2020 Ford Escape First Impressions: Comments

[Drew Dowdell]

Ford unveiled the 2020 Escape ahead of the New York International Auto Show and yesterday I finally got my chance to check it out. 

The Escape’s overall shape has lost some of its edge. It is now more rounded and car-like born out by the fact that it is longer, lower, and wider than the current model.  From certain angles in the front, it almost looks to be a Tesla, an association I’m sure Ford won’t mind me making. In back, it has lost almost all of its character. Scrape the badges off and I couldn't tell you what manufacturer this car came from.

Inside is a mixed bag. The dash is laid out in a simple organized fashion and I like how it no longer juts out at you as the outgoing model does.  The screen is well placed and easy to reach. My experiences with Sync3 in the past have been good, so I expect that will carry over into this Escape. The rear seat room is good for the class, though the rear seats do sit lower than I would like.

Where I’m let down is in the quality of materials. Everything seems to be made of hard plastic. The door panels in the rear were especially tupperware feeling. One strange item is the unusual placement of the engine start/stop button, down and behind the steering wheel almost as if they were intentionally making it hard to reach. I did back to back comparisons with Ford’s competition at the show and I would put the new Escape near the bottom of the list on interior quality. It is even a step backward from the current Escape.

The Escape will have four powertrain choices, a 1.5-liter turbo, a 2-liter turbo carried over from the previous generation, and making a return is the hybrid version, powered by a 2.5 liter 4-cylinder. A plug-in hybrid will also be available, but only in front-wheel drive form.  The most interesting of these engines is the 1.5 liter. It is a 3 cylinder EcoBoost producing 180 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. It is capable of running on just 2 cylinders during times of light load. I liked the 1-liter 3-cylinder EcoBoost in the Ford Fiesta, and if this new 1.5 liter runs the same, that would be a good thing. Driving impressions will have to wait till later this year when the Escape goes into production.

Overall I think this Ford could and should do better on the interior quality. A 3-cylinder turbo may be a hard sell no matter how good the mileage is and Ford will have an interesting time convincing customers of that. 

You can read more about the 2020 Ford Escape from the release article below.

 

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[G. David Felt]

Great read, and I totally agree on the front end Tesla look. The back end is just bland and a real bummer to hear that the interior has gone backwards.

I also will say that I would take a gas slurping 4 banger over an over worked turbo 3 banger any day.

I get the feeling that Ford thinks they can move everyone to more expensive trucks and eventually kill off the Escape. Yet with that said, not everyone especially thoughts just starting out can afford a $50,000 auto and so this should be the starting out auto at a reasonable price with reasonable interior.

A hard cheap Tupperware plastic interior is not it.

[smk4565]

I think it looks like a last gen Mazda 3 with the smiley face front.  While I think the Corsair looks pretty impressive, this does not. One hit, one miss.  I think any of the 7 SUVs Hyundai has is more compelling than this.  

[riviera74]

A Hard Cheap Tupperware plastic interior is part of how KIA sells so many of its cars (Stinger and K900 aside).  Of course, if Ford had its way, no one ever buy a three-box sedan for the next decade or three.  Since the Escape is (relatively) cheap, Tupperware plastic interior comes with the package.  A Lincoln Navigator it is NOT.

[daves87rs]

Escape deserves better than than this. Might as well just been a station wagon...

Ford does not need this to be a Mazda Cx 5 clone. The CX5 is a good CUV in it’s own right, and I expect this out of Mazda.

I expect the Escape to at least try to keep some of it’s adventurous in going camping and out door stuff as the like.

While I’m sure it will make a good car, that’s not the point here..

[Robert Hall]

I guess they kept the interior materials cheap to maximize profit...now I wonder if it will be priced competitively or if they will price gouge?   So how does this compare to the Equinox in size?  Looks tiny...

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

I guess they kept the interior materials cheap to maximize profit...now I wonder if it will be priced competitively or if they will price gouge?   So how does this compare to the Equinox in size?  Looks tiny...

Agree, I think with Fords debt, that price gouging will be a reality.

[ocnblu]

Kind of girly.  I'll wait for the boy version.

[G. David Felt]

6 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Kind of girly.  I'll wait for the boy version.

You just want a Woodie in Green!  

[regfootball]

at least in these pictures it does look really cheap inside.

