Anyway...
2017 Ford Escape SE, 1.5T, AWD
(not my pictures here)
Exterior wise, this thing was about as generic as you can possibly get. It didn't look bad at all but we did lose it a few times in parking lots because all these silver SUVs look the same. Dimensions are pretty tidy, it's 2" shorter than my car so it was pretty easily street parked. The cargo area was pretty good, easily held one massive checked bag and one carry on roller without stacking them. Lift over was pretty low so it was easy to get all that shit in the trunk.
Interior was a mixed bag. I liked the dashboard and the gauge cluster. It could show you a bunch of fuel economy info or be more basic and show miles, eco leaves, speedometer or other stuff. I'll come back to the fuel economy in a minute. Fit and finish was generally not that great, lots of plastic flashing, curious center console lid opener, staining on the door cards on a car with 3k miles, and a couple very small rattles.
But it was not all bad. The seats were very comfortable and held you in well during hard cornering. The seat was like 12 way adjustable or something so it was stupid easy to get comfortable for the long haul in this thing. Steering wheel telescoped nicely and was a good shape, but the typical cheap Ford foam/urethane garbage. Rear seat was usable for 2 more adults so no problems with passenger space. Dual zone climate worked great and the AC was powerful. I personally liked the interior and the way it all worked.
Sound quality was better than my STI
but that fucking radio can suck it. Hard to figure out and wouldn't play nicely over USB with our iphones.So the drive.
This car has basically no sporting pretense, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. But surprisingly it was pretty competent. You could throw it into a turn harder than you thought you should, and it stuck pretty well. Ride was good, it soaked up bumps better than the Tiguan. Smooth but somewhat sporty ride quality. Body roll was well managed, it had good grip around turns. The steering is accurate and smooth but doesn't have any feedback and is really light. Light enough that it's easy to induce a secondary body motion just from the steering wheel. Brakes had a nice initial bite and felt strong but braking distances were rather long-ish with some nose dive. To be expected I guess.
Transmission was generally well behaved around town. There was the odd super hard shift, but far far less than in the Tiguan. The 6AT will happily lug the tiny
motor up every goddamn hill. You can hit the downshift paddle (yes, paddle shifters!) and it would downshift, but then upshift in like 10 seconds, lol. Put it in sport and it'll obey your commands, or you can leave it to its own devices and it was generally very well behaved in sport. It slips the TC with every shift doe, so while shifts happen quick, they don't happen firm and positive. Downshifts aren't exactly crisp despite happening quickly. It didn't provoke you to drive hard, and didn't really want to be driven hard. But, it would put up with it.The engine. That was the real downfall of this thing. The engine had decent torque around town and up to about 45-50 MPH. After that, forget it. It was just all noise and disappointment. It could cruise on the highway just fine, but go to pass someone and it just didn't have the balls to pull off much acceleration at highway speeds. With the 2.0T I think this could be a really good vehicle. So that tiny engine, you figure well at least you get good fuel economy. Not really. I got 25 MPG average. That's with a 50/50 mix of town and highway driving over about 900 miles. A handful of mountain passes too. Not horrible I guess but I expected better, in the 27 range maybe? for a car with such modest power. Ran on donkey piss 87 doe so there's that.
So. I didn't hate it. It was a great car to just derp around in. Jump in and go somewhere NFG. The AWD system was unnecessary and that's a box best left unchecked I think, unless it quells torque steer or wheel hop with the 2.0T. It could use more ground clearance for actual dirt road driving, I think it had like 6" or so which was fine for what I was doing, but would easily bottom out on a jeep road. It needed a bigger motor, that tiny dick motor just couldn't cut it. I appreciated the comfy yet sporty seat, comfy yet sporty handling, and the relatively competent transmission. Excellent road trip car. Decent DD. Great at hauling random shit without feeling and handling like a barge.
Put a easier to use stereo in it, more powerful motor, leather steering wheel, and you've got a winner.
And I appreciated having an automatic, especially one that could be coaxed out of its fuel economy behavior. No, the auto wasn't as fun for stig driving, but I don't exactly do that often.Not going to go out and buy one. But I don't hate CUVs nearly as much as I did.
basically a Mini Cooper but with an uncorked motor.
pretty spacious interior for what it si
a few first gen immigrant on DFD, resident turk, and ex nazi egg lover now driving a middle class mom mobile.
