My Brief Experience with a 2020 Escape SEMy dad has recently had his truck in for service, and he wound up getting a loaner vehicle - a 2020 Escape SE. I know we've all seen pictures, read reviews, etc. of it - good and bad - but I figured I'd take the opportunity to see what the real deal was and took it for a short drive around town.
First a couple of pictures:
The overall exterior design is nice looking, though perhaps not necessarily "exciting". I personally like the back end more than the front, which is a bit bug eyed - other iterations of the European front ends look better. It does have some nice curves and surfacing that may not be evident in photos. Being an SE, it is missing some nicer trim pieces, but I don't think I'd say it looks cheap.
Moving to the interior - it's mixed. Some people have said it's ultra cheap/low rent, and I'll disagree with that assessment. It's not anything extravagant (I don't think higher trims change drastically aside from the silver piece across the dash becomes a wood look piece and the digital gauges), but it's not horrible either. It is, however, missing some of the nice detailing and trim pieces that I've seen in photos of the competition. Upper pieces are a nice "rubberized"/squishy, while lower parts are hard plastic. Switchgear is mostly Ford parts bin stuff, but I don't see that as a problem - the switches and everything works just fine. The lower center console area where the shifter is is a sort of textured plastic. In an odd obvious cost cutting move, the center air vents have a nice looking silver accent on 2 of the 5 slats, as well as an accent around the bottom of the vents. The outer vent doesn't have those same silver accents, which gives it a cheaper look. I'm not sure if higher trims resolve this issue.
The standard gauges.....when I saw them in pictures, they look very cheap. Seeing them in person, I do agree that they look out of place in a modern car without some more detailing (even just some chrome rings around the speedo and tach would dress it up some), but they aren't as bad as photos suggested. The small color screen in between them is nice to have, as well.
The door panel design also leaves something to be desired. The front doors are better than the back, but the little cutout accent things look like what they are - filler to have some sort of "design" in an otherwise giant expanse of soft touch plastic in the front and in the back an even bigger expanse of hard tupperwear like plastic.
I still don't understand the complaints on the rear seat legroom. I'm 6'0" and have the front seats set how I'd sit, and while I do have the rear seats all the way back in the photo, there's plenty of room in that setup. If the rear seats were set all the way forward, my knees would be against the chairs, but when you can slide the seats, unless you had to, I don't see why you'd have them in any position but as far back as they go. One each of a USB-C and USB-A port are in the back of the lower center console for rear passengers.
Now for the driving part.....
First, for some reason, the tilt feature on the steering wheel/column was not working on this model. I even looked up the order guide to see if it another cost cutting move and whether it just didn't have it, or if it wasn't working. Well, under the standard equipment, it lists the tilt/telescoping wheel, so it wasn't functioning here for some reason.
Going into this overall look at the new Escape, after having read reviews of how sluggish and slow and noisy and terrible the 3 cylinder EcoBoost was, I expected to be vastly underwhelmed and as if I could go faster if I pedaled car Flintstone mobile style. With a Mustang GT in the garage, just about anything else will feel slow, so when driving different vehicles, I always try to judge the vehicle on what it is/what it's supposed to be doing/competing against and not a blanket "THIS IS SLOOWWWWW" compared to what I'm used to, as that wouldn't serve a purpose. I'm also not afraid to say if the powertrain didn't live up to expectations and underperformed, even if they were low to begin with because of the aforementioned reviews. So with that said, I 100% disagree with the reviews that said the 3 cylinder EcoBoost was a bad or horrible sounding engine. On the contrary, I was absolutely impressed by the little engine, and would've thought it was a 4 cylinder had I not known otherwise. I thought it performed quite well in this vehicle - it didn't feel sluggish at all.The only time I found some sluggishness was when I had to brake quickly for a car in front of me unexpectedly turning, and then quickly speeding back up, it took a second for it to "catch up". Otherwise, under normal driving, it worked great. I was also surprised to find the SE has driving modes including normal, sport, eco, and weather (I think there's a 5th but I don't recall). Sport model also wakes up the gearing and tightens the steering to make the driving even more fun.
I found the ride to be smooth and relatively quiet. Upon full acceleration, the engine does make noise, but I didn't find it obnoxiously loud or harsh like reviews have said. I've included a video below for you to see. Guess I should've continued it down to idle to see a comparison, but oh well. I didn't observe fuel economy, because in such a short drive, had I reset it, the number would've been ridiculous and not at all representative of what it could get.
https://i.imgur.com/MqKedDm.mp4
I should preface my closing thoughts by saying I have not driven any of the newest competition, nor have I been in them at the auto shows in a while (I need to make a better effort at that should Covid have not been the final nail in the coffin for auto shows - let's hope not).
On its own, I found the Escape to be seemingly very competitive. It drove well, despite what certain other reviews have said. The engine has some pep despite being a 3 cylinder, and the selectable drive modes in even this SE trim help you further tailor the driving experience to whatever way you want to drive. The interior, while I'd agree is not as detailed as the competition and would benefit from some stylistic upgrades, it's not the horrid playskool level interior it's been made out to be. Interior space was great front and back and in the storage area. I think it'd be a great choice for anyone looking for a compact crossover.Sat, 06 Jun 2020 23:39:15 +0000
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