2020 Ford Escape – Better In Almost Every Way

In April 2018, Ford made some big news with the announcement that it was going to discontinue all of its traditional car models in North America except for the Mustang. Going forward, it would instead focus (no pun intended) on utility vehicles and trucks. What most people didn’t grasp at the time was that some of those utility vehicles would become even more car-like, softening the transition. Chief among the car-leaning crossovers is the redesigned 2020 Ford Escape.

With the debut of the fourth-generation Escape, Ford is bifurcating its compact utility line. Following the Escape to market sometime in 2020 is a more rugged-looking and off-road capable model that has been widely referred to as the “Baby Bronco” or “Bronco Sport.” That’s not the vehicle we just drove in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the assembly plant that has been building the Escape since it debuted in 2001.

The new Escape bears more than a passing resemblance to the fourth-gen Focus that debuted in Europe last year. We won’t get that Focus in America unless consumers here show a dramatically increased interest in small cars. Instead, we get what is essentially a taller, hatchback/wagon-ish variation of it. Both Focus and Escape ride on Ford’s new transverse engine unibody architecture which like Volkswagen’s MQB platform allows for component sharing while stretching any and all dimensions.

The Focus exterior resemblance is strongest in the face with a very similar grille. Because of the coming Baby Bronco, Ford designers had more leeway to make the Escape less truckish and more sophisticated looking. It turns out that a substantial majority of Escape buyers are women that like the taller seating position of a utility but don’t necessarily want something that could traverse the Rubicon Trail. The new body is cleaner and less cluttered than before but more shapely in many contours.

The new body is about 2.4-inches longer as well as slightly wider and lower than before, but a particularly noticeable change is in the sheet metal to glass ratio. The beltline (the bottom edge of the side glass) has significantly less upward sweep to it and extensive use of ultra-high-strength boron steel including the A-pillar and roof-rail, has enabled slimmer pillars.

At the rear corners, black plastic filler panels wrap around the corners from the rear hatch glass to create the visual impression of a more fastback profilem, adding to the more car-like feel. The rear bumper is no longer integrated as was before, but separated from the surrounding sheet metal and finished in matte black. This creates another optical illusion that the Escape has a shorter rear overhang.

The result is a more open and airy feel in the cabin with less of the sitting in a tub feel of many vehicles in the past decade. One of the big issues of driving the old Escape was the thick A-pillars, especially near the base which made for large blindspots to the front corners. This has been dramatically cut down although hanging the side mirrors from the front corner of the doors near the pillar base still leaves a larger than desired blindspot.

Where the Focus and Escape really converge is inside where they appear to have exactly the same dashboard. The overall design of the cabin is vastly improved over the prior generation with a lower cowl and horizontal theme to the lines of the dash that make it look even wider. You can now see the hood and have a better idea where the corners of the Escape are.

The extra width adds some hip and shoulder room and along with the extra length the overall passenger cargo volume has grown from 98.7 cubic feet to 104. Much of this increase is achieved by adding 6-inches of fore-aft sliding capability to the rear seat. All the way back, the 2020 gains 3.4-inches of rear leg room while retaining nearly the same 33.5 cubic feet of cargo area. With the seats forward, an additional four cubic feet are available while retaining seating for five. With the back seats folded, there is 65.4 cubic feet available.

While the design of the cabin is much improved and fit and finish on the pre-production examples we drove was very good, some of the material choices left something to be desired at the Escape’s growing price point. There are soft-touch materials on the top of the door panels and dashboard, but other areas such as the sides of the center console still had hard plastics. The plastic wood on the dashboard of the Titanium had a matte finish that looked more like the open-pore veneers on many high-end vehicles today, but it was quite clearly still plastic.

After spending several hours in the seats over two days, I can attest that they are quite comfortable although personally, I’d prefer a bit firmer lateral support. Considering that there is no ST or other sporting edition of the Escape, this probably won’t be an issue. What might be an issue though is the diamond texture on the standard cloth seats, especially if you opt for the lighter sandstone color. It seems highly likely to capture the grit and grime of everyday life and end up not looking so great after six months or a year.

The overall effect was better than the last Escape, but, in comparison to the Mazda CX-5, it still feels like a distinct step down. I have previously complained about the pricing of the Mazda as that brand tries to migrate upmarket, but this Escape has very similar pricing. In that context, the Mazda CX-5 feels distinctly more premium and worthy of the increasingly lofty price point that is now closing in on $40,000.

Aside from some of the material choices, most other aspects of the experience in the new Escape are quite pleasing. The optional leather seats are perforated which is generally a sign in most vehicles that the seats are ventilated. While the Escape does offer heated front seats, they aren’t cooled. However, Ford explained that the perforations actually act as a sound baffle, minimizing the reflectivity in the cabin. How much of the noise characteristics of the Escape can be attributed to the porous leather versus the enhanced structure and acoustic side glass is open to debate. One thing that can’t be debated is the quiet environment in the cabin, which felt almost at Lincoln levels of serenity in the 2.0-liter EcoBoost powered example we drove.

