COMPACT SPORT-UTE WIDER, LONGER, LIGHTER, BETTER
Ford has taken something good and made it better. At least that’s the way Louis Stack sees it when it comes to the all-new 2020
Ford Escape.
Stack recently spent time behind the wheel of an Escape SEL during a bitterly cold week in Calgary. He’s familiar with the compact SUV: his wife drives a 2017 model, his son owns one, and Stack himself drove a 2016 model for a short time.
“I’m six-feet, four-inches tall,” Stack says. “And the 2016 Escape was too small for me. I felt tight in it, even with the seat maxed out all the way back. My tall son could not sit behind me in that vehicle.”
The big news for the 2020 Escape is it has grown. Stack says he had much more shoulder room and space for his knees than in the previous generation.
First introduced in 2000 as a 2001 model, the Escape fits into Ford’s lineup at the smaller end of its SUV range. It’s larger than the subcompact Ecosport, but smaller than the Edge, Explorer and Expedition.
The latest Escape is longer, lower and wider. It’s also lighter, thanks to the use of more lightweight, high-strength steel.
In base S and SE trim, the Escape comes with a 1.5-litre Ecoboost triple-cylinder engine. Two engines are available in the SEL; for an extra $2,000, a 2.0-L Ecoboost four-cylinder engine that includes paddle shifters is available. All-wheel drive is an option on the usually front-wheel drive S, SE, SEL and Titanium Hybrid, but is standard on the fully-trimmed, 2.0-L-equipped Titanium model.
Stack is the youngest of seven kids. His older brothers were mechanically inclined, and there was always something, such as a Sprite, Messerschmitt or Cooper S, on the family’s Stanley Park driveway. Stack was cleaning carburetors before he was 10 years old and would often wrench alongside an older brother.
His first vehicle was a Honda 90 motorcycle, which he rode to work downtown at a Texaco gas station as a pump jockey, and to another job as a porter at a hotel. With money he saved, he bought a 1969 Datsun 510. By the time he was 18, he had bought and sold more cars than many people own in a lifetime.
“I don’t have a long daily commute, but I love to drive and am always going skiing or biking and will load up vehicles with people and things and head to the mountains,” he says. “Or I’ll load up and go to a trade show in Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna or Edmonton. To me, that time on the road is just paradise.”
He’s also a very serious driver, having attended performance driving school. With that in mind, his top three purchasing considerations are performance (not just horsepower, but overall handling, traction and cornering abilities), comfort (some cars don’t fit his tall frame), and the value-to-benefit ratio.
His 2020 Escape SEL tester cost $39,899.
“I could immediately tell it was different because I fit and was very comfortable. I’d say it was invitingly spacious,” Stack says.
He found the interior was much less cluttered and says
Ford has refined just about every aspect of its design while making it easier to use, citing the rotary gearshift dial as one example.
Power from the 1.5-L Ecoboost in Stack’s all-wheel-drive SEL was peppy when driven in the selectable Sport mode, he says, but the eight-speed transmission “was shifting a lot to keep fuel economy in check” when in Eco mode.
“Handling was very impressive, and the brakes were excellent. I felt connected to the car and it was quite nimble on its feet, he says. “There was nothing disappointing about the overall ride.”
He figures the vehicle might best suit a young family that would like to grow into their
SUV. “It’s a small SUV, but you can put five people into it and still load it up,” he says. “I didn’t expect to be this positive about the Escape. It charmed me more than I thought it would.” Driving.ca
DRIVER’S JOURNAL
Day 1: Very smart looking and interior generally clean and not cluttered or busy looking. Leather-wrapped heated steering wheel is awesome. My iphone synced on the second try, which in my world is pretty good. Driving home, I hit heavy snow and it handled great with traction control both on and off to test it.
Day 2: Gave my wife a ride to work. She drives a 2017 Escape. The transmission is very smooth, and even though this SEL model does not have paddle shifters on the steering wheel, it shifts at red line or 6,400 rpm under full throttle in the Sport setting mode. Great sounding, throaty exhaust system. On the lighter side, if driven in the Eco mode it shifts well below 2,000 rpm and shifts often to keep revs low and power use low. The auto shut-off is fast to turn off the engine every time you stop and seamlessly restarts as you transfer from brake to gas.
Day 3: Learned that in Sport mode the traction control is automatically turned on, there is no option to override.
Day 4: I drove to my wife and daughter to a spa in Kananaskis, and I went to rip some turns on the gold chair at Nakiska. The 60/40 split-bench rear seat was a must, as this rig had no roof rack over its massive sunroof. My five-foot-eight daughter sat behind me and was shocked at how much legroom she had. I left my driver seat where I liked it and jumped back there and was amazed how different it was than our 2017 model.
Day 5: The backup camera works great, but at least in very cold weather it stays on long after I put it in drive. A little strange to see what you are driving away from as you attempt to focus on where you are going.
Day 6: I did notice the 2020 sunroof is not split equally, as in the earlier models. Now the front portion is much larger. I think the Escape looks rounder, wider, faster and closer to many of its European competitors.
Day 7: The remote start and heated steering wheel are welcome this morning at -25 C. Drove
514 city, highway and back-road kilometres on 50 L, or about 10 kilometres per litre. I did my last drive in the 2020 Escape and I can truly say I like it a lot. Ford has done a lot of good things to this car.