By
EWAN KENNEDY
12 June 2006
Ford Australia was heavily involved in the facelift of the Escape
4WD, resulting in a vehicle with many design cues to the locally-made
Territory. Which makes a lot of sense because the Territory is selling
extremely well and even the rapidly rising cost of fuel hasn’t taken
away as many buyers as you may have anticipated.
But let's talk Escape, not Territory. The
Escape is very much a global model being a design collaboration between
Japanese Mazda and American Ford. Australia is highly regarded within
the international Ford organisation, hence its major involvement with
this update.
In its latest iteration the Escape not
only has the aforementioned facelift – with a new grille, headlights,
taillights and bumpers, giving it a bolder and sleeker look – but has
also received a major rework inside.
By far the most obvious change is the use
of a conventional floor-mounted automatic transmission selector. This
replaces the column-mounted unit on the original model. It seems the
Japanese see vehicles like Escape as being people movers rather than
sports utility vehicles so want the convenience of being able to move
rearwards from the front seats while remaining in the vehicle. A column
gear selector helps in this, though it’s still not all that
comfortable. Anyway, Escape now has the sporting feel offered by a floor
T-bar arrangement.
Other changes to the interior see new
fabric materials and designs, again aimed at providing a sportier
flavour. We spent several hundred kilometres at the wheel and in the
passenger seats of the new Escape at the time of the press launch and
came away most impressed with the look and ambience offered.
As before, the Ford Escape comes with
either four-cylinder or six-cylinder power. The former engine is a
modern 2.3-litre 109 kilowatt unit with variable valve timing and
probably offers enough performance for the average driver. A real bonus
of the four-cylinder is that it comes in at a starting price of only
$29,990 making it excellent value.
The V6 displaces 3.0 litres, produces up
to 152 kW and is a lovely smooth powerplant with a bit of dash in the
performance stakes. V6 Escapes start at $37,190 but the price difference
isn’t as great as it appears because the V6 has a fair bit more
standard equipment than the lowest-cost four-cylinder.
Both engines are mated exclusively to a
four-speed automatic transmission. This normally drives only the front
wheels but the rears are brought into action should the fronts start to
slip. The central differential can be locked by way of a dash-mounted
switch for added grip.
We did a fair bit of sand-dune driving in
the Escape and came away impressed with the ease of driving it displayed
over some moderately steep slopes with plenty of soft sand. Given that
most owners’ off-road experiences will be either on sand or forest
trails this transmission setup will look after them well.
On-road the Escape is quieter than before
due to considerable work being done on NVH (noise, vibration and
harshness) suppression for the latest edition. It’s still fairly noisy
on coarse-chip surfaces but on smooth bitumen and motorways it feels
almost as quiet as a small to medium car. The body has a solid feel in
an almost-European manner and steering and handling are safe and
predictable.
Ford Escape is a five-seater with a large
boot and will make a good family car substitute for the guys and gals
who want to get off the sealed roads and explore more interesting
territory. It’s hard to see it being anything other than a sales
success in its latest Aussie-influenced format.
The full 2006 Ford Escape range, with
prices (excluding on-road costs) is:
XLS 2.3-litre: $29,990
XLT 2.3-litre: $33,490
XLT Sport 3.0-litre: $37,190
Limited 3.0-litre: $41,990
