Anyone drive a Ford Escape?

[CathyA]

DH needs a new car. He's driven Ford Explorers for many years. He needed a good 4WD for winters out here in the country. But the gas mileage is horrible. He really wants to stick with Ford, since he likes the one in the city, which is directly on his way to and from his work.

He seems to want a Ford Escape, which is a "crossover" SUV. It has "intelligent 4WD". It's considerably smaller than his Explorer, but he's looking for better gas mileage. I would have preferred he go with Honda, but they are so far away.
My concern is that, even though the salesperson says they're just as good in snow, maybe it won't be enough to get us out of our very long driveway in snow.

Just curious if any of you have had any experience with a Ford Escape.
Thanks.

[Williamsmith]

I have had many of them. They performed fine. I just prefer the Toyota Rav 4 at this stage of the game.

[Alan]

I bought one in 2006 although it was not the 4 wheel drive version. It was a good, dependable vehicle for the 9 years I owned it, although Ford has re-designed them since then. I believe JP1 may be more up-to-date on current Escapes as his household is considering one.

[nswef]

We're looking now and Escape is on the list, although we don't need 4 wheel drive. Our Focus with front wheel drive has gotten us through some bad, snowy roads, but now that we'e retired we never go out in the snow!

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone. Well, now DH is thinking more seriously about the Honda Pilot. I'm glad, since we can get some pretty bad snows here. Our drive is almost 1/5th mile long and can get really bad. Although with climate change......maybe it will never snow again. The Pilot has all wheel drive. Anyone know if that's as good as 4WD? I like the on-demand 4WD, but it's not available. Does all-wheel drive lower the gas mileage?

[Alan]

The Honda Pilot will cost you somewhere between $4000 to $8000 more than a similarly equipped Escape. The all wheel drive option on both models should have a negligible effect on your gas mileage but if that is a concern, the savings on the Escape will buy lots of gas.

[SteveinMN]

Winter tires. Winter tires. Winter tires.

Appropriate footwear makes a world of difference, two-wheel-drive or four (no matter how "intelligent"). Even Usain Bolt won't do his best in work boots.

[jp1]

We have had several escapes as rental cars over the past few years but have never driven in snow so i can’t comment on that. A friend has told me that AWD is not all created equal. Some manufacturers are stingy with the quality of the parts and then engineers it to not put too much load on the back wheels if it would damage the vehicle which limits its effectiveness on slippery terrain. I have no idea which makes do this but it might be worth looking into.

[Chicken lady]

On my second used escape. The 2001 transmission died on me last year. Driveway is 1/10 of a mile. Downhill, turn, cross bridge, turn, uphill to road. Snows, freezes, washes out. Always buy 4wd or AWD. The Dodge Durango got stuck several times. So far neither escape has been stuck.

i buy cars primarily by price divided by how many miles I think I can get out of them.