Ford Escape Titanium 2017 Review

I’m a bit partial to the old Kuga. In terms of packaging and performance it was one of the quiet achievers in Australia's most competitive new-vehicle segment – Medium SUVs. Its biggest problem has been simply getting on shopping lists.

Ford Australia hopes the move back to the Escape nameplate will change that. Indeed, there’s significant effort to present the Escape as a new car. Truth is, at its core, it’s still the Kuga. That's a good thing, because there wasn’t a lot wrong with that car to start with.

We’ve driven the new Escape already -- Ford flew in a small number of examples late last year. We’ve also detailed the pricing and equipment changes. It’s a measure of the importance of the car then that Ford invited us to take another look.

Without putting too fine a point on it, this is about it for the Blue Oval in 2017. Escape is Ford Australia’s most significant new car until new Fiesta is confirmed locally and Edge (think: Territory replacement) arrives sometime in 2018.

Top to bottom overhaul
Ford Australia says the Escape has undergone a top to bottom review. In the manner of the brand’s recent ‘overhaul’ of Ranger, it’s been put through the wringer: the car itself, tech, equipment, etc; how it’s priced and positioned; and how it’s marketed and sold. As part of this process, the company has also looked at the buyers it’s targeting with the car. More on that to come.

Prices are generally down but in most cases equipment has been boosted – or at least freshened. There are three updated or new engines and a wider choice in terms of powertrain options -- front versus all-wheel drive; manual versus automatic transmissions.

The base Ambiente arrives priced from $28,490 with Ford’s latest 1.5-litre EcoBoost four under the bonnet in two outputs. That price is for sole 110kW/240Nm manual front-drive combination. Tick the box for auto ($1500) and the 1.5’s power is boosted to 134kW (torque is unchanged) and you also open up the option of all-wheel-drive (a further $3000).

For the avoidance of doubt, Ford’s problematic Powershift dual-clutch auto is gone from the EcoBoost petrol models. Although there’s still a dual-clutch used in partnership with the excellent 132kW/400Nm TDCi turbo-diesel (see below), Ford says it’s a different gearbox with none of the issues.

Most importantly, Ford has added a front-wheel drive version of the mid-grade Trend. This section of the Medium SUV market alone accounts for as much as 25 per cent of the segment’s local volume, says Ford. This addition alone should deliver Escape significantly more opportunity.

Priced at $32,990 and auto-only, it too is powered by the 134kW version of the 1.5. Trend buyers can also opt for the choice of 2.0-litre EcoBoost ($35,990) or TDCi turbo-diesel ($38,490) all-wheel drive powertrains. The 178kW/345Nm EcoBoost is one of the most muscular four-cylinder engines in the class.

The top-of the line Titanium Escapes are 2.0-litre AWD auto only. The petrol is priced from $44,990, with the diesel holding the dubious honour of being the only variant more expensive than its Kuga counterpart. At $47,490, it’s up $300.

New face, but check out the rear
Even by Ford’s own admission, many of the changes twixt Kuga and Escape are “nuanced”. They are, however, solidly aimed at the markets the company is seeking to tap into with Escape. Ford wants families both young and older to buy its updated SUV. And it's championing the car to this audience -- not purely terms of utility, but with a nod to their sense of adventure and joi d’vie.

Styling is the first change most will pick. The new front-end taps into Ford’s global SUV styling pallet and, says Ford, it gives the Escape more purpose and a planted substantial look. The rear is freshened too but frankly not significantly so.

The substantive changes to the new car are in the cabin and/or under the skin and they are aimed at improving the refinement and usability.

On all variants, a re-sculpted rear seat adds a four-position reclining system and a centre armrest delivers more storage space. On the high-spec Titanium models there are also front seatback tray tables (Kuga had these too).

As was the case with the Kuga, the rear seat is 60:40-split, folding and tumbles the full 90 degrees but the resulting load space is not flat. The folded rear seat sits around 60mm proud of the load area floor. It's a better outcome than some cars in the segment in which the seatbacks angle up and make loading bulky items difficult.

We note too that the Escape retains the Kuga’s centre console second-row air-con outlets. We’ll have to wait for the next generation to get the face-level B-pillar outlets the best of the competition offers.

The other attention-to-detail ‘tick’ in the back half of the Escape relates to refinement. Ford has targeted noise channels in the new car in an effort to calm the cabin. One example is changes to the rear wheel-well liners to reduce road noise.

Other noise-related changes include more sound deadening material, structural tweaks to the A-pillar and the adoption of laminated side glass.

Overall, the result is good, however, the front half of the car still seems to be quieter than the rear, where some tyre noise still intrudes on coarse surfaces.

Cockpit clean-up
There's been plenty of action in the front half of the cabin. The most obvious is the screen and control changes related to Escape’s use of Ford’s new 8.0-inch colour touch-screen SYNC3 infotainment system.

It's a much cleaner interface than the outgoing car. The multitude of odd-shaped buttons is gone, replaced by a single row of buttons and the touch-screen itself.

