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THE Ford
Escape can be considered as a great option for those
looking for an upgrade from a compact passenger car. But
with its main competition (the Honda CR-V and the Toyota
RAV-4) being bumped up to the crossover SUV segment, the
onus is on the Blue Oval’s runt of the SUV litter if it
can still hold sway against the Nissan X-Trail, the
Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage.
Plop on
the front seats and you’ll see that the overall
dashboard layout has changed very little, but there are
significant upgrades. The four-speed A/T stick is now
floor-mounted instead of on the steering column, the
aluminum-lined center dashboard area has a new look, the
audio entertainment now rivals that of after-market
units and the dashboard gauges sport a new layout and
font readouts. Speaking of the dashboard gauges, they
now tote an aesthetically refreshing blue font gauge
backlight that’s a welcome change from the green, amber
or red font gauge backlights common in most production
vehicles. The front seat backrest-mounted trays with
folding feature and cup receptacles were retained from
the previous model, along with the strong aircon, the
large center console and a separate partition for the
rear hatch and the rear hatch glass.
There
are downsides to the new Escape’s interior. Considering
that people in tropical countries like to fiddle more
with fan speed than the aircon’s temperature, the knob
for the aircon’s blower speed located on the leftmost
side of the middle dashboard area should be made bigger,
while the temperature knob located in the middle area of
the dashboard should be made smaller. Door storage is
narrow, which can be ingratiating should you leave spare
change or small candy inside the door storage bins. The
rear backrests don’t fully fold flat, which can be a
problem if you’re toting long and odd-shaped cargo.
 The
exterior is a reflection of the Escape’s insides,
retaining the basic shape of the previous model but
exhibiting significant upgrades. The headlights now tote
three lamps, the vertically mounted taillights take a
page from its Explorer SUV sibling, the front grille is
consistent with the visual identity of the entire Ford
SUV lineup, and the presence of brushed aluminum
underguards for the front and rear bumpers is reassuring
for Escape owners who want to thrash their units on soft
(or even hard) earth, sand dunes and pebbly roads.
Take the
unit out for a spin and the 2.3-liter inline-four takes
a while to get into the power band (2,000-plus rpm). In
fact the power curve is narrow, to the point that even
emergency lane changes or even acceleration from rest on
flat tarmac can be frustrating. Not helping much either
is the four-speed A/T, which has tall gearing and a
tendency to remain in any one particular gear before
shifting up.
The
Escape redeems itself in the handling, ride comfort,
off-road drivability and safety department. Body roll is
a given (but manageable) and the ride is rather firm but
not hard. The brakes grab hard quickly, the antilock
system wakes up at three-fourths pedal effort, exterior
lighting (even at the dim setting) rivals that of
high-intensity discharge units, the side mirror-mounted
turn signals are a big plus (especially for onlookers
and motorists opposite the Escape’s front end) and the
steering is a bit numb in terms of feedback but is
enough to help the driver. The four-wheel-drive that
came with this Escape variant comes with a
shift-on-the-fly feature that allows for quick
transition from two-wheel to four-wheel drive.
The test
unit’s tires (Goodyear Fortera 215/70 R16) display awful
grip on tarmac, breaking traction at 70 to 75 kph and
plowing at 80-plus kph. The parking brake is located
near the shotgun passenger (front passenger) side and
can be intrusive, which can ruin chances of a second
date should you let her ride beside you. Also, the
parking brake on the test unit had little bite, with
frequent need to pull the handle to a 40 to 45-degree
setting for stop-and-go traffic on inclines.
Despite
the overall look of both exterior, interior, power train
and performance features as something retained from the
previous model, the new Ford Escape presents itself as
an innovation in a market that has seen little changes
of late. |
