SPY PICS: Ford Escape gets angry new makeover

First spy images of the facelifted Ford Escape have surfaced out of Europe, showing the updated mid-size SUV has gone under the knife for a nip and tuck procedure at both ends.

Shrouded in busy camouflage, the Escape front fascia, bonnet and front wings are all being kept closely under wraps, however, it’s the headlights that ultimately explain why.

Compared to the current model, which features prominent, slightly raised lights, the prototype snapped in these images clearly shows off a sleeker and more integrated look thanks to headlights that are both smaller and more aggressive looking.

The redesign and repositioning of the lights explains why the entire front-end is being hidden; it’s all being changed too.

Despite this, the grille looks to retain its familiar shape, albeit scaled down, while the lower air intake has been stretched long-ways to underline the design’s new frowning expression.

By contrast, the changes at the rear look to be far subtler with the only alteration of note being the tweaked and better-defined tail-light elements.

No changes have been made to the sides or roof of this prototype Escape and even the alloy wheel design has been pinched off the current base model, although that will likely change for the production versions.

With all this in mind, the internet’s graphic designers have already set about rendering what they interpret the facelifted model to look like beneath the camouflage.

Shown here in ST-Line guise, this rendering from Kolesa.RU shows off a decidedly angry looking SUV with a full-width lighting signature, enlarged foglight bezels and bigger air-vents.

As per the spy shots, the only real change at the back is a pair of updated tail-lights.

The more aggressive make-over will be a welcome change for the third-gen Escape which stepped away from its predecessor’s macho frown in favour of an altogether happier and friendlier look, which in some ways belied its identity as one of the punchiest sub-$60,000 mid-size SUVs.

Under the bonnet of all Escape variants besides the inbound plug-in hybrid is a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine developing a muscular 183kW of power and 370Nm of torque, harnessed by an eight-speed automatic.

While the V6-powered Jeep Cherokee might beat the Ford on kiloWatts, it can’t get anywhere near it on grunt (315Nm v 387Nm) and it’s the reverse for the turbo-petrol versions of the Mazda CX-5 that comfortably out-torque the Escape but can’t match it for power (170kW v 183kW).

Given these are the first images we’ve seen of the new model, it’s unlikely the facelifted Escape will be in local showrooms any time soon, however, a late 2022 or early 2023 reveal should reasonably be on the cards with a market launch to follow sometime in the months after.

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