My 2020 Escape SE First Impression

[2005Explorer]

1 hour ago, Assimilator said:

I don't know how common this is, but one of the things that has always perplexed me was the cheapness of the interior door handles of Ford's cheaper cars, especially the Escape.  The 2013-2019 Escape wasn't particularly budget looking at all, especially compared to the tupper-ware interior of the old Escape, but the interior door handles are terrible.  Small, thin, with a crunchy feel to the way they operate.  Every time I got into one of those cars, it was always that terrible door handle that reminded me I was in a budget car.  I don't know why this important touch-point is handled soo consistently badly. The new Escape is slightly better.

 

What I would be looking for in the new 2020 Escape is a more settled ride and something less twitchy and course.  The Escape handles beautifully and it's a nice riding car on perfect pavement.  But around uneven pavement, it always felt way too thin and fragile, especially for the price.  I would much rather have a cheaper Edge over a loaded Escape, the quality is night and day.

 

The 2020 Escape overall definitely looks like the least expensive vehicle in its segment, the design is so minimal. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of interior doors that's probably the biggest pet peeve of my 2019 Ranger. The interior handles are nice enough, but the entire door panel is just cheap feeling and creaky. When I put any force on my elbow when resting on the door panel it makes a creaking noise. The door pulls also creak a little when you pull on them to shut the door. I don't think it's wrong to expect a bit more substantial material in the door panels when you're playing close to $40k for a midsized truck. Heck even the $45k fully loaded Lariats use the same thin, cheap door panels. This is one reason why Hackett's aggressive cost cutting is worrisome. You can't cut any more cost out of things like an already cheap door panel.

[Assimilator]

The Ranger's interior is really odd for a Ford pickup, it lacks that sturdy and robust feel of the typical Ford pickup.  It's one thing to have hard plastics, it's another thing to have flimsy hard plastics.  Tacoma is a pretty good example of a purpose-built truck interior rather than the parts-bin passenger car design they are using for Ranger. Ford can certainly do better.  

[fuzzymoomoo]

2 hours ago, 2005Explorer said:

I know there are some on this board that think Ford is a luxury brand that can command much higher prices then mainstream brands, but it’s not

 

Tell that to the glass house then, they’re the ones pushing the ever raising ATPs, not us. All we've been saying is we can see their logic. 

 

[fuzzymoomoo]

2 hours ago, sho94_2000 said:

 

Perhaps my comment was a little uncharitable but I don't see how fracturing the Escape market is beneficial at all.  Ford is fully capable of building one vehicle that would cover the same spectrum of buyers as the two.  This is the same company that justified dumping the Ranger back in 2012 by saying that people will just buy the Focus and Fiesta.  Yes there may be people on either end of the bell curve that may purchase something else but the end result (sales/profitability) would be nearly the same.  

 

Jeep does this very well with the Cherokee.  You can get fairly pedestrian Cherokees that have good road manners and ride quality while some models (Trailhawk) have very good off road ability and fit that "lifestyle" niche that Ford is after with the Bronco.  

 

Bronco isn't and won't ever occupy the same space as Escape, Baby Bronco will.

 

The thinking is there's a big group of buyers who prefer the softer (some might say bland) styling of the new Escape, while the rest would prefer a more aggressive and adventurous styling the Baby Bronco will offer. Jeep doesn't do that, nobody else does. It's a big gamble for sure but if it's successful the results could be game changing. 

[fuzzymoomoo]

58 minutes ago, 2005Explorer said:

Speaking of interior doors that's probably the biggest pet peeve of my 2019 Ranger. The interior handles are nice enough, but the entire door panel is just cheap feeling and creaky. When I put any force on my elbow when resting on the door panel it makes a creaking noise. The door pulls also creak a little when you pull on them to shut the door. I don't think it's wrong to expect a bit more substantial material in the door panels when you're playing close to $40k for a midsized truck. Heck even the $45k fully loaded Lariats use the same thin, cheap door panels. This is one reason why Hackett's aggressive cost cutting is worrisome. You can't cut any more cost out of things like an already cheap door panel.

 

This was my biggest complaint in the first impressions thread I made last year after I went to the employee launch event at the plant. 

 

26 minutes ago, Assimilator said:

The Ranger's interior is really odd for a Ford pickup, it lacks that sturdy and robust feel of the typical Ford pickup.  It's one thing to have hard plastics, it's another thing to have flimsy hard plastics.  Tacoma is a pretty good example of a purpose-built truck interior rather than the parts-bin passenger car design they are using for Ranger. Ford can certainly do better.  

 

To be fair it's what they had already in place when they decided to bring the program to North America. With the budget they had the better use of those resources was with the frame/drivetrain changes and the added technology the rest of the world doesn't get. I'm not a fan either but I kinda get why that decision was made. I do wish they had made the Lariat interior feel more like a $40k interior than they did though. 

 

Remember this is just a holdover to get to the Bronco next year and NG Ranger shortly after that. 

[2005Explorer]

3 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

 

Tell that to the glass house then, they’re the ones pushing the ever raising ATPs, not us. All we've been saying is we can see their logic. 

 

All I need to do is look at the Escape SE gauge cluster or hear the creaks in my flimsy door panels to know the glass house is wrong. It’s totally a mainstream product. If they are trying to charge a premium over other brands at some point the customer is going to expect more. Right now they are leaning hard on loyal customers who will pay more just for the brand, but as the CUV market becomes the new sedan market customers will become much less brand loyal. We can talk about ATPs all day, but if the value is not there customers will shop other places especially in segments with lower rates of brand loyalty.

[T-dubz]

A few other things I noticed today. To compliment the nice gauge cluster, you get a rubber steering wheel. This would be fine on a $15k car but it’s not acceptable on an almost $30k vehicle.

