The Escape's plastic surgery

On the inside is where you actually start seeing the effort of Ford's design team paying off. The elegantly designed centre console makes the Escape look very premium

Published on November 14, 2007

Bored with the wife because she's getting old? Well, there is one way you can make things a little better: have some plastic surgery done. It won't iron out her brain-drilling voice, nor will it change the way she manages to spend every satang you've saved up for a night out with the guys. What it does do is make her just a little bit more liveable.

This is something like what Ford has tried to do with its latest product, which it tries to call "all new". In fact, the Escape is the oldest existing genuine sport-utility vehicle (SUV) in Thailand. Although five years old here, it's more than seven worldwide. Genuine rivals include the Honda CR-V, the Chevrolet Captiva and the Ssangyong Actyon. Nissan stopped selling its X-Trail this year, and Mazda stopped selling the Tribute (built on the same platform as the Escape) more than two years ago. The actual next-generation Ford Escape, which should be the replacement for this model, has already been launched in the US.

So now to the surgeon's table. The newer Ford Escape basically gets a new front end, new headlights, slight modifications to the rear and a VVT engine but nothing too different from the previous generation. The biggest change is on the inside, where the centre console has been upgraded, something the Ford Escape needed even more badly than Burma needs a regime change.

Then there is the position of the gear lever. Where this was previously placed behind the steering wheel, the newer Escape has it more conventionally in the centre, which, although it makes the Escape feels less roomier, is a pleasant change.

The front end, which is what gives the newer Escape its character, is meant to mimic the more premium side of Ford. The horizontally lined grille imitates the design on the bigger Territory SUV. The headlights come with a chrome trim, and there is a new front-bumper design. The bottom line is it does make the Escape a more attractive vehicle. In the rear, changes include chrome around the rear lights, which have been upgraded to LEDs, and a new rear bumper, which now incorporates the reversing light. There is the new "2.3 L VVT" badge. Other body panels around the vehicle are untouched by the surgeon.

On the inside is where you actually start seeing the effort of Ford's design team paying off. The elegantly designed centre console makes the Escape look very premium. It is in fact so premium that it feels misplaced compared with the rest of the interior, which is untouched. The silver- and darker-silver-coloured plastic on the console are complementary and, combined with the blue display screen for audio controls, have an aesthetic appeal greatly enhanced, especially when seen at night. The black 4-x-4 lock button that engages the rear wheels looks out of place on the modern console. The audio system is an in-deck 6-disc MP3 compatible one, which, while it provides superb sound quality, is quite a pain to use. The same theme follows onto the gear lever and the plastic surrounding it. Even the instrument cluster gets the blue treatment.

The door handles come with a new chrome design. The climate-control buttons also come with a separate blue display screen lower down in the centre console and make it all look very attractive. The steering comes with audio controls that include a mute button. On the other side of the steering is the cruise-control stalk.

But like the old wife, the Escape pretty much still comes with all of its problems. The engine, which has been upped by two more horsepower to 146, is nothing spectacular, although an adequate amount of power is available till 120kph. The problem seems to be mostly with the gear ratio, which seems to limit the engine. This can especially be felt on slopes, when the transmission does not kick down, although your foot is steadily holding the pedal to the carpet. You have to drop the gears manually on slopes. Along with the acceleration comes the semi-sporty sound of the engine, although still frustratingly noisy at 120kph or above. The VVT technology is expected to save fuel, although I was not able to test this on the drive to Pak Chong.

In corners, the Escape rolls heavily and makes me nostalgic for the previous month, when I had the Honda CR-V for a week. Ford's engineers told me slight improvements had been made to the suspension set-up. Either they are lying or I'm just too stupid to notice it. The improvements, though, just don't seem to come through in the driving. What makes corners worse are the leather seats, which provide no support and could not get more slippery if you poured high-quality engine oil over them. The Escape does, however, deal with cracks and bumps in the road fairly well, a trait I believe the old Escape had anyway. The brakes, although impressive due to the fact that both the front and rear feature discs, need deep pedal action before response.

What gives the final blow to the Escape is its price. The 4-x-4 version tested here will cost you Bt1.399 million, while the 4-x-2 version will cost you Bt1.099 million. In a market with such quality products as the Honda CR-V and Chevrolet Captiva, the Escape will hunt out Ford fans to accumulate sales. Would you pay that much for the wife's surgery?

Specifications:

Ford Escape XLT 2.3 L 4 x 4

Engine: 2.3-litre DOHC 16 valve with VVT technology

Displacement: 2,261cc

Bore and stroke: 87.5mm x 94mm

Compression ratio: 9.7:1

Maximum power: 146 hp/6,000rpm

Maximum torque: 196Nm/4,000rpm

Transmission: Four-speed automatic

Suspension (front/rear): Independent strut-coil spring with stabiliser/multilink

Steering: Rack-and-pinion,

power-assisted