My wife has been looking at the 2008 Ford Escape.
I'm looking for opinions from anyone on previous owner experience.
She does a fair amount of highway traveling so I don't think 4 wheel drive is needed. And if it is needed we would just drive our F150.
4 cylinder or V-6?
The Hybrid model is not being consider because of the extra upfront cost and our low comfort level of this new technology.
All opinions apprciated.

 

We have owned 2 a 2002 and a 2006: both V6's. They are good little suvs. Gas mileage is good with the V6. My wife only drives city, rush hour traffic and averages just over 19. Highway is around 24. The new 4WD system works better than 03 and previous models since it's controlled by the ABS sensors. There is no longer an option to select 4WD. The stock tires are a bit noisy and it's jumpy off the line (which is kinda a Ford trait).
The only problem we have had with either model was a CD player malfunction with the 02 and a parking break sensor with the 06. The 02 was totalled by a friend in a 13 car pileup or we would probably still have it.

The weak point of these cars is the transmission. It's a CD4A, which is off of a Mazda 626/Ford Probe platform. If you drain and fill 3.9 qts every 15-20K miles you will be fine. The tranny filter is internal and cannot be serviced.

 

I've got a 2001 XLT 4x4 it runs strong and aside from a few squeaks in the suspension it's a great truck. I did change the sway bar end links for a rattle back in 2003.

I bought the truck in Hawaii got stationed in England and now I'm in Kansas. So this truck has literally been driven around the world. I loved it in England since that was considered a big truck compared to local vehicles.

Anywayswith a good pair of Bridgestone AT Revo tires it handled great in bad weather. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Escape if this one ever is beyond repair.

 

My wife's ride is an '05 Escape and we have loved it so far! We have the V6 engine and find it to deliver decent performance and fuel economy -- no problem accelerating into moving traffic and she averages about 23 mpg in her daily travels.

As stated, the transmission is the well known "weak link" of this vehicle. Frequent fluid changes seem to be the key, as it seems the first words out of the mouths of folks who have had trouble with the unit are, "I was supposed to flush and fill the transmission fluid at 30k?"

I had the dealer do our first fluid flush and exchange at 27k and will keep this service interval up for as long as we own the vehicle.

 

My wife has an '06 Escape. It is a 4 cyl AWD automatic. I decided to get the 4 cyl due to not needing the 6 cyl. It does not get that much better gas millage than the V-6. It gets a consistant 25-26 MPG's. My wife drives alot of highway miles. It has plenty of power merging on to the interstate and for passing. It can not tow over 1,000 lbs,which is useless, but that it what I have 2 F150's for. It now has 32,000 and we have not had a problem other than one recall. Tires are extremely noisy as posted. Good vehicle, I wouldn't hesitate buying another one.

 

We have the 07 hybrid. Its averaging over 30mpg CITY. very impressive. Its super quite though and has NO power at all.

 

I had a '03 Ford Escape... what a freakin' piece of junk it was. I used to belong to www.escape-central.com and I used to post all of the junk that used to happen to it, and they would poke fun at me. Like they thought it was awesome that I was left stranded out in -12F temperatures... yeah, really cool...

Anyhow, the transmission that is still being used it in is the CD4e which was made for front wheel drive Mercury Mystiques and Cougars... back in 1994. Currently it is a 15 year old transmission and it still has problems. Why didn't Ford trash it a long time ago?! Beyond me. With all of these new-fangled 6-speed auto transmissions, they could have thrown one in there. Like duh Ford.

Anyhow, back to my rant... I went through 4 transmissions with it, the Ebrake broke, went through 2 batteries, the dash lighting would do wierd things, engine wouldn't start due to ECU problems, automatic headlights would burn the wires in the fuse box until the fuse blew, and a whole slew of problems including 4x4 issues and a slew of suspension issues. It was a total nightmare.

A friend of mine wanted to buy an Escape, and after I told him what happened, he turned his statement right around and started looking for something else.

But it's not only mine that had these problems... a friend who still has an '04 lost his transmission once already and is currently dealing with suspension issues. So his left him in the dust once already...

A women who my Mom goes to work with has an '05, the transmission slips a lot during a lot of stop and go traffic... she can tell by the reduced power it has. I told her to check her transmission fluid to see if it was burnt... I dunno what the outcome will be...

So it was NOT only me... but 2 other cases. So no one can blame for negligance, or a lemon... I think that ALL Escapes have problems... or will have problems.

 

If it makes you feel any better, all the hybrid components on a hybrid Escape (battery, transmission, DC/DC converter, wiring, etc.) have an 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty.

 

IMHO it is called the Mercury Mistake... but this can also be applied by saying "I can't Escape from my Escape..."

I'm sorry I just had to do it...

 

Yeah, that'd be the only Escape I'd buy...

I've heard nothing but great things about them.

The regular Escape is one of Ford's bad sides.

 

I looked at one pretty intensely as they were detailing my 2007 Edge. We were considering ditching the F-150 too, and just having two small utes. The Escape with every bell & whistle posible was under $26,000 before my X-Plan kicked in. But, we opted to keep the truck since she has only 8,500 miles as of this morning, and it's 22 months old.

The only reason I didn't do it was because the Escape still can't be had with a (factory installed) Navigation system. But, it looks bigger than the old gen, and is quite roomy for 2 - 4 people.

I'm sure it would have been even more fly, with tint, nicer wheels & tires, and some running boards. Surely someone makes step rails for the Escape by now... Not that I need them, but to me- they complete the look of an SUV (Or truck), which otherwise- seems naked to me...

I'm still ticked Ford doesn't offer step rails, or bodyside molding for the edge (2 door dings later...) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

Get it...


Don't let me hold you back.


Don't come wishing you had your F150 back.

 

Just would like to say I do not like the look of the 08's. But that, of course, is all up to you.

 

My mother-in-law has either an 05 or 06 Escape and it's treated her well. I leased an 07 Mariner for the wife in February. They are nice little SUVs and v6 has sufficient power. They are a little small for my taste though. We have 2 kids and there is room in the back for them, but with car seats, I have to move the front seats forward and it does get a little cramped. I'm 6' even.

My wife loves it though and I don't mind driving it when I need to. We will be upgrading to something bigger though next February of 09 when our lease is up.

All in all it's a good little SUV. Oil changes are a breeze, the filter is really easy to get to if that makes a difference at all. Have'nt done anything else to it yet and probably won't though other than oil changes. It handles the snow pretty well up here in Michigan also. We have AWD on it.

 

I thought it was pretty small too... the oil changes are easy on it... just a pita when the oil spashes on the exhaust manifold from the filter location... however, the tranny fluid changes are even easier than the oil changes... just use a 3/8" ratchet on the drain plug. Remember, use Mercon only... NOT MERCON V or synthetic. The gaskets are not designed for caustic properties of Mercon V. As that was the only easy part about the vehicle...

The rest of that ute was a nightmare.

My F150 has not given me a problem, besides the pinging which wasn't the truck's fault.... but it's like any other day with that truck... it starts and runs the same every single day. It's static...

I hate dynamic vehicles... One minute they work, next minute you are going through an intersection with no brakes and power steering. Yep, happened on the 'Scape about 20 times, maybe more.