Apparently someone found a good thing and decided to stick with it. It’s not quite a trifecta of Escapes as the one on the right is the Mercury Mariner sister model but all three hail from the 2008-2012 update era of the original Escape model. Obviously variety is the spice of life for this owner, it’d be boring if they were all exactly the same.
In fact, the Mariner is actually a Hybrid version. Ford was the first to stick a Hybrid powertrain in a CUV (2005 Escape, 2006 Mariner) and it seems to have paid off, these were extremely popular, the biggest curiosity is why they abandoned the idea for the next generation entirely only to return to it in the current one. Many of the Hybrids ended up in the taxicab market, either from new or purchased used. There isn’t much greater recognition of a vehicle being pretty robust and inexpensive to operate than seeing many of them in such as fleet.
The Escape at the top of the driveway is actually a Hybrid as well, with the now apparently not actually silver but a grayish color instead one behind it being an example of the V6 powered Escapes. Sticking a V6 into a compact CUV was also a somewhat novel concept when Ford did it upon the original Escape’s introduction for 2001. In any case, they seem to work for this owner, perhaps one day he or she will make the leap to adding a “foreign” vehicle to the fleet and pick up a Mazda Tribute.
My wife bought a 2012 Escape new off the lot with the 3.0 V-6. For an SUV it was actually a relatively fun little vehicle to drive. The V-6 put out 240hp and gave surprisingly good grunt. She planned to hold onto it until the wheels fell off, but ultimately traded it after only 40,000 miles due to numerous vexing fit & finish problems, electrical issues, and premature fender rust. Numerous dealer warranty visits failed to bring resolution and she just gave up in frustration and traded it on a Jeep GC. We assume we just got a “bad apple”, because others seemed to get yeoman service out of these vehicles.
My younger sister had an Escape hybrid as her first car during high school and into college. It survived at least 3 accidents as well as general neglect and abuse and was still running and driving well when replaced, albeit ugly.
I remember some neighbours having a new VW Passat and a new Polo in the same colour with successive registration numbers on the first day of the annual new registration code some years ago……..
The reason the hybrid was dropped was mileage close to the gas model. In 2012, the Escape 4 cyl got 22/28 MPG, and the hybrid got 34/30 MPG. In 2013, the 1.6L EcoBoost got 23/33 MPG. The 2013 was better on the highway, but worse in town.
Yes Ford did publicly say that the mpg of the Ecoboost was one of the reasons they didn’t do a hybrid version of the 2013 Escape. The not so public reason was they wanted to make room for their new Hybrid/PHEV only C-Max.
I’m sure that the RAV-4 Hybrid coming to market and the demise of the C-Max both factored into the return of the Hybrid Escape and a PHEV Escape.
I still see first-gen Tributes like my old one on occasion, but second-gen Tributes, the ones that eschewed unique bodywork in favor of a simple front clip swap, are very thin on the ground. I wonder why.
I’ve only seen earlier Tributes with the older front clip. Didn’t know these existed. It’d be nice to see some variety.
Hey, that’s my wife’s car! (a 2011)
It’s just like the one with the 5-spoke painted rims, but w/o running boards.
I’m trying to say something interesting about it.
Surprisingly good mileage with the four.
Handles well, too. Engine’s all low in there and all.
Good visiblity. Still has windows you can see out of.
Has been problem-free for us.
Crappy Rubbermaid interior.
Bouncy over our roads.
I don’t like the seats very much.
She loves it and didn’t like it when I called it a “tall station wagon”.
It’s quite easy to get in and out of.
First car we got with “Sync”.
So now we can “Sync” and that’s something.
When In drive it I just plug in a music player.
Electric power steering was a new thing for me.
Actually cleans up nice and looks good to me.
Got the chrome grille ’cause we’s fancy.
This is so boring. Nap time.
The Hybrids were very good vehicles. We had one had a 4wd one for a couple of years and it consistently got 29 in the winter and 31 in the summer no matter what kind of driving you did with it. I had been looking for one for my daughter but like all cars they are overpriced now. So instead we just gave her my wife’s C-Max and hopefully we’ll be able to us a new Escape PHEV before the year is up.
Currently have a ’12 Escape with V6 & FWD with 21 mpg in town and 25 mpg on highway. A past issue was a cracked cooling fan which made a whale of a noise when engaging the A/C. Current issue is a minor oil leak when is resolved by spreading kitty litter on the floor of the carport. Had a similar ’05 Escape with 220k miles and a minor oil leak. Must run in the family. Plan on keeping the ’12 for several more years.
It’s difficult to find CUVs of this size with V6 and conventional transmissions. Most have transitioned to turbos and CVT.
A small point, but I think Toyota beat Ford in putting a V6 in a CUV by at least 1 model year.
My little sister had a Subaru Outback Turbo she bought used that gave her so much trouble she sold it and went looking for another ” wagony ” car. After trying a few 4 cylinder powered CUVs, she found a V6 Escape that she really liked.
(My sister is a bit of a lead foot, so her Escape better last her awhile as there is almost no current non-turbo replacement cars for her to chose from.)
It’s called “Trade-in silver.” On the 1933 Pierce Arrow (for $20,000.00 1933 dollars) it was striking. On the 1974 Continental Mark it was exciting. The, everybody and his brother started producing silver and gray automobiles, mostly silver, and it became DULLSVILLE. It still is.
I managed to do the same thing (trio shots) with both my vehicles 2 years ago: my 2005 Chevy Astro with another Astro & a GMC Safari…
…and my 2011 Ford Ranger with 2 other Rangers the same color. Can you tell which of the 3 in each image is mine? 🙂
I bought a Ford Escape, brand new with 7 miles on it, in 2002. It was the second year of production. That car was the least reliable vehicle I have ever owned. The steering rack went out 4 times before 37K miles. The CV joints, ball joints and every suspension piece failed. The brakes would freeze in cold damp weather. The engine and transmission didn’t like working together. The transmission seemed like it was full of marbles. The warranty repairs on that vehicle were an astronomical amount by the time it reached the 36K mile limit. The steering rack went out for the fourth time at 37K miles. After a lot of fighting with the Dearborn Michigan zone office, FORD paid for the repair. I drove out of the dealer and drove immediately to my old Honda dealer and traded it. They paid off my loan, but I had no residual to put down on a new car. I bought a Honda and never looked back. FORD balked at doing that last steering rack. I took it to the dealer after hours and parked the car in front of the double doors they use to put cars in the show room. I chose the doors where you had to turn the car right to get it out of there. The car would not turn right. They had to drag it sideways to clear the doors. I tried to “buy American” but this car failed me at every turn. Fix Or Repair Daily certainly applied to that vehicle. It was the worst car I ever owned, and my first car was a Pinto.
I bought a 2010 Hybrid Escape new off the lot and it’s been a pleasure to own. It’s much bigger on the inside than the outside, and I love the tight turning circle. Aside from routine oil changes, I’ve gotten a little over 95,000 miles out of it with no major repairs. It gets about 32 MPG, mostly city. (And it’s that same silver color!)