The old Highlander was pretty bad, so I guess this is an improvement, but I still don’t like it. It’s about as generic as you can get. I wouldn’t know this was a Toyota if you didn’t tell me. I really hope ford keeps its design as far away as possible from this plain Jane front end. Interior is nice though.

Besides adult passengers, families may have child car seats to consider.  As an example, my wife's 2024 Edge, which has 40.6" of rear-seat legroom, does not have enough room to allow me to drive with the car seat behind me in a rear-facing position, as needed for an infant.  With a narrow garage, having the car seat on the passenger side means the other vehicle is at risk of getting a door dent,,,,   HRG

Well, let's hope they keep it up.     Then again, dropping products and pushing out product cycles theoretically makes it easier to improve quality lol.

Well, they changed that fast.  Here's the gist of it:   Detroit – Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley told employees in a town hall on Wednesday that companywide bonuses would be set to 130%, according to four people familiar with the matter, as the automaker delivered on its goal to improve vehicle quality.  Farley told attendees that the higher payouts are mainly due to the automaker's improved initial vehicle quality, which measures repairs in the first 90 days of ownership. Farley said the metric is the best it has been in a decade, two of the people said.  Companywide bonuses at Ford are based on a set of metrics it establishes each year. These define the baseline amount for which all salaried workers are eligible, with a figure of above 100% denoting that the company exceeded those metrics. Individual performance can increase or decrease that amount. The bonuses apply to Ford's global salaried workforce, which includes approximately 75,000 workers.

It is behind a paywall.

80-90% of the time without passengers is essentially people without kids. I agree the BS and Maverick are great vehicles for those people. I could be wrong with this, but I see the Escape as Ford’s entry level family vehicle. Explorer is definitely an option, but it is 8k more than an escape. That’s a big chunk of change that many families can’t afford.    Most others in the segment are a bit closer to 40” too. I suspect family buyers will go to those.   Tucson and Sportage - 41.3” CRV - 41” Escape - 40.7” Cherokee - 40.3” cx50 -39.8” RAV4 - 37.8” Trax -38.7” Bronco Sport - 36.9”    

To aKirby, I agree with you. After owning 6 Escapes starting 2005, I am sure Ford has made a huge mistake eliminating Escape like they did Eliminating the Edge. Before we bought the 2025 Escape Platnium, I tried getting my wife interested in the Bronco 2 but she liked the Escape much better. Ford should have made the Escape hybrid the only powertrain available and they would have been running three shifts At Louisville if they priced it right. Also I had a very good Edge years ago with the 3.5V6. It was a great car. Too bad the entire industry jumped on the EV band wagon and now is writing down EV investments they (goodbye Oakville edge) will not use within the accounting rules of the USA. It looks like Stalantus is writing down more that the company is worth! edselford

From the Detroit News.  It shouldn't be behind a paywall:   https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2026/02/11/ford-boosts-companywide-bonus-as-initial-quality-improves-sources-say/88625775007/

But, the unconfirmed rumor is that Trump would agree to waive all tariffs for Ford if they renamed Lincoln Motor division the Trump Motor division...

Pretty close