Escape comments
Well, I'm looking at the Escape, too. Not ready to run out and buy anything, but my '92 X is 12 years old and has 170,00 miles on it. Someday it will need to be replaced or retired from daily driving and kept for hauling and camping.
The Escape dimensions are not all that different from the 1st gen Explorer Sport.
No, it does not have a two-speed transfer case, but the auto trans has "L" doesn't it? Should be good enough for most uses, though I use 4X4 low in my Ex in the snow.
You can get more opinions on
http://www.escape-central.com. This site is similar to Explorer Forum, but most of the mods are cosmetic! There seem to be a number of complaints about the auto trans. Not hard failures, but sluggish performance, noise and vibration issues.
I really wish the Escape V6 were available with a manual trans. The stick is only available in the stripped-down 4 cylinder XLS version. Is a 2.3L big enough for this vehicle, ssuming no towing?
Then again, I wish the Ex were still available with a stick and they had'n restyled it to look like an Expedition! Alas, manual trannies are fast disappearing. Seems like they are only available in base model 2 liter vehicles.
I'm waiting to see what the new Freestyle will be like, but I have my doubts about the CVT transmission. Again, I haven't heard about a manual option. I bet the Freestyle will have much more cargo room than the Escape. We'll see.
Bob