2021 Ford Escape

ELANA SCHERR: I feel like I start all my Ford reviews by reminding you that Ford said it wasn't going to build cars anymore. So even though the 2020 Ford Escape looks like a car, it's not one. It's a crossover. It's raised up. Does the Ford Escape deliver on that promise to be both the best of both car and SUV? We're in Louisville, Kentucky, which is the birthplace of the Ford Escape-- really, it's built right around the corner from here-- to find out. Whether you're shopping for a car or an SUV or an SUV that looks like a car, we can help you at Edmunds.com. So the focus of the Ford Escape-- and no, that wasn't a Ford pun. Although it could have been because the Escape kind of looks car-like, and it's supposed to drive car-like. So they took weight out of it, and they lowered the center of gravity. It has a lower roof line than most SUVs. And all of that is supposed to make it more fun to drive on the road, more appealing to people who are coming out of sedans. One of our complaints about the previous Escape was that it didn't have a good ride quality. And it also didn't get very good fuel economy. Now, with the 2020 Escape, they're offering four different engine options, and two of them are hybrids. So you can pretty much guarantee that at least two of them are going to offer good fuel economy. As for ride quality, have they improved it? I'd say yes. It feels light, and the word nimble was thrown around a lot in the press release. But I'd say it's applicable. There are several different driving modes. And they do change the characteristics of the car. There's an eco mode, a normal mode, a sport mode, and then some snow and ice slippery modes. Now, most of the time what driving modes do is they adjust how the traction control works on the car. They can also affect how quick the throttle response is. In performance cars, the modes also affect the steering feel. And the Escape has that, too. However, I didn't notice it at first when I was doing this test drive because I had the lane centering on. Lane centering is one of those semi-autonomous new technologies that helps keep the car in the center of the lines so that you're not bouncing around inside the lane. I think that stuff is really great. But it does affect the driving feel of the car. And once I turned that lane centering off, I enjoyed driving this car a lot more. With it on, I felt like the steering was kind of light and twitchy. And with it off, it has felt much more dynamic. If you're economy minded, you'll probably go with the three cylinder 1.5 liter. And if you're really interested in the new technologies, you'll pick either the hybrid or the plug-in hybrid. For those of you who like a little performance oomph in your driving, you're going to want to go with the two liter turbo four cylinder EcoBoost, which is what is in this right now, backed by an 8 speed automatic transmission. It makes more than 235 horsepower, and with 200 pounds of weight savings in the 2020 Escape, you can really feel the difference. It's down-right zippy. If you've read up on the Escape at all, you might have seen a reference to high strength steel. And the reason why that matters is, if you have a stronger material, you can use less of it. And the way that that is shown in the Escape is in how thin these pillars are like, if they're smaller, if they're thinner, you can see around them more. They're not blocking as much of your view. So the visibility is great in the Escape. And that's something that they really tried to do, and they did it. I'm not going to give them all the props, though, because there are two visibility complaints that I have. One of which is that the angle of the windshield is super reflective of the dash. And the other is that this heads up display that they've got going on here with is kind of janky. There are definitely more sophisticated ways to do it that don't involve having a little piece of sunglass sticking up in your view all the time. Ford does a good job integrating new technology into their cars. And the Escape has a lot of examples of that. Know it's got emergency braking. It even has emergency evasive steering, which I am not going to test for you. But in theory, it would help me steer around an obstacle if I was about to hit something. I don't know if it's just because we're in the Titanium and it's got the big fancy wheels, but there is so much tire noise in here. When it comes to handling and breaking in the Escape, I haven't really thought about it that much on this drive, which, really, I think is exactly what you would want out of a small SUV. I mean, I didn't buy it to go racing. I bought it to go commuting with people in it and be comfortable. And it's all of those things. Ford's trying something different with the Escape. Instead of the straight lines and kind of like beefy stance of a traditional SUV, sort of smooth and friendly looking. In fact, the front end is downright cute. I don't have any problem with cute cars. I mean, Volkswagen bug, anybody? Yeah, they do great. If you're not into cute and you want a tougher looking SUV, Ford is making something called the-- what was it? Oh, yeah, Bronco. That's for you. This Escape is all about offering you options. So if it's cargo space you need, Ford has made it pretty easy to switch from people hauler to stuff carrier. There are some things I really like about the Escape's interior. There's a lot of space in here. I never feel cramped. The seats are comfortable. I think there's some nice trim options like this wood grain here. Ford did take some design risks in the Escape, which is not something that I normally associate with Ford. I usually feel like its interiors are very plain and conservative. But we've got a lot of different materials going here, different colors. I like all of that. There's this pattern here in the door which, honestly, kind of reminds me of cellulite. But hey, that's very body positive. And I'm down with that. The base Escape with the 1.5 liter three cylinder starts around $25,000. The Titanium here, with its optional all wheel drive and turbo charged two liter plus other goodies like leather trim and this panoramic sunroof, will set you back almost $40,000. So there's a huge price range across the different Escape trim levels. There are a lot of storage space for small things up here. But anyone who's ever had a big purse knows that that can also be a curse like the storage in the door is huge. And it goes all the way back in the door panel, which basically just means that you will lose like 17 pairs of sunglasses in this car. There's some trick stuff in the console. The cup holders light up, which is fancy. This car doesn't have it, but there is a charging pad coming. That's going to be good because currently the standard USB is all the way over here. And so then your cord runs across your whole business. Really, it's better guys if you can charge everything up here and then tuck the cord away. But an inductive charging pad will solve that. So when that's an option, you should get it, and everything will be nice and clean. Ford always does a good job in laying out the controls for infotainment and safety features. It wasn't hard to find things. The stuff that I wanted to turn off like the lane centering, which sucks and I hate it, I didn't have to go searching for very long, and it was easy. There are actual knobs for volume and radio tuning, no problem to set the temperature however you want it. And the air conditioning is very good, which has been great during this extremely hot and humid adventure in Kentucky. The Ford Escape is wider and longer than the previous model. But unlike most SUV redesigns, it's not taller. It's actually got a lower roof line. So I was a little worried about whether there would be enough headroom in here-- not for me, obviously. I'm like so short-- but for normal sized people. As it turns out, I think you could be tall and still fit in here fine. Plus, I have plenty of leg room here. But if I didn't, I could fix it with the sliding rear row. Not only is the sliding second row super fun and giving you more leg room, but if you don't need that, you can just slide them forward. And then you have more cargo room. So after spending a day in the Ford Escape, is it good to go or see you later? Hmm, a little bit of both. There are other small SUVs is that do luxury better. Mazda, I'm looking at you. But there are certainly a bunch that do it worse. And I really like the styling. It stands out. I like the idea that you can have a car and an SUV, have enough space, but not have like a big monster machine. It's going to be interesting to see where Ford takes the Escape. This is a brand new redesign, and I think they have big plans for this little SUV.