All Escapes will be equipped with four USB ports, two of the older type-A and two of the newer type-C. The base S trim gets a six-speaker audio system with a basic SYNC system on a smaller display. SE and above trims get an eight-inch screen with SYNC 3 that has Android Auto and Apple Carplay support.

As with other recent Ford introductions, the Co-Pilot 360 package is standard with a camera-based forward collision alert, automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assist as well as the rear corner radar based blindspot monitor and cross traffic alert. Auto high-beams for the headlights and and evasive steering assist also come as part of the package.

Ford also offers two upgrades to the driver assistance system, Co-Pilot 360 Assist which adds full stop and go adaptive cruise control and navigation and the Titanium trim also adds a full-on lane centering system. The latter is similar to what’s available from Nissan as ProPilot Assist, actively keeping the vehicle in the center of the lane, following moderate curves but requiring hands on the wheel. This system works nicely on highway drives but you’ll want to leave it off on twisty roads where you’ll often find yourself encountering resistance if you try to high apexes.

Speaking of driving, the Escape generally offers excellent driving dynamics for a mainstream vehicle. Even on some rougher pavement, the solid structure works with the fully independent suspension and the 225/60R18 tires on the SEL to provide a quiet and comfortable ride. Body control is excellent even with the passive dampers. Pushed hard into corners, the tires stay fairly quiet except at the very limit of adhesion.

The Escape is responsive and goes exactly where you point it with the steering wheel. What it doesn’t do is provide much in the way of feedback about the forces building at the front wheels. Switching the driving mode between normal, sport and eco adjusts the effort required to turn the wheel, but doesn’t impact the feedback. Given that Ford currently has no plans to offer an ST variant of the Escape in North America and most will be suburban or urban commuter vehicles, that probably won’t matter to most customers.

Two gas engines are offered this year with the old base 2.5-liter having been dropped. The base engine is a new 1.5-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost. A slightly more powerful version of this engine powers the new Fiesta ST in other markets. We only had a short drive opportunity with this 181-hp, 190 lb-ft mill but it proved adequately smooth if not quite as refined as the 2.0-liter four-cylinder thanks to its balance shaft.

It retains a bit of the characteristic growl of the 1.0-liter EcoBoost that was so much fun in the old Fiesta. This is Ford’s first three-cylinder with cylinder deactivation, shutting off fuel and the valves to cylinder number one under light load conditions. During our brief stint at the wheel, there was no noticeable transition between two and three cylinder operation. The 1.5 is rated at 30 mpg combined for front drive and 28 mpg combined with all-wheel drive.

The more powerful gas option is the 250-hp 2.0-liter EcoBoost with 280 lb-ft of torque. The new Escape is 200 pounds lighter than its predecessor at about 3,414 lbs in front drive mode and 3,566 with all-wheel-drive. With the impressive torque and more modest weight, the 2.0-liter Escape offers brisk performance and easy passing capability when encountering tractors trundling along rural Kentucky roads. The 2.0-liter SEL was especially quiet even under hard acceleration and we observed about 24-25 mpg with some spirited countryside driving. Since there is no ST, there are also no serious sport seats to keep you centered in front of the wheel, but again, that probably won’t matter much to the intended audience. At least the seats were comfortable after several hours.

The bigger engine also enables a 3,500-lb towing capacity which is about as good as anything in this segment and good enough for a pair of jet-skis or small trailer. However, it’s important to keep in mind that towing with a turbocharged gas engine usually has a major hit on fuel economy. Most Escape customers are unlikely to tow on more than occasional basis, but if you need to haul your jet-skis to the lake several times a week, something with a diesel engine might be a better choice.

Aside from some of the interior materials being slightly less than best in class, there’s really not much to complain about on this new Escape. It’s more stylish for those that don’t need an off-roader, offers better ergonomics and vastly better visibility. There’s more space for both people and cargo and flexibility in how its used. It comes with plenty of tech as well and should be cheaper at the pump.

The base Escape S starts at $26,080 delivered. It should also be noted that many manufacturers including Ford have been sneaking in a hidden price increase via the delivery charge which is now up by $100 to $1,195. Since there is no way to avoid this charge automakers should just stop listing it separately and include it in the sticker price. The desert gold SEL trim we spent the most time in had the 2.0-liter, AWD, adaptive cruise control and a panoramic sunroof for a not inconsiderable $36,025. A loaded Titanium adds another couple of thousand to that. Affordability of new vehicles is becoming an issue for everyone, not just Ford and customers are going to have to start taking a closer look at the option sheet when shopping.