My wife is somewhat interested in buying a used Ford Escape. Anybody have first hand experience with them?

Depends on what vintage you're talking about we've got two of them here. My wife bought a 2015 SE a few years back. This year I traded my truck off on a 2018 SEL with leather and all the schittzle for her and for now I'm driving her old one. Check out consumer reports etc. No one makes much fuss about these little suv's that, let's face it look like all the rest there isn't much imagination in car design any more. But they rate highly for reliability and customer satisfaction. Both of these are the little 1.5 l turvo EcoBoost. Enough power and good mileage.

My wife's brother and his wife and teenage son were involved in a head on collision a few years ago. They were in a Ford Escape, the other vehicle was a GMC Suburban. Each was probably going close to 60 mph. The Suburban crossed over into their lane. The occupants of the Suburban were basically shook up pretty bad. My brother in law and his son were critically injured, and his wife died instantly. The Escape was demolished. The Suburban rolled over but remained pretty well intact.

Buy something rear wheel drive with a good stiff steel frame under it.

I bought a 2018 SE with 26,000 miles on it for 15K. It has the 1.5L Turbo and averages about 25.5 MPG. I took it on a trip that was mostly interstate running 75-80 mph and it got over 30 MPG. It is happiest running 65 MPH + due to the gearing. I think it might become my favorite all-around vehicle. It handles very well on marginal roads and has excellent braking.

So far I have no complaints except I would like a better sound system.

I'm part way in to a comprehensive destructive testing program with the little 2015 that I'm driving. I put a hitch on it, its rated for 2000 lbs I've towed 1500 lbs plus over mountain passes a couple times already and it keeps up with traffic fine. I knock it out of auto mode and use the paddle shifter, at 4000 rpm it sounds happy and does 60 mph up a long infamous grade nearby that has the trucks in the basement doing 30-40. I've got more in reserve the turbo makes decent torque.

I put slightly taller light truck tires on it and have crossed a lot of ditches and deactivated roads just to see what it can do. I've been surprised. I hate that you can't shift it in and out of 4wd, the computer does that. But it does OK. Clearance obviously is the issue, but being so short like I say its surprised me. Its getting scratched up pretty bad. The Catahoula went off on a pit bull that some idjut parked right beside us when I wasn't there. Lots of claw marks on the interior doors now. But there were quite a few before. I do plan on getting a truck as well before long but in the mean time I'm beating on this lil biotch to see what its made of. Hey they're disposable anyway right?

The business that I work for has a 2013 model as a delivery vehicle....it is crap.

I'm quite fond of them.

We have a 2009 RAV4 V6 Limited that we love. We have spent between 3-4 weeks driving a Escape Ecoboost Titanium (rental/loaner). If there is another vehicle (outside of another RAV4) I could see myself buying to replace our RAV4, it is the Escape. Very good vehicle to drive IMO. Seating position, for a 6'1" 270lb non flexible person with back troubles, is very good (fully adjustable seat on the models I've driven), better than the Explorers I've tried. I would seriously consider buying a Titanium.

I had a 2014 Escape with AWD Titanium package on it.

Simply stated, it was the sorriest vehicle I have ever owned.

Underpowered, the AWD was only fair in the snow if more than about 3 inches it was a no go, so-so gas mileage (23 mpg) , and the transmission went out with just under 90K miles on it.

Ford warranty service was a nightmare and I had to get ugly and almost had to sue them to get the tranny fixed.

My experience with the Escape totally soured me on any Ford product and I will never own another.

Shortly after getting the transmission fixed, I traded the Escape for a 2018 Nissan Titan which thus far has been flawless.

I had one for a rental car for about a week. Drove ok and the only thing I would really change is more storage room in the back.

Seriously looked at them, talked to my mechanic[friend] and he mentioned tranny problems.
Ended up with a CRV, love it so far.

I went with a Nissan Murano instead. A bit more room, plain old normally aspirated V-6, very similar mileage. I've got 95K on the Murano (I bought it new) and the only repair has been a wheel bearing under warrantee and that was a no-questions-asked fix in under 3hrs.

208785 miles on a 2002 and still driving every day!!!

We had an older model for several years, can't remember what year. Put about 120,000 miles on it, started having transmission problems, traded it off.

Don't know if true or not but the transmission guy told us the problem (at least with the older ones like ours) was ford /Mazda was putting basically a car transmission in them and expecting it to perform like a suv. He said the trannies in them were too wimpy for the intended use. But he could have been full of it, dunno. The newer ones may have stouter transmissions.

Hastings, sorry for your loss, but there are very few vehicles on the road (aside from other trucks) that would handle a head-on with a Suburban any better.

True about the Suburban. A local guy got hurt a fair bit last year when driving a lifted new-model F150 crewcab 4wd, which is a pretty big truck. He had a head on with a new-model lifted F250 diesel crewcab 4wd. The bigger truck won out and that guy walked away.

You're right. That's why I asked my daughter to get rid of her Kia and start hauling my little grand daughters around in something stouter like a Suburban. Weight and rigidity will almost always win.

Just traded my 13 SEL with 252,000 miles on it. I'm a road warrior, so 90% of my miles is interstate. Great vehicle, and synthetic oil changes every 10k. My only suggestion is to get the 2.0 turbo instead of the 1.5. I traded up to the Edge, Limited, and hope I get the same results

"Blondie! You know what you are Blondie?!"

Best to stay away from cross-dressers.

I bought my son a 2006 Mazda Tribute last month. The Tribute and Escape for that year are the same vehicle. The car has 89K miles on it and is spotless. I hope it runs as good as my old co-workers Escape of the same time frame did.

