C O V E R     S T O R Y

We have to admit that life is boring—it’s filled with daily routines: we wake up at a particular time, dress in a monkey suit and go to work in a Toyota Corolla (or a Honda Civic, depending on what your company’s car program uses).  All in all, it’s a very square existence, probably just exciting enough to make you laugh out loud at today’s Dilbert strip punch line. 

Despite all our daily tediousness, there are certain breaks that take us away from the usually mechanized and passionless thing we call life: vacations, out-of-town trips, shopping with friends, bonding with officemates and so on.  In these short instances, we feel alive—life is not just purely beating the eight o’clock bell on Monday morning. 

Now, imagine this kind of life and place it in a car.  Enter the Ford Escape. 

As boring as a Honda Civic could be, the Escape is its perfect antithesis.  Being one of the biggest volume sellers in the US market, the Escape is Ford’s assault weapon in the soft-roader category beating the pulp out of competitors such as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and nine others in the same league.  In the vastly competitive SUV market in the US, the Escape has proven to be the masses’ favorite and there’s no wondering why. 

From a mile away, the mere sight of the Escape already makes it a clear winner from any angle.  It inherits its DNA from its bigger brothers such as the Ford Expedition while adding some modernizing touches, making it a vehicle that looks, well, very Ford.   Though the Escape has a rough-and-tough look, it’s not much bigger than a Toyota RAV4; it’s just 155 mm longer, 5 mm taller and 40 mm wider.  However, thanks to a lesson in proper proportioning, the Escape looks to be the better balanced and aggressive of the two.

The Escape’s overall look is best described as functionally beautiful.  For instance, the pronounced wheel arches that are for once made of metal lend a sense of aggression that  plastics one just don't give.  The relative absence of shiny bits also adds to the functional look; keeping the ‘Escape’ and ‘Ford’ badges on strategic areas help it stay true to its Ford SUV roots.  The expansive black plastic cladding on the lower body reduces the risk of dings and nicks, but doesn’t give it an unshaven look like that of the Honda CR-V.  The road-biased 215/70 HR 16 Goodyear Wrangler HP tires, a fully adjustable roof rack, fog lamps and side step board complete the look.

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