2023 Plug-in Hybrid Titanium Escape Review

[BoomerSooner]

I am the former owner of a 2020 Hybrid Titanium Escape and appreciated a number of the advantages of that CUV.  It had as much rear-seat legroom as my 2017 Edge, it was quiet, and it could eek up to high 50's in the mpg department if you drove conservatively.  However, the paint quality was poor, with the roof resembling brush strokes, the subwoofer randomly--though frequently--generated a grating distortion sound (yes, even after the recall), various rattles, poor quality sound, and the overall interior materials were iffy. Intrigued by the mpg's though, I ordered the plug-in version for 2023.  

 

3,000 miles into ownership, I'm pleased with the results.  For most of my wife's use, the ICE never starts.  It will go a couple of weeks with the same tank of gas being virtually untouched.  Acceleration in EV-Only mode isn't terrible and on city streets blends in seamlessly with traffic.  We are variously getting 26-30 miles range on EV-Only mode.  Crossover to ICE is wholly transparent.  Even when you know the EV battery is depleted and the ICE is going to kick in you still can't feel it.  The only indications are the icon on the dash and the subtle gravelly sound the 2.5 engine makes under load. Charging through the 110 outlet is, admittedly, slow, but that's what overnights are for.  Besides, unlike a dedicated EV, there's always a full tank of gas to take us wherever we need to go if we have to interrupt the charging cycle. There's even a handy text message to let you know when the charge is full.  

 

On the highway with a full EV battery in ECO mode, my 100 mile trip yesterday with mostly highway driving (secondary roads, two-lane highways, four-lane 75-mph highways) still netted me 89.1 mpg for the trip (though it obviously wholly depleted the EV mode).  Also, even when the EV battery indicates complete discharge, the basic hybrid mode seems more robust than the 2020's, allowing from-rest acceleration to higher speeds than the older model.  The hybrid system (again, with the EV battery showing 0% and the charging-while-driving-mode off) engages more frequently, stays electric longer, and manages better mpg than the 2020.  The only criticism of this is that the giant touch-screen controller is slow to react.  And, to dig into the menu deeply enough to access these various EV settings can require multiple inputs that are usually laggy.  The graphics on the screen are, fortunately, bright and quite clear, but everything seems a touch laggy at best and confused at other times.  I preferred the console toggle button on the 2020 to access these features.  If you are going to the trouble to find a Titanium Escape Plug-In (hard-loaded examples of which are very difficult to find in the Midwest--trust me), you're likely focused on better mpg so making these features instantaneously accessible makes sense.  True, there is an actual button on the dash to access the EV settings, but it is merely a shortcut to get to the same laggy screen. 

 

Of course, sport mode makes the otherwise dishwater-dull acceleration seem much more energetic--at the cost of mpg.  Again, if you bought a plug-in, how often are you going to tool around in sport mode?  However, there are times in traffic it would be nice to just push a tactile button a couple of times to summon sport mode for near-term traffic needs.  Alas, the system is sufficiently laggy that I have yet to timely summon all 100% of the Escape's acceleration capabilities within a narrow margin of time for imminent traffic conditions.  So, if you're behind me and think I should have gunned it and would have easily made it through the yellow light, my apologies.  But your estimation of my acceleration was wrong. However, if I wanted to go fast I would have taken the other vehicle. 

 

The paint quality on the 2023 is leagues better than the 2020's.  Since delivery, I've waxed it twice to go over every part of it,and the paint is fine. The 2023 is carbonized gray metallic.  Maybe not my favorite gray on the market, but it works well on this car.  The space gray interior is a nice change from the coal-bin black-on-black-on-black-on-black of the 2020.  The LED lights provide a piercing and exact light pattern--better than the 2020's.  The LED accents are more attractive in real life than I thought they looked in the online photos. 

 

The seat upholstery is a step up from the 2020's.  The steering wheel cover feels like leather and not the faux-grained "leather" on the 2020.  The interior is quiet.  The stereo, fortunately, sounds much better.  It's not great, but it is easily tolerable and, again, leagues better than the 2020's.  Oddly, the physical knob for the volume and on/off was moved to the far right side of the center dash--making it inconvenient.  For whatever reason, the on/off button for the CUV was moved to the former radio on/off/volume knob.  I routinely stab aimlessly where the previous on/off button was located.  Not sure this made much progress.  Still, the whole of the interior feels "screwed-together" tighter than the 2020--no squeaks, rattles, or thumps to date.  Other interior upgrades include the HUD display.  I found it annoying and distracting at first, only to come to like it now.  Plus, it's fold-down feature is kind of a gee-whiz factor.  The 2023 has every option except the BAMR, which my wife never used on previous cars anyway. 

 

Of course, the big change when you get in the 2023 is the dominant center-mounted touch screen.  As noted above, the images are crisp and clear, the animated start-up and shut-down show is new, and the placement is within arms reach. The organization of the accessories on the touch-screen is something I have yet to get right routinely (is it a feature? a setting? where is it in the menu?).  Also, the "gas mileage until empty" indicator is frequently AWOL and I, frankly, haven't invested in the time to figure out how to make it join the party on a full-time basis.  

