- 2014 Ford Escape Review - acarview.com
- Interior / Exterior »
The Escape now looks the part of a modern crossover from the outside–with lots of passing resemblances to the new Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, or Mazda CX-5. Size up the 2014 Escape and its pert exterior, and you might see its tightly fitted form as part hatchback, part running shoe. With the longer nose, we see hints of a good sport wagon (or sport sedan), as well as enough of the familiar upturned rear pillar to see that some of the influences from the Ford Focus (on which it’s based) made it through here intact. From the side it’s kicky and dynamic, but in front the mail-slot-sized grille still isn’t working for us.
The kind of modern look you get inside the Escape is less familiar, more bold—and it stands as unique in this class. The overall theme of the instrument panel is upright yet chiseled, contoured, and heavily styled, and it wraps around the front occupants in a swoopy, finely detailed way that makes other compact crossover interiors feel boring. In turn, it loses the open, airy feel of the first-generation Escape, and the rakish look has some tradeoffs—like compromised visibility and thicker roof pillars—but this is the price of modernity.
For 2014, with the discontinuation of the mid-range SEL, the top Titanium model gets a little more visual differentiation on the outside, with 18-inch machined aluminum wheels, grill radiator shutters, and silver roof rails.
At center, a wide ribbon of high-gloss grey plastic, with some climate and audio functions, loops around these a set of center-stack controls, with a piano-like layout of buttons and tall, skinny air vents. At the top of this Matterhorn of modernity, ironically, is a CD slot–the one relic of the past decade we can spot inside the new Escape from a dozen feet away. Oddly, there’s another horizontal air vent beneath the LCD screen that seems to exist to cool the climate controls and knee caps.
- Performance »
When it was redesigned for last year the Escape was offered in four trim levels; but for 2014 that has been whittled down to three (with the loss of the SEL model). The base carryover 2.5-liter four-cylinder, coupled to the same six-speed automatic found in all other 2014 Escapes, comes fitted only with front-wheel drive; it makes 168 horsepower and 170 pound-feet of torque, and an EPA-estimated 22/31 mpg, and it’s a perfectly fine, agreeable combination. Only ten percent of Escapes will come with this engine–primarily fleet vehicles–Ford estimates, and the automaker still hasn’t provided us with an extended drive of this version.
The Escape SE includes a 1.6-liter turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder engine with direct injection. It spools up 178 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. Performance is close to that with the base engine, but fuel-efficiency is better; the 1.6 get EPA ratings of 24/33 mpg, trouncing the non-turbo four.
At the top of the Escape lineup for performance is the 2.0-liter EcoBoost turbo four, putting out 240 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque. Performance here is much stronger than it is in much of the compact-crossover set; we’d liken it to the Kia Sportage SX or the Range Rover Evoque, yet with a little more refinement than either of those models. And it delivers 22/30 mpg.
Escapes shift power to the front or all four wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission. It’s mated well to the turbo engines, and the shift points strike a good balance between straight-line acceleration and gas mileage. Shift paddles are one thing that’s sorely lacking; instead you get a +/- rocker switch on the shift lever and a sport-shift mode that doesn’t quite live up to its name.
The 2014 Escape comes with front-wheel drive in nearly all of its forms, but if you’re not in the Snow Belt you shouldn’t think of all-wheel drive as necessary. A new layer of cornering sophistication comes with torque vectoring, which uses anti-lock braking to clamp an inside front wheel to tighten corners when slip is detected. With all-wheel drive (AWD) you get some added heft. In the Escape’s case, the relatively simple AWD setup splits power between the front and rear wheels to shift power up to 100 percent to the end that still has a grip.
If there’s clear evidence of a break from the Escape’s boxy, utility-vehicle past, a blast along twisty roads is proof enough that this Escape’s almost worthy of a new nameplate. You won’t find trucky motions; instead there’s a tightly damped ride, and weighty, fast steering that’s not too overly blessed with feedback. It can feel too tautly strung at times, since the seats are no longer thickly padded, the Titanium’s wheels and tires are big 19-inchers, and since there’s almost no body flex to absorb ride impacts in the way the old Escape’s doddering body structure used to soak up those things.
Just last year, the Ford Escape fled its boxy, SUV-influenced past and became a rakish, sporty, more carlike crossover with crisp handling, potent engines, and even a little more passenger space. The 2014 Escape latches onto that well-received transformation, carrying into 2014 mostly unchanged, although the Escape SEL trim has been dropped.
And there’s certainly no need for any change on this model yet. Americans are just noticing—and getting used to—the look of the new Escape. From 2001 to 2012, you’ll remember, the Escape did its best impression of the first-generation Explorer, down to the grille and window shapes and even the outdated graining of its interior plastics. This current 2014 Escape is everything but that—a rakish profile and aggressive road-going stance on the outside; sporty, almost cockpit-like layout inside.
The new athletic look of the 2014 Ford Escape is authenticated in its road manners. Outside of the Mazda CX-5, we can’t think of a compact crossover in this class that handles as well. And there’s plenty of choice in what you want under the hood: Ford turns to a trio of four-cylinders to replace its former four- and six-cylinder engines and the much-loved but discontinued Ford Escape Hybrid. The base engine’s a carryover 2.5-liter four meant for fleets, while the mainstream choice is a 178-horsepower, 1.6-liter turbo four with straight-line acceleration competitive with its chief rivals, the Honda CR-V and four-cylinder Toyota RAV4. A 240-horsepower, 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder leads the charge and can dash to 60 mph in less than eight seconds (making the most of the excellent handling, too). All versions come with a six-speed automatic.
You might think that the sleeker look might mean less passenger space, but that’s not the case. Front seats are slim and rather firm, and there’s just enough space for adults—just two of them, due to width—to sit in back. The cargo hold’s larger, and the back seat folds and flips down its own headrests for better storage space. And you can simply swing your foot below the bumper and a hands-free tailgate option opens and closes the hatch.
Ride quality in the Escape is taut, but not too harsh or busy. Cabin appointments rank high in look and feel compared to most other crossovers in this price range, although not everyone will warm to the somewhat plasticky interior, with its cockpit-like instrument panel that robs a bit of space in front and may be seen as overstyled by some.
The Escape has been quite impressive for safety, but it’s quite class-leading. It’s earned Top Safety Pick status from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), as well as four-star overall ratings (with five stars for side impact) from the federal government, but it earned only a ‘poor’ rating in the new IIHS small overlap test. For 2014 the list of safety features gets better, with a rear backup camera system standard across the Ford Escape lineup.
Last year’s SEL is discontinued, but the top Escape Titanium is even more of a top-of-the-line luxury model than before. For 2014, a Titanium Technology Package is now optional and adds HID Headlamps, a blind-spot system, park assist, and rain-sensing wipers. Other noteworthy features offered in the Escape include an improved but still complex MyFord Touch; a navigation system; HD and satellite radio; Bluetooth with audio streaming; pushbutton start; leather seating; all-wheel drive, with or without a 3,500-pound-rated towing package; and a panoramic sunroof.
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