So my love-hate relationship with my 02 Jeep Grand Cherokee came to and end when I blew a head gasket leaving a Menards parking lot last night. With that and transmission issues it’s time to send it to it’s demise. I absolutely loved driving the thing- when I could drive it and it wasn’t in the shop. Checking around it seems that most Chrysler products have an extremely bad reputation, so as much as I like the Jeep brand I think it’s time to look elsewhere.
I’m looking for a true- SUV. You know what I mean, something more like a truck and not a car vaguely shaped like a SUV like most of the newer ones are. I rented pre-2012 Escape on vacation and liked it and there’s a lot of those available so I was thinking along that line. Can these go 250,000 miles without needing drivetrain work? Do these rust as bad as Explorers did? How do these compare to things like the RAV-4?
My Wife had an '02 Grand Cherokee. It was a love/hate relationship. I feel your pain. She now has a '16 Subaru Outback and is not in love with it. She misses her Jeep. It was the right size, and the cargo area worked. Not so in the Subaru. She is looking at a RAV-4 but we really haven’t investigated it much.
I wouldn’t worry to much about rust issues with new vehicles, times have changed since the Chevys and Fords of the 80’s.
I’ve had the first generation Pathfinder, and the third generation (I think I have that correct). Pretty good vehicle. Body on frame. Good ground clearance.
Now they have fucked up the Pathfinder completely. Some sort of crossover BS. Not worth even looking at.
I’ll be looking for a new SUV in a year or two. The ONLY thing that I have found is the Toyota 4-Runner. I hope they keep making them.
We had a Ford Escape hybrid a few years ago that was mostly OK, except for a problem with it suddenly surging forward when braking to a stop. When we took it in for a fix under warranty, the dealer claimed the surging was “part of normal hybrid operation”. :dubious:
Only after insisting that another dealer fix the problem did we find out that it was a defect Ford knew about and had sent a circular about it to dealers (but didn’t bother recalling the vehicles for repairs/replacement of the defective part(s)).
I owned an 07 and now drive a 2012 escape, best if you look at these like a raised station wagon, than any kind of truck. The 07 had AWD, and the 12 has 4WD but are essentially the same thing. For marketing reasons the cars got badged with all wheel drive and the “trucks” got badged as 4 wheel drive. So basically its all electronic with no means of shifting manually into 4 wheel.
It’s not a speeder, so the fastest your going to do is to ramp on the highway behind someone doing 20 klicks an hour at the final merge, but normally between 100 and 120 is the fastest your going to be doing.
I’m also running a 2012 Escape right now and while it’s an okay vehicle, it isn’t something I’d get again. Doesn’t have as much room as it looks like it has, rides noisier than most other vehicles I’ve had, and mine at least is a gas hog. I am NOT impressed. Like Declan states, this is more of a raised station wagon, without much power.
The only thing I didn’t like about the Escape I rented was it seemed underpowered to the point that trying to merge on the freeway was dangerous. I assume the V6 solves this issue. Does the Rav4 that’s only available in a 4 have the same problem?
Huh. I did own a 1976 Chevy pickup from 1979 until 2014. At some point I was sent a recall from Chevrolet for some sort of by-back or something. I ignored it since I liked the truck and it was really just a work truck that never saw pavement later in life.
If anyone has any recommendations for a mid-large sized SUV I would be happy to here them too. The Ford Escape to me is a small car.
Still leaning toward the 4-Runner. It’s a good mid-size IMHO.
I have owned a 2010 Ford Escape since 2012. It has never given me any problems. It is definitely a small SUV, but within that class, it’s sizable. It’s not especially powerful in terms of low-end torque, but I never use it for anything more adventurous than hauling my wife and kids to the beach.
I loved loved loved my 2004 Escape. I had the V6. I only put 80k miles on it before I had to get rid of it last September due to the bottom just rusting into dust.
I love love love my new 2017 Escape. It’s fun. Like a spaceship. I’m told they took care of the rust problem. We’ll see…
They don’t do V6 in the new models I don’t think, which you probably have read. They do the HyperBoost or whatever. Something special to give it boost but keep fuel economy down.
That being said, I don’t think the Escape is more burly than a powerful wagon or something. It’s probably more like a roomy sedan at this point. I dunno if I would buy one if I needed/wanted a Serious SUV for Serious SUV Needs.
Have you compared the Escape with the Edge? It’s a lot more expensive, and it seems to be the same-ish size (smaller than an Explorer) but something has to make up that price. I’m thinking drivetrain.
Note that the Escape isn’t a true SUV; it’s a unibody crossover. Although it does appear that unibody crossovers seem to be usurping the SUV moniker of real SUV’s like the Expedition and Tahoe.
In any case, I had a 2015 Escape (actually, a Ford China Kuga) for about 23 months, and it was an okay ride. It was a four-cylinder with Ecoboost (i.e., a turbo-supercharger) to give it some oomph, and it has all of the bells and whistles that one needs in a modern car.
I can’t project its longevity. If taken care of, I would guess that it’s perfectly average.
As far as rust compared to the Explorer, what generation Explorer do you mean? I get involved in almost every aspect of corrosion, and some cars have better designs to help with corrosion versus others. Current Explorer is pretty good (except for the hood). Current Escape/Kuga doesn’t seem to have any major issues. Most modern issues affect closure panels; the days of rusty quarter panels and rockers are mostly gone.
There are three engine choices: normally aspirated 2.5L, turbocharged 1.5L, and turbocharged 2.0L. The 2.0 motor has pretty lively acceleration and makes almost 250hp, which is excellent for this class of vehicle. That’s the motor I would choose for sure.
I would also want one with the Ford Sync 3 system, which is their latest infotainment system. I don’t think you can get it on the base S model but it’s available in the SE trim, which is the middle of the road trim level.
If it were me I’d get an SE with AWD, the 2.0L engine and Sync 3 system. The 2.0L engine also allows up to 3500lbs towing if that’s something that you might be doing.
I used to sell these and they are quite popular. Ford makes pretty good cars these days.