While I'm no big fan of voice-controlled infotainment, the system works well. Ford says it spent significant time calibrating SYNC to the way Aussies speak. Too right. Beautie. Bonza…

That’s important as the company is also championing the ‘plain English’ functionality SYNC3 delivers. Tell it “I need a coffee” and the nav will deliver nearby café options, Ford promises. If you don’t like coffee, try tea…

SYNC3 incorporates Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and DAB+ radio is standard from Ambiente upwards. In this regard the Escape is right up with the best in the segment.

The cabin changes also see the new Escape dispense with a traditional handbrake, instead using an electrically-operated park brake. This frees up additional centre console real estate and the design has been tweaked accordingly. More storage and a “unified” flow from centre stack to centre console is the result.

There is also a new steering wheel in this generation of SUV. Ford says the design places fingertip controls closer to the rim.

Auto models now get gearshift paddles.

Safety not all standard
The Escape is trumpeted as one of first vehicles to get a 2017 five-star ANCAP/EuroNCAP safety rating. The base model Escape Ambiente gets seven airbags as standard and, says Ford, outscores Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage and Mazda CX-5 in testing.

Alas buyers will need to step up to Trend or Titanium to get autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – and then only as part of a $1300 optional Technology Pack.

Along with the 50km/h (low-speed) AEB, the pack wraps up lane departure warning and lane keep assist, auto high-beam, blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert and adaptive cruise control. It’s not bad value but in a segment where this sort of technology is rapidly becoming a given, we think Ford may have to rethink its optional status.

The Kuga’s optional, powered hands-free tailgate returns in this latest generation. It’s nice to have and standard on the Titanium range-topper but not cheap as a $1200 (albeit with keyless entry) extra on Trend. Ambiente buyers will need to ‘go analogue’ and use their muscles.

Auto parking and other smart tech that featured in top-spec Kugas is also carried over. In the case of the parking system, Ford claims improvements to several functions. The system offers both parallel and 90-degree parking modes. It will also exit the parks for you.

The company claims the car only needs 20cm front and rear to execute a perfect parallel park.

All Escapes get global closing too. Hit the button when you’re leaving your car and it will lock and close all the windows (and sunroof on the Titanium). It’s a nice touch (pun intended).

Behind the wheel
Ford’s chassis engineers traditionally do a great job on small cars and SUVs and the Escape is no exception. We sampled a Trend EcoBoost and range-topping petrol 2.0 petrol Titanium AWD during our second look at Escape and both were top-notch drives.

The 178kW petrol-engined Titanium is far from slow and has an almost hot-hatch feel to the way it handles and responds to driver inputs. That said, the ride can be a little sharp over bumps, thanks at least in part to the 19-inch wheels and 45-series low-profile tyres.

Our 18-inch wheeled Trend didn’t seem significantly dumbed down in terms of on-road manners but it did ride a little better.

This was especially the case on a short circuit of dirt roads we were able to drive almost back-to-back. The Titanium was well behaved here (and had excellent traction thanks to its all-wheel drive system), but the slightly more plush Trend was arguably even better.

Drivers that enjoy the ‘command’ driving position SUVs offer get a little extra in the Escape. Ford’s small cars have in recent generations championed a raised hip-point and the Escape is no different.

Even at its lowest setting you very clearly get the impression that you sit ‘on’ an Escape driver’s seat, not ‘in’ it, and this was especially the case in the leather-upholstered Titanium. The technical cloth trim of the Trend seem to have a little more ‘give’ in it.

The positive is a wide size range of drivers can easily get comfortable even if the tallest ones may be a touch short of headroom. There is genuine space in the Escape, however. On the test loop my 188cm tall co-driver was comfortably able to sit in the rear with the driver's seat set for himself.

Meantime, one random observation for drivers of auto Escapes. I found on almost every occasion I put the car into gear I ended up in Sport mode (at the very bottom of the PRNDS progression) rather than Drive. Perhaps Ford needs to reconsider the way it locks out S mode.

Gear selector foibles aside, there’s a lot of day-to-day info I haven’t been able to fill in on this brief drive impression – fuel economy for one. And no reportage on the turbo-diesel – for that you’ll have to wait. We’ll have an Escape on fleet here at motoring.com.au soon enough.

The 2017 Escape is on sale now but there’s a new Mazda CX-5 due in Australia within weeks. That means get ready to be peppered with Medium SUV comparison tests. That’s when we’ll be able to give you a more fulsome appreciation of the newcomers’ relative strengths – Escape included.

My fear for Ford is that while all of the detailed changes it's made to the Escape are worthwhile, against the very latest in the segment the Escape could still be considered dated.

By way of example, the Ford’s ‘new’ cabin starts its ‘career’ already behind the eight-ball. It's all there, but when the new CX-5 lands in just a month or so the difference will be stark.

2017 Ford Escape Trend pricing and specifications:
Price: from $32,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 134kW/240Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.2L/100km (FWD, ADR Combined)
CO2: TBC
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP)

2017 Ford Escape Titanium pricing and specifications:
Price: from $44,990 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 178kW/345Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: TBC
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP)