2013 Ford Escape Review And Picture

2013 Ford Escape Review And Picture

2013 Ford Escape Review And Picture - The Ford Escape is a smooth-riding and fuel-efficient SUV. However, reviewers say it gets lost in the pack and has some interior flaws.

The Escape is a mixed bag. Its $21,000 starting price is only about average for a compact SUV, and reviewers complain that the rear seats don’t slide and the controls are confusing. On the other hand, its base fuel economy rating (22/28 mpg city/highway) is higher than many of the Escape’s more affordable competitors. Reviewers also love the Escape’s high-tech options, which aren’t typically available on affordable SUVs. These include a self-parking system and MyKey, a programmable vehicle key that parents can use to set limits for their teen drivers.

"Ford's compact crossover has its strengths, including an excellent six-speed automatic transmission, comfortable passenger accommodations, and the availability of a gas/electric hybrid model," says Consumer Guide. Still, they add that the Escape "suffers from crude-sounding engines, low-rent cabin appointments, and a basic design that's nearly a decade old. Don't outright dismiss it, but check out Escape's competitors first."

All that changes without much visible regret with the 2013 Escape, the new crossover that arrives in showrooms in June. Completely new, derived from the family of components that brought you NeocarSUV's Best Car To Buy 2012, the Ford Focus, the new Escape delivers something very nearly unimaginable, given its heritage--an athletic look that's authenticated by deft road manners.

In escaping its own past, Ford's compact crossover turns first to a trio of four-cylinders to replace its former four- and six-cylinder engines and the much-loved but discontinued Ford Escape Hybrid. The base engine's a carryover 2.5-liter four meant for fleets, while the mainstream choice is a 178-horsepower, 1.6-liter turbo four with straight-line acceleration competitive with its chief rivals, the Honda CR-V and four-cylinder Toyota RAV4. At the peak of power is a 2.0-liter turbo four with 240 hp, estimated at 0-60 mph in under 8.0 seconds. All versions come with a six-speed automatic; all are estimated at more than 30 mpg in highway fuel economy. On the Escape Titanium we drove, ride and handling were the ideal counterparts for the turbo's dartlike power; we can't think of a single compact crossover that steers with more precision or tamps down ride motions as smartly as the Escape, except maybe the 155-hp Mazda CX-5.

The performance pairs well with the Escape's new track suit. The running-shoe styling only wears thin at the front, where the skinny grille and gaping air inlets need to find some common ground and call a truce. The cockpit has its fair share of grey glossy plastic and tangential styling themes; on the balance, it's exciting, not chaotic.

Review Price of 2013 Ford Escape :
Price of 2013 Ford Escape - Ford has created a more sophisticated and refined Escape, but the company is also going to be charging more to get into one. Stickers start at $23,295 for the base S trim, about $1000 pricier than last year’s base model with a manual transmission. (The S is $200 cheaper when comparing automatic-transmission models.) The SE starts at $25,895 and the SEL at $28,695. At the top end, a Titanium with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost commands $31,195. The new Escape is a big change and vastly improved versus the old one, but it’s so radically different that we wonder if it will be able to maintain the impressive sales pace of its predecessor.

Priced from about $23,000 to more than $33,000, in trim levels from base to Titanium, the 2013 Ford Escape goes on sale in the spring of 2012.

Review Performance of 2013 Ford Escape :
The 2013 Escape initially will be offered in four trim levels. The base Escape S is the only model to offer the carryover 2.5-liter four-cylinder, coupled to the same six-speed automatic found in all other 2013 Escapes, and fitted only with front-wheel drive. In this configuration, the crossover nets 168 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque, and an EPA-estimated 22/31 mpg. Even this base engine outsteams the 155-hp 2013 Mazda CX-5, and comes close to outpacing the current Honda CR-V. Only 10 percent of Escapes will come with this engineprimarily fleet vehicles--and Ford didn't provide a test vehicle outfitted with this drivetrain on its press event.

A 1.6-liter turbocharged "EcoBoost" four-cylinder with direct injection is standard in the Escape SE and SEL. It spools up 178 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. While performance is close to that of the base four, the turbo's gas mileage of 24/33 mpg trounces the non-turbo four, and matches that of the smaller Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage, while outpacing the Honda CR-V's 22/30 mpg. The Mazda CX-5, at 26/35 mpg for front-drive versions, is a gas-mileage leader but as we've seen, performance from its 155-hp four is lacking, which isn't so much the case with the Escape's 178-hp four, and its estimated 0-60 mph times of 8.5 seconds.

Review Interior & Exterior of 2013 Ford Escape :
The Escape did its best impression of the first-generation Explorer, down to the grille and window shapes and even the outdated graining of its interior plastics. That's all gone now, replaced by a tightly fitted form that's part hatchback, part running shoe. There's even a bit of the long-nose proportions of a good sports sedan, and enough of the upturned D-pillar to keep the family relationship to the Focus intact. Mostly it's dynamic though as with the same pieces on the Focus, the mail-slot-sized grille still isn't working for us, and the gaping, buttressed front end is starting to remind us of a dust ruffle pulled up during a dust-bunny hunt.

The Escape now looks the part of a modern crossover from the outside--with lots of passing resemblances to the new Hyundai Santa Fe Sport and it rings even more truly modern inside. The cabin's lost the open, airy feel of the first-generation Escape, and the raked form and safety needs of the day mean the pillars are thickly built tooas is the dash itself, which looms larger than in some similarly sized crossovers. The cut-tube gauges occupy their own nacelle; the audio and climate controls nest in the center stack with a piano-style set of controls and tall, skinny air vents. Oddly, there's another horizontal air vent beneath the LCD screen that seems to exist to cool the climate controls and knee caps. A wide ribbon of high-gloss grey plastic, like the mixed-emotion stuff found in the Chevy Volt, loops around these controls. At the top of this Matterhorn of modernity, ironically, is a CD slot--the one relic of the past decade we can spot inside the new Escape from a dozen feet away.

Reviewer: Neo Anderson
Item Reviewed: 2013 Ford Escape Review And Picture

Posted by: Neo Anderson

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Title: 2013 Ford Escape Review And Picture
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Review by Neo Anderson
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