I've had the Ford Escape for 4 years now, and I still enjoy driving it to work each day. This vehicle definately is fun to drive, and is very attractive, unlike a lot of the other vehicles in this class. Ford recently re-designed the Escape, and made it even nicer.

The vehicle drives like a car, and is easy to park, unlike larger SUV's. You can easilly zip in and out of lanes on the freeway thanks to its 200 horsepower V6 engine. The downside to this engine is that it guzzles gas, and while you may get 19/25 fuel economy when you first purchase your Escape, over time, the economy drops.

Scheduled maintenance is pricey like most cars, the 60k service is about $500. I'm sure, though, if I get this, the fuel economy may improve a little, I just don't know if it's worth paying $500 for. I haven't had any problems with my Escape other then the oil pan gasket, which is probably just a fluke since I haven't heard of too many other Escape owners having this problem. Ford quickly replaced it under my extended warranty.

Comfort in this vehicle is average I would say. I went for the leather trimmed seats, and Ford really skimped on the leather, it's quite cheap, and there isn't a lot of padding in the seats. However, my seats have held up well after 4 years, and there are no defects in the fabric or any tearing in the leather yet. I would skip the leather next time, as I've seen the newer Escapes and they haven't made any improvements to the leather.

I also got the moon roof in mine. At the time they had a promotional package, and it was free. I enjoy opening it on ocasion, but driving down the freeway it's too noisy to have it open, so I usually open it only when driving around the city.

Other features I got in mine include the cruise control which you just can't use in Southern California because no one drives a consistent speed on our freeways. I also got the 6 disc changer, but I ended up changing this out with an Mp3 cd player (which is now standard on the new escapes, but wasn't when I bought mine). The 6 disc Ford changer works pretty well and changes discs quickly, but it doesn't play computer burned cd's very well, so keep that in mind.

Overall, I love my escape after 4 years, I just wish the gas mileage was a bit better. My sister has a huge Chevy Yukon Denali, and it gets better mileage then my Escape does. In addition, the seats aren't my favorite either. Aside from this, I love my Escape, and will keep it until it dies. I'm planning on using it mostly for my business in the coming years, I run a mobile DJ business, and the Escape is great for hauling my DJ equipment, it has plenty of cargo room with the rear seats down.



Amount Paid (US$): 24000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: XLT, Automatic, V6, Appearance Package