My Daughter in law had a 2018 until this summer.

She was coming home from Hobbs and a black horse jumped into her lane.

She was traveling 55 and tried to brake,it was nighttime.

From the Sheriff's deputy,highway patrol and all of ER folks she should have dead.

It kept the horse from crushing her,she has glass in her body and several cuts.

Her shins were banged up and she had a headache for a week.

The car was taken by the state then the Dept of Trans.got it then the insurance got it.

I have never rode in one but it seems tough to me.

The car was totaled as well as the horse.

The so called neighbor that owned it has had a problem with any animal he has had on his place getting out.

I've rented a couple of Escapes, but never driven one long term, just a week here and there. They seemed "okay" but nothing special to me. I really liked the back-up cameras on the "nicer" ones, enough that when I bought another brand of vehicle, I made sure it had a camera. Ford's camera set-up is a LOT better than Nissan's, that I can say with confidence.


We took one to Arizona when my MIL passed away, and it did a fine job, but I wasn't too impressed with it's power, Ecoboost or not, gimme a 6 banger, not a tiny four.

Escape from it and buy a CRV or Rav4.

My wife has a 14 ecoboost

SE with a 2.0 turbo 4wd has been a great car a lot less road noise compared to RAV4.

As mentioned, a lot of transmission problems for a number of years, so do your research once you decide what vintage you are considering buying. Otherwise seemed to be fairly decent little vehicles, I always kinda liked them minus the tranny.

I admit I could never warm-up to fords. Wife had a new Escape as a company car a while back, think it was a '14 or 15. After delivery it sat in the driveway for a month because they told her not to drive it until the recall was done on it. Don't know why they bothered delivering it. Problem was they were catching on fire.........lovely. Had multiple problems for the following year or so and apparently so did many others with the Escape as a company vehicle because they swapped them out earlier than usual because of it, for jeep. So not a sample of one. Kinda validated my opinion of Ford, but they do sell a lot of trucks! Just haven't brought myself to try one, afraid of an expensive lesson.

I took over my wifes 2011 escape when she upgraded to a toyota.

We bought it because I got a great deal on it (new... long story) and we needed a car badly due to some breakdowns and other stuff.

It is no frills, far less refined than a toyota, honda, or even jeep. Its typical Ford.

It runs noisy. The fan comes no no matter what. Lots of engine noise. The AC isnt that cold despite plenty of work. Its not particularly room inside, and I am not a huge guy. Sub 5 10 you'll be fine, but its not roomy. It seems smaller inside than the outside would imply.

There's nothing really wrong with it. its got 115k miles on just oil change and gas. The AC has had issues and I was told this is typical. Dont know if its true.

Decent mileage. Decent value.

Inshort, very average, which is fine if you get a good price and dont have a pressing need to have thebest shiniest. Which is why it worked for us.

We have a 2010 we bought 8 years ago. It has been the most dependable, trouble free car we've ever owned. My wife loves it. She's not too impressed with the newer style. Her girlfriend has one and Etta doesn't feel it has the visibility of hers. The newer ones seems to have smaller windows. She likes hers because of the bigger windows and feels she can see better out of it. It has ample power for highway driving. We've never towed anything with it. It has good space in the back and with the seats down we've had two big dog kennels in it. It was a squeeze getting them in but they fit. Great rig in my opinion.

Get a Honda CRV instead.

My daughter had a used Escape that she liked pretty well until it was totaled in a chain reaction collision. She replaced it with another used Escape and it was unreliable starting so she traded it for a Mazda SUV.

Here around my area the majority and cheaper priced of both new and used Ford Escapes as well as Toyota RAVs, and most other brands of small SUVs for sale are 2 wheel drive (FWD) only models. Each to their own desires but I can't help but wonder why so many buyers would even want non AWD / 4 wheel drive small SUV.

Also wondering, does anybody even make smaller SUVs in true 4 wheel drive with selectable high/low range transfer case anymore?

The crossover SUV is replacing the sedan, so folks who've been satisfied with a front wheel drive sedan tend to buy FWD crossovers. While they certainly aren't 4X4 or even AWD equivalents, FWD vehicles are plenty capable in my experience.

I'm in the mtns of SWVA and 2WD is what I wanted, took some looking to find a CRV here in 2WD, over here at least 95% of all of the crossovers are either AWD or 4WD.
I get 4-5 MPG's better with FWD only and have a truck & full size SUV for bad weather.
The CRV is my daily driver and our fuel miser for 3-4 a month trips to Tenn.

Front wheel drive cute utes are modern day station wagons. They haul groceries and 1.2 children around town with ease, and are higher off the ground than a sedan so Mama sees better and feels safer.

They are actually pretty ingenious fron a marketing standpoint imo, and they actually do their job well. Just think of them as the current version of a Buick Roadmaster.

Praise the Lord that she wasn't totaled as was my sister in law. Those things fold up like an aluminum can in a collision. They are safer than a motorcycle in a collision except a motorcycle might easier dodge a collision.

They rust over the rear wheel area. Other than that...no complaints over the one my mom had for years. Not as refined as the imports but not a bad car at all

There's about a 2000 pound weight difference. The big car is always going to win. I kind of worry about that with my wife driving a Buick Regal. Sorry to hear about your family members. I they are healing up.

I have a friend that always has full sized vehicles for his family and a couple weeks ago they were t-boned by a service body truck. They were in a big Lexus SUV. The SUV may be totaled but they walked away a little roughed up in his words.

Nope!

Honda is having their share of problems with the 1.5L engine used in the CR-V and the Civic.


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Thanks for all the great input.