I'd definatly buy an Escape if it had the 5 speed. It's got the same 3.0 that my old man has in his Taurus and that thing is really powerful. As Ford usually does, they don't put a 5 speed on anything but 4 bangers. The build quality of all Fords has taken a turn for the worse, although the Escape LOOKS like it's built ok. Ford keeps making my old 93 with 125k mi look better and better. Ford already lost my parents as customers (11 out of their last 12 cars were Ford), there next car is between a Benz and a Lexus due to the problems with the Taurus, and for what you get, Fords are overpriced...if Ford keeps it up I'm going to join them.
GJarret- I heard the same thing, Nissan stole the design from Ford, as with most Japanese companies. They can't seem to come up with ideas themselves so they steal an American design, improve on it slightly and sell it cheaper. I would love to see the Escape stick it to the XTerra in sales for that reason.