 

The ride is smooth but with the one-inch-smaller wheels than the 2020, seems a bit more controlled.  Neither one would qualify as "fun to drive" in the twisty-bits. Both are floaty and feel slightly disconnected from steering inputs.  If you want something fun to drive, shop elsewhere.  However, smooth ride, quiet interior, comfortable seating, easy ingress/egress, and plenty of room for two--and little to no gas use--makes this the go-to for most all city travel.  No, it won't pull the boat.  No, it's not going to beat anyone in a stoplight race.  No, it's not 4WD and would quickly get stuck, I'm quite sure.  However, I have a pickup that accomplishes those goals.  

 

In the end, I'm sad to see Ford giving up on the Escape.  This one is my family's 5th Escape.  I do not see us replacing it with a Bronco II, as that vehicle's raison d'etre is considerably different than the Escape's mission. However, given the notable improvements over the 2020 and my week-long experience in a 2022 Toyota RAV4 recently, I find the Escape wholly competitive and, in some respects, superior to the RAV4. 

 

 

 

 

[MrCurvedLimos]

Hi BoomerSooner, nice review. Thanks for posting! 

 

My wife and I traded in a 2015 a C-Max Energi SEL to buy our 2023 Escape PHEV Premium, which we took delivery of in June. We're approaching the 5000 mile mark on ours. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to get it back in the shop here soon. We've had 2 infant mortality problems with ours: 1) The cargo cover has broken for the second time now, and 2) the passenger side-curtain airbag has quit functioning for the second time now. It's already been in the shop to have both of those fixed once before. 

 

It took us a couple months to figure out how to drive it, because the grade assist causes the gas engine to come on ALL. THE. TIME around town when we're going down hills, even when it's in EV Now mode. It's just the dumbest thing, and there's no way to turn grade assist off. Fortunately, someone here clued me in that putting the car in neutral disables grade assist. By now, we've figured out which streets around town we have to put the car in neutral to coast down, and for the most part it stays on electric, except when we forget and take our foot off the accelerator before switching to neutral, at which instant the gas engine fires up immediately to provide unneeded engine braking. Never had that problem with the C-Max; it had a grade assist button and we just turned it off. 

 

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

 

For the most part, I like the vehicle. It's easy to drive on the highway with its adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist. My wife and I had to leave work unexpectedly in the middle of the afternoon and take a 5-hour drive to Oregon one day in August, driving 2 cars, and I was driving the Escape. I wasn't fatigued when we got to our destination, which simply never happens for me, especially when I'm driving solo. The driving position is good, the seats are comfortable, and visibility is pretty good except for around the A-pillars. We like the turning radius, and parking is easy. The 360° camera is a nice feature but we rarely need to use it for parking. We're slowly getting used to all the beeps and squawks, like the cross-traffic alert when you're backing out of a parking space and its radar picks up traffic out on the street that isn't even an issue in the parking lot.

 

I do wish it was a little quieter in the cabin on the highway. I have a sound meter app on my phone, and the C-Max registered about 72 dB on certain known stretches of highway. The Escape registers about 74 dB on those same stretches of highway, with the same app on the same phone. I'd very much like to have those 2 dB back, so we're considering taking the Escape to a custom shop to have additional soundproofing installed. 

 

Probably my biggest gripe (after the grade assist, of course) is the touch screen. The controls tend to be inconsistent with each other and just don't make that much sense. I could go on and on about that. In fact, I did, but then I accidentally hit a button on my tablet and lost about 4 paragraphs, so never mind. I'll stop here.

[BoomerSooner]

The ICE on our 2023 kicks on during prolonged downhill stretches too.  I noticed it and was curious about it until I noticed that the ICE icon on the power gauge doesn't also light up on these downhill stretches.  Also, none of the other indicators about the operation of the ICE occur during these downhill stretches.  As best I can tell, the Escape is just using the ICE's internal drag to slow the vehicle. You can, however, switch out of "EV Only" to a mode that will allow the ICE to fire up and you will see different indicators on the dash.  I would be more concerned, personally, with driving the car down a hill with it deliberately in neutral.  That's just me, though. 

 

We have, so far, been blessed with zero problems.  As I indicated earlier, this one is screwed together noticeably better than our 2020 was.  

 

Happy motoring!

[MrCurvedLimos]

If it were prolonged downhill stretches, I'd be fine with that, especially on the highway. That was when I used Grade Assist on the C-Max. 

 

But in my case, it's backing out of my driveway, put the car in gear, take my foot off the brake, and the engine comes on for 140 feet until I get to the stop sign just past my neighbor's house. On the dash it pops the message "Engine enabled for system performance." There's nothing prolonged about it; it happens within about a second of taking your foot off the brake from a stop, and the engine runs for only 10 seconds and shuts off again when the car stops at the intersection. The system tries to hold the car at 6 mph and won't let it coast normally like you expect a car to coast down a hill. You have to put your foot on the accelerator to even get to 15 mph, and that's dangerous given the distance is so short, because you also have to get your foot back to the brake to stop before winding up in the intersection.