 

the AC controls are very simple and easy to use. Just one knob for the fan and one knob for the temp. My ‘17 escape has two buttons to raise and lower the fan, and they aren’t right next to each other either so I’m always searching for the buttons.

 

I wish the center stack and console was one piece. The way it is now looks terrible. If there were some rails/handles extending from the AC area to the center console, it would look much better.

 

 

the back up camera/screen seems to be good quality. it looks better than my current escape.

Edited December 29, 2019 by T-dubz

[akirby]

16 minutes ago, 2005Explorer said:

All I need to do is look at the Escape SE gauge cluster or hear the creaks in my flimsy door panels to know the glass house is wrong. It’s totally a mainstream product. If they are trying to charge a premium over other brands at some point the customer is going to expect more. Right now they are leaning hard on loyal customers who will pay more just for the brand, but as the CUV market becomes the new sedan market customers will become much less brand loyal. We can talk about ATPs all day, but if the value is not there customers will shop other places especially in segments with lower rates of brand loyalty.

I think Ranger is a unique case - Let’s wait and see what the new one looks like.  But I do agree on Escape.  Cheaping  out too much is short sighted,

[Assimilator]

I wouldn't necessarily equate minimal design with cheapness however, although the Escape doesn't make a strong case for itself.

[akirby]

16 minutes ago, 2005Explorer said:

All I need to do is look at the Escape SE gauge cluster or hear the creaks in my flimsy door panels to know the glass house is wrong. It’s totally a mainstream product. If they are trying to charge a premium over other brands at some point the customer is going to expect more. Right now they are leaning hard on loyal customers who will pay more just for the brand, but as the CUV market becomes the new sedan market customers will become much less brand loyal. We can talk about ATPs all day, but if the value is not there customers will shop other places especially in segments with lower rates of brand loyalty.

I think Ranger is a unique case - Let’s wait and see what the new one looks like.  But I do agree on Escape.  Cheaping  out too much is short sighted,

[Assimilator]

The Chinese Ford Escape has some nice interior upgrades.  

[mackinaw]

I haven't followed this thread.  The new Escape is on our short list of vehicles to consider when we replace the Focus next year.  Considering that my daily driver is a 26 year old F-150, I imagine that sitting in a new Escape will seem like I'm sitting in a Lincoln Continental.  So maybe it all depends on what you are used to?

[Assimilator]

They also didn't care for Corsair, although you wouldn't know why from the description. 

[T-dubz]

1 hour ago, Assimilator said:

The Chinese Ford Escape has some nice interior upgrades.  

do you have a pic of the rest of the interior? I’m curious where the radio controls went. Maybe they are all in the touchscreen?

[T-dubz]

 

this is the only one I could find of the full Chinese interior. It’s a much better design. Besides the AC vents, it looks like the whole center stack is different. The way the center stack and console come together looks much better. The bigger screen is a plus, but here it looks a bit too big.

Edited December 29, 2019 by T-dubz

[Willwll313wll]

1 hour ago, Assimilator said:

The Chinese Ford Escape has some nice interior upgrades.  

.... this is what the American Escape should look like! I'm shocked. Ford knows better (well I guess not). The interior of a vehicle is one of the most important aspects; that is where the customer spends most of their time after all. When it first debuted, this "misstep" to put it lightly immediately wrote this vehicle off my shopping list.

[probowler]

2 hours ago, mackinaw said:

I haven't followed this thread.  The new Escape is on our short list of vehicles to consider when we replace the Focus next year.  Considering that my daily driver is a 26 year old F-150, I imagine that sitting in a new Escape will seem like I'm sitting in a Lincoln Continental.  So maybe it all depends on what you are used to?

If you want to settle for one of the worst crossovers available, that's your choice, but unless it's cheaper than everything else, why would you do that to yourself?

[jcartwright99]

17 minutes ago, probowler said:

If you want to settle for one of the worst crossovers available, that's your choice, but unless it's cheaper than everything else, why would you do that to yourself?

Hyperbole much?

[CKNSLS]

I said a while ago the Escape wouldn't be a top seller based on the "bland mobile" design. Then the Ford guys said on here it wouldn't be a top seller because of "factory capacity" any way.

 

That's called going in to the "spin zone".

 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by CKNSLS

[Trader 10]

6 minutes ago, CKNSLS said:

I said a while ago the Escape wouldn't be a top seller based on the "bland mobile" design. Then the Ford guys said on here it wouldn't be a top seller because of "factory capacity" any way.

 

That's called going in to the "spin zone".

 

 

 

Ford has plenty of capacity to produce a top seller, it doesn’t have a good enough product to attract that many buyers. 

[mackinaw]

34 minutes ago, probowler said:

If you want to settle for one of the worst crossovers available, that's your choice, but unless it's cheaper than everything else, why would you do that to yourself?

 

I think I'll make my own mind up on the new Escape rather than listen to the endless negative blather I read in this thread.  

[escape20]

I have had an escape since 2002 6 of them, and i am about to pick up my 7th one this  coming week!!!!

I do have the electronic dash , but think the interior is just fine.

 

[T-dubz]

chinese vs American 

 

and just for fun, here is the chinese territory interior. I’m not sure if the territory is escape or edge sized, but I actually like that interior.

[fuzzymoomoo]

The only thing I don't care for in that second one is the location of the engine start button. 

[MY93SHO]

 

 

 

1

5 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

 

Bronco isn't and won't ever occupy the same space as Escape, Baby Bronco will.

 

 Jeep doesn't do that, nobody else does. It's a big gamble for sure but if it's successful the results could be game changing. 

 

Jeep did do that.  First gen Compass and Patriot were on the same platform. Unfortunately, that was the Caliber platform.