has proven to be the masses’ favorite and there’s no wondering why.
From a mile away, the mere sight of the Escape already makes it a clear winner from any angle. It inherits its DNA from its bigger brothers such as the Ford Expedition while adding some modernizing touches, making it a vehicle that looks, well, very Ford. Though the Escape has a rough-and-tough look, it’s not much bigger than a Toyota RAV4; it’s just 155 mm longer, 5 mm taller and 40 mm wider. However, thanks to a lesson in proper proportioning, the Escape looks to be the better balanced and aggressive of the two.
The Escape’s overall look is best described as functionally beautiful. For instance, the pronounced wheel arches that are for once made of metal lend a sense of aggression that plastics one just don’t give. The relative absence of shiny bits also adds to the functional look; keeping the ‘Escape’ and ‘Ford’ badges on strategic areas help it stay true to its Ford SUV roots. The expansive black plastic cladding on the lower body reduces the risk of dings and nicks, but doesn’t give it an unshaven look like that of the Honda CR-V. The road-biased 215/70 HR 16 Goodyear Wrangler HP tires, a fully adjustable roof rack, fog lamps and side step board complete the look.
Inside, Expedition owners will find themselves at home with the Escape’s similar cabin layout and material use. Lined in beige plastic that’s highlighted with a black center console, it comes out better executed and more solid than the charcoal interior of the Honda CR-V. Though not as glitzy as the Toyota RAV4’s, everything is consistently surfaced and solidly built—as if they’re molded from the same tough stuff of the bigger Ford trucks.
Besides inheriting some DNA from the Expedition and the Explorer Sport Trac, the Escape also has some European flare inside. It shares some parts with the Focus such as its confusing door locks that pop-out when locked rather than pop-in; and the 2-DIN stereo cassette with 6-disc in-dash CD changer with a removable key-code system.
Ford has also incorporated some nifty convenience features inside the Escape that are truly American: a 10-second delay on the power windows; headlamps that turn themselves off after 30-seconds when the key is pulled out; and the stereo system that can be used for one hour after you remove the key!
Front seat space is decisively the best in its class thanks to a center console that’s been pushed up and away from the knees of the occupants. The story’s the same with the rear cabin, where the space and the seating is more luxurious for five adults than the Toyota RAV4 or even the so-called 10-seater Honda CR-V. In addition, the rear seats fold 60 / 40 to make the boot space of the Escape the biggest in its class. For those wondering, there are no funny seats inside the Escape—seating is limited to five people, and squeezing in six small people is probably still feasible.
The Escape also features a more ergonomic driving position, thanks largely to the fine tuning work of Mazda engineers, whose Tribute is actually a twin of this Ford. The seating position is more car-like and with a 10-way manually adjustable driver’s seat (the Toyota RAV4 only has a 6-way adjustment), finding the ideal position is easy. The additional height makes for good visibility. There are only minimal blind spots thanks to large windows and huge side-view mirrors.
After locating the small keyhole, which requires a minute to find, starting the Ford Escape makes its 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve inline-4 breathe life. The same Zetec series engine that powers the Ford Focus ZTS generates a respectable 130 bhp at 5,400 rpm and 183 Nm of torque at 4,500 rpm; figures that still can’t match Toyota’s VVTi or Honda’s i-VTEC units.
Though lacking any sort of valve trickery, the Zetec’s willingness to rev still delivers the goods, especially when mated to the five-speed manual. The transmission feels a bit rubbery like the Ranger’s, but the travel between gears is short and the clutch is easy to modulate. When pushed to the redline, the 2.0-liter unit is smooth and consistent, without the boominess of the Toyota’s low-end-torque-biased engine. The Escape’s main weakness is the lack of power when combined with the four-speed automatic. Because of the Escape’s heavy mass and the transmission’s tall gearing, acceleration from standstill is quite poor. Nonetheless, it shifts smoothly—without inherent shocks, while the kick downs can provide some powerful and quick bursts of acceleration when needed.
The unibody construction of the Escape and its all-around independent suspension (McPherson struts in the front and Multi-Links at the back), make it a competent handler in city or country. The springs and shock settings, road-biased tires as well as the low-slung engine say that the Escape is just as home on the road as off it. The ride is the perfect balance between being firm and comfortable, while providing some good isolation from tire and road noise.
Despite its butch appearance, Ford wants to improve the fuel economy and handling, so they essentially made the Escape as a front-wheel driver with the ability to engage the rear-wheel drive automatically when the fronts begin to slip. The idea has been introduced before in Honda’s Real-Time All-Wheel Drive. However, unlike Honda’s multi-plate clutch system, the Escape uses a rotary blade coupling to detect the slippage and to distribute power to the rear wheels. A three-finned blade compresses silicone fluid in three separate chambers, engaging a clutch for on-demand four-wheel drive. For those contemplating some mud plugging, you can lock the Escape in four-wheel drive mode with just the twist of a dial on the dash.
On the subject of driving, the Escape has been tuned to behave much like a tall car. The steering provides good on-center weight and accuracy, imparting a Escape with a more nimble feel and agility on twisty mountain roads compared to the Toyota RAV4. Body roll is barely noticeable.
As car-like as it could be, the Escape still suffers from some inherent SUV problems at higher speeds such as tremendous doses of understeer, which is quite evident in some fast corners. The additional bulk of the Escape doesn’t help either, making it suffer the most understeer compared to the others in this segment. Aside from understeer, because of the Escape’s more boxy profile, it suffers more from wind noise, especially from the A-pillar.
In 4×4 XLT guise, the Escape comes with the usual set of safety equipment that’s standard in cars in this genre: dual SRS airbags, anti-lock brakes and electronic brakeforce distribution. Unlike the Japanese, the Escape still relies on vented discs in front and drums at the back to provide the stopping power. Nonetheless, it performs quite well, stopping the Escape dead in its tracks with complete confidence. Inside, it’s the only soft-roader to have three child-seat mounting points at the back as standard.
Overall, the Ford Escape couldn’t have come at a better time. Though the 4×2 XLS is destined to go to the irritated people who lined up and are still waiting for their Honda CR-V, the 4×4 XLT is aimed for those who want to have an entertaining and well thought-of package that’s relatively flab-free and true to image. Though the same amount of money may buy a Toyota Camry or a Nissan Cefiro, neither of these luxo-cruisers has the same youth-oriented feel and versatility that can only be satisfied by a SUV. Moreover, neither can make its occupants break out of the typical three-box thinking that’s trapping many buyers, much like the everyday EDSA traffic.
Maximizing ownership of an SUV means living a certain lifestyle—an active lifestyle. Though the Toyota RAV4, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Subaru Forester and most especially the Honda CR-V may present themselves as instruments of such a life, each is compromised. None of these can provide the same combination of image, space and overall 4×4 performance as a Ford Escape. This one is capable of actually going out and enjoying the active life.
motioncars.com would like to thank
Ford Group Philippines for accommodating us for the Ford Escape 4×4 XLT MT and AT test drive.
By Ulysses Ang |Photos By Ulysses Ang and Jason Ang
Originally Published in the September 2002 Issue
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