 

It's also an inconsistent braking experience. As you slow to a stop, there's an instant where the regen cuts out before the car is stopped. You feel like you're braking to a nice controlled stop, and all of a sudden the regen cuts out and the car starts accelerating again. If you're not prepared to push your foot down harder on the brake, it catches you by surprise. You either end up jamming your foot on the brake for an emergency stop, or you're out in the middle of the intersection.

 

In contrast to that, when the car is in neutral, it accelerates like any other car just by coasting, you can modulate your speed keeping your foot on the brake (no need to move your foot to the accelerator), braking action is smooth, and no surprise regen cut-out at the bottom of the hill.

 

The strangest part to me is, we had that C-Max Energi for 8 years, which was an earlier generation the same plugin hybrid platform. It had none of these quirks. Ford took a good system and made it significantly worse, I think just to eliminate a button on the shifter.

[BoomerSooner]

Your experience is exactly like the review of the plug-in I read before buying the new Escape. The reviewer commented on how the ICE cycled on and off to a surprising frequency.  I assumed the reviewer was not aware of how to drill down into the settings to eliminate that on/off cycling of the ICE.  Evidently, this isn't unusual even though my particular Escape doesn't do it. For me, the only minor disappointment has been the overall range with gas + electric.  I didn't realize the extra chunk of batteries they added to the pack apparently carved in to the gas tank space.  Overall range is still in the 400 range, but I'm always willing to take more range--whether battery, gas, or combination. 

[MrCurvedLimos]

Yes, it does have a smaller gas tank. That was a tradeoff I was willing to accept for rarely ever needing to use the gas engine in town. Fill up a bit more often on road trips, but hit a lifetime average of about 75 mpg overall for my mix of driving... pretty good for a truck. 

 

The extra chunk of batteries also carves into the towing capacity.  It has a teeny tiny towing capacity.  By the time I hook a trailer to it, there's hardly any weight allowance left for loading anything in the trailer.

[back and forth]

On 12/22/2023 at 2:46 AM, MrCurvedLimos said:

Hi BoomerSooner, nice review. Thanks for posting! 

 

My wife and I traded in a 2015 a C-Max Energi SEL to buy our 2023 Escape PHEV Premium, which we took delivery of in June. We're approaching the 5000 mile mark on ours. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to get it back in the shop here soon. We've had 2 infant mortality problems with ours: 1) The cargo cover has broken for the second time now, and 2) the passenger side-curtain airbag has quit functioning for the second time now. It's already been in the shop to have both of those fixed once before. 

 

It took us a couple months to figure out how to drive it, because the grade assist causes the gas engine to come on ALL. THE. TIME around town when we're going down hills, even when it's in EV Now mode. It's just the dumbest thing, and there's no way to turn grade assist off. Fortunately, someone here clued me in that putting the car in neutral disables grade assist. By now, we've figured out which streets around town we have to put the car in neutral to coast down, and for the most part it stays on electric, except when we forget and take our foot off the accelerator before switching to neutral, at which instant the gas engine fires up immediately to provide unneeded engine braking. Never had that problem with the C-Max; it had a grade assist button and we just turned it off. 

 

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

 

For the most part, I like the vehicle. It's easy to drive on the highway with its adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist. My wife and I had to leave work unexpectedly in the middle of the afternoon and take a 5-hour drive to Oregon one day in August, driving 2 cars, and I was driving the Escape. I wasn't fatigued when we got to our destination, which simply never happens for me, especially when I'm driving solo. The driving position is good, the seats are comfortable, and visibility is pretty good except for around the A-pillars. We like the turning radius, and parking is easy. The 360° camera is a nice feature but we rarely need to use it for parking. We're slowly getting used to all the beeps and squawks, like the cross-traffic alert when you're backing out of a parking space and its radar picks up traffic out on the street that isn't even an issue in the parking lot.

 

I do wish it was a little quieter in the cabin on the highway. I have a sound meter app on my phone, and the C-Max registered about 72 dB on certain known stretches of highway. The Escape registers about 74 dB on those same stretches of highway, with the same app on the same phone. I'd very much like to have those 2 dB back, so we're considering taking the Escape to a custom shop to have additional soundproofing installed. 

 

Probably my biggest gripe (after the grade assist, of course) is the touch screen. The controls tend to be inconsistent with each other and just don't make that much sense. I could go on and on about that. In fact, I did, but then I accidentally hit a button on my tablet and lost about 4 paragraphs, so never mind. I'll stop here.

 

[back and forth]

Just now, back and forth said:

 

I know what u mean

This is the most confusing and complicated car I have ever driven..can't get the instrument panel figured out and the 13 screen way overdone...I have only had it a few days so maybe I am being quick to judge..lots to learn