I had an opportunity to test-drive a Cherokee (for several hours, actually) several months ago, and I rather liked it. This one to be specific. Twice, several months apart, come to think of it.
Nice vehicle. I’d hate to have it blow a head gasket en route, though.
I had a 2013 Escape which I really liked. Like others have said, the ride is a bit “trucky” and noisy, but I regretted having to let it go at 86000 miles. My commute increased to the point where it wasn’t economical enough for me so I traded it in. I had the six cylinder. I later drove one of the newer Escapes and didn’t care for it.
if you had a 2013 you didn’t have the six, because there was no V6 in the 2013. you must have had a 2012.
Also, OP, when you say you want “something more like a truck than a car” it’s kind of a non-starter for an Escape, which IMO very much drives more like a car than a truck. It’s a unibody, it’s relatively small, and has a pretty tight turning radius.
Perhaps you’d like something more along the lines of the aforementioned Highlander, or some other truck-based SUV. Problem with those is that these are all large, truck-based SUV’s. Things like the GMC Acadia and their ilk are considered medium-sized (to me they are pretty damn big) SUV’s and are still unibody vehicles. The unibody provides a more compliant, less jouncy ride than a truck’s underpinnings will have, but there are tradeoffs, mostly towing and off road capability versus a poorer ride and typically pretty shitty gas mileage.
I pronounce the name “ESS ka pay.” Sounds more exotic.
I’m aware that there’s essentially no longer any true small and mid-sized SUVs on the market aside from the Grand Cherokee, just cars posing as SUVs. I realize the Escape is one of them but without other good options it was something I’ve driven and liked as far as comfort and sight-lines. Of course I was just in Florida so I have no idea how good it is in the snow.
Is the power steering failure and wheel-well rust issues I hear about big problems or just “every car has something that affects a few people”.
Cookie cutter cars have no resale value. That’s shit when you owe 15,000 on a 5,000 dollar car.
Other suggestions.
Avoid CVT transmissions. If you have a heartbeat, you’ll hate a CVT.
Avoid anything rental companies feature. They kill resale value when they dump them on the market.
Never buy the smallest engine option.
Avoid also-ran brands, Hyundai, etc.
Read Consumer Reports, Car and Driver, etc.
Avoid YouTube videos as references, these are people who have no idea what testing a car entails.
An easy way around this is to buy the most popular car in the class. There’s a reason why it’s the most popular.
NEVER believe anything a salesman tells you.
I just rented a Nissan Rogue for a week when I went to visit my step-daughter. She has the Escape, and it just happened to be the same color. I kept trying to open the door of her Escape when I went to the driveway where they were parked side-by-side.
I have no idea of what each one costs, but I drove her Escape a couple times and preferred the Rogue. It seemed to get better gas mileage and reacted better when I gave it some gas. The Escape seemed a bit slushy. Don’t know if it was the engine or the transmission. The fit and finish also appeared better than the Escape. If they are anywhere similar in price, I’d choose the Rogue. (I’m quite sure someone will now point out that the Rogue costs twice as much.)
Just my $0.02.
I have a 2006 Escape. V6, AWD. 180K miles on it. It hasn’t had many issues, but seems an expensive car to fix. I just replaced the A/C compressor motor, which was close to $1000. A few years ago I had to replace the alternator, and that was over a grand. They had to remove the front wheel assembly and axle to get to it. Still, it has rarely had an issue. It’ll haul about 10 bales of hay with the seats down, and if necessary, I can put all 6 large dogs (dobermans and german shepherds) in it.
My hope is to get it to at least 200K miles. At which time my mortgage will be paid off and I’ll have no debt at all.
StG
Those two specific issues are long in the past. The wheel well rust was pretty bad on the 08-10 models. I remember seeing a 2008 on the lot where I worked that had 150k miles on it and when the lot tech was driving it back to cleanup, one of the rear shock towers actually pushed up through the wheel well due to the rust. But again: long since resolved.
MOST cars are cookie cutter cars. And the resale value on many, many high end luxury cars is equally bad, it’s just a matter of scale. I agree on #2, you can get lucky on those but they are high mileage vehicles in comparison to the years, people often beat the shit out of rentals, and they often don’t have a lot of options.
#1, oh yeah. CVT’s suck to drive, although the technology has been pretty well sorted out by the Japanese carmakers in terms of reliability.
#3-I am in total agreement, which is why I recommended to the OP to get the largest forced induction motor for the Escape.
I think #4 is becoming less true, specifically in the case of Hyundai. They’ve come a long, long way since the Excel and do offer the best warranty of all manufacturers.
I certainly agree with #5, it’s a pretty unbiased resource. The latest issue that reviewed all makes scored the Escape at a 71, which is decent. It’s an 100 point scale and I have never seen a score in the 90’s and they rarely give out scores in the 80’s. They do praise the acceleration, handling and quiet ride of the Escape, along with the Sync 3 system, which is a VAST improvement over their previous iteration.
#6 can be hit or miss depending on who’s doing the reviewing. Car and Driver and Motor Trend have many videos on YouTube, and they are reputable, if biased towards sports cars.
#8 is a bit offensive, at least to me. I used to sell cars for GMC, Buick, Chevrolet and Ford. I spend a lot of time taking classes about the vehicle lines, driving the cars, familiarizing myself with them, taking tests, etc…a good salesperson is an invaluable resource for information about the car, provided they know WTF they’re talking about.
More like don’t pick up an 05 Escape
Well, the pre 2013 models are what i’m looking at. Before 08 and 11-12 OK?
Did they award negative numbers to Chrysler?
Besides the lack of power with the 4 cylander engine, the two downsides is the 08-12 didn’t have amber turn signals and I don’t like the control layout on them with the display a substantial distance away from the knobs.
Heard something else in that the tranny can’t handle the power of the V6 and breaks. Real problem or just isolated incidents?
Chrysler is pretty routinely called out for the issues that have plagued their cars for a long time, most notably transmission, electrical and reliability problems.
I must apologize, I forgot you weren’t thinking about a new car and I’ve kinda been focusing on those as they are the best of the lot.
I’ve never heard of an issue with the brakes on those model years. The turn signal thing I’m afraid id something you’re just going to have to deal with unless you can manage to change the bulbs somehow in order to achieve a different color.
My best advice is to really shop around on the internet for as new and as low a mileage example of an Escape as you can afford. Since it’s likely that due to time any Escape you seek in those model years will be out of warranty, so consider purchasing an extended warranty that you can roll into your payments but be careful: make sure the F&I person doing your paperwork explains the different warranty options available to you and what they cover. Some of them don’t cover shit, others are more comprehensive.
There was this one time where, in his role as Indiana Jones, he had to outrun a careening boulder. And there was the snake pit…
Anyone have good or bad experiences with RAV-4s? Can these go 200,000 miles without needing major drivetrain work?