[Robert Hall]

On 4/20/2019 at 7:41 AM, ocnblu said:

Kind of girly.  I'll wait for the boy version.

Rumor has it the Baby Bronco will be named Bronco Scout. 

[ocnblu]

4 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Rumor has it the Baby Bronco will be named Bronco Scout.

Oh OK.  Two off-road icons in one!

[Robert Hall]

Saw Ford trademarked that name. 

[A Horse With No Name]

On 4/20/2019 at 7:41 AM, ocnblu said:

Kind of girly.  I'll wait for the boy version.

Says the dude who loved the Ecosport...

On 4/21/2019 at 8:54 PM, Robert Hall said:

Rumor has it the Baby Bronco will be named Bronco Scout. 

I wonder if it sells cookies and wears a skirt?

[G. David Felt]

On 4/21/2019 at 6:13 PM, Robert Hall said:

Saw Ford trademarked that name. 

So does that mean a possible Girl Scout version with Cookies? ?

[A Horse With No Name]

1 minute ago, dfelt said:

So does that mean a possible Girl Scout version with Cookies? ?

Since the styling cues come more from a vacuum cleaner than a car....why not a Hoover version? And since we are talking about re opening politics...and since Hoover was by all counts a mediocre president....and no one here will spend a dime on this steaming pile....why not the Hoover version?

[Drew Dowdell]

Do try not to spread politics to non-political threads.  Keep it to the tariffs threads. 

[G. David Felt]

Seems the rest of the auto industry is not much impressed either. From edmunds to KBB, seems at most people are only willing to go 3 out of 5 stars. So MEH, 

https://www.edmunds.com/ford/escape/2020/

https://www.thecarconnection.com/overview/ford_escape_2020

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/escape/2020/

[Robert Hall]

Just another generic econobox CUV.  Nothing significant.  

[A Horse With No Name]

On 4/20/2019 at 2:11 PM, dfelt said:

You just want a Woodie in Green!  

He will settle for any kind of woodie, actually.

25 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Just another generic econobox CUV.  Nothing significant.  

Or interesting....At that point, Chevy Sonic or Spark might be just as interesting...

29 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Seems the rest of the auto industry is not much impressed either. From edmunds to KBB, seems at most people are only willing to go 3 out of 5 stars. So MEH, 

https://www.edmunds.com/ford/escape/2020/

https://www.thecarconnection.com/overview/ford_escape_2020

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/escape/2020/

Honest automotive journalism....

48 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Do try not to spread politics to non-political threads.  Keep it to the tariffs threads. 

Fair enough...I thought Hoover (being gone 90 years) would be a fairly generic topic.

Edited June 11, 2019 by A Horse With No Name

[frogger]

Looks like it was designed to be a rental car.

 

[A Horse With No Name]

37 minutes ago, frogger said:

Looks like it was designed to be a rental car.

 

Indeed....

[Potluck]

Looks like a big gold fish. The interior looks okay, but if material quality is bad, it may not matter.

[oldshurst442]

4 hours ago, frogger said:

Looks like it was designed to be a rental car.

 

Just like any other CUV that was ever created from every manufacturer since the mid 1990s... 

[riviera74]

35 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Just like any other CUV that was ever created from every manufacturer since the mid 1990s... 

Blame Toyota and Honda for the modern CUV.  They had no BOF platforms to make a lot of SUVs back in the 1990s so they went with a unibody crossover instead.  Blame Lexus for the first luxury crossover back in 1997 too.

[Robert Hall]

2 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Blame Toyota and Honda for the modern CUV.  They had no BOF platforms to make a lot of SUVs back in the 1990s so they went with a unibody crossover instead.  Blame Lexus for the first luxury crossover back in 1997 too.

They had BOF platforms---they were already making the 4Runner, Sequoia, and Land Cruiser.   But they realized they could make more car-like crossovers from unibody FWD car platforms that would be more appealing to women, and it ended being a means of printing money...

Jeep had the unibody SUVs long before that, but they were purpose-built RWD based platforms, not generic FWD sedan mediocrity. 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Robert Hall

[Drew Dowdell]

Even Range Rovers are unibody now. 

Lexus just knew they could make more money on a jacked up Camry "Sport Utility" than if they did a wagon.