I just traded into a Ford Escape. It is an older model, 2007.
V6/FWD and basically I would consider it a Ford Fusion with an SUV body on it.
It does have slightly higher ground clearance and a set of heavy duty truck tires mounted but it is not a rock crawler. (if I need a 4wd rig I still have my Jeep)
This weekend I loaded the Escape down heavy with twice as much crap as I should have for a weekend camp, most of which I never unloaded from the vehicle, and proceeded to put 800+ miles on it.
Everyone at the jamboree will attest that we had high speed interstate miles, moderate speed secondary roads, mountain switchbacks where one could look out the side window and see their own taillights, gravel tracks and at least one tiny stream to ford.
While others might consider their BOV a machine to take them farther into the woods than anyone else can go before they remove the contents and abandon the rig to proceed on foot, I sort of consider mine a "long distance refugee transport vehicle".
I want a vehicle that will get me out of harm's way and down the road to the grandchildren's' house either before SHTF or after everything has calmed down a bit in the wake of troubles. Fighting battles out of this rig is not part of the plan and neither is long distance cross country off road travel with a trail of cut fences behind me.
My primary concerns are good gas mileage and moderate hauling capacity.
This weekend I learned that the little Escape will haul a lot of stuff, pull a bit more stuff, average 23mpg while doing it, with highway miles pushing the 27mpg mark at 70mph.
One nice thing Ford did was install a 16 gallon gas tank on this vehicle. Even on the low end of the mileage scale I can get nearly 400 miles on a tank of gas. That mileage will get me to either one of my children's homes, 300 miles away, without a fuel stop.
Most of the time one buys a vehicle and never really gets to know it until after the first good road trip. I find myself pleasantly surprised with this one. It might not be right for everyone, but it is just about what the doctor ordered for this old man.
