Wife and I test drove the new Ford Escape. Pretty nice ride overall. Only things we didn't like were the white face guages, the enormous amount of plastic body clading and the cloth(if you can call it that)that Ford used on the seats. Get up and go is good, ride and brakeing is good too. I'm 6'2" and had plenty of leg and head room front and back. I think that this new SUV will make a great urban run around car. Not to great of an off road SUV though.

 

Its rather sickening that tacked-on plastic is thought to look "tough" by the masses. But all the plastic cladding is high dollar to replace if damaged. And is "looks" only.
I don't like white-faced gauges, personally, don't see what the attraction is about them. Drove a car for a week that had them, was a pain. At night, every street light I passed would light up the white face, then it would go dark mid-block. Really annoying to see this constant flashing effect.
And to me, real trucks must have metal bumpers.
Having said all that, it will be interesting to see how Ford does with it. Hope they have their act together on quality.