For such a small engine... this thing does ok!

[mattadams]

When I was shopping for my escape, I was mainly interested in fuel economy, and not really looking for high performance, so I was specifically looking at the 2.5L 4-cyclinder engine. What really suprised me on test drives of this engine as well as the 6-cylinder is that they are remarkably similiar. I've never fealt underpowered and the 4-cylinder has had no problem getting the escape up to 75 miles an hour up an incline, even loaded down with people, suitcases, etc. For such a small engine it really puts out a decent amount of power.
Would I take it to the drag strip without getting laughed off? Well, probably not, but for the fuel mileage it gets (around 23-25 miles per gallon so far) it does pretty dang well.

One other side note, my last F-150 had the 5.4L engine in it. With that engine and all it's "stuff" crammed into the engine compartment there was little room for anything else. Looking in the engine compartment of this escape, I feel like I've got room for a small refrigerator or at least plenty of aftermarket accessories if I desired in there. I think I could climb in the engine compartment and hoist the engine out by myself if it came right down to it .

 

[Rick]

What's the HP rating on the 4 cyl?

 

[Rick]

Never mind... Just checked Jeff's link and I saw that your 4cyl makes more power than most of the Explorer V-6s 171 HP and 171 ft/lbs is very impressive from a naturally aspirated 4 banger.

 

[Joe Dirt]

171 horsies on the I-4...

Has anyone got dyno's on an old OHV? I'm curious what type of loss they're experiencing, and where they really rate for HP after 15-20 years of use...

 

[mattadams]

I'd imagine the body of the escape is much lighter than the explorer and so that helps give it some extra oomph, but either way, great mileage and decent power, and lots of room, man i love my escape .

 

[ncranchero]

I've never driven a I-4 Escape but 171 HP seems more than adequate to move it along satisfactorily. I know the '05 v6 my Mom has would smoke the tires when I had the rear driveshaft out. With the 4x functional again it just goes..........NOW!

 

[Van]

Glad you directed me to this forum from the Explorer forum.

I opted for the 3.0 V-6.
240 HP! More than my old '84 Mustang GT had with the H.O. 5.0 4bbl!!!
I was amazed at the acceleration this little puppy has.

I do miss my dual sun visors and hope to find a substitute for those.

 

[ncranchero]

I opted for the 3.0 V-6.
240 HP! More than my old '84 Mustang GT had with the H.O. 5.0 4bbl!!!
I was amazed at the acceleration this little puppy has.

I believe that the HP ratings were different then to now. There's just no way an Escape will smoke a 5.0L HO Mustang! The Escape does have plenty of umph though.

 

[2TimingTom]

My 2.2L 4 cylinder Saturn VUE (similar to the Escape) only has like 140 hp. It could really use an extra 30 hp- especially in the thin air of Denver. It's not too bad, but it's not great either. Luckily it has the 5 speed manual so it doesn't sap as much power and I can run out the RPMs a little longer when I need to. Up in the mountains though..... oh boy!

And like the 4 cylinder Escape, under the hood of a 4 cylinder VUE- it's pretty cavernous. But I guess that's because in both cases, there's a larger V6 engine option that also has to fit in there.

 

[htrdlncn]

I believe that the HP ratings were different then to now. There's just no way an Escape will smoke a 5.0L HO Mustang! The Escape does have plenty of umph though.

you guys are forgetting torque, something small displacement engines just dont make..

Escape weighs 3200(4cyl fwd base) to 3800lbs(v6 awd luxury) and the V6 has 240/223ftlbs tq

5.0 Mustang weighed 3000(5.0 LX hatch) to 3800(convertible GT) and had 225/300fttq , the 5speed manual was much faster than the godawful AOD

so a base fwd V6 Escape with not many options against a fully loaded GT automatic would be a damn close race

any Escape would get raped by bare bones five speed 5.0LX

 

[mattadams]

I don't really care about horsepower numbers, all I know is the thing moves when I want it to move .

 

[EX-SV]

Smart cars move (barely). I'm sure the Escape runs better.

btw - What kind of actual gas mileage on the 4 cylinder Escape?

 

[mattadams]

My escape typically gets about 25-27 mpg... sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending primarily on the heaviness of my foot and/or if we are doing a lot of mountain driving, etc.